Join the posse, glam onto the new season of "Entourage"

The eye candy that is "Entourage" returns on HBO Sunday night. One pretty actor and three of his boys living it up in L.A. Sing along now with Perry Farrell to get in the mood: I wanna be your superhero. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, YEAH.

And well, hey, that Jane's Addiction "Superhero" song, which opens every "Entourage" episode and makes you wish you too were rollin' down Hollywood in a Lincoln with your crew, is so dead-on.

Because last season, when we left hot-enough-to-keep-Jessica-Alba-company Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier), he was up to his dark curls in "Aquaman," shooting an action flick with James Cameron (the director plays himself).

And while no, we don't get to see Vince in wet Neoprene in Sunday's season three opener, we're introduced to something even more revealing: his ma. All the way from Queens, baby! Mercedes Ruehl ("The Fisher King," "Gia") plays the role.

Much how New York City was the undisputed fifth character in "Sex and the City," Hollywood is the flashy and phony power player in this comedy, executive produced by Stephen Levinson, Doug Ellin and Mark Wahlberg.

Wahlberg's own Hollywood experiences, with his own posse, have helped hone this show's celebrity truth. In its premiere episode two years ago, the guys, all New Yorkers, lunched at Fred Segal on Melrose, a shopping destination for known and wanna-be starlets. It was an artistic coup (no one had ever filmed there before, according to the "Entourage" Season One DVD.)

But that first scene, as well as a last one — the guys in a hilltop mansion taking in the vista of Los Angeles at night — superbly set the show's themes: fame and fortune for four fish out of water; on top of the world now, but consider how dark it is below.

On Sunday, the joy ride begins with the endearing doofuses of the group, Vince's cynical, can't-get-a-break older brother, Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) and longtime pal/moocher Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) chasing the lovelies. "Aquaman" is about to premiere.

Vince's manager Eric (Kevin Connolly) — aka E or "Pizza boy" (because his last job was managing a Sbarro shop) is still the Mr. Conscientious of the bunch. Vince's agent Ari (the wonderful Jeremy Piven) is even more insufferable, having been fired from his agency and now back on his feet in — horror! — "West (expletive) Hollywood."

Early on, Ari pulls a "Mommie Dearest" neatfreak moment on his poor assistant Lloyd (Rex Lee) and well, his ruthlessness is politically incorrect, but hysterical. You laugh out loud at Ari. You laugh out loud at Drama and Turtle because they can be such putzes. Sure, they're crass — "We're on ass patrol" — but they're so ridiculous.

In previous episodes, Drama, ever insecure about his body, considered implants — for his calves. Turtle once donned hockey garb in order to face off a snarling Rottweiler. The look on a pair of gardeners' faces at such antics: These guys are so unbelievably stupid.

What's not to love about this show, a sickly (awesome) stylish series about four guys lapping up Hollywood and all its bubbly, 38DD offerings?

Guys want money and sex, and Vince — young, good looking, blockbuster actor — gets plenty. Hummers and Ducatis. Blondes and brunettes. Did we mention Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johannson, while not fully partaking of Vince, at least know he's alive?

But lest you (women) think Vince is worth rolling your eyes at because he's too spoiled or too good-looking or too dumb and he's beginning to sound like, oh, Charlie Sheen — he's not. Vince is the soft, artsy-type and he's smart enough to delegate to E and to know that his buddies have his back.

And that's what this show — minus the glitzy locales (Malibu; hot boîte of the moment), superb soundtrack (Jay-Z, Saigon) and an A-list of cameos (Val Kilmer, Luke Wilson, Gary Busey; an ornery James Woods shows up in Sunday's episode) — is ultimately about: might-as-well-be-blood-brothers friendship. A friendship thicker than L.A. rush hour. A bond more sacred than a guy's Rogaine.

When you get right down to it, these four guys just want each other to be happy (although that happiness is brusquely tested by a new arrival later this month).

Los Angeles is this entourage's superficial playground and you might not always approve of how these guys play. But there's nothing else in the TVsphere taking you on such a fast-paced, hedonistic ride.

Florangela Davila: 206-464-2916 or fdavila@seattletimes.com