'Entourage': Who's about to give up on HBO's once buzz-worthy comedy?

Adrian Grenier, Entourage — Photo: Vivian Zink/HBO

What happened to Entourage? It’s been a treat this season seeing the talented Adrian Grenier (pictured) actually get to act as Vincent’s star fades and the gang goes bankrupt—but watching the rest of the show go down in flames around him is torture. Instead of using Vince’s career drama as an excuse for, well, more drama, the show’s creative team has been piling on the stupid. Eric took on two new doofy, and vaguely offensive, redneck clients (guest stars Giovanni Ribisi and Lukas Haas). Johnny broke down live on The View. Turtle remained useless. And Ari feuded some more with nemesis Adam Davies. Their shockingly ridiculous car race through suburban L.A. was nearly the last straw for me. And I didn’t even blink when one sent the other a steaming bag of feces.

Then came last night’s self-discovery-themed episode, in which the boys (plus Eric Roberts) took a mushroom-fueled desert road trip so Vince could decide whether to headline Benji or fight for a supporting role in Smoke Jumpers. The hi-jinks? Unfunny. The philosophizing? Terrible. The episode? Just plain cringe-worthy.

Now, in no way do I want the show to go back to just being a boob-laden, LaLa Land lark. But as it heads into season six (HBO announced the show’s renewal this morning), I need it to change for the better, or else I might jump ship. How about you? Am I alone in thinking the show has taken a turn for the worse? And if you ran HBO, how would you fix Entourage?