HBO's 'Entourage' returns for a seventh season Sun., 10:30PM ET and the chorus is growing: What, again? What's new? Why should I care?

Perfectly understandable reactions. After all, the core characters have remained relatively static since 'Entourage's' debut in 2004. Vince (Adrian Grenier) is still making movies, Eric (Kevin Connolly) is still his manger, Drama (Kevin Dillon) is still looking for work, Turtle (Jerry Ferrara) is still trying to find himself and Ari (Jeremy Pivan) is still a manic Hollywood agent. Sure, there has been a degree of change, but none so substantial as to rock this too-good world of celebrity and access.

And that's the reason we keep watching 'Entourage' -- the shiny things. The cars, the bodies, the glamor and the glitz. Yep, it's repetitive, but the brain happily goes on low-impulse mode Sunday nights. 'Entourage' is a young male escapist fantasy where L.A. Fitness-toned bodies intermingle with Xbox and latest limited-edition Nike kicks. It's kind of James Bond-ian in a way, but instead of satisfying the alpha male fantasies of Cold War-era dads and lads in a spy-games context, 'Entourage' sates the unspoken and spoken desires of boys obsessed with consumerism and image in a viral Hollywood world.

Not that the show is without artistic merit. Ari is one of the great characters of television. Piven delivers his brilliantly written lines like a bullfighter, nimbly and with lethal precision, words cascading in a waterfalls of demeaning scatological put downs.

The show is also an exceptional commentary on contemporary male self-image. For instance, Drama's desire for calf implants early in the run sublimely anticipated the hordes of appearance-obsessed males on TV today in shows like 'Jersey Shore.'

But there's another reason why we keep watching: anticipation. The members of the entourage's lives have been too good in the first six seasons. It almost defies belief, considering the surroundings, that not one of the characters has run afoul of the law or of the other members of the entourage. The lives of the guys have been amazingly without drama and we watch to see what will happen when eventually their character is tested. Will the bonds of friendship remain intact or will it crumble? Only in adversity do you know who your true friends are.

Executive producer Mark Wahlberg could look at his own background for game-changing plotlines, yet time is running out. Reports indicate one more season after this one and then a movie. Wahlberg originally intended the series to be chock-full of punch-ups, but instead opted for the less controversial format. Not to be overly morbid, but the real-life Turtle was a Boston rapper named Donnie "Donkey" Carroll, who died in 2005 of an asthma attack. These types of things happen in real life, not in 'Entourage.' At least not so far.