My Entourage Generation

If you're not a college student or an HBO addict, you've probably never sat down to watch an episode of "Entourage." You should, especially if you're interested in understanding the 20-something American male. The young men of Generation Y watch HBO's semi-hit series as religiously as their mothers watch Oprah.

"Entourage" centers on four friends from Queens as they go from paupers of New York to princes of Los Angeles. One member of the clique, Vincent Chase, played by Adrian Grenier, becomes Hollywood's next big thing. True to his generation, Vince brings his best friends -- his entourage -- along with him to L.A.: his fledging actor brother, Johnny Drama, played by Kevin Dillon; his pizza shop manager turned talent manager, Eric, played by Kevin Connolly; and his stoner "driver" Turtle, played by Jerry Ferrara.

During summers and in French class, from about eighth grade on, members of Generation Y have spent their daydreams in the world of Vincent Chase. Those societal observers and sociologists that argue the American dream is dead couldn't be more wrong; it's on steroids.

As the rest of us watch, these four guys live the dream we've all toyed with, disappearing on private jets, begging off women and sitting courtside for Lakers games.

Because the characters are "common man" figures, every new car and celebrity cameo is as exciting to them as it is to us watching at home. "Entourage" bridges a divide, somehow managing to capture my generation's excitement and fascination with Hollywood. It features characters that think like us and talk like us, and have aspirations and weaknesses so similar to our own that for a moment, every weekend, we manage to forget there's any difference between them and us.

Every Sunday, "Entourage" answers the questions we think about Monday through Friday: What would it be like if we went from our lifeguard chairs and checkout stands to Maseratis and VIP boxes? What if while walking down the street tomorrow, a talent agent spotted us?

The half-hour show provides a window to observe a generational affliction. The American dream has given way to the Hollywood dream, an unhealthy obsession with the lives of the obscenely rich and famous.

Indeed, we were the first generation to grow up in the modern media era, a time in which any surface can be transformed into a message or promotion -- very often those surfaces carrying a celebrity face or showing the lifestyle we've come to aspire to.

We've grown up enamored with wealth and fame.

For generations before us, this was all just entertainment -- celebrity antics were something to be laughed at in the grocery lines.

For us, Hollywood gossip hasn't been confined to the tabloids, it's inescapable. It's headline "news." Lohan and Hilton are front and center on our mobile phones and above the fold in our newspapers.

In junior high, we came home from school and peered inside celebs' mansions and Benzes on shows like "MTV Cribs." We've seen what it's like to be in a real entourage on MTV's "Diary," on celebrity blogs and on E!.

According to a recent survey from the Pew Research Center, 81 percent of 18- to 25-year-olds said that getting rich was one of our generation's most important goals. Half said that being famous was important to them. Forty years ago, the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles asked college freshmen if being "very well off financially" was important. Only 41.9 percent said it was. In the most recent survey of its freshmen, in 2006, 74.5 percent said it was.

Even as we've gotten older and our fixation on wealth has brushed with a tough reality, "Entourage" has remained a highlight of the week -- maybe now an even more welcome escape.

I was discussing this article with one of my closest friends, who for obvious reasons did not want to be named here. He said, "You know, it's fun. Most of us are probably gonna get stuck with a nine-to-five, counting the days till we retire. It's a little escape. 'Entourage' is the fastest half-hour of the week, you know that."

So if you're free this Sunday night, and still awake when the show comes on at 10 p.m., try to watch "Entourage" with some of the members of Generation Y. More importantly, watch them as the show ends.

During the last season, which aired during the school year, as the show wrapped, some of my friends would disperse to attack their textbooks with new motivation. Others would sit and talk about how easily they could become big-time actors "if they just had a chance."

Most commonly, though, they would just sit, slowly shaking their heads, imagining life as Vinny Chase or part of his entourage.

To find out more about Brian Till and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.