Entourage

On HBO's critically acclaimed "Entourage," Jeremy Piven plays Ari Gold so convincingly that real Hollywood agents feel their skin crawl, experiencing the odd sensation the show is dramatizing their biographies. The sultans of Sunset Boulevard insist "Entourage" gives the most frighteningly real representation of high-powered talent agents since Tom Cruise revealed all the nooks and crannies in Jerry McGuire's character. "Entourage" producer Doug Ellin recently explained, "We always try to write the show starting with 'What's real?' not 'What's funny?,' " but the two questions may be opposite sides of the same coin, because uninitiated audiences find it belly-laugh-out-loud hilarious. "When you're on the inside like we are, good water-cooler television is hard to find," said Jay Sures, a partner at the United Talent Agency. "Entourage" compels the real Hollywood "ten-percenters" to engage in spirited discussions of the show's characters and situations, treating the fictions as if they were real colleagues and clients, because the work-a-day professionals willingly have suspended disbelief and taken Ari Gold into the fold. For the average cable subscriber, then, "Entourage" is the entre to life as a Hollywood insider.

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