Danger Beach: The Season Premiere of Entourage

It's not a secret that I intensely disliked the last season of Entourage. And to that you can certainly say, "lighten up!" It's true, I should. Even at its very best, Entourage was nothing more than a weekly dose of diverting fun. Who wouldn't want to hang out with Vincent Chase and his calvacade of man-boys, while they basked in their wealth of money, toys and women? It's the male fantasy come to life.

But the fourth season was a wash-out. The cloud of Medellin hung over the show like the smell of stale garbage. The fake film managed to take serious years off not just Vincent Chase's career, but also the show. It got to a point that I just didn't care at all about anything Entourage was doing.

I'm happy to report that based on one episode, it's clear that Doug Ellin and company felt that way too. The first episode of season five glorily stomps on Medellin's grave. Everyone, from Richard Roeper, to Eric, to even Vince, has something negative to say about the film (which incidentally was only released on DVD.) Rule one in getting back in your audiences good graces: have the characters say what your audience is already thinking. It's clear everyone can agree that season four, like Medellin, stunk.

With that all behind the show, Entourage was back to fulfilling the male fantasy that it so expertly taps into. Vince spent 3/4 of the episode on a self-imposed exile/vacation in Mexico, complete with mid-life crisis beard, two gorgeous women, lots of booze and Turtle. The beach scenes were the height of cheese, including one montage that featured a cookout that looked like a Noxzema commercial (complete with a busty woman coming out of the ocean holding two giant fish.) But who cares! It was all so fun and light and appealing that I put away my inner hater and just enjoyed it.

The premiere was everything Entourage should be. Ari yelled, Eric schemed (he's become Ari, Jr.), Drama preened, and Vince batted his eyelashes and made everyone around him swoon. But of all the characters, I was most happy to see Turtle return to his wise-cracking self. Sure, he's nothing more than a video game playing, porn watching, pot smoking sidekick. But, he's also hilarious. Witness his perfectly timed one liner at the very end of the episode. After Vince gets used as a ploy to lowball Emile Hirsch (don't ask), Drama decides to exact revenge on a studio head by breaking the windshield on one of the exec's many cars. After smashing it with a golf club, Drama throws a dead fish onto the hood, prompting Turtle, with the detached amusement of an audience member, to state, "What are you? The Godfather?"

For one night, Entourage was back. Shockingly, I'm excited to see where this fifth season goe