7) How to Make It in America
I think How to Make It in America was billed as the next Entourage—understandably because both were produced by Mark Wahlberg. For those who loved Entourage for its depiction of male friendship and explorations of masculinity and success and fame, How to Make It in America was a worthy recipient of the baton; for those who liked it because they wanted to live vicariously through these glamorous characters who had already made it big, they were less interested.
How to Make It was almost like an Entourage prequel, exploring characters who were, obviously, trying to make it instead of already having it made at the start of the series. These were characters for whom you had to revel in little successes, and the slow progression towards realizing lofty ambitions. It was a quest show of a type, but captured the pace at which most ambitious goals consist of, requiring patience and focus. I guess not everyone could relate to this temporality.
It’s always disappointing when a promising story is cut short because of a lack of interest. That’s the nature of television. Unlike movies, which tell a relatively complete story whenever you watch them, TV unfolds to a certain extent as we’re watching it. It’s a present medium. So whenever this story that seems to be occurring in conjunction with our own lives, progressing as our own are, it’s understandable that people who become invested feel unusually attached to their favorite shows, and mourn their cancellation. But it’s like anything else. When some things go away, others spring up.
We lost Hung and Bored to Death, but got Girls and Enlightened in their place. Like literally in their time slot. With Enlightened gone, its story interrupted but told in part which is valuable still, someone else will get a chance to tell a new story. Things could be worse.