Boardwalk Empire
 

Is going to rock. Steve Buscemi, Scorsese directing the pilot, etc. Releases in Sept.

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Holy shit, this looks like it will be amazing.

I'm ready for this, here is to hoping it is the next great HBO series.

I've also been enjoying Treme.

New trailer.

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Starts in two weeks (Sept 19th, specifically).

Yep! I cant wait.

I'm looking forward to this.

Sigh. I'm going to be forced to get HBO again. ****

Looking forward to it. I just hope they concentrate more on the story than they do on showing blood and gore and people getting blown up (like The Pacific).

I love HBO. One day I should actually, you know, get it. And I've rarely actually seen an HBO series. Still, I love almost all of them. HBO has an incredible brand.

Early word from AICN's hercules on it:

It'd be hard to not get excited about this.

EW: "A big, enjoyably nasty piece of work . . . . What bodes well for Boardwalk as a weekly endeavor is that its Scorsese-fancy pilot is the weakest (the showiest, the slowest) of the episodes I've seen. The production becomes more sleek, emotionally complex, and sly in its subsequent hours. . . . Unfortunately for Buscemi and Boardwalk, there are important precedents to which it should be compared. Is this show better than William A. Wellman's The Public Enemy (1931) or Howard Hawks' Scarface (1932), both Prohibition-era gangster tales? No, it's not. . . . B+"

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20419665,00.html

'Boardwalk Empire,' premieres 9PM ET Sept. 19 on HBO: This tale of Prohibition-era Atlantic City is everything you expect of a marquee HBO drama: It's fantastically acted, gracefully written and visually arresting. Martin Scorsese (who directed the first episode) and ex-'Sopranos' writer Terence Winter expertly bring this panorama of America in the 1920s to vivid life, and Steve Buscemi and Kelly Macdonald are mesmerizing as the drama's lead characters, corrupt politician Nucky Thompson and striving immigrant Margaret Schroeder. 'Boardwalk Empire' is not just the fall's best drama, it's 2010's best new show.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/09/09/best-fall-shows/

Winters on Scorsese's influence:

"TW: No. He just directed the pilot, but he's also one of the executive producers of the show as well, so he is involved. He reads all the scripts, he weighs in on our casting decisions, he watches all the cuts of the show. Up until the time we wrapped a couple of months ago, he and I had a standing Sunday afternoon conversation where we would just review what went on during the week. He'd watch the dailies, he would have comments and suggestions along the way. So he is definitely involved in the show, but he has only directed the pilot, he got us launched and then went off to do another movie."

http://www.tvsquad.com/2010/09/10/boardwalk-empire/

Winters on the importance of the historical context of the series:

" In 'The Sopranos,' one of the first things Tony says is, "I feel like I came in at the end of something." And this is really the beginning of something. It's the beginning of a lot of things.

There's a real feeling of opportunity, a real attitude, particularly with the election of Warren Harding, of putting the past behind us, moving on, getting back to normal. The war is over, there's just nothing but opportunity out there. Wall Street was about to boom and big business [was getting underway]. We had just come out of a war and it just sort of was like a new dawn.

Young people were really coming into the forefront, and it was a time of great change, and a lot of change was for the better, or what people thought was for the better. I mean, Prohibition obviously didn't work, but I think a lot of people thought this was going to be a good thing. And women got the vote and then radio came in and all these exciting changes were happening. It was really a thrilling time. Certainly a thrilling time to write about. "

(Same link as above)

....

I think it's a really different time now, in comparison. We haven't just ended and won a war. We're still in a long war, and very uncertain about it. The perception is not so much that big business is starting to boom and bring great benefits as it's largely failing and been propped up by the public and/or business is being inhibited to grow by government. The reality is that we are in a tremendously rough economic situation.

The writer's views on Buscemi's character:

"Yeah, I think Nucky is a realist, I think he does what the job requires. I think as a practical man, as a practical politician, he knows that to do good, sometimes you have to do bad. And probably the feeling is at the end of the day, he hopes he does more good than he does bad."

