Entourage: Let's Blog It Out

By Mark La Monica

We gave you categories. We gave you nominees. You voted. Now, we give you the winners of the Season 4 Joshie Awards, honoring excellence in "Entourage."

Best Johnny Drama Moment

We knew it once we saw it for the first time, but in the interests of democracy, we provided a few other options. It didn't matter. Drama in the bunny suit with the furry smoked the competition with 46.9 percent of the vote.

Best Random Hot Chick

This was a hotly contested battle, but eeking out the win by two votes was Kat, Billy Walsh's girlfriend. She squeaked by the village girl from "Medellin" (played by Sofia Vergara), 29.2 percent - 28.7 percent. Anyone else interested in seeing those two battle it out in an "I Demand a Recount!" no disqualification match on Monday Night Raw?

Best Storyline

It seems the personal life of Ari Gold struck a chord with people besides me. With 36.8 percent of the vote, Ari Gold doing whatever he can to get his kid into private school won this Joshie.

Best Location

No shocker here. Cannes stuffed the other nominees in a crepe and hit them with a baguette . . . and 53.8 percent of your votes.
Cannes (161 responses)

Best Guest Star

No doubt fueled by his brilliant performance in the final episode, Adam Goldberg (Nicky Rubinstein on the show) stormed past Anna Faris for this Joshie. "Line up some rails, we're celebrating!" with 34 percent of the vote, compared with Anna Faris' 26.5.

Best Character You Want to See More of

Sexy lingerie scenes vs. sexy powerful business woman scenes. It's a tough decision, evidenced by Mrs. Ari's five-vote win over Dana Gordon for this Joshie. Final margin: 31.7 percent to 30.3 percent.

Best Overall Performance

Not even close! Ari Gold set a Joshies record with 83.7 percent of the vote.

Best Ari Gold Moment

Despite the sketch on the dashboard, Ari lying to Lloyd's boyfriend Tom brought home 31.3 percent of your votes for this Joshie.

Best Scene

We knew it once we saw it for the first time, but in the interests of democracy, we provided a few other options. It didn't matter. Drama in the bunny suit with the furry smoked the competition with 34.2 percent of the vote.

Best Episode

We knew it once we saw it for the first time, but in the interests of democracy, we provided a few other options. It didn't matter. "The Day ----ers," aka the bunny suit/furry episode, smoked the competition with 42.4 percent of the vote. Honorable mention to "Sorry, Harvey" and its 36.7 showing in the polls. Turtle's Harvey impersonation still makes us laugh.

Recap these and the inaugural Joshies.

By Mark La Monica

In perhaps his finest work to date (and that's saying a lot), Ari Gold secured his second Big Knish Award for the most Best Printable Lines on Season 4 of "Entourage."

So stand up at your desk and give a round of applause to the man who said, among other things, "Do you know that your man broke out of the Oompah Loompah factory and is up to no good?"

I also suggest an old-school tribute: Walk around your office and whisper "Tse tse fly" to everyone you see.

This is the first solo Big Knish for Ari, who shared the Season 3 title with Turtle.

By Mark La Monica

The international love affair, whether consummated for three hours on a French beach or not at all, is as time-honored and respected by Americans nearly as much as the "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" mantra.

If "International Love Affair" fit on a T-shirt, it would be right up there in the pantheon of Americana with apple pie, baseball, Betsy Ross and "These Colors Don't Run."

This would help explain why we loved the Drama storyline in the Season 4 finale.

We've got the BPL and the Writer Props and the new season in review photo gallery below, as per usual.

Here's a quick reminder of what's ahead this week. (Just because Season 4 is over doesn't mean we're done!)

Tuesday: The Big Knish Award ceremony (2 p.m.)
Wednesday: The Joshie Award nominees are announced and the voting begins (4 p.m.)
Thursday: Voting for the "Pick the plotline for Jessica Biel in Season 5" poll ends (Noon)

By Mark La Monica

For a television comedy to film in Cannes during the actual film festival is pretty impressive. As was that epic scene of the guys walking the red carpet and up the stairs for the screening. Great filming right there.

And prior to that walk up the carpet, we had delivery of this week's Best Printable Line. In a show that was as much about Drama as it was about Cannes and "Medellin," it's fitting that Drama would deliver the BPL.

