Stay Tuned

The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, August 19, 2011 2 coverstory The Chase is over Hit HBO series ends after eight great seasons By Dee Underwood TV Media A lot has changed in the 20 years since Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch released their first al- bum, and much of it is now on television, thanks to HBO's "Entourage." The comedic drama is loosely based on producer Mark Wahlberg's life in Holly- wood, complete with family history and supporting play- ers. But despite seven Emmy wins and an additional 16 nominations, this hit series draws to a close after eight seasons. HBO has been airing the final episodes of the se- ries every Sunday, and the se- ries finale will air Sunday, Sept. 11. "Entourage" follows big- shot actor Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) through the ups and downs of his career and social life. Vince's "entou- rage" includes his half-broth- er, his best friend, his agent and a long line of women who want to sleep with him. He skyrockets to fame when he stars in an independent film that becomes an instant success, and his career con- tinues to climb from there. His agent Ari (Jeremy Piven) helps him nab the best roles for the most money, but Ari constant- ly butts heads with Vince's manager and childhood best Kevin Connolly stars in "Entourage" friend Eric (Kevin Connolly). Vince's half-brother Drama is a washed-up actor himself and wants to live vicariously through his friends. Turtle, Vince's chauffeur and person- al assistant, takes care of his personal dealings. Most of the main charac- ters are men, but every now and then, one of the guys will get into a relationship or find a mother figure with whom they can bond. Ari constantly annoys his wife (only ever re- ferred to as Mrs. Ari) by taking calls at all hours of the night and always putting his clients first. Turtle has a long-term re- lationship with actress Jamie- Lynn Sigler (guest starring as herself) throughout two sea- sons, and Vince's publicist Shauna (Debi Mazar) is al- ways acting like his mother. The series blurs the line be- tween reality and fiction, of- ten leaving viewers to won- der what's true and what isn't. Though it is said to be based on Wahlberg's life, there are several key differ- ences between Vince and Wahlberg. For example, Wahl- berg's claim to fame was his rap group, Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, while Vince started out doing commer- cials. As the story goes, Wahl- berg got the idea for doing a series about himself when his assistant asked if he could film him and his friends. "My assistant wanted to film my friends around me, because he thought it was just hilarious," said Wahlberg in an interview with the New York Times. "Initially we wanted to kind of go for someone who was more like myself, but we didn't think that the entourage fighting amongst themselves -- like hitting each other with bot- tles -- would work. So we wanted it a little bit lighter." He went on to explain his troubled youth, complete with arrests, an attempted murder charge and six weeks in prison for beating a man so badly that he lost an eye. Thankfully, his cousin Drama (who inspired his "Entou- rage" half-brother of the same name) helped him get back in line. Vince's film resume in- cludes several movies (com- A/Auto Boutique B/The Green Giraffe 2 x 2 plete with celebrity co-stars such as Jessica Alba and Colin Farrell), but these movies are completely fictional. Real-life celebrities appear in the show as themselves or as charac- ters, and real names are thrown around as if they were actually in the character's cir- cle of friends. Vince is said to have turned down the role in 2005's "Brokeback Moun- tain" that ultimately went to Jake Gyllenhaal. Vince's best friend Eric is said to be based on his best friend Eric Weinstein. In the series, Eric is a childhood friend who always has Vince's best interests at heart. Ari, on the other hand, is constantly pushing his clients (who in- clude Bob Saget and Anna Faris) to do everything they can to get a part. Physically, Wahlberg looks nothing like his "Entourage" counterpart -- Adrian Grenier has curly hair and a dark com- plexion. Grenier had a slow start to his career. His biggest pre-"Entourage" role was the 1999 teen romance "Drive Me Crazy" with Melissa Joan Hart. Other than that, he had small roles with such distinc- tions as Teen in Van and Punk #2. Grenier put all of his eggs in the HBO basket for awhile, appearing in only a few roles during the show's eight-sea- son run. He played Anne Hathaway's boyfriend in "The Devil Wears Prada" (2006) and tried his hand at writing, directing and producing. Chirstopher's Coins 2 x 2 hollywoodQ&A By Adam Thomlison TV Media Q: Do you think "The Cape" is coming back? A: NBC would like you to sit down for this, get comfort- able, and maybe grab a cup of coffee or something. OK? You're good? "The Cape" has been canceled. The network seemed to be preparing fans for this fact weeks ahead of when it actually dropped the ax, actually only weeks after the show premiered this past January. First the news came down that it was scaling its original order of 13 episodes back to only 10. Then, in late February, it made the unconventional announcement that the season finale would air exclusively online, not on television. Most had it figured out by then, but the network never made an official announcement about the show's fate. In- stead, the first acknowledgement by the network came in April when it announced that the show would be released on DVD, marked as "The Cape: The Complete Series." Fans were disappointed, of course -- and as a superhero story, it amassed a pretty solid base of devoted fans -- but what many were most unhappy about was the absence of Summer Glau from their TV lives. She played the crusading blogger Orwell in "The Cape," but had already taken up residence in fanboys' hearts thanks to her turns in two other cult hits, "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" and "Firefly." A/Crazy Tom's B/Allstar Auto Wash 2 x 3 Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com.

• Cover