Michael "Omar" Kenneth "Little" Williams, Steve Buscemi, and ehhhhh Michael Pitt in Martin Scorsese's BOARDWALK EMPIRE

siiiiiked

hellz yeah

i anticipate

Michael Shannon, too.

This page describes it as "Martin Scorcese and the Producers of Entourage."

Kind of funny to imagine a Scorcese Entourage: Johnny Drama on a coke binge, Ari accidentally kills guest star Linda Fiorentino, etc.

Guys, Dabney Coleman.

^^!!!!!

will totally watch just for him

drexel's class 4-ever

"Martin Scorcese and the Producers of Entourage."

lol where's that aspie meta thread nabisco started?

i guess the wire is the one hbo show marty hasn't cameo'd in

I saw Summer of Sam last weekend, and didn't realize that it was the bridge between GoodFellas and Sopranos.

i guess the wire is the one hbo show marty hasn't cameo'd in

― FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson), Wednesday, June 10, 2009 7:48 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i loved his arc on dream on

Sepinwall Set Visit

Hah Dabney Coleman was awesome in Deadwood

???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZMP4VgmUWI

New Trailer

holla @ kelly macdonald

oooh kinda wish I had HBO

oooh kinda wish my system currently met the minimum requirements for viewing HBO.com

i just don't know about michael pitt. i guess it's nice for scorcese that he can squint and pretend he's directing dicaprio?

fuckin a between this and Luck I really need to figure out how I'm gonna watch HBO again. other than payin for it

is it wrong that i instantly thought for a second, man is he using Gimme Shelter AGAIN

Premiere date Sept. 19

new trailer
http://www.televisionaryblog.com/2010/07/trailer-park-hbo-releases-new-promo-for.html

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4129/4948984946_10b50e73d1_o.jpg

indeed

nyt not really feelin it - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/arts/television/17boardwalk.html?src=me&ref=arts

like every 21st-century non-documentary Marty project ever

but Morbs, they've finally addressed that complaint you've been making for years:

MARTIN SCORSESE’S PILOT episode for the TV series Boardwalk Empire finally gives HBO what the cable network has been faking for years: a sense of cinema. Scorsese gives it filmic qualities that have been degraded by most television production practices; qualities that are almost infinitesimal but real—as in the je ne sais quoi of a weirdly sumptuous New Year’s Eve celebration where cascading black balloons convey an impending social disaster as a culture celebrates its self-destruction.

Almost Criminal

i'll check this out but man it looks pretty fucking self-important

I'm not terribly excited. A big gangster soap opera is fine and all, but some depth would be good. I've not read much about it, but what I've seen hasn't really mentioned anything about that. Then again, I don't think anyone really noticed it about Deadwood at the start either.

more excited about Sporanos peeps + the cast than Scorcese's involvement, which I assume will decrease past the pilot.

long tracking shots and slow, exalted pans from ceiling to floor. ... in one scene, a man lies dead in a pool of blood as a Caruso record plays on a blood-splattered gramophone.

i mean... i feel i have seen enough of this shit to last five lifetimes.

stephen graham plays al capone now after playing was it babyface nelson in public enemies?

but some depth would be good

...

this show sounds effing awesome. there's no reason to believe some nyt hack who has binged on screeners. im gonna give it a go at any rate. who knows what depth it will or won't have.

This take from TIME is heartening:

Having helped build up the expectations for the show, I should put one slight caveat on them: I actually didn't love the show after the first episode, the epic, Martin Scorsese-directed pilot. It's really good: but it was really good in pretty much exactly ways that I expected it to be good—it wasn't an out-of-left-field surprise, a rethinking of a genre like The Sopranos was. By three or four episodes in, though, I could see the show developing its own vision and voice, one I hope (and expect) will be with us on TV for quite a while.

Was always way more excited for this than Treme.

when does it start?

Tonight.

9 eastern, but it's on three times in a row, so if you miss it another chance will roll around in an hour and fifteen minutes.

Sooooo...?

A lot of plot. A few off moments but some really enjoyable stuff as well. Over all I thought it was very good for a pilot.

This was fucking awesome. Ok, not the most illuminating review there, but shit. Sunday nights are shaping up! Next week, This, Mad Men, and Eastbound and Down?!?!?!!?! Treats.

I enjoyed this! Aside from the cliche "one mobster gets a shave while another gets blown away as opera plays" climax, I found it pretty enjoyable. Lotta good actors and Michael Pitt makes a pretty good Leo surrogate.

Could see it successfully sating the Deadwood and Sopranos audiences, if not necessarily the entire Wire one

opening credit sequence is soooooo generic HBO though, can't they craft these things to mesh with the shows rather than other credit sequences?

If the Wire was still around I wonder if there's would be McNulty floating slowly over Baltimore set to the Dream Syndicate

Buscemi is an odd choice for a series lead.

Looks gorgeous but cliched. I'm assuming it'll grow into its own at some point, right now it's a more cuddly Untouchables. I guess they couldn't really do something radical with a massive budget, they're playing it safe, they wanted another Sopranos and they're sort of getting it (Sopranos was much more imaginative coming out of the gate though). That said the cast is awesome.

The Ford book seemed so disjointed coming in the middle of what should have been a gripping conversation about how to deal with betrayal. Why they decided to derail that with a weird historical detail is bizarre!

Please hire somebody who knows typefaces for the historical signage ... was going nuts noticing all the historical inaccuracies. When it counted (closeups) they usually got it right though.

I enjoyed it a lot - like people say, not the most original thing ever but very watchable and funny, and I really like that period. The Al Capone reveal was well done.

Loving the dude who is playing Capone too

Totally didn't clock that Rothstein was Shuberg from A Serious Man

Michael Stuhlbarg is in this, eh

xp

Whole lotta Michaels in this thing. I can already tell i'm going to enjoy this a lot more than Treme even if it is slightly generic.

I'm willing to bet it'll become less generic. Also, Scorsese's sort of allowed to be generic, he's Scorsese and he does it very well.

renewed! after better than expected ratings.

hmmm, that's pretty dicey after one episode.

They were huge ratings. Even with the standard drop off it'll be sustainable. And the press has been huge; it already did its job for the network.

They renewed Treme after one episode iirc, and that seems a lot dicier.

"Generic" or not, this blows Treme away.

did scorsese have any involvement in this beyond directing the pilot? not that this would mean much either way.

don't think so.

Dece pilot, amazing supporting cast makes it worth sticking around for.

scorsese's also an executive producer, just like marky mark

Terence Winter on the extent of Scorcese's involvement:

"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."

He also plans to direct more episodes apparently

The Ford book seemed so disjointed coming in the middle of what should have been a gripping conversation about how to deal with betrayal. Why they decided to derail that with a weird historical detail is bizarre!

i really liked touches like this though. you really gotta inject some levity or oddness in there imo or like you mentioned it is gonna be an untouchables retread. which is why i think i really feel ok w/ buscemi as the lead

this was fun! not totally sold on the guy who i really don't want to describe by referencing dicaprio, but can't help it and i'll def give him a chance. buscemi could work this well i think. i'm a sucker for stuff like the ford book and the little person boxing. so is omar gonna be a full-fledged character? it was about as weird seeing him in this as seeing don in "the town"

i also like seeing lots of people dancing in 20s clothes

Apparently Michael K. Williams is featured a lot more prominently in the second and third episodes.

better than treme but i wasnt thrilled by this. then again, it's a pilot, and pilots often kinda suck, what with having to fit in every character and get everything going

felt bad for kelly macdonald and her terrible plotline. snivel, snivel, snivel, *gets beat up*

I have a feeling she is going to be the Peggy Olsen of this show.

Also would anyone from Ireland like to comment on her accent? Sounded weird off to me, but maybe that's what Irish immigrants sounded like at the time. She's generally pretty good at accents.

Accent wasn't great no. The problem with a lot of actor's attempts at Irish is they go for a sort-of generic "Oirish" accent, rather than attempting a specific regional variation which would sound a lot more authentic. She's actually done one before in "Intermission" which was similarly unconvincing. In this case I don't see why they didn't just make the character Scottish.

pretty tiresome tbh. more like boredwalk etc etc

"i bet the board is spelled b-o-r-e-d" -norm m.

it's a pilot, and pilots often kinda suck, what with having to fit in every character and get everything going

yeah, exactly

im blatantly going to keep watching, there's a hell of a lot of promise, but im not sure what the point of using scorsese was, when it was mostly bam-bam-bam check out these amazing sets, meet all these characters

there were some real nice scenes, like pitt's meeting with the feds, but some bits which over-reached. there was no meaningful parallel between the two murders at the end, so why draw one? felt kinda random and there hadn't been enough time to explain the dynamics between the two chicago guys.

buscemi was fine, but physically not quite right for the part.

ending up liking the first one a lot, but man ep 02 was snoooooooze

Really liked the second ep. Putting pieces in place and developing character. Still don't think it has the potential to rank among the greats, but am enjoying it thus far.

also lol at the midget's annoyed look after the joke.

oh, and where the hell did Paz De La Huerta come from and why is she in things?

also, where is omar little?

looks prominent in the next ep based on the preview

Also would anyone from Ireland like to comment on her accent? Sounded weird off to me, but maybe that's what Irish immigrants sounded like at the time. She's generally pretty good at accents.

