Which is why, no matter how high those around him climb, none will threaten Vince's primacy. (The show's other alpha male is Vince's agent Ari, played by Jeremy Piven, who still musters servility meshed with his bluster, an admirable act.)
In this regard, not enough attention has been paid to Eric's T-shirts, near-tight at the top but then dangling limply -- shabbily -- a couple of inches past his waist. Here is the Eric conundrum captured in less than a square foot of cotton: Even his most basic attempts at slickness give way to an underlying wobble. And then there's his accent, nasal and kicking, which on this show about the difficulties of assimilation, still grates. (Vince, naturally, has no accent.)
Belonging, though, is getting tougher and tougher for "Entourage" to pull off. This season will feature the usual raft of star cameos (Zac Efron, LeBron James, Lil Wayne, Aaron Sorkin), but the slipstream has left the show in the dust. Ari boasts of signing Greg Garcia, the creator of "My Name Is Earl" -- "now a member of the Miller-Gold family!" That show was canceled in May. (In fairness, Garcia is now writing a pilot for Fox.)
This is an inadvertent nod to the futilities of navigating Hollywood airspace. Bundle that with a financial climate that's changing industries daily -- Ari sprinkles a couple of recessionista references into his harangues ("Have you seen my stock portfolio, Lloyd?") -- and what emerges is a real life more vibrant and dynamic than the show created to celebrate and gently mock it.
In tonight's premiere, there are jokes about Leno and Conan (Jay's last late-night hurrah, it turns out, is needling Vince about being a poor driver). And on next week's episode, the boys debate Seth Rogen's funniness months after "Family Guy" got there and after Rogen effectively roasted himself on "Saturday Night Live."
Once was a time when "Entourage" had no peer in Hollywood meta-commentary. But the city is moving fast -- the show needs to keep up.
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