TV 114 : Boardwalk Empire

He tells the women what they want to hear

The new TV season starts this week. Why not start with a bang? Last night was the premiere of HBO's new series Boardwalk Empire - brought to you by the critically acclaimed Martin Scorsese who is the executive producer and director of the show. Naturally, he is definitely in his element bringing to life a part of history that some like to visit from time to time. Prohibition.

The show is set in 1920. Its the very beginning of Prohibition in Atlantic City. The star of this series is Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson, the treasure of Atlantic City. Of course, he definitely has his own way of running things. With Nucky, you see the good, the bad and the ugly of city. How its corrupt with his brother running the police force which just might be hoodlums in uniforms.

His go-getter, Jimmy Darmody is played by Michael Pitt. This might be his year to redeem himself as the actor to watch for. Pitt is definitely in his prime for this part. If Scorsese made Leonardo DiCaprio shine in his movies, it looks like he groomed Pitt for this magnetic role. Of course, Pitt's definitely got the look, the voice to expose the rich history of a slice of Americana in those days. His character has a bum leg from WWI. He's a family man with a little kid and would love to some day own the American dream. I've never seen anyone who can smoke cigarettes and chew gum at the same time quite like Pitt can.

And who could ask for more to head the FBI than Michael Shannon. His glare means business. He's perfect for this part. Scorsese wanted to show people like Al Capone(Stephen Graham) just starting out as a gangster.  He also shows the average housewife of that day and age too with Kelly MacDonald's Margret. Also Paz de la Huerta can be seen as Lucy, the party animal that Nucky keeps close to his side.

Its been said the show really did want to have the series in Atlantic City, but since that boardwalk no longer exist they took a piece of Brooklyn and built their own boardwalk from the ground up usine old post cards and pictures from the historical Atlantic City as blue prints. The costuming and design is superb, giving a wonderful feel of the era. Atlantic City at that time also liked to think of its self as a health resort, only it really wasn't. In the first show, we see where they take the alcohol from Canada and add their own mix to it to bootleg from a funeral home.

Lets just say, the premiere definitely showed who ran Atlantic City. Buscemi's Nucky definitely has a way of chatting up the competition and finding the justice where he knows best. Definitely a show for those who love their crime stories the old fashioned way with bullets, punches and bloody endings.


HBO Boardwalk Empire