NumberNone otm above, it's as bad as it was in Intermission, seems she can't do Irish without adding simpering into the mix.

Enjoyed first ep...bit tedious in parts tho, not sure I am that into this period as a thing. It's a bit stuffy.

oh, and where the hell did Paz De La Huerta come from and why is she in things?

http://nymag.com/movies/profiles/66284/index3.html
She's a bit of a "character"

ending up liking the first one a lot, but man ep 02 was snoooooooze

― sean gramophone, Monday, September 27, 2010 1:19 AM (20 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

troo, feel like the series is gonna be amazing overall tho

Buscemi is an odd choice for a series lead.

― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, 20 September 2010 14:47 (1 week ago)

buscemi was fine, but physically not quite right for the part.

― l'avventura: pet detective (history mayne), Sunday, 26 September 2010 19:02 (3 days ago)

sfunny cuz the wiki page for the real new jersey crook enoch johnson says '6 foot one inch 250 pound', so u can imagine who turned them down first

thought the first two ep's were fine without suggesting it's going to set the world on fire, tho it'll surely be worth watching

I'm perfectly happy with it being entertaining, quite funny and gorgeous-looking for the time being.

Stuhlbarg is easily the highlight of the series. Too bad the rest (barring Shannon maybe) doesn't live up to him.

i saw gretchen mol in the end credits - who was she?

Jimmy's mother, no?

yes

o

it was weird when she was jumping all over him

agreed, at first i thought he was having an affair.

and please tell me i never have to see another Buscemi cum face again

ha wait that was his mother, totally fast forwarded through that scene

yep moms

no way gretchen mol looks old enough to be his mum i mean

yeah i found that a little odd.

didnt help that she was naked

agreed

ha i wouldve totally gone on thinking that was his girlfriend, this makes much more sense now, thx ilx

michael pitt annoys the shit out of me too....i don't know about this show. Loved ep 1, ep 2...not so much.

ive liked not loved both episodes, still finding it weird that steve buscemi's playing the big boss around town

buscemi makes sense to me in that hes 'half a gangster', hes a ruthless bureaucrat set to contend w/new realities

can't say this has me glued to my screen

also missed gretchen mol completely

will keep watching

must read that profile of paz de la huerta, find out if there is more to her than 'getting them out in everything'

enjoying this if only because it's nicely shot and has even more skin than the last season of True Blood

wait hang on the dancer was gretchen mol?!!?!

'so that's how it is in their family'

this show is making me wonder if my once-favorite genre is just played out. Or maybe just played out for me.

It struck me last night that there's something a little off in the execution. I'm not sure it's balancing the plot development and the character development very well. There's a desire to slow things down after the pilot, which it does in certain small, character scenes, but then before you know it, Jimmy's on a train to Chicago and presumably the whole dynamic of how this show started three episodes ago is changing.

I do like the fact that Jimmy is less a man on the make and more of a bumbling novice. Nucky, Margaret and the Michael Shannon character are pretty great, but Paz De La Huerta is absolutely ruining every scene she's in.

Also weird to hear Omar swear.

G-Man guy totally born to play G-Men.

Gukbe's analysis is fairly valid, though I'm still finding plenty to enjoy. I was on the edge of my my seat during the attempted smothering, for example. But yeah there is a slight sense of a show spreading itself too thinly too soon, particularly with detours to NYC and Chicago. Having said that it's certainly not boring, and I will continue watching.

Oh yeah, was it supposed to be unclear who hung Omar's underling? I guess it was something to do with that creepy Doyle guy, but it wasn't obvious to me. I haven't quite got all the factions straight in my head yet.

g-man guy looks like he wasn't so much born and grew up as drawn into existence as a middle-aged man by chester gould.

enjoying this well enough three episodes in, but at the same time, the dvr cut off the last ten minutes of last night's episode and found myself not really caring.

I think it was Doyle and/or his 'investors' xxpost.

Should add that I'm really enjoying it, but it's not thrilling me just yet.

Yeah, it's definitely good, I've yet to decide if it's great. But, y'know I thought that about Mad Men and Breaking Bad three episodes in.

I thought that about Breaking Bad after the 1st season. You can never tell with these things.

some of this just seems so shity, weirdly inert and leaden, a minute long scene of mpitt emoting w/ photos of his wife...

i thought the problems with the first episode were just difficulties w/ providing backstories/exposition for all the characters but the third episode is even worse

some of it is ok. i like the federal agent bro.

Paz De La Huerta is absolutely ruining every scene she's in

i can't rly believe how soft-porn this show is tbh

she isn't so much 'ruining' the scene where she spills ice cream on her tits and licks it off her finger... that's kind of the whole point of the scene

haha

i wonder what paz is like w/ casting directors

haha G-Man guy was the young groom Bill Murray bought Wrestlemania tix for in Groundhog Day.

Surely it wouldn't be that hard to work out the meaning of "motherfucker" even if you hadn't heard it before?

this series is a Worthy Successor to the acclaimed films that martin scorcese has directed

I totally love Paz De La Huerta in this. But also I have no idea who she is.

Yes, she plays an annoying pouty twit with breasts extremely well.

she was great in the dressing room scene

no she wasnt

any recognizable names writing/directing these episodes?

they got some noob in for the pilot, the others they staffed out to veterans of 'house' and 'ncis'

xp was to! i'm generally enjoying the more ott characters in this so far though.

British dude playing Capone is good.

he's a good actor, but he's not exactly showing chops here yet (or getting a chance to) and he really can't do the accent (same problem with him in gangs of new york iirc)

the chalky/klansman scene was awz

I thought Capone's Chicago accent sounded pretty great!

opening credit sequence is soooooo generic HBO though, can't they craft these things to mesh with the shows rather than other credit sequences?

― da croupier, Monday, September 20, 2010 9:01 AM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

If the Wire was still around I wonder if there's would be McNulty floating slowly over Baltimore set to the Dream Syndicate

― da croupier, Monday, September 20, 2010 9:04 AM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is so otm, opening credits suck so bad

All coming together now. Very good episode.

Still very enjoyable, still not feeling much in terms of depth. But it may well come.

Really digging Nucky and Margaret now. Also happy to see Jimmy and Al about to get swallowed up in a turf war. And it's worth repeating how awesome the Chalky scene was.

I want to get invited to one of Nucky's parties.

eh. this is fairly entertaining thus far, but it's not exactly great.

i like Buscemi, but he feels miscast here. not believably charismatic enough to be a successful politician, not tough or intimidating enough to be a gangster. the scene in the last episode when he notices a spot on a glass and flips the table in a rage sent home the latter point. Michael Pitt is very pretty, but he's a damn boring actor. each episode seems to have a certain T&A (thanks Paz) and violence quota. often feels gratuitous. the show's too conservative, no real interesting plotlines, just standard gangster shit we've seen 100x before in a fancy new setting. it all feels a bit shallow.

also thought that Chalky scene in last episode was a little hammy, tbh. *ducks*

i'll stick it out, it's rarely boring and it COULD be something great, i'm just not exactly all that impressed with it at this point.

each episode seems to have a certain T&A (thanks Paz)

Was feeling the T&A on Jimmy's ill-fated Chicago squeeze, she reminded me of a younger sexier Jennifer Jason Leigh.

I pretty much agree entirely with circa. Moreover, I don't feel like I'm on anyone's side yet. Yer Don Drapers, Walter Whites, Dexter Morgans and Tony Sopranos are all pretty repulsive in their own ways, but their respective shows had you rooting for them pretty much from the off. I'm guessing Margaret is supposed to be filling that role, and she's growing into it but hasn't reached that point for me yet. Her exchange with the anti-Suffrage guys was her best moment yet, showing her as more than a sobbing victim.

margarets got some nice gams

I thought that was the best episode yet, everything had a bit more breathing space. And I'm glad Nucky and Margaret cut to the chase at the end, things should start heating up plotwise now.

Michael Pitt is still the weak link, but the actress who played Pearl was pretty good. Her trajectory was predictable, but she sold it very well I thought.

