SopranTourage

Last night marked the return of The Sopranos' final nine episodes and the second half of Entourage's third season. Both are quality shows that I love but have a long way to go to reclaim their former glory.

Coming off a weak season that included extended dream sequences where nothing happened, fast-forwarding to watch Christopher resume his drug habit, then quit, then resume, then quit for good, and endless talk about a spec-house, Sopranos has a lot of ground to make up if it's going to reclaim the title of "The Most Daring Show on TV". The good news is that the first episode was a step in the right direction. With the focus smartly on Tony and Carmela spending a weekend at Janice and Bobby's lake house, the foursome talked and played board games and drank and drank and drank which led to a surprising fight that had dire implications for poor dumb Bobby. My only gripe? If Bobby is so aware of CSI and DNA evidence, why did he not only leave part of his shirt in the hands of the dude he killed but also drop the gun at the scene as well!?!? It's like he's asking to be caught! But the big question remains: will Tony be caught? Luckily, I care enough again to stick around and find out.

Entourage also meandered too much in the first half of last season with Ari sabotaging Vince's chances at making The Ramones movie, Eric's drama over the threesome, Turtle's rapper bailing and Drama's "career". But like Tony & Co, Vince & Co seem to be headed in the right direction and there is one person to thank for that--Carla Gugino! As Vince's new agent Amanda, she injects a sense of reality into the hyper-real world these guys live in and gives the show a dash of estrogen (unlike Debi Mazar's venom spewing publicist). And once again, the episodes’ best line was saved for Vince's agent, but it wasn't Ari this time. Amanda is toe-to-toe with Ari in a battle for Vince and she asks if Ari wants her to walk him to his car because, "It's not safe out there for a bitch!"

Damn straight! Keep it up HBO and I just might give some of those new series' you teased before Sopranos a chance.