Entourage‘s Lloyd Gets His Moment in HBO’s Vlogging Spotlight

Today, class, we’re going to discuss one of the latest oldteevee series to implement an online video component — HBO’s dude equivalent to Sex and the City, the Mark Wahlberg-produced comedy Entourage, nowon its sixth season of chronicling the adventures of movie star Vincent Chase and indulging everyone’s slutty Hollywood fantasies in the process.

Perhaps against my better judgment, I’m a longtime Entourage fan (I find it soothing, almost Zen, to watch a show where there’s no real conflict), and the character of Lloyd (Rex Lee), super-agent Ari Gold’s often-abused assistant, is a particular favorite of mine. Perhaps it’s because the plight of the agency assistant is easy to emphasize with (low pay + awful hours + verbal and physical abuse + little reward = instant sympathy), but Lloyd has always been one of the show’s most likable characters, adding a dash of innocent humanity to the otherwise jaded series.

This season’s theme on Entourage is that Vince and his bros are starting to show signs of growing up a little — the three episodes to air so far focus on their slow drift apart. And that throughline has been carried through to Lloyd’s storyline as well, as he has finally demanded a promotion to full agent, an award which Ari plans to make Lloyd earn through a trial of fire that seems likely to last until the finale. But because the show is barely 22 minutes on a good day and Entourage must make its many scenes of the boys drinking and partying a priority, the web has become a place for the series to allow often-sidelined Lloyd a chance to shine with a blog that now includes a vlog component.

In addition to chronicling Lloyd’s thoughts over his new predicament, the two- to three-minute episodes address questions as to how he withstands the insults Ari throws at him regarding his sexuality and race and how much trauma Ari has inflicted upon him over the years. For the most part, it’s pretty much just elaboration on what’s already occurred, complementary but not essential content. But Lee is a talented performer who’s managed for years now to make a human being out of the stereotypes that define his character (“mincing” was probably a phrase used in the original casting notice) and giving him an additional chance to shine is one of the smartest moves the show’s ever made. For one thing, Lee’s Jeremy Piven impression? Not half bad.

HBO isn’t skimping on advertising — episodes two and three of the new season on On Demand open with a spot promoting the webisodes — and they’re well-produced, shot at Lloyd’s desk on the agency set. The one catch right now is that they appear to only be uploading segments on a biweekly basis, alternating vlog entries with text-only reflections. And while there is some clever writing in the text blogs, it’s nothing compared with watching Lee himself in action. So kudos to you, HBO, for providing an example of how ancillary content can work. I just wonder how many fans are watching it.

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