My Super Ex-Agent

Entourage returned in style last night (for it's season 3.5 premiere) and there was once again, plenty of great quotes, hidden (and not-so-hidden) cultural references, and a slew of fine hip-hop to boot.

First of all, the whole not-so-subtle metaphor of Ari as an ex-girlfriend was taken to such extremes, it was hard not to get caught up in each awkward moment between him and Vince. You just know they'll end up back together, but for now, seeing Jeremy Piven play Ari as a manic, rejected lover is going to be fun (while it lasts.)

Playlist: Entourage - Episode 313
Tracklisting

New agent Amanda (played by the delicious Carla Gugino) is feeding Vince 'nice' scripts, and they're zeroing in on an adaptation of Edith Wharton's The Glimpses of a Moon - which is, appropriately enough, about a poor couple living the high life mooching off their wealthy friends. When Amanda gives Ari the line of the night ("Want me to walk you to your car? This town's not safe for a bitch...") you can already see into the future that the tables are going to be turned soon enough. I just hope it's done without a mysognistic streak that the show sometimes falls trap to.

Did the billboard for Drama's new tv series (The Five Towns) look at all familiar? Probably not, since no one but me seemed to have been watching NBC's The Black Donnellys anyway, but the Irish brothers drama is an obvious reference to the series from Paul Haggis, who, by no coincidence, is directing Vince's dream project, Medellin (Haggis appeared on Entourage, episode 305, "Crash and Burn.")

Music-wise, since much of the story is about Vince's birthday party, the selection is party-centric. Great new hip-hop from Yung Joc and Twista are sprinkled between recent classics from Brand Nubian, Outkast, and N.E.R.D. The sounds of having fun... we know that will have to change somewhat as the series goes on.

HBO tracklisting with scene details

Previously: From Easy to Stranglehold in Twelve Acts (Season 3 on DVD)

tags: playlist, entourage, television, hbo, soundtrack, brand nubian, black donnellys, books, edith wharton, rap, hip-hop, yung joc, outkast, rhapsody

Soda bread and circus

This week really tests the luck of the Irish. The The Black Donnellys' episode that should've been shown this Monday night, episode 103 - "God is a Comedian", has been skipped over due to it being "too shocking." Instead they're showing episode 104 - "The World Will Break Your Heart," editing in a recap to keep you up to speed. You can still watch the skipped episode online, though, up through April 10, which you might want to do before tonight's episode (and if you've missed it entirely, all three episodes are still available online via NBC.com - what a better way to celebrate Irish America's week of stereotypes?)

What was so shocking? Well, it's nothing you haven't seen on an HBO drama before, but this is network television post-Janet Jackson's nipple, so even viewing someone getting hit by a bus after 10PM is a scary proposition for the networks. Instead, to at least appease the masses, we get it online, meanwhile, the show continues to be on the hot seat.

Meanwhile, we might as well look at the music for this episode NBC deemed alright to air, which features great artists like Doves, Frou Frou and Colin Hay. These artists are no stranger to the music on tv spotlight, as Doves' "Caught By the River" was a favorite on The O.C., while Colin Hay's post-Men at Work prospects have blossomed thanks to work on Zach Braff's Scrubs and Garden State.

Playlist: The Black Donnellys - Ep104
1. "Caught By The River" - Doves
2. "It's Good To Be In Love" - Frou Frou
3. "Boys Will Be Boys" - The Ordinary Boys
4. "Across the Water" - Aeone - Black Donnellys exclusive track
5. "In Your Own Way" - Caleb Kane
6. "Waiting For My Real Life To Begin" - Colin Hay

Previously: The Irish Like a Good Fight (episode 101)

tags: music, soundtrack, black donnellys, doves, nbc, colin hay, frou frou, rhapsody

We Irish like a good fight

Can an Oscar winner get a break? Last year Paul Haggis had finally made folks forget he was the creator of Walker, Texas Ranger by becoming first person in the history of the Academy Awards to write screenplays to back-to-back Best Picture Winners, for Crash and Million Dollar Baby.

Now he's back in television (along with Crash co-writer Bobby Moresco) with the NBC mid-season replacement series The Black Donnellys, and after it's premiere, there's already talk that it's in trouble. You see NBC is pitting Haggis' TBD up against Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 for that time slot. It's a cage match and whoever wins the ratings war, gets the prize of following Heroes. TBD's one advantage is that it's less expensive to make, so all they have to do is anywhere near Studio 60's weak ratings and they're in and Sorkin's out.

Playlist: The Black Donnellys - Pilot (Ep 101) (tracklisting)

Meanwhile, Haggis has had the headache of having to deal with complications to the soundtrack for the series. He wrote and edited the ending of the pilot to go along with the Arcade Fire song "Rebellion (Lies)" just assuming that they'd be able to get the rights to it later - it even made it on to promotional DVD pilots that were mailed out and available via Netflix (see video.) Well, Arcade Fire said no. So Haggis reportedly then flew to Montreal to try to convince the band to give him permission, but they still could not be convinced by the multiple Oscar winner. (via Stereogum)

Reminds me a bit of his appearance (as himself) on Entourage last season when he says (trying to sway Vince into a role,) "If I let contracts rule my life, I'd still be doing The Facts of Life rather than hanging with my boys." His boys of course being his Oscar awards.

So instead, Haggis approached Snow Patrol about using the song "Open Your Eyes" and of course the Grey's Anatomy music bitches said yes. Watching both back to back, I find that the replacement actually works better - as you know I love Arcade Fire, but it didn't seem like as good a fit.

While the pilot, which gets an encore airing tonight on NBC, got mixed reviews, I'll reserve my judgement for a few episodes. It supposedly is a follow-up to the series he penned back in '96 called EZ Streets, which plot and style-wise forshadowed HBO's great The Wire, and for that alone I say give it a chance (even if it comes at the cost of Studio 60.)

tags: music, soundtrack, lost, talking heads, shambala, petula clark rhapsody