Entourage Watch: I Am Medellin; Plus, John the Second

I thought John from Cincinnati was great. I found the first episode clever and witty, but more importantly profoundly entertaining. For sure, what it all means is completely incomprehensible after the first episode (and, I understand, after the third) but I'm intrigued and eager to see the second. Would be great if you could do after morning wrap ups

Love your blog, James. Lost, Entourage and Sopranos fan so enjoy gaining your insights. Cheers from Sydney, Australia.

@Danois: Thanks! But tell me... are they also airing Flight of the Conchords there? I'd love to hear the Southern Hemisphere take on how well the show gets the Kiwi sensibility across. (Or are you being diplomatically silent?) Thanks for reading.

I had a feeling Seanie was going down as soon as he found the evil tiki necklace. And does it say something about our healthcare system that there are so many shows featuring mystical healing/reviving powers? You had Carnivale's Ben Hawkins, Claire from Heroes, the Island in Lost, the bird from JFC, and soon the guy from Pushing Daisies.

I'm still hoping that JFC comes together and proves worthy of weekly recaps. Flight of the Conchords is great, but I don't know how much you can say about it. Its genius is tough to describe to people, like the BBC Office or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

And I'm afraid that both of my annual "summer guy shows" -- Rescue Me and Entourage -- are going downhill fast. I need to find a new fantasy life to live vicariously through.

I think a double watch covering Entourage and Flight of the Conchords is a great idea....sure, it's not like much happens on Conchords, but that was one SERIOUSLY funny show....I'm already looking forward to next week.

James, one question - how does HBO measure the success of its shows? Is it just ratings, and if so, how does it factor in the decrease due to the number of people who don't subscribe?

I've now watched 2 of the 3 starters for Jno. from Cincinnati and very frankly, think it's a waste of time. How long do we need to hear about or watch a guy taking a serious d*mp? Crap, how stupid. Besides, just how many sub of subplots can we endure. Do I need to start a tree and diagram the relationships? Why must I? Can't I just have one episode take one, maybe two max, people and stick with them for an hour? Christalmighty, if it's not Seanie getting beaned and to be resurrected (oh yea, where's John?) like he's Christalmighty (NOT), then we're watching Butchie and Dad nuclear melt, with gorgeous grannie on the side wishing she'd found a better series to be in. And what's up with that leather wearing oaf who beat Butchie (can't names in in just plain E or consenants, like Sean and Butch)? Is he supposed to be the closeted cabaret guy with a motorcycle, ala Marlon?

I doubt if I can keep down supper on the 3rd installment. Then it's adios to that trash. Why did Milch (whatever) desert Deadwood, absolutely wonderful, gritty, dirty, splendid acting and plots to die (literally in most cases) for?

What a stupe.

Jett in Memphis (where we do have our teeth and wear shoes)

This is an HBO program, which means it takes a little longer to develop than cheapie network programs. This is what makes HBO different, and better. The point is, your have been comparing "John from Cincinnati" to other HBO programs. It is light years ahead of anything on the commercial networks.

@Johnny Ellis: I was about five episodes into The Wire before I knew I loved it (IIRC the clincher was some scene with Omar). So that's what keeps me sticking with JFC for now. But still, while The Wire & Deadwood were slow starters, they started with compelling questions: a murder investigation, the intrigues over the gold claim and the little orphaned hooplehead girl. But with JFC, there isn't that here's-the-thing-I-want-to-know-next factor yet. Not even John's identity, since we already know clearly he's a superpowered entity of some provenance.

What I'm hoping might give the show the popcorn mystery element that it needs is if John's story gets complicated in some way that has me wondering what his purpose is or what he'll do next. Because saving Yosts and making predictions about an old motel aren't cutting it for me.

They're not even showing Flight of the Conchords IN New Zealand! We've had one hour-long documentary about them and nothing else - not an unusual occurence for us, and a sad comment on the state of our television networks. Sigh. So anything you can write about them will be gratefully gobbled up over here!

Kiwifee, my heart goes out to you. Let us know when they finally allow you all to see The Lord of the Rings movies!

