Will HBO's Make It Make It?

HBO has a new series, How to Make It in America, that I see being compared to Entourage.
Like Entourage, How to Make It is about a group of young men trying to build a career in a high profile industry.
It’s also got some of the people who created Entourage, including executive producer Mark Wahlberg, involved.
But most of the comparisons haven’t been flattering.
In How to Make It, Ben, a graphic designer played by Bryan Greenburg and his pal Cam (Victor Rasuk), have targeted the fashion industry, which takes them—and us—on a tour of lower Manhattan and Brooklyn.
That means this show is gritty where Entourage is SoCal glitzy. The people that they have to do business with are just as ruthless, but there’s more of an edge of danger here.
Based on the one episode I’ve seen that was available On Demand and via YouTube, I think it’s got potential—if future episodes pack more humor into the situation. At first it might appeal to a younger crowd because of its twenty-something sensibility and soundtrack. Cute young women are also abundant. If the characters have a bit of success and start to associate more with wealth and power, that will be more attractive to HBO viewers who tune in to Entourage.
TV Guide disagrees. While calling Entourage “past its prime,” reviewer Matt Rouse savages the state of comedy on HBO in general and How to Make It in particular.
He asks who would want to watch Entourage if Vinnie Chase & Co. hadn’t made the big time? And there are doubts Ben and Cam have the necessities to succeed.
“They name their new product Crisp—which is everything How to Make It isn’t, with its hip veneer attempting to camouflage a lack of inspiration. The show isn’t as self-important and whiny as Hung, or as precious and smug as Bored to Death, or as repulsive as Eastbound and Down (to name a few of HBO’s recent comedy misfires, all of which were renewed). Sadly, this one’s just a bit threadbare,” Rouse says.
While comparisons to Entourage make sense, I wonder if the world we’re seeing in How to Make It doesn’t dovetail more closely with the artsy and publishing circles of Bored to Death.
I could also almost see Jason Schwartzman trying to help out Cam, or at least Ted Danson and Ben sharing a cocktail.