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Fun Stuff => ENJOY => Topic started by: the_pied_piper on 21 Sep 2010, 13:29

Title: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: the_pied_piper on 21 Sep 2010, 13:29

So I couldn't find an old thread for this and it started last night.

Did anybody see it and thoughts if you did?

Personally, I was quite expectant with such big names directing/producing and a big lead role but it did not disappoint in the slightest. I don't want to project too far but it certainly has the scope to become the next huge TV series.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: Tom on 21 Sep 2010, 15:15

I downloaded it this morning but I haven't watched it yet. I hear it's perfect but seeing as Scorsese is involved I'm not sure if that's a bad or a good thing.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: Aurjay on 21 Sep 2010, 15:53

Watched it and it was good. Started out slow but most new series do.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: Inlander on 21 Sep 2010, 17:16

It was pretty good. I fell asleep the first time I was watching it (not because of the show) so I watched it again. The pilot was obviously a pilot (rather heavy on the exposition) but it was better on repeat viewing. We'll see how the later episodes go now that the world-introducing is out of the way. I'm going to keep watching it at least until Michael K. Williams gets something more than a cameo.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: Vuk on 22 Sep 2010, 22:30

I agree with what's been said. I thought it was pretty good - it's no Mad Men, but they did some really cool stuff with it. At first I felt like they'd be trying way too hard with the whole "gangster" mentality, since they have Scorcese and the Sopranos screenwriter onboard, but it seems promising (as far as the premiere showed, at least). I loved the scene where it shows Jimmy and Al killing those guys in the forest, and it's filmed to look like the Feds are after them, when really they were at a totally different location. I'm looking forward to seeing more of this show.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: Tom on 22 Sep 2010, 23:23

I understand that they were trying to show it happening at the same time and stuff but it's immediately confusing and probably unnecessary.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: Inlander on 23 Sep 2010, 00:09

I dunno, I feel like that twist is a pretty old and worn-out device.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: cheesepie on 24 Sep 2010, 08:36

I liked it, but I do agree with what is being said about them trying to make it look like the cops were going to get them but actually weren't at the same spot... It looks like a good show though, I'm excited to get into it.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: variable_star on 26 Sep 2010, 12:55

It's still a valid criticism, but pretty much every device is old and worn out by this point. That long tracking shot on the eve of Prohibition, complete with a man pushing a baby stroller full of alcohol bottles? Scorcese ripped that from 1931's "The Public Enemy". The alcohol still inside of a funeral home recalls 1939's "The Roaring Twenties". I'm sure there are many more even I didn't spot.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: KvP on 15 Nov 2010, 13:34

So hey, is this show dull or what

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: Tom on 15 Nov 2010, 13:44

Yes. New topic: is AMC killing HBO?

EDIT: I'm so glad they canceled Deadwood and Carnivale for shows like this.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: David_Dovey on 15 Nov 2010, 13:56

If AMC isn't, then FX is. Louie on it's own is enough to blow anything HBO has out of the water.

It's a shame to hear that there's a lot of negative press regarding Boardwalk Empire, considering the talent on board.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: Inlander on 15 Nov 2010, 14:12

I'm still watching every episode of Boardwalk Empire mainly out of a sense of obligation, but honestly I don't think I could be bothered watching a second season. The show's not bad, as such, it's just - not in any way engaging. I don't care about any of the characters. I couldn't really give a shit about what's going to happen to any of them. It's obviously been made with great care and attention to detail, but I feel like if you took away the period setting you really wouldn't have anything new in this show. And what the fuck, before the show started they were hyping Michael K. Williams to the hills and he's barely in it!

Basically Boardwalk Empire feels like HBO-by-numbers.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: the_pied_piper on 15 Nov 2010, 14:59

After my initial excitement I actually stopped watching after Episode 3 and haven't really felt any urge to start up again. Maybe after the whole season is finished I'll watch it all together but the pacing just slowed dramatically and it started to stagnate even that early on.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: Aurjay on 15 Nov 2010, 15:55

actually did the same thing but i was home sick and bored so i watched the whole season up to know. Its actually really good and worth your time. Steve Buchemi is amazing and conniving. Margaret is also turning into a very interesting story. Jimmy is whatever but i like where his character is going.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: Tom on 15 Nov 2010, 18:01

Quote from: Inlander on 15 Nov 2010, 14:12

Basically Boardwalk Empire is HBO-by-numbers.

fyp

Sure True Blod is my "thinking bad, Alex Skarsgard hot" TV show but since Deadwood's cancellation there hasn't been anything on HBO that I've seen as 'appointment tv'.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 16 Nov 2010, 13:44