Just before reconnecting with his French paramour outside the theater, he's lamenting about losing her. E suggests that it's his celebrity status that landed him a hot and horny Jacqueline.

"Nobody's ever wanted to sleep with me just because I'm a celebrity," Drama said in a tone that was part touching and part pure Drama. "It makes me feels wanted and validated all at the same time."

Well done, Drama.

Ari Gold wrapped up the Big Knish Award for Season 4 last week. The e-ceremony will be held Tuesday afternoon at 2 p.m. Don't miss it!

By Mark La Monica

"Medellin" bombed, just as E (and Raul the film editor) predicted way back in the beginning of Season 4. (He must have read the script for this finale beforehand, huh?)

So, what's next?

We've heard about "Medellin" since Season 2 and now it's a clunker of "Gigli" proportions, at least in the French sector of the movie-viewing world.

Will Harvey actually buy it for a buck and re-cut it? Will it be shelved and never be spoken about next season? So many ways to go with the storyline.

What do you think? Use the comments function here to post your thoughts on the fate of "Medellin."

By Mark La Monica

In today's world, finding love has been made easier by Web sites such as match.com, eharmony.com and similar sites. Heck, even MySpace counts to some degree.

Finding a lost love has not quite been simplified by the Internet, Google notwithstanding. However, Drama taught us that such specific technology is not too far behind.

He combed the streets of Cannes searching for his Jacqueline using a picture he took on his cell phone. Simple. yet smart. The perfect way to wrap up this season of Writer Props.

(P.S. BPL rules prevented us from awarding the Writer Props to that ice statue in the second Lloyd scene.)

Read all Writer Props from Season 4.

By Mark La Monica

A little visual treat for you to help ease the pain of Entourage Season 4 ending. Click the pic below to recap the season in photos.

Entourage Season 4 photos

• See more Entourage photos

By Mark La Monica

We here at "Entourage, the blog" have never hidden our enjoyment over seeing Billy Walsh on screen.

However, we here at "Entourage, the blog" realize that we are not the definitive voice on this topic, even though we like to think we are. (We also like to think we're the definitive voice of our generation.)

Ultimately, the final word on crazy director Billy Walsh rests with viewers of the show. In a Walsh-like moment of low self-esteem and self-confidence, I Googled myself. After a few rounds of clicking and clicking and clicking, I stumbled upon an E! Online message board where people bashed Billy Walsh.

Two thoughts popped into my head:

1) These people have an agenda.
2) I wonder what my readers think about Walsh.

So, here's your chance to share your thoughts on Billy Walsh. Use the comments link below. Let's hear it. Blog it out!

P.S. You've got until Thursday at noon to vote for your preferred Season 5 guest star.

By Mark La Monica

This world is getting crazier . . . and smaller . . . by the day.

A few weeks back, I e-wondered aloud how many of these random names in "Entourage" are actually people the writers know. Blog reader Dave gave us the inside scoop back then. This week, he's at it again.

Ari Gold needed a private plane to get him and the boys to Cannes after LAX shut down. (P.S. Blog reader Blastmaster claims you should only fly in to or out of Burbank or Orange County. He works with air traffic controllers, so trust him.)

Ari told Lloyd to call Kenny Dichter and get him a private plane. Blog reader Dave then posted this comment:

"Kenny Dichter - Bellmore Kennedy Class of '86. Starting guard on the basketball team."

I just did some research.

By Mark La Monica

For those who have bought into the hype (deservedly so) of "Entourage, the blog" and watch the show trying to guess what the Best Printable Line will be, you could have turned off your television two minutes into this week's episode.

Ari Gold dropped a bomb early.

The boys meet Ari and Billy Walsh at a bar to celebrate their departure for Cannes. Walsh lets it slip that Ari is bringing is Mrs. Ari with him to Cannes. Vinny is surprised and reminds Ari that this was supposed to be a boys trip.

"Vinny," Ari said, "when you get married, you'll realize a wife is like a herpes sore. She comes and goes when and where she pleases."

Wow.

(The views expressed by Ari Gold are solely that of Ari Gold and do not represent the views of "Entourage, the blog.")

By Mark La Monica

How does Turtle know Kanye West? Who really cares? That scene was hilarious.

