Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Oh, goody. Just what I always wanted to see: a pretentious Cable TV series about a the trials and tribulations of a group of moronic, self-important hipster douchebags. It’s bad enough that we have to see them every day and night in their little huddles of fashionable hells, but do we really have to watch television shows about them? Especially when said series is about certain members of the subculture doing their best to become successful fashion gurus? Of course, we don’t. Fortunately, the execs at HBO that gave How to Make it in America the show life in the first place realized their mistake — and took it away.
Alas, it still exists on home video. How to Make it in America: The Complete Second Season brings us the sophomore season of this annoying trendy series, wherein the equally sophomoric lead characters (as brought to unbelievably irritating life by Bryan Greenberg and Victor Rasuk) still trying to make their mark on the hip dress scene of New York City. Having just returned from Japan, they have a new stock of chic hoodies (!) in tow, ready to unleash them upon a society so obsessed with consumerism, that you just know it’ll be a hit — right?
Well, as it turns out, everyone is entitled to the pursuit of the American dream (notification pending) — and there are several scumbags in How to Make it in America who are rarin’ to give the boys a run for their money. Firstly, there’s a group of local group of meth heads-turned-entrepreneurs. Joy. There’s also a not-too-terribly-sly ex-con-cum-capitalist (Luis Guzmán) as well. And they’re all competing against each other in a city that never sleeps. Trust me: there’s no shortage of drama here. Sadly, it’s that kind of materialistic, pompous, Kardashian-esque drama that no one in their right mind should suffer through. Eddie Kaye Thomas and Lake Bell co-star in this show that somehow managed to get renewed for a second season.
The set comes to us in a beautiful 1080p transfer with solid colors, blacks and fine detail. There are a lot of nighttime scenes in this show, but, surprisingly, there isn’t a lot of grain to interfere. Sound-wise, the season comes with a thoroughly well assembled English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio lossless soundtrack that brings out what little the show has to offer — though that isn’t saying much when you look at the series as a whole. Special features for this two-disc season set begin with some behind-the-scenes stuff, and audio commentaries for three episodes featuring the lead actors and executive producers Ian Edelman and Julian Franco. There’s also a featurette about several actual trendy industrialists who are trying to make it in NYC included here — because I just can’t get enough of this, you know.
The long and short of it: I know there are some people out there that will no doubt appreciate How to Make it in America: The Complete Second Season or even feel that it is some high form of art. It isn’t. And though I am grateful to the people that pulled the plug on it, I still have to resent their being born into this world for thinking an excruciatingly awful series like this was going to make it in America to begin with.
