Alright so I finally sat down to watch the first 2 episodes of How To Make It In America.

It’s new HBO show…premiered back in February. Thing is it’s produced by Marky Mark and some of the other Entourage producers. And that Entourage stamp is clearly evident. Well not totally. How To doesn’t have the style or the swagger of Entourage.

The show’s basic premise is to watch 2 guys, mostly hapless (and I guess helpless) hustle their way through New York City. I should probably throw in the word underbelly…they operate in New York’s underbelly. They’re willing to hustle but not always on the side of right. There is no right or wrong just paid or poor.

It reminds me of where E and Turtle from Entourage would be if they hadn’t hooked up with the Chase brothers. Instead of living the ideal life of the American Dream they’d be forced to live the more accurate picture of the American Dream which is hustling. (And really on Entourage it’s everybody around Vincent Chase who hustles…he’s just too passive sometimes. Hustling is life. Hustling is America).

Overall it’s alright nothing to wildly captivating. Certainly no commentary on hustling or the “noble” sacrifices the American Dream extracts. The show tends to err more on the shallow side. The characters are armed with a sense of false injustice (your typical adolescent Damn The Man!) and of course a privileged sense of entitlement (your typical adolescent Let’s Become The Man!).

They should be somewhere better than here…life should be better than this. It’d be fascinating to see that entitlement continue to get crushed against the brick wall of reality. On Your Nose! Truth is some of us just don’t make it. Like the haunting narrator in Bruce Springsteen’s song Atlantic City.

So far the stand out character is Rene Calderon played by the affable Luis Guzmán. He’s an ex con who (for now?) has gone legit having secured the North American rights to sell an Island-style Red Bull energy drink. The show would be a lot more fun if Luis could come out more often to play.

Yeah I may drop by here and there but it’s not gonna be a priority. Especially if I can find a classic Simpsons repeat.

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Also published on Medium.