Creator of HBO's 'Entourage' says the show's legacy has been tarnished by 'PC culture' backlash
Despite "Entourage" being one of the most successful series ever on HBO — its look at Hollywood in the early 2000s garnered acclaim and Emmy wins (several for Jeremy Piven as tyrannical super-agent Ari Gold) — the show's creator Doug Ellin believes its legacy has been tarnished by "PC culture."
Since the show wrapped up its eight-season run in 2011 and had a movie in 2015, Hollywood has been reexamined thanks to the #OscarsSoWhite and #MeToo movements. With it, a show like "Entourage," which wore its racy material on its sleeve as it followed a famous actor (played by Adrian Grenier) and his friends (Kevin Connolly, Kevin Dillon, Jerry Ferrara) navigating the entertainment business and often encountered scantily-clad women, is now being reexamined.
Ellin told Yahoo that the criticism it's since faced has led to HBO giving him the cold shoulder.
"I resent it tremendously," Ellin told Yahoo's Ethan Alter recently on how the network has treated him since the show went off the air.
"Nobody says that about 'The Sopranos,' where they murder people, that maybe we should readdress whether murdering people on TV is OK," Ellin continued. "I don't want to sound obnoxious or that I'm looking at 'Entourage' as high art, but it was a pretty accurate portrayal of how people [acted] at that time in Hollywood."
The show, which was loosely based on Mark Wahlberg's rise to fame, was often criticized for its misogynistic portrayal of women and acceptance of Hollywood's toxic culture. But Ellin doesn't see "Entourage" like that.
"I don't think 'Entourage' was this vulgar boyfest that people like to paint it as now," he said. "When we came out, The New York Times said we were the smartest show on television! If we did reboot the show, it's not that I would make it any more PC, but I would write it to the best of my abilities to reflect the reality of the world right now."
But a reboot is hardly on the cards over at HBO, the way Ellin sees it. In fact, he said he can't get the network to greenlight another of his show ideas.
"I did a pilot with Michael Imperioli, Michael Rappaport and Ed Burns that [HBO] passed on, which I'll never forgive them for," he said. "Whether they thought it was good or not, I earned my chance to have a second shot, and they put some other pretty crappy shows on [instead]."
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