It seems the party is almost over for HBO’s Entourage. Word is, the series will draw to a close next year with a shortened season and a movie will finish out the story on the big screen.
Entourage follows the story of an up-and-coming actor played by Adrian Grenier, and his small group of friends as they ride his coattails to fame, fortune and a seemingly endless stream of willing females. The Hollywood Reporter posted the news, stating that the announcement came from HBO programming president Michael Lombardo. The series is currently airing its seventh season and according to the Reporter, the eighth will be its last. The final season will be just six episodes, which will air in 2011, after which the story continue on the big screen, not unlike Sex and the City (except perhaps without such a huge gap between the end of the series and the continuation of the story).
"The plan right now is we'll finish up this season, we'll do a shorter order for next season, we've talked about six," said Michael Lombardo, HBO programming president. "[Creator Doug Ellin] is appropriately reserving -- he wants to write a film, but wants to do it when the story will make sense. He's pitched other shows to us. I will expect that within the next couple years [he'll have another show on HBO]. But Entourage next summer will definitely be the final season."
Entourage is a series of habit for me as I discovered seasons ago that I don’t really like the characters all that much (with the exception of Drama.) Alright, so we’re not really supposed to like Ari but even the love-to-hate-him thing wore off for me seasons ago. By comparison to some of the fascinating, funny and/or complex characters on TV, Vincent Chase pales dramatically, which is about the only thing he does dramatically.
I’ll see the series through to it’s very brief final season, but I can’t say I’m overly disappointed that the show is wrapping up. As for the movie, I guess we’ll have to wait and see what kind of story’s being put together for the big screen. I’m guessing/hoping if they do try to squeeze some more life out of what’s left of the show, they come up with something good for the characters to do, or at the very least, bring back Bob Saget for the movie.