Anyone else in that situation would not have been as good. Think of the juxtaposition. On one side, you've got Turtle, a go-fer/driver with no discernible job skills (but we love you anyway, Turtle). On the other, you've got Kanye West, a multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning rapper and producer.

Just plain funny. And just plain Writer Props.

As always, use the comments below to share your thoughts on how Turtle and Kanye West know each other.

Read this season's Writer Props.

By Mark La Monica

We've been big fans of Ari Gold since before he even asked if we wanted to hug it out. Heck, we even named the blog after his famous catchphrase from Season 1.

He's manipulative, condescending, arrogant, smug, conniving, smarmy and slimy. Then he shows signs of compassion. In short, he's brilliant.

And Dana Gordon is slowly growing into the female version of Ari.

By Mark La Monica

Apologies in retrospect for not creating the Joshie Awards until after Season 3.5. Such is life, I suppose.

But isn't there some kind of something that people who think of cool things late in the game say? Something about good things and the time it takes to be able to enjoy them?

Anyway, the Joshies are back!

The Joshies, named after (of course) an Ari Gold moment, salute the best in "Entourage" performance at the end of each season. We pick the categories and the nominees. You vote for the winners.

For those who need a refresher course on that scene and want to relive the last Joshie Awards, click here.

(P.S. Guess who's the happiest man in town since he only has 12 episodes to go through instead of 42 like when he created the inaugural Joshies that incorporated the entire series through the Season 3.5.)

The nominees for the Joshies will be announced at 3 p.m Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007. You will have one full week to vote as many times as you wish. The polls close at 3 p.m. Sept. 12. The winners of the second Joshie Awards will be announced Friday, Sept. 14 at noon. The red carpet arrivals are at 11 a.m. The afterparty is wherever you want it to be.

And now, here we go with the categories for this year's Joshies:

• Best Episode
• Best Scene
• Best Storyline
• Best Overall Performance by a Character
• Best Random Hot Chick
• Best Location
• Best Ari Gold Moment
• Best Character You Want to See More of
• Best Johnny Drama Moment
• Best Guest Star

By Mark La Monica

Just a a quick note to let my dear readers know what's ahead on Tuesday.

In the morning, we'll be announcing this year's categories for the Joshie Awards.

In the afternoon, we'll have some fun with Dana Gordon.

Sorry about not doing this on Sunday night, but I was at a five-hour Long Island guido fist-pump festival. You may know it better as KTU Beatstock.

Sorry about not doing this on Monday, but I actually took a day off this summer to relax and enjoy golf on Long Island.

By Mark La Monica

If not for her brief dalliance as a potty mouth, Anna Faris would have become the first real-life guest star to take home a Best Printable Line title for that Randy Jackson line.

But alas, no cursing allowed here. Such is life.

So, once we sift through the clean lines, we're left with Ari Gold. And not surprisingly, E was on the receiving end of a Golden zinger.

E was missing in action for the first time as the crew went into crisis mode. No one could reach E, who was on an Anna Faris photo shoot in the Hills and has no cell phone reception.

He eventually reaches a reception spot and checks in with Ari, who then spouts out "Wow, it's like finding Jim Morrison alive."

That's quite good, especially in a show that didn't produce too many potential BPLs.

By Mark La Monica

Walsh locking himself in a bathroom with whiskey and a gun came close. But we've come to expect such actions from the director gone mad.

Instead, Writer Props this week salutes the inclusion of Ari Gold locking Dana Gordon out of her boss' office while he pitches the new Walsh script.

It was the perfect move for a slimy, lovable agent.

Read the rest of this season's Writer Props

By Mark La Monica

Aside from writing about "Entourage," one of my other gigs here at Newsday.com is to host ExploreTV.

It's a weekly show online that features different places and things to do for people on Long Island. I'm not much of a self-promoter, well, at least not in this blog, but here's an email I got from Blog It Out reader Deb:

OMG Mark, I just saw you on Explore TV....I'm so excited to put my Entourage man with a face!!!

It was a video with the Bayport Amusement park . . . and the BPL of all time was
"Why am I soaking wet with my guy liner all messed up"!!!

Nice to meet a guy that knows what us women go thru!!!

Keep up the great work!!

