Entourage Decoder: "Strange Days"
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Last night's episode of "Entourage" found the gang very much in limbo – Vince unsure of his next gig, Eric wavering between two astoundingly hot girls and Ari waiting to re-emerge once more as a true super-agent after an icily awesome meeting with his nemesis Terence (while his real-life counterpart Ari Emanuel ruffled preppy feathers in a New England vacation spot).
And, as ever, there were questions for the Decoder: What's up with Ari's edifice complex? How has Vince gone from toast of the town to just toast? Why is Seth Green looking so forlorn? And is every episode going to end with one of the characters staring off in utter bewilderment while the end-credit music cranks up?
ART: Ari tells Mrs. Ari with unbridled glee that his new offices will "make the Endeavor building look like a Dunkin' Donuts." Just how majestic will the new Gold standard of agencies have to be to surpass Endeavor's?
LIFE: Pretty damn impressive. Endeavor, of course, is the agency that Ari Emanuel works for, and their two-floor offices on Wilshire Boulevard – Beverly Hills' biggest single floor space at 27,000 square feet per floor and 70,000 total – have gotten heaps of praise for its sleek, white-on-white interior design by LA architect Neil Denari. And Ari (and the wife) better be willing to shell out: The legendary 100,000-sq. ft. IM Pei-designed offices of Creative Artists Agency (just down the street from Endeavor's) are reportedly valued at more than $50 million.
ART: The boys tell Vince he's been compared to "Terrell Owens," though Ari tries to make him feel better by saying that "Aquaman 2" will make "'Speed 2' look like 'Citizen Kane.'" What's with all the comparisons?
LIFE: Terrell Owens, of course, is the former Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver who got fired mid-season by his team for being a football divo and becoming more of a pain in the butt than they could endure. And "Speed 2: Cruise Control" was one of the most derided sequels in sequel history – and the original movie's leading man, Keanu Reeves, was replaced before filming by the unlucky Jason Patric.
ART: Actor Seth Green approaches Eric as he goes to look for Tori on the roof of the Standard Hotel in downtown LA, and says that his sitcom got canceled because no one bought "four guys in their 30s living together." What is he talking about?
LIFE: The writers cleverly reference Green's real-life sitcom "Four Kings," which was in fact about four lifelong buddies living together in the same house (sound at all familiar?). The show got canceled after just seven episodes, and, indeed, some reviewers thought the show was a poor clone of "Entourage."