Yeah, been done a lot before but what was still good (mantra for the show, perhaps?). Nothing as good as the Nucky/Margaret stuff at his birthday from last week but still very solid and moving along nicely. If we get more Chicago shenanigans next week I'll be happy.

Eli's speech was a very funny sequence.

Michael Stuhlbarg has been consistently killing it in all his scenes.

Don't mind the opening credits that much... Brian Jonestown Massacre gets some $$$$

this is great, really enjoying it now. god those anti booze people are annoying tho

Anybody not on board with this show yet needs to get real. The Jimmy/Capone stuff is really great.

Yeah, I don't see anything wrong with this show, totally love it.

I loved Pearl though, miss her already.

Margaret/Nucky stuff has been moving fast but handled so well.

Completely loved Pearl yeah, :(

everything is moving fast; plus it def feels like theres a quota of nudity & violence, which is fine imo, im sure these were naked, violent times & ppl

This show is finally getting my attention

two weeks behind. should catch up tonight.

every time i see this thread title this image pops into my head:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/cinema/images/kenneth_williams1_gal.jpg

It's really hitting its stride now. Good stuff.

I'm digging how the storytelling is very straightforward and unpretentious.

is a great show...really liking it now. the capone/jimmy storyline is played out so well. all the tensions between characters are, in fact.

Yeah, this show's really coming together for me. I was starting to lose interest, but the last two eps hooked me again. Michael Stuhlbarg's Rothstein is mesmerizing in every scene he's in. Van Alden's an awesome character, and Michael Shannon has the most amazing face. I loved the glimpse at Capone's home life, and Margaret's becoming an interesting, complicated character. The portrait of the bickering 'Professional Irishmen' at the St. Patty's day dinner was great.

ttly agree re: rothstein - hope he gets more screentime

We know remarkably little about Nucky's past and inner life for a lead character. Maybe that will change, or maybe it's deliberate and we never will.

Between this show and seeing A Serious Man recently, Stuhlbarg is rocketing towards the top of my "must watch everything he does" list.

Yeah, same. I actually caught A Serious Man recently too, due to loving him in this, and he was possibly the highlight of it for me.

He's Houdini's brother... but he's just as good!!

haha! I couldn't stop thinking about Buscemi in Fargo at the night club with the hooker when he said that.

Brian Jonestown Massacre gets some $$$$

― Stockhausen's Helicopter Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Thursday, October 21, 2010 6:17 AM (1 week ago) Bookmark

is that who that is

hate the credits but <3 the tune

have been kinda shocked by some of the violence. capone with the shotgun & g-man guttin the blown open guy both stuck around in my head longer than i would have liked.

I'm digging how the storytelling is very straightforward and unpretentious.

― A brownish area with points (chap), Monday, October 25, 2010 4:04 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark

yeah im really digging that the shots are in focus and the actors remembered their lines

The sex scenes in this are ridiculous.

I love it when they show people boning in the middle of a scene-establishing pan.

it is v violent yeah, pearl getting her face cut was a bit "oh jaysus" as well

that and a certain pool cue scene in sons of anarchy s2 filled my wincing quota for the week

thinking of omar's lynching story and the cunny story this week: in both cases, two of three lines in i am bored, i can see the punchline but i feel like i've got to sit through another minute of "aria" writing to get to it, i don't believe the other character's reaction, and i'm thinking about the writer not the show. it's shitty writing that ruins suspension of disbelief. i don't have a problem with speeches in drama per se. maybe these two just sucked.

did michael pitt have one to the his prostitute gf last week too? i don't remember that one bothering me. maybe it was just those two.

i liked the omar story...i agree it was obvious where it was going but it still felt real to me.

thinking of omar's lynching story and the cunny story this week: in both cases, two of three lines in i am bored, i can see the punchline but i feel like i've got to sit through another minute of "aria" writing to get to it, i don't believe the other character's reaction, and i'm thinking about the writer not the show. it's shitty writing that ruins suspension of disbelief. i don't have a problem with speeches in drama per se. maybe these two just sucked.

otm. i feel like the people singing halleluias over Chalky's monologue were watching a different show than me (probably The Wire).

Every episode I've seen I always get thrown by the close-up of Buscemi in the title sequence:

http://imgur.com/0HpE6.jpg

Sure I can't be the only one. It's like he's CGI or something.

i don't believe the other character's reaction,

agree w/ this re: the omar story, but still liked it

michael pitt's 1 was bad cuz the acting was shitty imo

thinking of omar's lynching story and the cunny story this week: in both cases, two of three lines in i am bored

that should have read "two or three lines"

remind me what the michael pitt one was about? maybe that one sucked too.

otm. i feel like the people singing halleluias over Chalky's monologue were watching a different show than me (probably The Wire).

maybe i'm misremembering, but i don't remember the wire having many big set piece anecdotes? or do you just mean people saw omar and got confused into thinking it was good?

The Chalky monologue was great.

Chalky's speech did bore me, I was hoping they would do something interesting with that setup but it went exactly where I expected. I don't have a problem with speeches or storytelling, and it's possible that people used the exemplum in everyday speech more often back then, but it just has to be a little more interesting... for instance I liked Rothstein's story about the guy who swallowed billiard balls (I wondered if it was a reference to Frank Norris's McTeague, later adopted by Erich von Stroheim as Greed, which is the kind of movie that seems like a possible stylistic influence or antecedent to this show - anyway, there's a weird scene in it where a couple of guys have a contest to see who can fit more billiard balls in their mouth)

the michael pitt 1 was his memory of going out on a boat owned by some dude his mom was dating on the 4th of july when he was a kid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zweq4ZabNd8

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwn

i think part of the point with chalky was that the klansman knew the punchline too. which isn't to say you couldn't suffer too, just because the dialogue was weak.

i completely lost track of pitt's story to the prostitute about being on a boat or whatever halfway through, and it didn't seem worth a rewind

totally didn't believe the klansman's reaction.

paz's reaction was even less plausible though.

feel like they told those two actors that the speech they were about to hear was impressive and they should act accordingly.

not quite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhwsks02qRw

but getting there

le clip oscar

Honestly, the entire subplot with Chalky and the Klan felt like something designed to flatter modern sensibilities.

Paz's reaction in re: Schroeder's speech worked for me though, because she reacted with impatience to a speech that was designed to wrest away control of the conversation and also provide a sick burn - it's not like her jaw dropped and eyes bugged out, she was just like 'whatever' IIRC

Honestly, the entire subplot with Chalky and the Klan felt like something designed to flatter modern sensibilities.

boom.

yup. oh no there goes omar!!

thinking of omar's lynching story and the cunny story this week: in both cases, two of three lines in i am bored, i can see the punchline but i feel like i've got to sit through another minute of "aria" writing to get to it, i don't believe the other character's reaction, and i'm thinking about the writer not the show. it's shitty writing that ruins suspension of disbelief. i don't have a problem with speeches in drama per se. maybe these two just sucked.

― caek, Friday, October 29, 2010 4:01 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

yes! completely otm

these speeches try s0 hard and fail

also abe rothstein's poolball story

paz's reaction was even less plausible though.

paz is kind of a performance art interloper on the show, i think

'Read over your compositions, and where ever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.'

Paz de la Huerta is basically playing a parody of Paz de la Huerta.

those stories feel like FMV computer game cut scenes/end of level transitions from the 90s. designed to impress, but don't belong.

Pretty much agree with the criticism of the monologues/speeches; look to Breaking Bad for a show that does those well, and not in a self-conscious "oh, here's a big speech" way.

I actually fell asleep during Chalky's monologue. Glad I didn't for Margaret's this week though: BURN

lol at the phantom of the opera joke

hahah, this show does love the monologue "set-pieces". at least they kept my attention this week.

the gratuitous softcore shoehorned into every episode is kind of getting insulting.

i agree why the need for a sex scene in every episode. more killing less boob.

more sexy murders imo

This show is the ultimate embodiment of post-Wire/Deadwood HBO IMO - impressive on the surface, but naggingly safe/conventional. (Mind you I've not seen the last few eps.)

what other shows embody that?

the gratuitous softcore shoehorned into every episode is kind of getting insulting.

Yeah, last night's was particularly insulting.

mostly post-s2 Big Love, Hung, Treme (in that case, gutsy form vs. predictable content). Entourage is just sort of crappy. I do like In Treatment and Eastbound and Down.

That being said, Game of Thrones is a pretty ballsy endeavor.

the 22 minute lighter hbo stuff seems to have been fine-v.good for the past few years. the big ticket drama not so much.

Yeah that's fair. They've been overtaken by AMC and F/X pretty handily since their flagship shows ended.

