“Entourage” creator Doug Ellin claims that PC culture has ruined his hit show’s legacy, claiming that HBO essentially shelved it for political purposes.
Though “Entourage” ran for eight seasons (2004 to 2011) and was given a theatrical film release in 2015, Ellin told Yahoo Entertainment that a “wave of righteous PC culture” has prevented HBO from giving the show the same opportunities as “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City.”
“Nobody says that about ‘The Sopranos,’ where they murder people, that maybe we should readdress whether murdering people on TV is OK,” he told the outlet. “I don’t want to sound obnoxious or that I’m looking at ‘Entourage’ as high art, but it was a pretty accurate portrayal of how people [acted] at that time in Hollywood.”
“When we came out, the New York Times said we were the smartest show on television! If we did reboot the show, it’s not that I would make it any more PC, but I would write it to the best of my abilities to reflect the reality of the world right now,” he later added.
Ellin claims that he resents HBO and will “never forgive them” for passing on a pilot show he pitched featuring “The Sopranos” actor Michael Imperioli, Michael Rappaport, and Ed Burns.
“I did a pilot with Michael Imperioli, Michael Rappaport and Ed Burns that they passed on, which I’ll never forgive them for” he says now. “Whether they thought it was good or not, I earned my chance to have a second shot, and they put some other pretty crappy shows on [instead].”
According to Vulture, Ellin created the pilot in 2011, four years before HBO released the “Entourage” theatrical film in 2015 – a summer release that performed poorly at the box office. According to IMDB, the “Entourage” feature film grossed just $42 million worldwide on a budget of $30 million, not including distribution and marketing costs. HBO also let Doug Ellin direct the “Entourage” feature film. Conversely, the “Sex and the City” feature film released in 2008 grossed a whopping $418 million worldwide, which might explain why HBO greenlit a sequel and an upcoming reboot.
“Unfortunately, the movie didn’t work as well as some may have hoped, and you kind of move on. How much can you say about it?” Ellin told Yahoo.
Going forward, Ellin said he hopes the series won’t be judged as “harshly” by future audiences.
“I think there’s an overcorrection that happened, and hopefully we’ll get to a place where there’s equality for everybody, but there’s also room for people to create their art and not be judged so harshly,” he said.
The show has often been criticized for its depiction of women, but Ellin said that the female executives of HBO were “proud” of it at the time.
“The executives at HBO that I was dealing [with] were female executives who were very proud of the show at the time, and read every script and gave me their thoughts. I love and respect women and love great female characters and always have, and did the best I could. At the same time, it was a 30-minute show with five male leads, so the fact that we were even able to find time to get in the women we did, I feel very proud of,” he said.