entourage vs californication

well done

I choose neither

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_IlNbsILLE

David Duchovny shirtless and banging teenagers is skeevier than allusions to Adrian Grenier banging starlets, I'll go w/ Entourage.

I tried watching Entourage once and didn't find any of the characters interesting or enjoyable

I can't not watch David Duchovny

Entourage was fairly fun for a season or two. Californication was too pompous and gross for me to enjoy.

yeah, pretty much. Entourage had its moments. Californication is just vile in this smug, verbose way that vaguely resembles 'well written television' without ever remotely having any merit beyond hey we're on cable check out the boobs.

It's like a soft-core Juno or something.

I think you're looking for 'serious television' and deluding yourself into thinking Entourage had moments of that when in fact we're talking about pulpy shit, which Californication has moments of and I never even felt like watching Entourage so why am I typing

I don't think that Californication has ever stepped back from the idea that the main character is the moral focus, even when he's obviously a fucking trainwreck of cliche, where you're trying to tell me that Entourage has some self-aware moral center of nougat to chew on.

When did we ever claim that?

We said it was "fun"

Juno

oh wait that was about the other, never mind, SOD

btw how do you get "fun" out of dudes constantly harranguing each other about whether they are dudely enough

I thought you said you never watched it?

are you saying that the one episode I did watch was different?

I enjoyed the first few seasons of Entourage for its overripe LA fantasy of luxury and pleasure but man it was bad. Never saw cali forrnication.

Loved Zach galifiniakis's dismissal of entourage: 'I don't walk around with guys in slow motion"

No clue which one you watched so cant really say either way. There wasn't too much depth to the show, sure, but there was more to it than some bros just sitting around flexing and willy measuring all day. I got invested in the characters enough on some level to stick around for a few seasons. Jeremy Piven was "fun" for a while. Getting a glimpse into the young Hollywood lavish lifestyle was what got me interested initially. I really dont have a desire to defend it thoroughly because it doesnt really deserve it, I just know that I liked it a lot more than the other show itt.

i like the mythos of the dissolute writer better than the hard-partying star, but they're basically both wish-fulfillment fantasies from the same basic place. i seem to recall that californication was actually trying to be sort of interesting early on.

on some level all the half-hour cable comedy/dramas are sort of cut from the 'weeds' template, no? like big soapy twists and just enjoying the ability to depict sex + violence in sort of extreme ways and then not taking any of it too seriously. and like 'weeds' there's initially some sort of vague hook in terms of juxtaposition of drugs + suburbs or whatever as at least somewhat meaningful and then by season two or so they just start meandering randomly.

Warren G vs. Warren Z

young rich new york douchebags in hollywood vs. old rich new york douchebags in venice

Yeah definitely would not defend Entourage as serious TV or quality TV or w/e, just think Johnny Drama was one of the funniest sitcom idiots on TV for a couple years, before that was outweighed by how annoying E was or how blank Vinny was.

they're really both probably working toward some baseline of homoerotic jokes and male privilege

Susan Sarandon's daughter was the hottest woman to appear on either show.

so I guess, given the material, that's a point in Californication's favor

^^^ indeed

also as far as i know you never see natascha mcelhone's boobs, which means the show is practically art, the serious kind, not the weird european kind where you see everyone's boobs

californication's mawkish sentimentality leans towards true love, maturity, and family, at least, while entourage's towards eternally-youthful bromance. for whatever thats worth.

also grrrl empowerment through guitar lessons

love, maturity, family, masturbating in front of nannies

becca's character is one of the best things on the show.

californication has made me laugh -- though much more often at Evan Handler and Pamela Adlon than at Duchovny -- though i do feel a bit soiled for watching it.

all Entourage makes me want to do is fly to California and roundhouse kick everyone involved.

I was thinking about the new yorker thing a bit more and decided to look on wikipedia and holy shit, nearly everyone involved in these two shows is from new york. actors & producers. seems like the only real angeleno representin is "mad skillz" scotty caan. lol

they do play that up in hank californication's backstory a fair bit.

yeah, entourage too.

I feel like entourage is the somewhat better and more realistic show, even if the characters are totally vile. californication is on some level more likable but I think less self aware? like the whole point of entourage is that everyone is a douchebag, but the people involved in californication actually think hank moody is cool?

the most annoying aspect of californication is this middle aged family man fantasy where he can sleep around all he likes because his wife cheated first and anyway they were never actually married. but he still gets to sleep with her occasionally and be with his family and have it both ways.

the depressed deep wasted writer thing is such a middle aged fantasy cliche. _moody_, do you see?

on the other hand i feel like as cliches go at least this is one that's gotten relatively more play in movies and in books as opposed to in tv serials.

this is silly, but one of the things that made me wretch wr2 Entourage was the fact that one of the characters was called "Turtle." i mean, what sort of grown man calls himself "Turtle" -- or allows other people (esp. his "friends") to call him "Turtle"?!? had he no shame?!?!?

Entourage was definitely a guilty pleasure of mine. Think I finished the third season before giving up on it.

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Entourage hit rock bottom when it stopped being fun lifestyle porn and Vince got addicted to drugs with the porn star and the little dude's life got serious and shit.

also when she completely couldn't act.

Entourage got terrible well before that. in fact it was kind of lol how flimsy and unconvincing the show's "dark" period was.

"hey the guy who's barely been convincing as a mild-mannered happy-go-lucky actor for 6 seasons? let's give him some demons now, i think he's ready"

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Do you people think Dream On was a good show or something?