It's almost as if making great television is difficult!

although i did like the introduction of Meyer Lansky.

and richard harrow...

yes, making great (anything) is hard, that doesn't mean the strategies behind trying (and/or failing) to make it happen are beyond discussion. xxp

No, I hear you, it's just that this has been a common lament about HBO for a few years now, and I've gotten to feel that when the state of things is such that you have multiple amazing, risk-taking shows on at the same time then, y'know... they probably kinda lucked out to an extent. If they could have better shows on the air, they probably would (Mad Men aside). Or maybe they really are playing it safer, I dunno.

I think it's possible to "play it safe" and still make consistently great TV, though - F/X'a programming isn't terribly diverse, as it's evenly divided between gritty/semi-gritty hourlongs and ridiculous half-hour comedy (aside from Louie, which is a true original IMO), most of which aren't terribly adventurous but are very entertaining. (I wholeheartedly like seven of their eight running shows, and I'll allow that Rescue Me has some great moments)

HBO seems to play it safe in a different way, where new shows feel like pale echoes of past successes. Hopefully their next batch (Luck / Thrones) will buck the trend.

Yeah I think I agree with you actually.

what was the thing it focussed on beside the guy in the surgery who had facial burns?

I was impressed by the professionalism of the whore who fucked Harrow.

really dug harrow, hope he's a regular. rolled my eyes initially at phantom of the opera joke, but then i thought it was nice for him to bring some levity.

did i miss something that made chalky immediately jump to the conclusion that lansky was sent by nucky to test him? i loved the suit he was wearing in that scene.

i hope nucky's backstory gets more interesting than "my dad was an asshole." buscemi's getting better. i think the way tweaks the character depending on who he's dealing with is subtle and well done, though the rash anger stuff still feels like a stretch.

for some reason every time i see vinnie delpino act a tough guy i have a hard time believing it.

Pretty sure I saw Harrow in the "next week on," which I am glad about. Also, that actor was just cast in David Chase's feature film debut.

Was that his mask beside him, that it focussed on when Jimmy first saw him?

The guy who plays Harrow is John Huston's grandson!

"Was that his mask beside him, that it focussed on when Jimmy first saw him?" Yes.

ah cool...i couldn't work out what it was.

yes his mask.

did i miss something that made chalky immediately jump to the conclusion that lansky was sent by nucky to test him? i loved the suit he was wearing in that scene.

that whole scene was a bit confusing imo. nb i'm not stupid but is anyone finding it hard to tell some of the mafia guys apart? i mean besides the erectile dysfunction guy those barber dudes are sort of a motley crew.

I was impressed by the professionalism of the whore who fucked Harrow

i'm impressed by early 20th century prostitutes all looking like gorgeous skincare models...

re: HBO

I think the exit of Albrecht and the relative lack of success with the post-Sopranos offerings led to a retreat to less...adventurous territory for the past several years. I think they've gone through another creative change at the network as well, which has led some confusion on how they want to proceed, but now they seem to be solidifying themselves with True Blood waving the flag. The hope is that with True Blood and now Boardwalk, they can get back to the more interesting series. So basically I'm just agreeing with Simon H.

I think Boardwalk is as good as (if not better than) the best output of FX, though it lags behind Mad Men and Breaking Bad so AMC is kind of winning. It's really hit its stride in the last few episodes. And as corny as it kind of is, Richard Harrow was pretty bad-ass. I also like to see Jimmy's war background really playing a role and informing the character more naturally, which is both a pay off and a vast improvement on the shoe-horned war weeping in the first episode.

Also I really think Margaret and Nucky's relationship is one of the most interesting on television.

also this episode was co-written by Paul Simms of Newsradio!

oh, and I agree with the nudity and the soft core elements. I was genuinely surprised when Jimmy's wife was revealed to be with the woman, but mostly because I didn't think they'd actually go there.

Anybody catch the Ponzi reference? 'International reply coupons ... Italian guy up in Boston'

Loooooving the Harrow character. Moar autistic sniper plz

I think Boardwalk is as good as (if not better than) the best output of FX

no way

Maybe I've missed the really great FX stuff then. Recommendations?

Justified and Terriers are both awesome. I also love Archer but I seem to be in the minority.

I think Justified and Terriers are awesome as well, but I don't see what makes them better than Boardwalk.

well for starters they're 10x as entertaining IMO

Probably would have agreed if it weren't for the last 3 episodes of Boardwalk being awesomely entertaining.

If I hear that the upturn is consistent I'll reconvene with it, but the first 4 or so eps weren't exactly inspiring.

Building up, though. Sopranos and Deadwood didn't hit their stride until about episode 4 or 5 either. Terriers and Justified have the advantage of having stand alone episodes, which are more quickly satisfying.

Finally started watching this on demand, am 2 episodes in and loving it.

i missed what's up with dude's wife....so, she is having a lesbian affair with who? was that the photographer's wife?

Yes.

Justified is in no way better than Boardwalk. Justified is enjoyable but it's so lightweight, like something you watch when you're 11 years old.

'boardwalk' is neither particularly enjoyable nor heavyweight

still watching, inexplicably

it's got more going on than justified...oh look he's got out of another life or death situ in the last 5 mins.

I'm not going to argue for Justified because I've only seen two episodes, but I enjoy watching Terriers a hell of a lot more than I enjoy Boardwalk. Not even close.

Justified is great. But it's a different show. You're better comparing Justified to Sons of Anarchy than freaking Boardwalk Empire...

"more going on" das not equal better.

i'm liking boardwalk empire...but there seems like there's too much going on...or not enough

it does to me

i missed what's up with dude's wife....so, she is having a lesbian affair with who? was that the photographer's wife?

― akm, Thursday, November 4, 2010 8:27 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

dude you're doing it wrong

no-one gives a shit about these characters

the whole point is the boobs

boobs and

http://clatl.com/images/blogimages/2010/11/01/1288619868-harrow.jpg
this fuckin' guy

maybe it was foreshadowing of something relevant to the plot of the show, but harding's wife saying the stuff about the fortune teller felt like the dale carnegie name-dropping: ooh look we've researched ten relevant contemporary facts for this episode and we're going to put them in the script whether it makes sense or not.

i knew it and it's the kind of crap i would think was clever to work into a script, which is why it jarred. it's mentioned in hollywood by gore vidal but i just googled and apparently it didn't happen. so the boardwalk writers just straight lifted from a scene imagined by vidal? does anyone know different?

hollywood is a great book if you would like to read a much better fictionalized account of that convention btw.

can't wait for harrow to start pickin off gamblers and beach bums

I like the show, but it just needs some HUMOR. Everything is so serious all the time. Buscemi is often the comic relief in movies, but here he's this joyless autocrat. I mean, what's the point of being the boss of Atlantic City (a sinful shithole of a town) if you aren't having fun?!

The Sopranos had a lot of little funny scenes in almost every episode that broke up all the scariness and violence. Boardwalk Empire just needs to do the same.

i thought harding's campaign speak and the projector porn were pretty funny this past ep

the dropping of "bloviate" by the harding actor felt like another "we've done our pub quiz/wikipedia research for this week" moment

otm re general lack of humour.

Maybe I've missed the really great FX stuff then. Recommendations?

― No Good, Scrunty-Looking, Narf Herder (Gukbe), Tuesday, November 2, 2010 10:58 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this thread is kind of a handy guide, although it predates Terriers, which is pretty well loved around here: FX Network hourlong dramas

Aye, I've seen that thread. I like Justified, Terriers, and Sons of Anarchy, but I think BE holds its own against them. And runs circles around SoA.

Of course, I had big problems with The Shield so I recognize I'm going to be in the minority here.

I think it's a pretty funny show. I'd say most of the episodes have had some humor in them. Eli was funny in this episode, Harding's mistress's poem was funny, Nucky telling off Edge was funny (Buscemi's great whenever he gets to go into sarcastic dickhead mode, which is a lot), and the reveal of Van Alden sending the money to Angela made me laugh. Van Alden's relationship with his wife seems to get played for laughs a lot, maybe because it'd be too depressing otherwise, but the scene where he writes her a bloodless letter in the first episode was hilarious to me. Maybe none of this was funny to you, but it's still obvious that they TRY to inject plenty of humor into the show, so it's not fair for you to say that they don't.

Also, this kind of complaint:

the dropping of "bloviate" by the harding actor felt like another "we've done our pub quiz/wikipedia research for this week" moment

C'mon... I see what you're saying, but it's like you've already decided you're gonna take the cynical approach to any of this stuff on the show so everything gets filtered through that lens. Are funny historical details somehow worse if you actually recognize them? I don't get this at all!

