An artifact of post-9/11 American rot
June 11, 2020 10:16 AM Subscribe
4/28: sorry for being dramatic but my editors just assigned me a piece that means watching a TV show i never, ever wanted to see and i'm on the verge of tears
5/23: have completed one season. please flatten my head with a hammer
6/11: My Journey to the Heart of Darkness in “Entourage”
5/23: have completed one season. please flatten my head with a hammer
6/11: My Journey to the Heart of Darkness in “Entourage”
And it's only 5 years old*
*dear future web searchers: the year is now 2020. So far there are still monuments to the Confederacy standing in this country that we call The United States of America. I really hope all is well with you and our planet. If not, we're very sorry.
posted by NoMich at 11:14 AM on June 11, 2020 [5 favorites]
*dear future web searchers: the year is now 2020. So far there are still monuments to the Confederacy standing in this country that we call The United States of America. I really hope all is well with you and our planet. If not, we're very sorry.
posted by NoMich at 11:14 AM on June 11, 2020 [5 favorites]
I think this review is a bit harsh and how am I the one tasked to defend Entourage?
It is what it is - it's a show about the rise of a star, which is a Hollywood trope, and a bro fantasy. I'd also guess it was pretty close to Mark Wahlburg's actual life- if it kept going I'm sure they would be opening a burger chain by now.
It's not for everyone, but to say it's 'garbage is no longer acceptable'. Man, I don't think we are anywhere close to that.
I think it's problem is that it's a bit too true- that money and (relative) power is such a waste to be consolidated in so few hands. It's nothing but fancy clothes, endless messing around, hangers on (both men and women), fancy cars, and skirting legal trouble. There is no 'there' there, like we might like there to be. No considering their new vs old status, no significant donating back to their old community, no activism, no distinction between their old class vs their new class status. Unfortunately that is all too real.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:50 PM on June 11, 2020 [6 favorites]
It is what it is - it's a show about the rise of a star, which is a Hollywood trope, and a bro fantasy. I'd also guess it was pretty close to Mark Wahlburg's actual life- if it kept going I'm sure they would be opening a burger chain by now.
It's not for everyone, but to say it's 'garbage is no longer acceptable'. Man, I don't think we are anywhere close to that.
I think it's problem is that it's a bit too true- that money and (relative) power is such a waste to be consolidated in so few hands. It's nothing but fancy clothes, endless messing around, hangers on (both men and women), fancy cars, and skirting legal trouble. There is no 'there' there, like we might like there to be. No considering their new vs old status, no significant donating back to their old community, no activism, no distinction between their old class vs their new class status. Unfortunately that is all too real.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:50 PM on June 11, 2020 [6 favorites]
This garbage was much beloved at the tail end of undergrad, as I recall. Rolled straight from Anchorman to this garbage that glorifies and revels in inequities. Yes all straight white men are taught that being a garbage person without consequences is their birthright. Some choose not to take it. Most do.
posted by PMdixon at 1:58 PM on June 11, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by PMdixon at 1:58 PM on June 11, 2020 [3 favorites]
I don't remember much about this show. Just bros being bros. Not gonna stand the test of time for anything. Not sure why the editor cared about this one.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:28 PM on June 11, 2020
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:28 PM on June 11, 2020
It's not for everyone, but to say it's 'garbage is no longer acceptable'. Man, I don't think we are anywhere close to that.
Really? I tried to watch it a couple of years ago and noped out in the first episode. It's sooooooooooooo sexist and gross - even by the standards of the day. It wasn't even glorious trash.
posted by smoke at 5:41 PM on June 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
Really? I tried to watch it a couple of years ago and noped out in the first episode. It's sooooooooooooo sexist and gross - even by the standards of the day. It wasn't even glorious trash.
posted by smoke at 5:41 PM on June 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
If you ever wondered if the people involved in the show are as deplorable as the characters they played, here's a Jeremy Piven story:
Sometime around 2006 I was at a party and met a woman who had been a waitress in a medium high-end establishment and she told me a story about how one day Jeremy Piven had come into the restaurant where she worked. She was assigned to his table and she did the standard welcome-what-can-I-get-you spiel and he ordered some drinks and then looked her directly in the eye and instructed her to tell the manager to "send [him] a more attractive waitress".
She did the confused-shocked what-the-fuck-though small laugh and he did not break eye contact as he repeated in all seriousness, "I am not kidding. Tell the manager to send a more attractive waitress."
She went to the manager and told him what Piven had said with the expectation that the establishment would ask him to leave and instead she was taken off the table and replaced with someone the manager felt was more in line with the Piven standard of fuckability. And that was her last day on that job.
I've never seen an episode of Entourage but I think about that story a lot.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 7:55 PM on June 11, 2020 [27 favorites]
Sometime around 2006 I was at a party and met a woman who had been a waitress in a medium high-end establishment and she told me a story about how one day Jeremy Piven had come into the restaurant where she worked. She was assigned to his table and she did the standard welcome-what-can-I-get-you spiel and he ordered some drinks and then looked her directly in the eye and instructed her to tell the manager to "send [him] a more attractive waitress".
She did the confused-shocked what-the-fuck-though small laugh and he did not break eye contact as he repeated in all seriousness, "I am not kidding. Tell the manager to send a more attractive waitress."
She went to the manager and told him what Piven had said with the expectation that the establishment would ask him to leave and instead she was taken off the table and replaced with someone the manager felt was more in line with the Piven standard of fuckability. And that was her last day on that job.
I've never seen an episode of Entourage but I think about that story a lot.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 7:55 PM on June 11, 2020 [27 favorites]
Parasite Unseen, that is one hell of a story.
Can we all please bring Celebrity Culture back down to conversation-level volume now? I sometimes think that people don't understand that Andy Warhol was a satirist.
posted by Chitownfats at 3:45 AM on June 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
Can we all please bring Celebrity Culture back down to conversation-level volume now? I sometimes think that people don't understand that Andy Warhol was a satirist.
posted by Chitownfats at 3:45 AM on June 12, 2020 [2 favorites]
Where is Frankie Muniz now? is a much nicer piece by the same author on the post-Malcolm tribulations of a much more sympathetic LA success story.
posted by notmtwain at 4:24 AM on June 12, 2020
posted by notmtwain at 4:24 AM on June 12, 2020
If you ever wondered if the people involved in the show are as deplorable as the characters they played, here's a Jeremy Piven story:
and Jeremy Piven's character is based on Ari Emanuel, brother of the guy who as Mayor of Chicago covered up the cop murder of Laquan McDonald for a year so he could get re-elected in addition to being the biggest cheerleader for blunting the progressiveness of the Obama admin while he was the White House Chief of Staff.
The awful sure seems to be connected.
posted by srboisvert at 7:53 AM on June 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
and Jeremy Piven's character is based on Ari Emanuel, brother of the guy who as Mayor of Chicago covered up the cop murder of Laquan McDonald for a year so he could get re-elected in addition to being the biggest cheerleader for blunting the progressiveness of the Obama admin while he was the White House Chief of Staff.
The awful sure seems to be connected.
posted by srboisvert at 7:53 AM on June 13, 2020 [1 favorite]
Mod note: Deleted one that used the n-word spelled out -- it would be better to explain Mark Wahlburg's grossness without retraumatizing people with the slur spelled out.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 8:39 PM on June 13, 2020
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 8:39 PM on June 13, 2020
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posted by betweenthebars at 10:57 AM on June 11, 2020 [3 favorites]