Ari Gold, superagent.
I guess since I've created a work blog I've been posting here less. Even though tons of things have been going on, I haven't felt inspired. But last night I decided that I needed to write about Entourage, and that just isn't going to work on the work blog.
The first season of this show left me kind of lukewarm, interested enough to keep watching, but not interested enough to really care when the season ended. The show has been improving bit by bit ever since until at last it's developed into something really good. There are a few indicators I can point to, including the de-caricaturization of the main characters and the move away from unmitigated misogyny to, well, sort of mitigated misogyny. But it's occurred to me over the last few episodes that what has really happened is something much more transparent and easier to identify. What has happened is that Jeremy Piven has taken over the show.
He started off in a supporting role, giving background to the hot-guy Adrian-Grenier-and-his-cronies Cinderella story. But as the show has progressed, the really interesting storylines are all Ari Gold's. He's the only one of whom you can really say that if you removed him the show couldn't go on in the same form. Jeremy Piven has gone from supporting actor to the show's central, driving force.
Now I want to watch some of the old episodes to see exactly when that happened.
3 Comments:
it happened when they realized that adrien grenier has the charisma of a sheepdog on prozac and that if they were to focus on a management guy, ari is better than eric. i also think piven just started chewing up scenery and acted like the alpha dog.
a specific episode, i think, would be the beach party one where gary busey makes a cameo...they were thinking of dumping ari and he comes out to saves his own ass.
then there was last season with the shgowdown with the agency owner...i think the producers made that kinda like a test to see how piven could handle playing against mcdowell. he did alright.
now, he is, as you say, the indispensible alpha dog of the show.
Jeremy Piven has always been a scene stealer. I remember first being charmed by him in Say Anything -- he's the dude that attacks Lloyd the Keymaster to whom Lloyd screams, "YOU MUST CHILL!" Brilliant.
And while Adrien Grenier is not all that charismatic, he sure is purdy. :)
I also think adding more with Ari's family has made the show more interesting. I think it goes to show that he's not the alpha dog at home. That's all Mrs. Ari. And watching him as a dad is pretty hilarious, even though he's underhanded and overprotective.
I think a lot of the characters have been fleshed out this season. I used to HATE Turtle, and now I find him pretty amusing. I think we've seen the show hit its stride.
Regardless of what you think of the others the show is worth watching purely just for Ari, he is so funny. The "batphone" is a must have for any super agent.
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