My biggest problem with the show right now is probably Nucky and Margaret. They've hinted at some interesting nuances with both characters, but for the most part the characterization hasn't been there like it should. Buscemi's doing a great job with what he has, but it'd be a stronger show if we had a better feel for what Nucky WANTS. What are his goals right now besides just generally maintaining his power? He's already rich and powerful, so we just get this guy who's blase about everything and there's no drama or tension related to his goals. And Margaret just kinda... goes along with whatever happens. Fortunately the supporting cast is great. I have a feeling 'not enough Harrow' could become a common fanboy complaint, but he IS a great character.

Harrow's voice is amazing.

strongly disagree with Margaret and Nucky relationship xpost.

Oh, I think the Margaret and Nucky relationship is interesting and there's a lot of potential there, I was talking about the individual characters..

All the humor you cite is ironic. Not that ironic humor doesn't count, but it doesn't make the characters seem any less miserable.

Yeah, I guess I can see that.

C'mon... I see what you're saying, but it's like you've already decided you're gonna take the cynical approach to any of this stuff on the show so everything gets filtered through that lens. Are funny historical details somehow worse if you actually recognize them? I don't get this at all!

compare and contrast with mad men and deadwood where the period details that aren't in the far background are relevant.

Make me!

it doesn't really bother me that it's not funny, i don't find the episodes dragging or tedious or whatever so it doesn't matter that i'm not laughing. the only thing i do find with this show is there are quite a lot of characters and some have yet to be fleshed out v well, so you can be a bit like "who is this again" at times...

it'd be a stronger show if we had a better feel for what Nucky WANTS.

I would agree with this, he has a very ill-defined inner life for a central character. Can't tell if that's purposeful and we're due some big emotional reveal shit at the arse end of the season.

Show's starting to lose me again... all the gangster stuff is so boring, and it seems like it's gonna dominate the rest of the season. I guess they still have room to surprise me. Jimmy's a really unlikable character.

all the gangster stuff is so boring

You might be watching the wrong show, tbh.

Jimmy's a really unlikable character.

Yeah, and not in a fascinating way, unfortunately.

Agree that Nucky's a little two-dimensional. And it's not Buscemi's fault. The show just isn't filling him out.

I'm sort of curious about the gangster war aspect - just because I think there's room, given the cast/atmosphere, to build something different using the same old pieces. But if this descends into The Untouchables, it's over.

I like that the fed guy has turned out more incompetent than he seemed in the first episodes. At the same time, I don't like it.

I think Nucky is a very interesting character, and I think they're doing a good job with him.

I don't think Jimmy is terribly interesting, nor is he likable (though I don't think he's meant to be), but I like how he's turned into a cool crime operator, and then immediately thrown in jail.

The trick might be to appreciate that the blood on Margaret's dress is just about the level at which this show is pitched, and enjoy it.

Also more Harrow please.

I think Nucky is a very interesting character, and I think they're doing a good job with him.

I don't think Jimmy is terribly interesting, nor is he likable (though I don't think he's meant to be), but I like how he's turned into a cool crime operator, and then immediately thrown in jail.

The trick might be to appreciate that the blood on Margaret's dress is just about the level at which this show is pitched, and enjoy it.

Also more Harrow please.

― Gukbe, Monday, November 15, 2010 4:12 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

Yeah, I think I agree with most of this. Despite my complaints about Nucky's characterization, he's still the guy on the show I want to spend the most time with (as a viewer). And that's a good point about Jimmy getting thrown in jail.

German valet guy screaming "NEIN!!" and then gunning down a would-be assassin was a pretty awesome moment.

i bailed on this two episodes ago. i guess there's nothing said here that hasn't been said in this thread, but otm nonetheless:

http://gawker.com/5690370/boardwalk-empire-is-officially-a-let-down?skyline=true&s=i

Nucky just goes from one petty drama to the next, fixing things easily and covering up for his and his cohorts' mistakes. There's no great plan, there's no formidable adversary, there's little complex, behind-the-scenes politics. All there really seems to be is a big bunch of impressive sets and some excellent wardrobe choices.

Guy doesn't seem to have been watching the show. You can argue about the depth, which I'd agree isn't up to Mad Men, Deadwood, or Sopranos territory, but Nucky going from one petty drama to another is ridiculous. The show has been building and building an arc all season, and it's progressing nicely imo.

Yeah, I really don't follow that kind of complaint. I wholeheartedly love this show. Is it as "deep" or engrossing as some of the others this is being compared to? No. But I've found it to be one consistently entertaining hour each and every episode. And, no, it doesn't particularly look "real", but I find it gorgeous to look at.

it's a v slow moving story but it's a story. it isn't ostensibly as deep as some of the big shows yet but it's a bit more period drama than they are, a lot of it is just v pleasing time/place/music with quite a traditional story, and characters specific to that time/place. some of what i like most about the show is thinking about say the irishness of nucky and his family, or other characters, or similarly with the mob. it isn't packing a huge emotional punch yet in the way something like mad men does but it consistently is interesting to me.

oh and also...nelson van alden is prob the best character in this.

(except he reminds me a lot of rex banner in the simpsons!)

Touching on how likable (or, more accurately, unlikable) Jimmy is, I think that is one aspect of the show that really reminds me of Sopranos - none of these characters feel like they are supposed be liked. Even Maragaret is slipping way too easily into manipulation than we'd have expected early on.

My favorite character is still probably Arnold Rothstein though, really liking the way he commands every scene he is in.

what did people think of this week? nelson really is off the wall isn't he, great character. think it's developing nicely overall, some of the depth of character themes coming along are a little unsubtly introduced eg harrow "i don't recognise myself in the mirror" vs margaret's moral scruples, but largely it's good.

Yeah I'm really intrigued by where they're going with Nelson. The actor does a great job, he plays him with so much intensity.

Yeah, it's pretty unsubtle but if you tune into it on that level it works pretty well. I really love this show. My highlight of the week behind Terriers.xpost

I dug this ep a lot. I haven't really bought into how they're selling Jimmy as mr. hardass, but his line before shooting that one guy was great - "I wasn't gonna, but you talked me into it" or whatever. I didn't realize until this ep how much I enjoy Doyle and his crazy laugh.

They're kind of all over the map with Margaret, she can still be interesting but her characterization requires more focus or something I think. All those shots of her looking conflicted while Nucky does business are becoming wearying.

I liked the Capone Barmitzvah scene. I'm always happy when he shows up actually.

xpost - yes, I'm getting a bit annoyed with Margaret and her perfect grammar.

Oh yeah, Capone bar mitzvah ruled. I love that kind of stuff.

Capone is a brilliant character too actually. Is there a Harrow/Margaret thing going to come along or am I wrong to just go by the "two people exchange emotional words alone means they will begin a relationship" rule of TV?

So obv Nelson's gonna learn a lot about Nucky pretty soon...

Top five characters in no order: Harrow, Capone, Nucky, Rothstein, Van Alden

Is there a Harrow/Margaret thing going to come along or am I wrong to just go by the "two people exchange emotional words alone means they will begin a relationship" rule of TV?

That crossed my mind too, but I doubt they'll head in that direction. Who knows though.

I did not realize old guy was dabney coleman until just now when I read that it was. holy crap.

Haha yeah, knowing that makes his otherwise flat character much more enjoyable.

Btw, here's a cool article about Great War facial prostheses:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/mask.html

apart from the ever-reliable paz de la huerta, that was yet another boring hour of tv

deadwood and sopranos had compelling characters, so you forgave the fact that all the great crises they got into ended with only minor players getting killed; but in this it's a real snore. i'd much rather have had rothstein's guys fucking take nucky out. who'd miss him? or at least the terrible jimmy. hope the lesbian ladies escape to france and we never have to see them again. hope the chick from 'trainspotting' spends less than the rest of eternity figuring that nucky is a bad dude and leaves him and goes back to ireland. (not sure if women could vote in ireland in 1920.think only women over 30 could. but anyway.) wish al capone would get on with it and start machine-gunning people.

apart from the ever-reliable paz de la huerta, that was yet another boring hour of tv

you clearly like different things in this series than I do.

are you waiting for what margaret will do next? or looking forward to the next classic nucky one-liner? or on tenterhooks about jimmy's... situation, whatever it is?

yes, but without that smarmy attitude

u mad imo

wish i could quit it

killing jimmy would make a big difference

He's definitely my least favourite of the leads, though I don't strongly dislike him. The WWI PTSD thing could have been interesting, but now he seems to mope about the trenches every ten minutes and it gets a bit old.

I think they do a pretty good job with Nucky even as they have to shift to Margaret's perspective of him. Rothstein/Luciano machinations are fun and ever-present, and I loved Capone's coming-of-age thing. Harrow is, obv, awesome.

There's only 2 episodes left, right? It would seem silly to quit now.

It doesn't hold a candle to Deadwood (which was never really about who died) and Sopranos (which was, but was handled a lot better), but it's better than most things on TV at the moment. Also it seems so much better now that it's being paired with a rerun of last season's Big Love, which was so bad I gave up 4 episodes in. Considering picking that up again just to prepare for the final season.

