The TV Zone

As you know, 6th season of "Entourage" is this Sunday, and HBO gave up the first two episodes for review.

Bottom line: I loved 'em. Show's as good as ever; better even than that.

Vince, as you also probably know, is back on top again because the Scorsese re-imagining of "Gatsby" is a success (at least the reviews are; we don't know about the BO is just yet).

Meanwhile, he's on the promotion circuit. Here's the clip of "Leno." Yes, it has a certain yesteryear feel to it insofar as Jay is no longer at the "Tonight Show," but maybe we should all pretend this is Jay at 10.

Clip on the jump is (I believe) Turtle's obsession with Seth Rogen.

Continue reading ""Entourage:" The Leno Clip" »

It's not often we at 'Zone' drift down the Great White Way, but this is about Jeremy Piven, and this post is most definitely worth making an exception for: He's quit Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow" after missing a couple of performances.

Still out partying with Brit, were we, Jer?

Or recovering from the partying (after all, Brit will only turn 27 once, right?).

The truth, in fact, is even stranger, as it so often is. He says he's got a high mercury count.

Here's the top of the Variety piece. Mamet's quotes are priceless:

"Piven has informed the producers that he hasn’t been feeling well and that the condition is attributable to a high mercury count.

"The show’s producers weren’t returning calls, but Daily Variety reached out to David Mamet, who wrote the showbiz satire and seemed skeptical of the reasons for Piven’s departure.

“I talked to Jeremy on the phone, and he told me that he discovered that he had a very high level of mercury,” Mamet said. “So my understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer.”

"Mamet indicated that the show will go on despite Piven’s exit.

(Photo from Getty, taken when mercury count was lower.)

The special treat for me concerning last night's "Entourage" finale -- as brilliant a homecoming episode as it gets (check out Dr. LaMonica's peerless recap here) -- was seeing Louis Lombardi alive and well in the guest role as Turtle's Cousin Ronnie, who convinces Drama to make an investment in his Queens gin mill. (Cousin Ronnie had appeared previously, in a 2007 episode, nudging Turtle to make a shady investment with him.)

But I'll always remember Lombardi as the nerdy, but lovable CTU computer whiz Edgar Stiles on "24." And as you recall, poor Edgar, so beloved by viewers, was shockingly killed off in season five when he was trapped in a locked-down CTU HQ during a nerve-gas attack. No one saw that coming.

Before that he had a recurring role on "The Sopranos" playing fed agent Skip Lipari, the guy Big Pussy had been reporting to. He's also gonna be in the upcoming, much-anticipated holiday movie "The Spirit.'"

And btw, Lombardi got no props last night at least as HBO's credits go. They hyped up big-name guests like Marty Scorsese, Gus Van Sant, Mercedes Ruehl and Jamie-Lynn Sigler, but not our favorite Bronx-born character actor.

When HBO spins off Drama into his own NY-set series, I want Cousin Ronnie to be a regular!

photo of Louis Lombardi as Edgar Stiles courtesy Fox.