Count me in the 'watched three episodes, got bored, gave it up, have too much other good stuff to watch to bother going back to it' camp. Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, It's Always Sunny..., Louie, and hopefully the other upcoming shows on AMC not to mention the often still funny 30 Rock and at times weirdly endearing Community on basic are all way more in my radar than this dull schlock could be. HBO is simply not a very good network anymore. Big Love, True Blood, Boardwalk Empire, Treme, and Hung (their 5 biggest shows right now) all fall somewhere between mediocre and bad. Only Bored to Death has a certain charm to it and even that is getting a bit old and ridiculous. If you ask me, cable is long overdo for a revolution of this sort.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: David_Dovey on 16 Nov 2010, 14:15

I loved Treme. I think if it was made by anybody else it'd fare a lot better. Obviously people are going to want to compare it to The Wire and that's entirely valid, but anything is going to have a hard time living up to the literal best show ever.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: Joseph on 16 Nov 2010, 14:45

I dunno, I prefer Treme to The Wire by a fair distance. It has a looser feeling and the way it works with the characters is brilliant. One could perhaps say it's unfocused, but I find that roving nature to be in large part what makes it excellent.

Boardwalk Empire is ok-to-boring. Some decent acting, but it cuts around to much, leaving all the characters feeling like caricatures. Even the human dimension they're trying to add to Nucky is pretty cliche father trouble stuff. A real pity after The Sopranos.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: Inlander on 16 Nov 2010, 15:05

Months later I'm still astonished by that sudden and unannounced flashback in the final episode of Treme and the impact it had after weeks of getting to know the characters and hearing their stories and knowing what happened to them after the hurricane.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: Vuk on 18 Nov 2010, 18:30

Was Treme confirmed for a second season, and if so, when is it airing?

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: Inlander on 18 Nov 2010, 18:46

Apparently it has been. Presumably the second season will air at the same time in 2011 that the first season aired in 2010. That's how TV works, right?

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: Vuk on 18 Nov 2010, 21:10

Ha, apparently it was renewed for a second season after the first episode. Good news to me, but I had no idea.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: Algernon on 22 Nov 2010, 21:38

Count me in as a "love Treme, think Boardwalk Empire is like watching jewel-encrusted paint dry, i.e. really pretty and expensive-looking but ridiculously boring."

I knew that Treme was getting a second season, but it does seem kind of hard to get information about it.  Ah, well.

Anyway I'm not too worried about the show's future seeing as David Simon just got a MacArthur grant and has infinite stacks of money.

 (Or at least that's what Synecdoche, NY led me to believe a MacArthur grant means.)

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 27 Nov 2010, 23:34

I think when you get one you also get a million dollars. Dunno why I think that but for some reason I think I heard that from a reliable source.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: KvP on 27 Nov 2010, 23:38

Pretty sure you get funding for your next project, same as the Nobel.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: Algernon on 28 Nov 2010, 00:13

Just checked.  New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/arts/28macarthur.html) says it's $100,000 a year for 5 years.  So half a mil total.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 28 Nov 2010, 06:14

I was way off. Half is still pretty good though.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: StaedlerMars on 13 Apr 2011, 16:03

Hey old topic. I'm going to pitch in here.

I actually watched the first three episodes, then stopped for a while, school stopped being mental, and then i watched all of the rest over the past two days, and I enjoyed it. Maybe this was because I was watching all in one go, but it was very pretty, I enjoyed the story, and yeah, probably preferred it over Mad Men at this point just because the story is so much more interesting in a historical sense.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: jmrz on 14 Apr 2011, 08:37

Yeah, I was the same. I downloaded and watched it back to back until I'd finished the season. I really really enjoyed it and will watch a second season. I don't think I could have watched it week by week, I probably would have lost interest.

I have downloaded Treme but have yet to watch it.

Title: Re: Boardwalk Empire
Post by: blanktom on 15 Nov 2012, 07:06

Bumping because I am only just catching up with this. Basically I watched season 1 back at my old house on Sky Atlantic then sort of forgot about it until recently, so have managed to download and almost totally get myself up to date in about a week.

Has anyone else kept up with it? How do you feel the plot has developed? Am I the only one who LOVES Stephen Graham as Al Capone?

(click to show/hide)

Personally I was a bit gutted when they killed off Jimmy but totally got that it was headed that way. Also found myself laughing out loud at the reaction in the room when Kessler brings Nucky news of 'Jimmys' death later in season 3.