Perception
"Keeps up you have to get your own channel on Sirius."
Turtle to Saigon on "Entourage".
Okay, I’ve switched sides. I’m now with all you "Entourage" haters. Except for the marvelous Ari, played by Jeremy Piven, this show makes me PUKE!
Looks like it was made by Mark Wahlberg. The self-anointed genius who has never apologized for the mayhem that put him behind bars, never mind paid off the families of those he hurt.
But I guess it’s kind of like that old Dave Edmunds record, "crawling from the wreckage into a brand new car."
Actually, despite his execrable singing career, and the not interesting to me Calvin Klein ads, I used to think Marky Mark was a good actor. At least until he stopped working in indies and switched over to mainstream crap. But now he’s gone on to blow it by revealing what an incredible twit he is by exposing his lifestyle on television.
Call me an old fart. I say that education and bettering yourself is more important than hanging with the guys from the hood. It’s human nature to bond, but that doesn’t have to be the primary focus 24/7, can’t people do a little hard work in isolation, rather than drinking and drugging, playing video games and going to bars all the time?
THAT’S the culture our kids are being exposed to today. If you don’t know this, you just haven’t turned on MTV. Even that era wherein the nerds were gods, that’s passe. Gone with the dot com years. Now everybody just wants to live in a 24/7 rap video.
This inane, uneducated group of hangers-on to the almost no talent Vince, played by the almost no talent Adrian Grenier, are not to be looked up to, but to be seen as despicable losers.
God, Eric’s supposed to be the bright one?
And the purchase of Aston Martins for everyone? Shit, is this some kind of weird Disney movie or what?
There’s SO much that’s unbelievable in this show. Like handing the keys to a Maserati to some teenager in the Valley, telling him to return it at the end of the summer. NOBODY’S that cavalier and irresponsible. Like today’s music and movies, "Entourage" has now lost sight of reality, to its detriment. I mean the show used to be broad, but now it’s a cartoon. Oh, there are some moments, like with the aforementioned Ari (then again, what’s up with all that drivel re his daughter and child star Max), and the references to moviemaking hardball, but even the guest shots are starting to have the feeling of sitcoms in the seventies. Did we really need Bruno Kirby, Jr. in that role last week? And Paul Haggis was too much of a loser this week. I know, I know, Hollywood insiders are supposedly addicted to this show, but that just illustrates how out of touch they are. And maybe this is evidenced by the relatively poor ratings.
But someone is watching. Certainly tastemakers. So what happens on "Entourage" has impact.
Hell, that’s how it works. Key blogs talk about exploding Dell laptops, and then finally the "New York Times" does a story
If the people who count are watching, then a placement, a reference, has impact.
And Sirius got what it paid for last night.
Did they really pay?
Oh, we know not in cash. But maybe free radios for all?
But who gives a shit. God, the reference wouldn’t have worked if it were XM anyway. Because XM isn’t about stars.
XM is so far from the mainstream it’s laughable. The operation is in D.C., it’s run by an executive with no experience in flash and there’s no one there who knows how to create any sizzle, any buzz.
Yes, Eminem, Slim Shady, has his own channel on Sirius.
Sure, Snoop is on XM. But he doesn’t have his own channel. And EVERYBODY knows Snoop will take money from ANYBODY! Which Marshall won’t do.
God, how has XM screwed up so badly? Squandered its lead?
This is serious, make no mistake. This is akin to Friendster and MySpace. Once the new site/service is deemed cool, everybody else ABANDONS the old one. Kind of like Beta and VHS.
I’m not saying XM is in a death spiral already…Â Then again, their major partner, GM, is.
XM should be FREAKING OUT! They need to throw the long ball IMMEDIATELY! They need to forget about Wall Street, showing profitability by the end of the year, and start wooing CUSTOMERS! Because the tide has now turned, as evidenced by Sirius defeating them in the sign-up race last quarter. It’s DESPERATION TIME!
And why am I defending XM? Why do I care?
Because XM plays more music, it’s got broader playlists, it’s just that simple. And, it doesn’t play by the old music radio rules, there’s no phony "Entourage" element, with stars doing I.D.’s and phoners.
AND, two services are better than one, they keep each other honest.
But XM is in trouble. Sirius has got the mindshare. Sirius is perceived to BE satellite radio.
And what completely flummoxes me is that no one in XM HQ seems to know this.
