I'm a huge fan of the Gangster Genre, be it contemporary or in the roaring 20's. Give me The Untouchables, The Sting and Eight Men Out and I am there. So, I have been looking forward to checking out Boardwalk Empire for a couple of years now. Like most shows on HBO and Showtime, I have to wait my turn to get around to them. The only thing I knew about Boardwalk Empire was that it had Steve Buscemi in the lead role of 'Nucky' and that it took place in Atlantic City during the 20's. That's it. I didn't know that this was going to be factual recreation of the Prohibition era and those responsible for the rise and fall with characters like Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky and Arnold Rothstein.

So, how did Season 1 play out? Other than a few missteps in the first half of the season, it is a pretty damn impressive series. The visuals are stunning. It's amazing that a TV series can produce such high quality stuff like this. This stuff is on par with some of the biggest films currently in production from Hollywood. The only issues I had with Season 1 is that a few of the episodes in the first half had some incredibly long scenes that just brought whatever momentum it had going for it to a complete standstill. I was beginning to wonder what all the hoopla was about regarding this series. Stick with it because the final 5 episodes will come into it's own and deliver. So much so that I can't wait to get my hands on Season 2. This is definitely a no brainer. Rent if you get the chance. You won't be disappointed.

Last I checked, I'm about 26 on the wait list at the Library for Season 2. So. it's not that far off before I can get into Season 2. You bring up a good point about being able to live and breath in a series like this over movies. It's this VERY reason why I'm more of a TV  w h o r e  than I am of movies in general. It's not that I have issues with movies, I love 'em. But I love being able to invest in characters over the long haul. Movies don't have deep characters in general. It's all about spectacle and you can't waste 2 hours on a character if that's how long the average movie is.