Why I Love Entourage

I was in my twenties when I arrived in California in the seventies, fresh from the hardscrabble Rust Belt. Back then, I had a bushel basket-sized Jewish Afro, ripped-up jeans, a Frank Zappa T-shirt, and a smashed-in Nash Rambler that broke down almost as soon as I arrived in Los Angeles. Eight months later, I was a Hollywood writer on a hit show with millions of people seeing my name scroll by on the credits.

Back in Detroit, I was unemployable. Family members referred to me as "the bum", and that was one of the kinder names. I had no prospects, no girlfriends, no money, and no life. I had just lost my $112 a week job with the city of Detroit, and there was nowhere to go but down. I sent letters all over the country to old friends who had landed in Denver, Dallas, Seattle, Manhattan, and Los Angeles. Only two responded to my pleas for help. A semi-girlfriend living in a roach-ridden basement dive apartment in New York offered me a place to crash, but I was already living in a roach-ridden dive apartment in inner city Detroit. The other offer was from a friend I had known since I was ten. He was going through a divorce and had an empty bedroom in his house on a hill in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles.

Needless to say, I was off to California, the land of my dreams. If there were roaches in his house, they would be clean and wearing leisure suits.

Eight months later, through a twist of fate, I broke into Hollywood. I was making more than $112 a week ... a lot more. And I was young. I suddenly had girlfriends ... and they were beautiful and willing. I moved to a house in the hills below the "Hollywood" sign and I had parties with dope that was much much better than the dope I had in Detroit.

I had made it.

For obvious reasons, "Entourage" struck a strong chord with me from the first episode on. While I never made as big a Hollywood splash as Vince and his blue collar Queens buddies, the series has brought back a time in my life when I was young, had nothing to lose, and a seemingly limitless future.

"Entourage" also celebrates the value of old friends who watch your back in good times and bad. I would never have been able to escape Detroit and a probable disastrous fate if it hadn't been for the generosity of an old friend.

While the character I can most relate to is "Turtle", Kevin Dillon's "Drama" is the one that steals every scene. He's a kind-of-dumb almost-has-been Hollywood guy that's on the verge of a comeback.

Personal experiences aside, "Entourage" is a well-written, perfectly cast, and superbly acted show; and it could be the series that saves HBO's bacon after "The Sopranos" finale.