Eh, I have HBO so I will at least check out the first episode or two, but I'm not automatically sold after seeing the previews. Buscemi's as Tony Blundetto in Sopranos - a small-time gangster - was believable, but I'm not sure I can buy him as some bad ass lead gangster.

There may be some historical precedence in casting here but I see Buscemi as a great supporting actor, not a great lead.

That was a great first episode IMO.

I wonder if Al Capone and the whole Chicago crew will be sticking around, or if they were just for the first episode. Same with Lucky Luciano and New York.

This is regarding the end of the episode so don't read if you haven't watched yet.

Who was it that shot the Chicago restaurant guy at the end?

That's what I was wondering, I got that impression when they flashed the "Chicago 200 miles" sign.

The first episode was great, I'm really hoping it keeps getting better.

From what I've read, the show is set in both AC and Chicago (starting around episode 4 or so).

I haven't watched yet, but a couple of the reviews I've seen say the first episode is the weakest.

I saw bits and pieces and what i saw had me intrigued. Ill have to set the DVR.

Buscemi to me seemed a little awkward as a gangster though. I was more interested in the young kid who was a WW1 hero turned gangster.

Buscemi is playing a crooked politician, not a gangster.. I think he pulls it off pretty well.
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I love Buscemi, he's just fun to watch, like Christopher Walken or John Malkovich.
BTW: who makes the best psycho character of those three guys?

Torrio, who Al Capone is muscle for. [in real life, it was another gangster pal of Torrio's that does the deed].

Why does Torrio kill the guy? Because the guy was against getting into bootlegging, and just wanted to stay in the whoring business (we got that information from Capone, talking to Jimmy outside that one night).

And now that "the Chicago restaurant guy" is dead, Chicago's gang can open up the city to the business of liquor, which, you're probably aware . . . they do. A lot.

Awesome, thanks man. I watched the episode at like 10 pm after spending all day at the stadium, so I was a bit out of it last night.

There was a ton going on in the first episode. We met Al Capone, Arnold Rothstein, Lucky Luciano, a battered immigrant, the mayor, the treasurer, the treasurer's young protege (and his family), the treasurer's girlfriend, the butler, the treasurer's mentor (not sure who he is), the treasurer's brother-cop, a guy who makes whiskey in the basement of his funeral parlor, FBI agents, Torrio, and the guy Torrio kills (the former big mob boss of Chicago).

And they all dress in 1920s clothing.

It was easy to miss something. I'm sure more than a few watched it again right afterwards.

I liked Buscemi as County Treasurer. I don't think there's any glaring miscast. I like his character: he's more the tragic Michael Corleone/young Vito Corleone figure that is so straddling the edges of falling completely onto the dark side, and has some moral dimension that is there for tension. Jimmy actively pursues the life, which I don't find too attractive (and I can't imagine not going to Princeton if I had that opportunity). He's like Chris from the Sopranos: an interesting side-character, but not someone that ever wins you over. We'll see about him.

The immigrant is supposed to be a big character. I didn't get into her as much as I did the non-fiction guys. Seeing the young Luciano and Capone being portrayed was exciting.

Buscemi is a great actor, I'm glad to finally see him be the centerpiece of something.

I've watched about 20 minutes, the quality of the production is just amazing.

And I wonder how much of that is paid from product placements. I read that Nucky's car is a Rolls Royce, but other than that, I'm not sure what other products are still around. Coke? Some cigarette types? General Electric?

It's great HBO is willing to take the risk to put up this type of period show, re-creating sets and costumes.

Some things reminded me instantly of The Sopranos. First, that big brick/or red house. I feel like that's the house Tony kept coming back to when he was on the brink of death (if he had gone in the house, that was symbolic of his passing). Also, the boardwalk scenes, and the opening credits, while anyone is looking out into the ocean, reminds me of Tony's fish dreams.

Alot of the backgrounds were done with CGI making the sets appear bigger than they really are. But it was done very well from what i could tell.

HBO doesn't engage in product placements, at least not in the past.

Is this sarcasm? honest question. Because maybe it's coincidence, but I see a lot of product placement on Entourage especially. Every time they have a beer it's a Budweiser.

