Friday, May 07, 2010

Why Entourage Casting Sasha Grey Is A Cynical Move



Television critics of the future will have a difficult time pinpointing the precise moment in which HBO's Entourage became culturally irrelevant. I have argued, I hope convincingly, that the show jumped the shark sometime in 2008. This cynical hiring -- equivalent to hiring Ted McGinley during the 70s -- proved without a shadow of a doubt that the show is indeed running on vapors. From NYPost:

Adrian Grenier will have his hands full on "Entourage" with porn star Sasha Grey. The X-rated actress meets Grenier's Vince Chase in a bar in the fifth episode and sticks around for the rest of next season. The plot was inspired by Charlie Sheen's affair with Ginger Lynn in the late '90s. "You can't believe she's a porn star when you meet her," Grenier told TV Guide. Grey already went mainstream when she starred in Steven Soderbergh's "The Girlfriend Experience" last year. "I wouldn't have done this storyline if Sasha passed," said "Entourage" creator Doug Ellin.


Cynical! Giving one of the guys a baby, then aging said tot ten years into a full-fledged speaking role during the course of the season would probably be a little less cynical, a little less stave-the-shark-jumping of a maneuver. It is nearly as cynical, we cannot fail to note, as posting a cheesecake-ish porn pose pic in the hopes of higher page views (a small closing cough of feigned detachment) ...

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