Did Blog reader Deb just throw a BPL at me from my own show? Blog reader Deb just threw a BPL at me from my own show!

Amazing! Deb, we gotta hang out.

For those interested in watching me be ridiculous on a weekly basis, click here.

By Mark La Monica

The dude or dudette who invented the nasty cliche about jealousy rearing its ugly head clearly never met Perrey Reeves or saw her as Mrs. Ari/Kendall Scott parading around in her unmentionables.

Seriously, can you blame Ari for not wanting another man getting within 20 feet of her?

But I digress.

By Mark La Monica

Ever notice how, in life, the last friend you get to join you for a potential mass hookup is always a lemon?

Sometimes we get stuck with the lemon and sometimes, and let's be honest here, we ARE the lemon. And if Turtle is comfortable with that scenario, then so should we all.

Why does life deal us an 8 followed by a 3 so we can double-down and smacked in the face with a 4? There are no answers to this question, except to put another green chip in the circle and hope the dealer is feeling nicer the next time around.

By Mark La Monica

Just three episodes left in Season 4 and Drama is right back in the mix for yet another Big Knish Award.

His work in this week's episode pulled the three-time Knish winner within one of co-leaders Ari Gold and Turtle. It's going to be a heated race in the final weeks.

In an episode short on BPL nominees, Drama iced it when Turtle came back from the supermarket with a carload full of food and women.

As Turtle led the three ladies into the new digs, Drama mutters under his breath to Vince: "Looks like someone came home with fresh meat from the market."

He wasn't talking about the food.

Victory!

By Mark La Monica

It's such a basic statement among men that this week's Writer Props likely went unnoticed and unappreciated . . . until now.

Early on in the episode, the guys are hanging outside on the deck of their new home when E comes after getting into a car accident with Anna Faris.

Drama believes E doesn't have a chance to get with her and makes a typical male statement about betting the left side of his package to be proved correct or incorrect. We've all said it. None of us mean it.

Then Turtle responds sarcastically, "Gee, there's a bet I'd love to win."

It was a great, original response to a throwaway line we all use. And it begs the question, what happens if you actually win that bet? Or worse, lose the bet?

Ouch.

Read the rest of this season's Writer Props

By Mark La Monica

He gave us Turtle Bunny.

He gave us Dom.

He gave us many of the Best Printable Lines we champion each week here (and quite a few of the best quotes that we can't reprint here.)

He's Rob Weiss, an executive producer and writer on "Entourage."

Weiss, who grew up on Long Island before moving out to Los Angeles, dialed into our "Entourage, the blog" offices this week for an interview. I asked him a bunch of questions. Some of those questions were mine, some were the ones you emailed me. He answered them all.

By Mark La Monica

Just a handful of episodes left in Season 4 of Entourage, and we've got ourselves a tie at the top of the Best Printable Line Standings.

After Episode 8's performance, Turtle moved into a deadlock with Ari Gold for the Big Knish Award, given to the character the most BPLs each season.

Turtle's work went like this:

By Mark La Monica

If old-school WWF announcer Gorilla Monsoon were doing play-by-play of this blog, this is where he would utter his famous phrase of "The irresistable force meets the immovable object."

And really, when Best Printable Line and Writer Props come this close to converging, it's about as earth-shattering as King Kong Bundy going up against Andre the Giant in "The Colossal Jostle" at Madison Square Garden in September of 1985.

By Mark La Monica

I normally don't get involved with the coming attractions for next week's show (I have media access to future episode info, but I refuse to read them).

However, if anyone would like to discuss Mrs. Ari in lingerie, I'm all ears.

D.G.

Dangerously. Gorgeous.

Dear. God.

I'm going to need a few more minutes than normal before sifting through the episode for Best Printable Line and Writer Props. My mind is not operating at full capacity after those scenes.

By Mark La Monica

To answer your biggest question from last week, Heather the British chick that hooks up with E was played by Emma Lung.

She's an Australian actress who won the Graham Kennedy Award For Most Outstanding New Talent at the 2007 Logie Awards.

I have no idea what any of that means. However, peep the Emma Lung IMDB profile here.

By Mark La Monica

In light of recent events here at Entourage, the blog, I figured it's time to beg, plead, pander and beg, plead and pander for your votes.