Oh, definitely. But I'm pretty sure that there's still a lot of elaborate building that goes on.

Interesting. Did not know that.

Entourage is the king of Product Placement, but a lot of times its different products every week.

If you watched Hard Knocks with the Jets, Pepsi and Taco Bell were mentioned/shown a lot. Not sure if thats on HBO or the Jets.

that's what i thought, it seems like they've had Budweiser like every episode since season 1. And it's always bud heavy too. mmmmm :clap:

Saw this on a friends DVR. It was amazing. This looks worth 10 bucks a month.

That wasn't Torrio that pulled the trigger. Torrio met Capone on the docks. It was a Torrio henchman.

That was Colosimo that was shot and I think they gave him a bit of short shrift. They kind of make him out to be a bumbling idiot that gets blown away when in reality, he was a critical organized crime boss and was the equal of Torrio as far as gangland politics go. In fact, my recollection is that Torrio and Colosimo were partners at one point.

I think they started the episode about a year too late, they had some excellent character development that they missed out on pre-Volstead act.

I'm also not sure I loved Buscemi in this show. He seemed a little out of place; I just don't see him having a dark enough side for this character. I think it would've been better with a guy like the guy that played Rothstein as Nucky's character.

Should still be very good, but I'd have made a few changes.

Heres the thing. I think those of you with this opinion may be jumping the gun a bit.

I think that Enoch is supposed to be a character who is, for lack of a better word, a pansy.

Remember at the end when Jimmy (i think thats his name, the WWI vet) says, "You can't be half gangster. Not anymore." I think that was a tell-tale sign that Enoch is trying to not be a gangster, and maybe he will have a hard time deciding whether he will stay half-legit or go in all the way.

Sorry if I didn't make any sense there, I'm pretty tired.

That's the producer's choice.

HBO is a subscription service and to my knowledge, does not accept cash for product placement.

Doug Ellin recently mentioned this in an article.

http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/how_...nOQmgjFX38MnzI

Ellin said he couldn't charge for product placements even if he wanted to, because HBO is an advertising-free channel. But he uses real brands the way he uses real celebrities, like Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who was in a recent episode.

"I try to keep it as real as possible," said Ellin. That's why E (Kevin Connolly) drinks Belvedere on the rocks and Johnny Drama (Kevin Dillon) orders Johnny Walker Blue. "Guys have specific tastes," Ellin observed.

That's a fair point.

It just seems from the commercials that he's supposed to be a bit of a badass.

Rothstein is asking him over the phone if 'this is how you do business' and he yells back at him "if you want to see how we do business, show your ass in Atlantic City again" or something equally bravado-ey.

If they're trying to sell him as a pushover, a pissing match with Rothstein isn't the way to go about it. Nor was "then stop listening to the grown-ups conversations" crack on Lucciano.

I see them actually trying to send him down a darker road and I just don't think he has those chops. And what fun would a pansy primary character be anyway?

We shall see.

Omar sighting...

I was happy his name was in the opening credits, I was disappointed he only had one line.

Although in The Wire, he didn't even show up til the 3rd or 4th episode.

Wow! If that is true, this will quickly become my favorite show.

I guess it could be considered weak because it was just the character introductions but I was still really impressed.

Don't think of it in terms of being weak, just that it supposedly gets even stronger moving forward.

Apparently, there's a rule on HBO that you must say the work fuck every 90 seconds or so.
It took approx 90 seconds for the first F-Bomb in Boardwalk. I always think HBO drops F-Bombs just because they can.

Also there must be gratuitous nudity at some point. There was, full frontal nudity in the funeral parlor scene. And Buscemi gets laid by a chick who keeps screaming Ride 'em Cowboy...

NTTAWWT.

Hell, Blowfish, what do you think got me watching ****ing HBO in the first ****ing place.

****. I gotta watch this ****ing show. Like now. Like, ****ing, right ****ing NOW.

You really do. You really, really do.

heh, ive often wondered about this myself. They have a rep to uphold. They probably feel that their audience demands it since they pay for the service.

Ratings are in, nearly 5 million viewers (7 million total including the night's reruns), biggest HBO premeire in 6 years.