I basically watched about 8 hours of this over the last two days. Now to read the thread. Just skimmed it and until this minute I had no idea that was Dabney C.!! Also, I really dislike de la Huerta woman.

I thought the Commodore was Bob Hoskins, no shit.

I really like jimmy, not to go against the grain.

Yeah I don't have much of a problem with him tbh even though I get that he's not incredibly likeable. I don't hate him or anything and I must say that he's welcome dude eye candy in a sea of T&A.

i am considering trying to emulate his haircut...is this a bad idea?

yes

That's one thing about him that's definitely NAGL in my opinion.

he looks like he's in the arcade fire

ugh arcade fire......that said i think i've already made up my mind

thought this was the best ep yet. def got chills @ the baptism scene

I'm still three episodes behind. :(

this was great.

and, yeah, I do like Jimmy, and his wife, and all that. margaret is the only wet fish to me.

find margaret's terrible "fiddle de dee i'm just a pooor oirish gurl" voice quite hard to handle.

this ep was great tho, nelson's craziness is really being teased out well. is this ep gonna mean he gets canned and the heat eases on nucky a bit? loved the argument between nucky and eli...

loved the argument between nucky and eli...

^yah this

it was v well written in that when eli starts sounding right and sensible you know nucky has actually been letting things slip...

Totally agree, best episode of the season.

This episode was fantastic. A lot of the boring stuff from earlier in the season is paying off now, like all the seemingly pointless scenes of Rothstein rehashing the Black Sox scandal.

Definitely the best episode yet, but I can't really agree with all the "oh now the boringness was worth the wait" stuff, since I've found this absolutely enjoyable from episode 1.

nelson is so the best character now! agree they have bungled margaret, which is a shame. thought nucky burned her pretty good in their argument though.

and xp - i like jimmy's hair too, garda. it's kinda hott when it gets messed up and there are some stray bits flopping out of place. go for it!

ugh i am surprised by y'all. Nelson is so hamfisted and BORING. i mean, cute character acting but just this silly caricature that never surprises me. nucky's got more unguessed layers than everyone else combined.

find margaret endlessly watchable.

Yeah Nucky's burn on her was great. Nelson is sorta hamfisted, but so completely the opposite of boring. I love every scene he is in.

Van Alden's not the best character, but he's a lot of fun. I think a lot of that is Michael Shannon. Maybe you can tell us about some of Nucky's "unguessed layers"...

i just mean that i'm never sure which way he's going to turn in a scene - he's a hero, an antihero, a goof, a steely dude. i really thought he might hit margaret in that scene. he's not unpredictable because "he's so wound-tight and unpredictable!" - but just that he has this internal life that's complex enough not to be able to accurately predict.

his firing of his bro was so abrupt!

Yeah, that was the first genuine "HOLY SHIT" moment of the series. My one main criticism was that the first "HOLY SHIT" moment SHOULD have been the attempted hit on Nucky, but I feel like they bungled that.

"They" being the show's writers, not just the guys than bungled the actual hit.

Nelson is so hamfisted and BORING. i mean, cute character acting but just this silly caricature that never surprises me.

you really guessed he was going to drown sebso? he's ott but shannon works it so hard he steals every scene imo.

i agree with you on nucky's unpredictability though. it's become much more believable since the earlier incidents like when he overturned the table for the banquet.

As soon as the camera cut back to the river, the drowning was obvious and then so belaboured. :(

I mean, it was so obvious that he was going to drown him while he was forcing his head under water for a long time.

Come the hell on, I think he meant not obvious based on the previous episodes. Of course THE ACTUAL SCENE ITSELF wasn't exactly subtle.

So you enjoyed sitting through the five minutes of obvious "oh hello pastor!" nonsense? i was snorin

I really liked the crazy intensity of that whole scene. And I didn't think he'd go so far as to drown the guy, I thought he was trying to humiliate him/force a confession out of him.

chap otm, exactly what I was expecting - humiliation. I mean, it has been made clear that dude was crazy, but with his skewed sense of morality I just didn't expect him to murder another law enforcement agent - even one he suspected of helping his enemies.

otm x2 - i really didn't know what was going to happen in that scene, and i don't think nelson did either!

x3

interesting to see what happens with Harold next week. Suggesting massacring the Philly Mobs mother and brother wasn't exactly out of character but still slightly shocking.

It was the way he mentioned so casually that made it more shocking, really (massacring the family that is).

sort of agree with jon, i wouldn't say i instantly liked it, i didn't watch episode two for about 5 weeks, but as soon as i came back to it and could watch 2/3/4 in quick succession i got hooked. i really think this is the best thing currently airing...tho am open to any suggestions in this mad men/breaking bad drought. very much enjoying boardwalk though, wtf is going to happen nelson now? how does he get out of this?

also how many eps left?

The Ponzi thing in this episode made me scream.

Why is the blocking of the extras on this show SO TERRIBLE.

Next week is the last episode.

very subdued finale imo

It was disappointing as a standalone episode, but I think it sets things up nicely for next season, which I suppose was the intent.

Harrow is ice cold

wrapped up a lot of things nicely from this season I thought, though it did seem both rushed and understated. Margaret and Nucky are my favourite thing. Besides Harrow.

i think they used to do that w/ the sopranos, where the penultimate ep was the one where a lot happened, and then the last episode was more subdued

Looks like s2 will be the one where things really kick off, this one seems to've been about getting everyone into place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mhpw7gb1fE

this one seems to've been about getting everyone into place.

far too generous imo.

this show was a massive let down full of dreadful writing. i'm out.

Why is the blocking of the extras on this show SO TERRIBLE.

ha, otm.

this ep was a lot worse than the show has been recently, stupid shit about the brack etc. also the margaret storyline was a bit thick, just sort of pointlessly wavering then "oh fuck it let's get back together."

i do like this show a lot though, it had been on a really good streak until this finale.

ugh yeah, this was not good. "i want to find out who the real enoch thompson is" or whatever... just awful. and even as one of the few fans of both paz and nelson i groaned at the pregnancy news.

very disappointed in the last episode. Didn't buy Margaret's damascene conversion to machine politics. Did lol when mayor bader reinstated Eli.

Sure it set up the next series but it leaves me feeling very dissatisfied about this one

and even as one of the few fans of both paz and nelson i groaned at the pregnancy news.

that was so weird. feel like they're keeping nelson around purely for the lols now. the scene with his wife was also hilarious: "they make my fillings hurt!"

Looks like s2 will be the one where things really kick off

not exactly regretting stopping after ep. 4.

I figure I'm willing to keep watching this show just for the pure volume of getting to look at Steve Buscemi that that would entail.

I just finished episode 6 and it's kinda getting slow (mostly the Kelly Macdonald, Michael Pitt, and Gretchen Mol parts). Enjoying all the Buscemi though. Is it worth it to stick with it until the end of the season?

The whole thing's pretty slow moving - at the end of the season it only just feels like everything's in place for some big shit to go down. The only character who really goes through some eye-popping changes during S1 is Nelson. Having said that, if you're enjoying the scenery I'd keep going. And I don't think you've met the most fascinating character yet.

The whole season feels like setup for a much better season 2/3.

That's what I'm hoping!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-B8RjzOwG8&feature=player_embedded

never thought I'd say this but I'm kinda psyched for season 2

I'm v v excited.

thought first season patchy and not great but looking fwd to second

The first few eps of this season will be make or break for me, I think. They'll need to have upped their game a few notches.

holla @ kelly macdonald

― max, Tuesday, March 16, 2010 3:04 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

liked s1 overall, it started slow then the middle few eps were very good culminating in a slightly silly ending. will defo be watching s2.

this show was a massive let down full of dreadful writing. i'm out.

― caek, Monday, December 6, 2010 7:49 PM (6 months ago) Bookmark

otm. i somehow watched all but the last ep, but the show is so inertia-inducing i haven't got round to it.

great set design, costumes, and tits, though.

i had to fight through the first 3/4 but i thought it got quite exciting after that.

i liked mike hale's line: "stiff, dull and a pale and weirdly politically correct pastiche of older and better gangster dramas". not sure about the pastiche, but the rest is otm.

what with the likes of steve buscemi and paz being so well cast, it's difficult not to like this show though

tbf though, this guy was brilliant

http://www.philly2philly.com/sites/default/files/harrow.jpg

I came round on the show but i still think Buscemi was horribly miscast

i can understand some criticisms of 'justified' but they nailed the main casting so well that that carries the show through any among of so-called generic stuff (oh like we're too good for gunfights now?). this is just another way of saying i like watching timothy olyphant i guess.

i was making a horribly formed joke about buscemi xp

Ah. I actually think Paz is fine for her role though. Don't know why didn't they just let Kelly McDonald use her actual accent either. Pretty much ruins her performance for me.

yeah her accent is a fucking joke. she was at the same lark in intermission too. it's like "simpering" comes as part of her "irish" package.

