Is "Entourage" falling apart?

The main problem I have with the first five new episodes of the third season of "Entourage"? No Jessica Alba.

Yes, some honeys appear tonight, when the show returns. A couple of Victoria's Secret models show up for a Vince-centric bash. But I'm starting to get bored.

What I used to love about this show, drinking it in cocktail-like, was how it felt so insidery Hollywood. Taking us to the clubs and the movie premieres; showing us the perks of being squarely on the celebrity A-list.

Up until now, I couldn't get enough of pretty boy Vince (Adrian Grenier) and his crew deliciously partaking in celebdom: Vegas one weekend, the Playboy mansion the next. Except for the time Mandy Moore (playing herself) broke Vince's heart, he's had no trouble getting the girls, and that's been fun to watch. Then there are his pals Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) and Johnny "Please, please recognize me" Drama (Kevin Dillon), always eager but so utterly out of their league, countering the show's debauchery with their buffoonery.

On TV

"Entourage" 10 p.m. Sundays on HBO

The show's central conceit is this whole fish-out-of-water thing; the key fish being actor Vince. And we've watched him splash around the Hollywood pond: starring in a hit movie, buying a mansion, buying some motorcycles for his pals.

We've even met his mother, and in June, we saw how this foursome (Vince, Turtle, Drama and Vince's manager, Eric) got out of whack when a fifth guy — an old pal from Queens — showed up and tried to fit in. We've seen what might happen if one of the guys settles into a serious relationship (Eric, played by Kevin Connolly). That storyline? Not all that exciting.

Now, beginning tonight, there's Amanda, Vince's new agent (remember, he fired Ari in the last episode last summer). Played by Carla Gugino, Amanda's a bosomy brunette with nice arms who's supposed to be as "hot" as they come. But I just don't see it — and when Vince falls for her? Nope. Didn't buy it all.

So I'm starting to wonder: Has this show run its course? Is some, oh, sordid scandal all we have to look forward to?

If anything can save the series, it's the gloriously single-minded Ari Gold, Vince's manager, played by the wonderful Jeremy Piven. A look at the five upcoming episodes solidly reinforces just how much the show ought to orbit around Ari. Ari and his ever-loyal assistant Lloyd (Rex Lee). Ari and his ever-tolerant Mrs. (Perrey Reeves). Ari and the dos and don'ts of Yom Kippur. All of this is fresh and different, trumping what we've mostly seen Vince and his buddies already do.

So listen up, HBO: Ramp up the Ari factor, preferably with winning Lloyd. Or else risk having us flee from pretty-faced actor to Showtime's pretty-faced King Henry VIII.

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