HBO Sunday Night - 7/11/10

Entourage: Buzzed
Season 7, Episode 2

Vince shows self-destructive proclivities by cutting lots of his hair off before he's done with his latest film. Then, he bad mouths his own film and decides to jump out of an airplane. Meanwhile, Ari meets with the NFL (including Jerry Jones) and hopes to represent them. Eric begins to represent Drama and Turtle slowly turns into a stalker. Shauna (Debi Mazar) made a good return but Lloyd has been completely wasted since becoming an agent . . .

As Eric's rival, Scott Caan continues to provide excellent smarmy support. Vince's skydiving trip was superb not only technically (ripping off Point Break - thank you, Ms. Bigelow), but also symbolically - showing Vince in free fall physically as he tries to shake up his boring, perfect life. The episode also diminished the screen time of Eric and Turtle which helped make it the best episode in years. B+

Hung: Tucson is the Gateway to Dick
Season 2, Episode 2

Not to be outdone, Hung came through with a well-structured, well-executed episode about everyone's comfort zone and what people do to rationalize and justify their lives. Ray has difficulty sleeping, uncomfortable with his activities. His next door neighbor gives him a new mattress - which he initially refuses. His best client (who's still pregnant) is being pursued by her estranged husband and Ray wants to get them back together. Meanwhile, Lenore and Tanya try to out-pimp each other and Jessica tries to connect with her and Ray's kids. It's rare that a show will build on its themes from scene to scene. A lot of thought and effort is being put into these scripts and many of the lines are hilarious (with Jessica's Polish mom and Lenore getting the choice lines this episode). Not everything worked (the bowling scene teetered toward the obvious). But with a foundation laid so well, there's room for minor misplacements. A-