Definitely. I mean how hard would it have been to make the character Scottish?

i wasnt that impressed w/the first season, but im pretty curious about s2.

i guess there's a lot of irish/catholic storyline stuff xpost

I suppose so. You're totally tight in what you said before though. It's not just that it's a bad accent, it's that it actively changes her performance.

totally right

yeah exactly...she is totally playing the accent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYPTrcho84s

she's the exact same character here...when she talks after bout 1.30

Haven't seen Intermission since it came out. I wonder if it holds up

http://vimeo.com/18275127

Back tonight, but does anyone care?

oh wow really? apparently nobody cares, or else I was just depending on ilx to remind me.

I will watch it at some point, hopefully it is 60 minutes of Harlow and, uh, I dunno, tits

I care, but I've recorded it to watch later.

I think I mean Harrow. You know, the one with the face.

This is make or break season for me.

I thought last night's was really good, aside from the obligatory HBO season-opening montage to remind you of all the characters. The editing of the scene when Nucky was speaking to the two different churches was great.

I'd like to say that I don't like the "ehhhhh Michael Pitt" of this thread's title. I think he's proven himself here, he's very good in the role.

^^ otm

Has ilx given up on this? I think this season is off to a great start. Loved all of the jail scenes with Chalky. Also glad to see they are taking full advantage of Dabney Coleman this time.

This show lacks a larger thematic sensibility that might raise it up to a higher level, and by spreading itself amongst so many characters I'm not sure it's going to emotionally engage me on a serious level anytime soon, but it's pretty damn good for what it is.

I think Buscemi is really good in his vulnerability and MacDonald is amazing throughout. Pitt's shown good stuff, and while I was less interested in his side this week it was never dull. The Chalky stuff was quality though.

The Irish guy who was at dinner with Mrs Shroeder and big collar no-lamb guy had the most amazing face.

^^ otm

I don't mind the sprawling cast, tbh, because they pepper the sidelines with such interesting charaters, whether mannerisms, looks, or whatever.

i'm still into this. first couple of eps have been good.

the double church scene was great

<3'd dunn purnsley, kinda wish he was re-occurring somehow

http://fikklefame.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Chianese-Muttonchops-192x120.jpg

this past episode was my favorite of the series so far, definitely off to an excellent start. agreed about dunn purnsely

it's been good so far. feel like they're just keeping shannon around for comedy now though, should have saved him and paz having a baby for the spin-off.

this show's gettin good. william forsythe as a chummy yiddish butcher!

I'll take some quality time with Harrow over major developments. Throw a head smashing and a scalping in and I'm sold.

This season has been pretty incredible imo, much improved over last year.

yea lots to like in this ep, v compelling

I'll take some quality time with Harrow

Loved those scenes

I just keep reading how this show is pointless, not just from M Seitz:

http://www.salon.com/topic/boardwalk_empire/

Interesting that Tim van Patten directed the episode. Whenever his name turned up on the credits of a Sopranos episode, it was a sign that there would be some substantial violence.

it's fine and better than the first season but it is a bit formulaic - some character stuff, some gore, some tits, some brutal gore

he's of the blond '70s TV van Pattens?

Indeed!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Van_Patten

Seitz pretty otm there, especially that last week's episode was probably the best the series has produced. I think the violence is pretty lolzy but really I'm watching the show for amusement and Richard Harrow, who has turned out to be a pretty compelling character.

There's a lot of great stuff in BE, and I don't ever find it boring, but it never grabbed me enough to really rue the descent of Margaret (though her and Nucky's courtship was probably the best thing about the first season imo). The show lacks a point, or a larger theme, which is probably why it will never be amazing. Still, watch it after The Walking Dead and it's grade-A brilliant.

I only just watched episode 2 of this season but it seems like there is a plot this time around, so that's something.

seen up to end of episode 3 i think, prob shouldn't be reading in case of spoilers, but anyway

Think that series 2 has taken off brilliantly, last few episodes of series one were a bit of a mess.

Seitz pretty otm there, especially that last week's episode was probably the best the series has produced.

uhhhh, did you read it? He called it pointlessly violent.

is that necessarily a value judgement

i mean, other things that were pointlessly violent- gangsters, bootleggers, the irish

from a dramatic standpoint, he argues

dramatisation of violent events doesn't require them to be softened. He's only arguing from personal preference there, not critical detachment

uhhhh, did you read it? He called it pointlessly violent.

By last week's I mean the episode that aired last week, "What Does the Bee Do?". That's the one he says is one of the best episodes of TV of the year full stop. And it might be.

A show about Prohibition is 'pointlessly violent'?

A show about dougyboys coming home from the Great War to Prohibition, I could ask.

The dramatization of 'pointlessly' violent events can/should have a dramatic point. In theory.

They have a point, but a.) sometimes that point isn't that great and b.) they are excessive in their execution

It might be a lazy comparison because two of the writers from the Sopranos created them, but it seems like Mad Men inherited the adherence to larger thematic interests, the deep characterisation, and the more elegantly executed standalone episodes while Boardwalk got all the double-crossing plot machinations and the more base, violent streak.

Seitz seems as annoyed with the fans as much as the show itself. The mob stuff made The Sopranos a big crossover hit, but the viewership dropped (and those mob genre fans - i.e. the average male viewer) tuned out when it started with the episode-long dream sequences or Tony in a coma.

Boardwalk is in an odd position in that it wants to appeal to that mainstream fan base so it's reluctant to really wade into deeper territory, but it also has too many pretensions towards 'prestige' and 'legitimacy' to embrace the schlocky violent thrills that say, Spartacus could do. Of course, Game of Thrones is probably more violent than Boardwalk, and it is also a better show so what are ya gonna do.

boardwalk can't even seem to decide what to make of some of its own lead characters from one episode to the next, tbh, so asking for overarching themes might be a reach

that's otm. it's too obsessed with plot and has way too many characters to move around the board because of it.

i do think they appear to have spotted and worked on that so far this season, tbf.

First season really seemed to suffer from a sense of 'we're making this up as we go along', even if they weren't.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lto6q7IowP1qzyle2o1_1280.png?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAJ6IHWSU3BX3X7X3Q&Expires=1319731142&Signature=ufVBPe71L%2F4cbI2Photlg%2FEnBo8%3D

I'd also take issue with Seitz' claim that the man mentioning his time fighting native americans only serves the purpose of allowing a scalping to take place later on. That scene and that relationship is as much about generational disrespect as anything else. The man talks about massacring indians with glee, as though it was the manly thing to do, and all these kids today coming back traumatized from laying in the and killing white folk just wasn't legitimate. I don't think it was very elegantly done, but it wasn't done just for the violence.

Seitz may also be missing the fact that one of the commonly tossed about modern takes on Prohibition is as a kind of latter-day Know-nothing nativist response to all these Catholics and Jews and foreigners living in cities, a kind of reassertion of WASP dominance.

I still think that WWI plus liquor-or-no-liquor plus corruption leads precisely to violence.

The show lacks a point, or a larger theme, which is probably why it will never be amazing. Still, watch it after The Walking Dead and it's grade-A brilliant.

― encarta it (Gukbe), Wednesday, October 26, 2011 12:47 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark

yeah, i agree with this. it's not really pushing the envelope thematically - though sometimes it gives you glimpses of the kind of show it COULD be - but it's coming into its own as really good entertainment.

tim van patten is probably the best 'in-house' HBO director

just caught up on this, holy hell, gruesome stuff. agree with most of what's been said, plotwise i have no idea what's going on with nucky anymore but there's enough characters around to entertain me. nice little pine barrens touch on the last ep too.

^^ "Pine Barrens" jumped to mind for me too!

Love that Eddie Cantor is a character on this show, going on about Ida and the girls. It's spooky.

boring episode

wasn't boring, was just a comedown after the insane-o previous ep

can someone explain to me where the women are hiding their long hair when it is "up", I have no idea how that works at all

YES! I was trying to get my wife to explain to me where all of Katie's hair went when she's in uniform.

i'm enjoying season 2 a lot.

I did not want to be reminded of Esther Rantzen every 10 minutes in this episode
(nor did I want to see those fingers)

ugh, those fingers, yea

ugh... the sound they made!

fell asleep during this episode.