2nd season already announced.

Between this, Bored To Death and Game Of Thrones... I'm really considering getting HBO for the first time.

I gotta say I really love HBO, I haven't regretted getting it.

They apparently really think they have something with Game of Thrones. Rumor is that the HBO brass loves it. I thought it was a good sign when they ended the promo before Boardwalk Empire with that long Sean Bean shot (plus it just looked cool).

**** I have been reading so many comics since Comic Con, (Late July) that I haven't picked my Game of Thrones book back up. I'm probably going to kick myself for not reading it.

I would say wait until after the show to read it. I know I'm holding up my re-read of the series until after the first season.

Yeah, I'm actually pretty happy that I'll have some distance on it before the show starts. I don't want the book too fresh in my mind -- tends to damper the visual medium for me.

Watched the pilot last night. Looks like a pretty good show. I love the setting. Not many movies/tv are set in that era. I won't be watching it, though, since I don't have HBO.

Dug the first episode. Kept getting reminded of Bioshock, which made some scenes pretty funny in my head. Love the Al Capone bits; there was an energy in that performance.

Anyone else see the Jimmy character and imagine Scorsese telling the HBO brass "Fine. If you guys won't give me Leo then at least give me a guy with Leo's haircut" ?

I don't have the concerns about Buscemi that DJLN does. I don't know where that's coming from.

Felt like a putting pieces into place sort of first episode. Eager to see how the show develops, and how (or even if) the other directors will try an incorporate Scorsese's visual style.

I loved the show and Buscemi, but Buscemi and Benecio Del Toro are my two favorite actors making movies right now.

It is cool to watch how the mafia formed in this arena.

OMG the real Nucky Johnson looked like Scott Pioli.
http://casinoconnectionac.com/image/...ight=1000&q=70http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/55...uge_medium.jpg

I don't care for the actor who plays Jimmy
I didn't notice his limp in the first episode
still doesn't make me like him any better

What was up with that Zombie at the very end of the episode when that dude was getting a handy from that 19 year old?

This show is very meh so far.

It was one of the 5 guys that got gunned down during the liquor truck heist. Earlier, when Nuck and Jimmy were talking, Jimmy mentioned killing 5 people and Nuck said no, it was only 4 people.

Just what the heck would it take to make it not "meh"? Clowns juggling chainsaws while shooting flames out of their asses?

The plot and storyline has not enthralled me yet, and Buscemi is not very believable as the main character. It has gotten off to a slot start in my opinion.

I disagree, I like Buscemi as the main guy and I am really interested to see how the Rothstein plot line plays out.

That would make a great halftime at Arrowhead. Memo to the Chiefs Entertainment dept....

Is season one 6 eps or 12?

9 listed on wiki, but my guess is 12.

Btw, the sheriff is the cousin of a good friend's ex. Nice guy, from all accounts.

This!

It's not the Sopranos or BOB but its well made TV.

Bump -

Who didn't see Nucky finally getting him some of Mrs Shroeder?

Nucky got some nookie!

What the....no Steve Buscemi sex scene? Well, f**k this show.

Dude - there's been 2 or 3 - all equally disturbing.

Why on EARTH would you feel cheated not seeing that?
He gets boned and blown in previous episodes by his live in girlfriend.

Agreed on all accounts. Is it HBOs best as you've mentioned? No it's not...having said that it's still entertaining, though be it perhaps a bit slow for some people's taste. I would bet for those that do think it has started slow that things are gonna pick up here eventually. I'd be willing to bet the second half of the season packs a bigger punch than the first half. Hell the first half of a season for many tv shows are slow...there must be a storyline built and characters built up around the story line first though. That's what I believe Boardwalk Empire has done thus far. I expect it to keep getting better the rest of the way though.

This show is nothing more than a leftwing Hollywood smear campaign
before the mid-term elections -Republicans buying votes with ill gotten loot
Of course out of Hollywood the corpt boozing whorehounds are republicans

I loved the scenes with Capone and his taking over the other boss's terriotory. The violence was made to be real, they didn't sugar coat it but didn't go overboard into cartoonish ala Taratino.