I don’t have cable, and so I haven’t seen the trendy tv show “Entourage,” wherein tv viewers follow the adventures of a rising Hollywood hunk and his (what else?) entourage of old neighborhood pals/wannabe stars and his agent. The (apparently insane) agent is played by the talented Jeremy Piven, who’s being profiled in all the magazines these days. He’s in Time, Entertainment Weekly, and so on. He has this energy, charisma, and charm. I particularly got a kick out of this Associated Press interview, wherein Piven makes a reference to one of his old tv shows:
Q: Are you interested in writing or directing?
Piven: I’d love being part of the process more. I came into this late in the game, into “Entourage.” The last time I did TV I was a producer of my own show called “Cupid” on ABC. We shot for a season and it was just an amazing learning experience. Then I had to shift into another mode, which is just an actor for hire. I really want to contribute, so I try to pitch things whenever I can. All you can do is throw things out into the universe and hope that maybe, in the spirit of collaboration, they will at least be received in a good way.
Ohmigod. “Cupid” got a reference! It was an ABC cancelled show, only one season, where Piven played a man who claims to be Cupid and sets up these couples, but driving his cynical therapist (played by Paula Marshall) nuts because she distrusts his methods. Sort of a romantic version of X-Files, with Piven playing the Mulder Believer and Marshall the Scully Scientist. The chemistry between Marshall and Piven was cute, and Piven was amazing, playing quite a character (Cupid was nuts – people mistook him for the musician Dave Matthews – and this was when Piven really did resemble Dave Matthews; and maybe – just maybe – he really was Cupid!). I was so mad at ABC for cancelling it (this was back in the struggling for ratings days of ABC). In fact, I wrote ABC a letter. They sent me a post card saying “thanks” and that was it. So, it’s nice to see Piven’s tv career is going well (I believe his movie career was fine; never hurts to be a solid character actor). I just wish it wasn’t on cable…
Ok, anyway, so in the wonderful world of comics, “Doonesbury” did a little dig at the whole MIT-hacking the poll that has Alex Doonesbury’s storyline apparently resolving to send her to MIT this fall. It’s not clear that Alex is all that happy that she’ll be going, but Trudeau gets to poke fun at MIT for hacking his on-line poll.
Classic Peanuts is running the storyline of how Charlie Brown got his sister, Sally the past two weeks. Saturday’s edition has Snoopy dealing with a bird who has Woodstock’s attitude. Woodstock’s precursor form?
In “Blondie,” one wonders if Dagwood will really pursue his dream to have his own sandwich shop, as the comic strip has him seriously considering it. Kind of weird to imagine Dagwood not being kicked around anymore by Boss Dithers. But, wouldn’t Dagwood be competing with Blondie’s catering company? Hmm. Maybe he and Blondie should join forces in their own food company. At least Dagwood would be out of the whole corporate cog stuff.