Maybe there should be a JFC discussion since all the comments here seem to be about that.

I didn't love last night's episode of Entourage. I had had just gotten into an argument with someone who hadn't missed the preview over the show's format (end with Vince going to shoot a movie, start when it premieres) and whether or not this season would break from tradition. I wish it hadn't.

Entourage, to me, has always been about the lifestyle of excess that celebrity brings and its affect on the boys from Queens. I'm OK with the heavier tones that were struck last season with Vince selling the house to pursue his passion, but last night's episode lost me. It seemed more like an homage to Hearts of Darkness than the quirky comedy of errors when E falls for the other slice of bread in his girl-girl sandwich that I know and love.

The good news: Perrey Reeves received top billing this year which means we're sure to see more of the wonderful Mrs. Ari. Sorry Debi Mazar.

As you've noted, JFC has been all character and no plot so far. But that isn't such a bad thing in this case -- some interesting characters and good actors, strong dialogue writing and flashes of humor. I'm also a little bit of a sucker for the whole surfing/metaphysics angle (maybe cause I'm a Left Coaster). So I'm intrigued so far and encourage you to hang in there too. I enjoy your thoughtful television writing and hope this show evolves into something interesting. It could.

@James: Flight of the Conchords isn't airing in Australia but it is available to download on iTunes (well the first episode is at least). I'm yet to watch it but the comments here suggest it's well worth a look.

I agree with your thoughts on it taking a while to "get into" an HBO show. Deadwood and The Wire were both initially challenging but perseverance had its rewards. Let's hope this happens for JFC.

Also to weigh into the talk on the new Entourage season, I thought the doco format was a nice way to mix it up a bit. It had some genuinely hilarious moments whereby the support characters were introduced - Turtle's cell phone going off; Drama appearing as a stand-in reader - that made it a lot of fun. I think it's great when established shows play around with the way they present the story (think Lost with the flashforward; an old old Buffy episode narrated and from the perspective of Angel etc.)

I have to say that I'm still into JFC... but I am looking forward to learning a little more about John than just what he can do... and one would imagine that there *is* a lot more to come, since by the 109-minute mark, the series has already eclipsed healing/resurrection. What's next?

I'm not sure that Milch has answers to John's origins in mind, but c'mon... he's certainly opened the kimono a little, but after five or so episodes there better be more than just a savant-ish guy with his magic tricks.

Plus, I'm looking forward to what hapens to the folks back at the hotel.

I think this talkback needs a binary solo
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I just saw Entourage's verssion of medellin. It seemed like HBO's Entourage crew didn't bother reseach one of Colombia's biggest cities. They went with the premise that everything south to the border looks like a MEXICAN town (like in so many other hollywood films, maybe a spoof on a spoof?). For starters Medellin's temperature is 65F all year long. And no, there aren't palm trees at that temperature. Lets not talk about the people, the spanish accents, the dresses (customes?), the music, etc, etc. why to take the easy road on this one? Wouldn't a war in the middle of a city that has the look and feel of any other modern city in the world would be much more interesting ? I am posting some few links with real bird-eye pics of Medellin. http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~juangui/images/medellin.jpg http://www.ambafrance-co.org/article-imprim.php3?id_article=420

@pubasnacks:
When you're on the street,
Depending on the street,
I bet you're are definitely in the top three
Good-looking girls on the street
(Depending on the street)

Thanks to you & Bret & Jemaine for the laugh.

If the first episode is indicative of the overall product, FotC is gearing up to be the best summer diversion I'm likely to get; I hope it lasts until Curb Your Enthusiasm returns.

@James: I really enjoy reading your takes on the TV landscape, such as it is. A weekly recap of FotC is a daunting task as the show's humor is rather ineffable. How does one explain Mel the married "groupie" to the uninitiated? Yet given the HBO Sunday competition of the slow-moving, predictable JFC and Entourage (which has always found itself just a bit more precious than I thought it was), FotC is going to be Monday's watercooler show...until the Sopranos' jones wears off or another network offers decent competition. Have you had the chance to screen additional episodes?