One of my favorite shows on TV is finally back for the second half of its 3rd season.

Last we left them, the following things had happened:

• Ari had screwed Vince out of the Joey Ramone project because he mistreated the producer who had the project
• Turtle got screwed by Saigon, his first music client
• Drama got cast in an Ed Burns TV pilot (classic scene was Drama almost psyching himself out of the role)
• And Vince and Eric fired Ari

It was a dramatic mini-cliffhanger, but one we’ve seen before. I’ve been anxious for the show to return because it is great and I’m anxious to see what is going to happen now.

So last night’s episode had the following:

• Vince’s new agent (Carla “Son-in-Law” Gugino) taking him to a Laker game and seeing Ari, and also trying to convince her client to take a period film for his next project
• Vince’s birthday party (which Turtle ingeniously had sponsored by Skyy Vodka, Victoria’s Secret and a bunch of other corporate sponsors aboard the Queen Mary…Turtle is awesome)
• Ari delivering the Medellin script, claiming that Benicio del Toro is backing out, thus giving Vinnie the film he’s been wanting to do since the beginning of season one
• Johnny Drama being on a billboard (seriously, how pathetic is that dude? He stands in front of his own billboard and has Turtle take pictures of him until people recognize him)
• Ari and Lloyd (any episode that has a 2-minute scene with these two is worth the other 24 minutes of the episode)

I thought that overall, it was a decent episode…a good start to the second half of the season. I’m hoping that the next episode builds on it…I imagine that Carla Gugino will be around at least 5 episodes, but I foresee Vince returning to Ari by the end of the season. I’m just glad the show is back.