My True Guilty Pleasure

A true guilty pleasure is a show that you love, but are completely ashamed to admit that you watch.

I’ve told you about “Kathy Griffin: My Life On the D-List,” but there’s one show I’ve never told you about.

My true guilty pleasure is “Entourage.”

So why do I feel guilty about watching an Emmy Award-winning show? Because if you’ve ever seen it, you know it can be downright filthy. The f-word drops every couple of seconds, naked women appear frequently and there’s nothing off limits when it comes to sex.

But still, there’s something endearing about this group of guys—no matter how much they curse.

If you’ve never seen it, “Entourage” follows actor Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his entourage: his actor brother Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon), his friend Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) and his manager/best friend Eric (Kevin Connolly). We also see Vince’s agent, Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven).

The show could very easily be just about four guys chasing women and smoking pot. But fortunately the writing goes much deeper than that. Yes, Turtle and Drama use Vince, but they’re always there when he needs them. And it’s interesting to see Eric struggle to balance friendship with business and his morals with Hollywood life.

The show could also very easily go over the top with caricatures instead of characters, but that never happens. Ari is often larger than life, but Jeremy Piven never lets him lose his heart. And Kevin Dillon always finds a way to make Drama more than just the dorky, less successful Chase brother.

My biggest problem with “Entourage” is how long it takes for me to see new episodes. I don’t have HBO, so I have to wait for the DVDs and since HBO loves to make its fans wait, it can be a pretty long time between season sets.

Earlier this month, HBO released Season 3, Part 2 of the show, but it was only eight episodes—which was pretty annoying considering how strong they were. I have no idea when we’ll see season four.

To make us feel better, we do get some special features. The Paley Festival panel is entertaining, especially when Jeremy Piven opens his month. “Anatomy of ‘Entourage’” is somewhat informative, although listening to everyone complain about how hard it is to do 20 episodes is a little annoying.

“Entourage” is a great show, but I would feel a little less guilty if there were a censored version. I’m actually hoping the show goes into syndication some day just so I can see how they edit it. I hope someone is making a list of synonyms for the f-word right now…

Season 3, Part 2 of “Entourage” is now available on DVD…