Entourage

Jeremy Piven appeared in The Player. It certainly served an inspiration as a satire of a hotshot actor from New York and his childhood friends in Hollywood.

The first episode sees Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) being pursued by his abrasive agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) to read a hot script.

The trouble is Vincent does not read scripts he leaves that to his best friend Eric Murphy (Kevin Connolly.) Vincent prefers to have a good time with his other friends such as Turtle (Jerry Ferrara). Half brother Johnny 'Drama' Chase (Kevin Dillon) is also an actor but struggles to get parts, so he hopes associating with his more successful brother would be good for his own career.

With a name like Entourage, this is a world of showbiz parties. Vincent is on the up, his friends wants him to buy a better house, get to Vegas in a private jet. Only Eric seems to be on the lookout for him, maybe protecting his meal ticket.

Ari wants to get the best for his client as well, but for that Vincent needs to play the game, schmooze with directors and read scripts.

What stands out from the first episode is the closeness between the four friends. They josh about but it is done in jest than nastiness.