Haha, yeah, the sound of those fingers was the first time this show has ever actually made me flinch. I'm still loving this season, even though I thought the ending was a bit rushed and anticlimactic. I mean, you'd think it would have unfolded a little more interestingly, considering how many storylines were tied up in it (trying my hardest to avoid spoilers here).

those fingers coming off so obvious

wasn't for me - i had a half a second of "the fuck was that soun.... OH GOD!" in my head.

rewatched this, glad I did, fuck. not sure I followed exactly why he did that to that guy, some irish shit I guess.

didn't get that at all either. thought he was going after nucky's hitman at first or something. kinda slow episode.

watching goodfellas right now i realize paz and lorraine bracco sound EXACTLY the same

i assumed that was the actual reason he was left behind there - to execute irish dude's enemies on the east coast.

this was episode was amazing

loving the peaches.

ya - good ep. loved the "the only winning move is not to play" part.

Yeah, this show has been on such a good run this season, not sure why the reception seems to be so muted.

A combination of backlash against/not living up to the hype of the first season probably.

I thought the beach scene between Jimmy and his wife was spectacular. Also like that her lesbian dalliance from last season wasn't a one-off "Marissa on The O.C." deal.

also: it has to compete with zombies.

Yeah, but the zombie show is terrible now. Its easy to tell which one of those Sunday night shows wins out for us, we always watch Empire as it airs and now have two eps of Walking Dead just sitting on the DVR.

I DVR Walking Dead, Hell on Wheels, and the 11pm Boardwalk Empire and watch the NFL-delayed Amazing Race live. I find that leaving Boardwalk for the end of the night gives me the most satisfaction. I am also aware that I watch way too much television on Sunday nights.

How is Hell on Wheels? Thought about giving that a shot, but we would up getting way too caught up in the first three seasons of Breaking Bad on Netflix.

i agree. but *zombies* seems to automatically grab certain numbers no matter how awful the writing may be.

xpost

Thats true, just so disappointing to me how badly they've fumbled a show with such great promise.

a little OT - but thursday are the same as sundays with me - where I watch one right away and wait until i have time for the other. (Always Sunny... being what I watch immediately and Community waits until later) (ya ya, i know how much Community is loved here and i still like it plenty) (def way more than Walking Dead)

I'm not sure about Hell on Wheels just yet. It's got enough promise that I'm happy to give it at least half a season. xposts

Back to BE: I think this ep dealt with the violent tendencies complained about up thread. Some great character stuff as well as probably the most exciting bit of political maneuvering. I'm guessing Nucky is going to start selling guns to the Irish?

Prohibition and the surplus of Thompson sub machine guns were the two major factors accounting for the rise of organized crime in the 20's and 30's. Notice how mostly you only see pistols, shotguns and rifles involved (with the exception of a Gatling gun) in the series so far? Fire power is about to get amped real quick, I imagine.

So what did everyone make of the pretty batshit last few eps? (BTW, HBO seems to be on a bit of an incest tip now what with this and GoT)

Finale was amazing.

I liked the episode giving us Jimmy's totally insane backstory a bit more than the finale (I think I'm just a sucker for backstory in anything other than Lost?) but yeah that stretch run made me feel like I hadn't wasted my time watching this show in the first place.

The episode immediately preceding the finale, should have been the finale.

I think Nucky and Rothstein arranged their phone call timing so that Luciano and Lansky would overhear -- so that when they learn of what happens they will wonder if they are also susceptible

S1 and 2 are ondemand atm, so I finally dived into this properly. Totally addicted. Took me a few eps but once Richard Harrow showed up I was all in. Goddamn he is really a mesmerizing character, and actor.

(I've almost finished S1)

Harrow pulled me through the first season. Two is genuinely really good.

yea s1 is a chore @ times imo, 2 has a lot of stellar stuff in it

God yeah those first 5 or so episodes of S1 were pretty light on the intrigue

Shouldn't we be getting some more of this soon?

Ah yes we are, on the 16th.

No interest in this, felt the two season arc as 'jimmy's story' should have been left tbh.

this was pretty bad

it just seemed like a soap opera with occasional violence where a lot of actors who had been good in other things went to be awful. and the plotting of the seasonal arcs was a total mess, e.g. five minutes of the lucy'n'nelson show every week totally failing to have any impact on the plot at all, i guess they went 'well, they're contracted'

Idk, I hate it when everything ties into plot too neatly too, extraneous detail done well adds depth where slavish devotion to plot often diminishes

my impression was that as of the end of the first series the plan was to have nelson go full vigilante, completely off-the-rails, and then they switched priorities and couldn't really do much with him

oh, why did jimmy suddenly start acting suicidally dense halfway through the season, that's the bit i didn't understand

i guess it was supposed to be for ~PSYCHOLOGICAL~ reasons. frankly anyone who ever wrote for tv should have every bone in both hands crushed w/ repeated blows using an early-90s IBM word processor

'your father' 'WHICH ONE' shits

Nice set of interviews with Terence Winter at the AV Club

(Warning:contains spoilers obv)

http://www.avclub.com/articles/boardwalk-empire-creator-terence-winter-on-raising,84239/

http://www.avclub.com/features/the-walkthrough/

Finished S2 on Saturday. Was kinda bummed about the Darmody ending, I knew it would happen but it's still a bummer. Was realllllly hoping he'd at least off his Mom...ugh at that whole family arrangement. I've had a crush on Michael Pitt since Dawson's Creek, I thought he did a great job as Darmody.

What will become of Harrow?

Rothstein definitely one of my favorite characters, he was so mesmerizing! I quite like the Meyer Lansky character as well. He lived til he was 83 irl --- if the fictional version of him is anythign to go by, you can kind of tell how. He always seems to figure out a way to be on the right side of things.

Also whoa at that last scene with Margaret and the deed. That girl's got some balls on her. <3

i guess it was supposed to be for ~PSYCHOLOGICAL~ reasons. frankly anyone who ever wrote for tv should have every bone in both hands crushed w/ repeated blows using an early-90s IBM word processor

― thomp, Saturday, September 1, 2012 6:42 AM (3 days ago) Bookmark

nice.

just caught up on season 2 of this after being pretty indifferent about the first season. still feel like this could be great with a few tweaks

apparently the third season's totally booting paz de la huerta, which can only really be a step in the right direction

what did people think of s03e01 then? i really enjoyed it. didn't have the painfully slow start of the last two seasons. i'd forgotten that it actually got very good at the end of the last season. very well-paced opening episode.

this was the best opening by leaps and bounds. continuation of how good the end of last season was for sure, although i'm pretty bummed william forsythe won't be joining the main cast

Yeah, as much as I liked the end of last season, I was still expecting to watch this episode and shrug, but I really enjoyed it.

I read a suggestion that Harrow killed that guy on Darmody's mom's orders, but I figured he did it for himself.

yeah that was really good! Margaret's dress for the party was STUNNING.

Is it bad that I kinda wish Harrow would just cut to the chase and kill crepey Ma Darmody? The stuff with him and Jimmy's kid just makes me so sad. And what's the timespan between last episode and this one?...seems like a pretty short timeframe to turn the Darmody house into whatever fancy whorehouse she's got going now.

Van Alden was kinda great, I'm glad they're giving Shannon such a long arc with this character. Hope he gets tied up with those Chicago types soon.

I doubt Harrow did it on Ma Darmody's orders. That's surely something they would have shown if so.

This was a great season opener, I really hope they can keep this momentum up all season. Also, insta-crush on Nucky's new mistress, she's gorgeous.

Season 2 started at the beginning of 1921. This starts at the end of 1922, so there's at least a year and a bit between the end of last season and this one.

And what's the timespan between last episode and this one?...seems like a pretty short timeframe to turn the Darmody house into whatever fancy whorehouse she's got going now.

it's been like a year and a half

xpost

oh right - duh, I should've remembered that.

but still

can we kill off Ma Darmody? She's a nasty piece of work

I'm afraid if they kill her off, Harrow will have no place to go. I was really caught up in how much he misses Angela.

van alden's baby sure didn't look older than 6-8 months to me.

I gotta say, Doyle has really grown on me. I was actually happy to see him this time around.

Like movie and TV show babies can ever be counted on for authenticity. Watched the first episode of The Mindy Project on demand the other night and some lady gave birth to an 8-month old!

I was actually happy to see him this time around.

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl)

I was surprised at how happy I was to see a lot of the characters! On the evidence of this episode I'd say Boardwalk might've finally hit its stride, there was an instant swagger here lacking from previous seasons. Pretty much impeccably directed and acted, and everything seemed to have a lot more breathing room than before.

Also Nucky works a lot better as a character for me now that they've fully established quite what a cold bastard he is.

otm

van alden's baby sure didn't look older than 6-8 months to me.

― Clay, Monday, September 17, 2012 5:48 PM (2 days ago)

that was his second child his wife was holding the daughter he had with paz was out of the shot.