We set an Entourage blog record with 67,513 hits in July. Woo hoo! Now, I'm asking for your help in sending me to Las Vegas. Don't worry, it won't cost you any money at all. Or frequent flyer miles.

By Mark La Monica

You guys and gals rock! As if you didn't already know that.

And as if you didn't already know this Entourage blog kicks some serious patoot (damn those BPL rules!), July 2007 will go down as a glorious month on our calendar.

With 67,513 hits to the blog last month, we set a new "Entourage, the blog" record.

I promise to keep rocking and rolling if you promise to keep reading. Let's go for 80,000 next month. Tell your friends. Tell your parents. Heck, read my stuff every day, again and again. Really, I don't mind.

Victory!

By Mark La Monica

After watching Drama drop a "Judy Galipnick" on Turtle outside the furry's house, I wondered aloud in this blog how many of these random names we hear on "Entourage" aren't so random. How many are people the show creators know somehow?

Blog reader Dave L. from D.C. injected some truth serum into my random tought. Here's his blog post about it. Pretty funny stuff.

I love it when I'm right.

By Mark La Monica

It may very have been the most perfectly acted scene in the history of "Entourage." Not the funniest, just so we're clear, but the most perfectly acted.

E runs into Sloan at the pool at the W Hotel in Westwood while he's flirting with Heather the hot British chick.

He approached Sloan to say hello. It was awkward. Always is. The dialogue went like this:

E: "Sloan, this is Juliette."

Heather: "Heather."

E: "Wow. Really."

It continued from there, but you get the point. It always happens that way. You never get anything right the first time you run into an ex, except of course for the ex's name.

Why?

Click the thumbnail below for the larger image, then save it to your desktop. Better yet, save it to someone else's desktop. (P.S. Boss friend Lil Jon is gonna be mad.)

By Mark La Monica

It had been a crazy seven-day, 489-hour week of work for me, one of those weeks where you know on Tuesday that the only time you'll have to relax is on Sunday night at 10 p.m.

Praying for a memorable 30-minute break from reality (OK, 25-27 minutes) the past six days, the good people of "Entourage" answered those prayers.

They delivered with one of those random plotline episodes (except for Ari Gold and the private school) that maximizes the escapism I was seeking.

So, here we go with random thoughts from this episode, the title of which does not agree with Best Printable Line guidelines.

By Mark La Monica

With great dialogue being spewn every other line in this episode, the Sunday night Best Printable Line judges had to sift through and find words that were actually printable.

After a brief consult with the BPL magistrate, we decided that Drama produced the line that was both the best and printable.

As the guys debate E's ability to have non-emotional sex, Drama finally put his foot down and staked his claim to this week's BPL, his first of Season 4.

"All people need to get laid, except that whackjob who only needs a good book, a cup of tea and a nice long hug."

Well done, Drama.

By Mark La Monica

Will the person or persons who sat in on the creation of this episode and said, "Let's put Turtle in a giant pink bunny outfit" please show yourself immediately?

You are in need of being interviewed. And we are in need of paying postage to send you your Writer Props for this week.

By Mark La Monica

He makes things happen. Some bad, some good, all hilarious.

He says a lot of things. Some bad, some good, all hilarious.

He shows emotion. Some bad, some good, all hilarious.

He's Ari Gold, our Sunday night savior.

By Mark La Monica

The next time you broker a deal at work or negotiate a truce with your wife or mediate a dispute between friends, you will use this line.

That is the essence of Best Printable Line. And for the third time in four weeks, Ari Gold embodies the true spirit of the BPL.

After getting Heath Ledger off the "Lost in the Clouds" project and replacing him with Vincent Chase and the "Medellin Dream Team," he tells E to go meet with Dana Gordon.

E balks at working with Walsh again. Ari is having none of that lip from E when he ends the conversation with, "I parted the Red Sea for you, E. Don't piss on the sand."

Footnote Mr. Gold accordingly upon your frequent usage of that line this week. And that dude at cafepress who keeps creating new shirts based off "Entourage" each week, feel free to print my URL on the left sleeve of that shirt.

Season 4 Best Printable Line Standings
Ari Gold 3
Turtle 2
Vince 1
E 0
Drama 0
Billy Walsh 0