"Entourage" gets its fifth season off to a swell start. The first two segs, sent out this week by HBO, breeze by in what feels like about 10 minutes.

There's a clear story arc building for our stubbly hero Vince, who's south of the border licking his wounds (with tequila and bikinis) from the devastating reviews that are still rolling in on "Medellin" in the season opener.  Ben Silverman's cameo as himself comes in the first seg, and if you look closely you can also see his NBC Entertainment lieutenant Teri Weinberg by his side.

You don't have to look closely to spot Endeavor's Richard Weitz. He pops up early on in the opening seg and nails the part of an MGA agent offering Ari Gold a little post-"Medellin" empathy.

As always, "Entourage" really belongs to Jeremy Piven's Ari. By the end of episode two, Piven has pretty much clinched his fifth consecutive Emmy nom for the role he seems born to play. He's greatly aided by punchy writing and directing in both segs, "Fantasy Land" and "Unlike a Virgin," from series creator Doug Ellin and helmer Mark Mylod.

"Entourage's" 12-episode run begins Sept. 7.

Jeremy Piven, supporting comedy actor winner for the second year in a row for HBO's "Entourage," was feelin' sweet backstage (kinda like the Ari Gold aw shucks moment in most "Entourage" segs), expanding on his remarks about how much his parents, the late Byrne Piven and Joyce Hiller Piven, influenced his life with the "corner theater" they ran in Chicago, in which he grew up steeped in a life of trodding the boards.

"He's a man who worked his entire life to find a brilliant role, and his last role was "King Lear" so he found it," Piven said of his dad. Piven noted that his mother was busy directing a play in Chicago so she turned him down as his date for the Emmys for a fifth time in a row.

"And for the record, I'm straight. I'm the only straight man to bring his mother four times and now his sister. You can look it up."

Back to the serious side, Piven noted when pressed on the "what does it all mean to you, Jeremy" question, especially being a back to back win. "For a guy from Chicago, the dream for me was getting on stage in Chicago, not being celebrated like this. So I'm having an other-worldly experience."