Boardwalk Empire

[red snow]

Okay, so maybe she sounds like his dead wife, and that's why he commented on her accent. ;)

Was it not more the case that she had a miscarriage? It seemed pretty clear from the 1 minute long Nucky staring at the weird baby incubator shop that he had lost a child at some stage in his life. I was thinking that may be how he lost his wife too. Secondly what if his opening speech had some truth in it? The bit about the abusive drunk dad and poor start in life. That would also help explain his interest in the woman who came begging.

[Lord Mord]

Did anybody else think the incubator scene was just plain fucking weird? I mean, if such a place, with its voyeuristic intentions, did actually exist, then I don't blame the show -- I just find the whole concept unnerving. In the confines of a hospital is strange enough, but just out in the open for all the jerkoff passersby, just ... feels really kind of gross.

[Ran]

They really had those. Here's a description of a similar thing on Coney Island, written in the 40's. A quick glance shows the Atlantic City boardwalk had them at about the same time, and probably earlier. There's an article that mentions babies saved from an incubator place when there was a fire on the boardwalk.

[Crazydog7]

Did anybody else think the incubator scene was just plain fucking weird? I mean, if such a place, with its voyeuristic intentions, did actually exist, then I don't blame the show -- I just find the whole concept unnerving. In the confines of a hospital is strange enough, but just out in the open for all the jerkoff passersby, just ... feels really kind of gross.

There was a segment on the "real Boardwalk Empire" about it. Apparently it did exist. Either people saw it as a real cool innovation or they were just really starved for entertainment.

[Brude]

Did anybody else think the incubator scene was just plain fucking weird? I mean, if such a place, with its voyeuristic intentions, did actually exist, then I don't blame the show -- I just find the whole concept unnerving. In the confines of a hospital is strange enough, but just out in the open for all the jerkoff passersby, just ... feels really kind of gross.

Saw a thing about this on a show where people tried to research their past. One woman had a few weird things from her earliest childhood, one was a little tin cup with her name on it. The tin cup somehow identified her as one of these incubator babies at the Coney Island version of this same sort of place. Her parents never told her about it as she grew up, but the show found all the records of her having been one of the babies.

The reason these places had these spectacles was due to the efforts of one particular doctor, one of the inventors of the incubator, if I recall correctly. When they were first invented, it was very hard to convince the medical community of their usefulness, so he went around the country with a traveling version of this kind of spectacle at carnivals and set up permenant ones in a few places. His purpose was to show local hospitals that they could be useful in saving the lives of premature babies. (Buying a bunch of these devices was a big expense that hospitals were not willing to go through without proof they worked.) Not sure why it was so hard for incubators to gain wide acceptance, but it took him something like 20 or 30 years before they finally were in general use. At that point he shut down the incubator shows because by then they had served their purpose.

It's pretty amazing, really. The guy saved thousands of lives in the process of pushing the new technology. Some questioned his intentions, thought he was just a quack and a showman, but in the end it worked and we still use them today.

Edit: The doctor is Martin Arthur Couney. Here's a good article about it.

[Anya, Vengeance Demon]

Stephen Graham is a series regular on the first season, as is Michael Stuhlbarg (Rothstein) and Vincent Piazza (Lucky Luciano). So we should be seeing plenty of all three of them. Paul Sparks, who plays the coroner/bootlegger Mickey Doyle, is a regular too; I wonder where his story goes, since presumably he was arrested by the Treasury agents. Does he turn informant on Nucky, or does he go back to Nucky looking to get revenge on Jimmy?

Also, apparently Boardwalk Empire got the best ratings for an HBO series pilot since Deadwood premiered six years ago, and roughly equaled the pull for an average episode of True Blood. Since the financial success of True Blood is largely responsible for HBO developing Treme, Boardwalk Empire, Luck, Game of Thrones, etc., having another hit on that level would be nothing but good news for the other shows as it would allow HBO to be more forgiving to critically beloved but less directly lucrative shows. (Treme in particular could probably use the help.) All of which assumes that Boardwalk Empire maintains or builds on its current audience, though, which may not happen.

[Brude]

Molly Parker's IMDb bio doesn't list her on "Boardwalk Empire." A bit of googling turned up some info, though:

• Note that Nucky's late wife is played (at least in that photo) by Molly Parker from "Deadwood." Per Winter, "It was a joint decision between me, Tim (Van Patten) & Marty -- we had all been fans of Molly's work and Tim worked with her several times."

It sounds like from that she won't be showing up in the series...though I suppose it leaves it open for them to do flashbacks to her if they want in future seasons. If she's good friends with Tim Van Patten, it could well happen.

[Ran]

Following what Peter says... well, it's hardly news, because it seemed so inevitable, but HBO has ordered up a second season already. Heh. Did anyone doubt this show would get at least two years?

What is news is the ratings: 4.8 million first viewing, 7.1 million after two repeats. More than half again The Pacific's premiere. The biggest original drama opening, apparently, since Deadwood in 2004.

I see at TV By the Numbers that a number of people guessed a big opener, but then tempered that with the suggestion that it'll tail off fast. Will be interesting to see if they're right or not.

[Brude]

HBO just announced they've renewed the series for a second season. (Just saw HBO's Facebook update about it.)

[Anya, Vengeance Demon]

Following what Peter says... well, it's hardly news, because it seemed so inevitable, but HBO has ordered up a second season already. Heh. Did anyone doubt this show would get at least two years?

Presumably HBO is also anticipating lots of Emmy attention next year leading into season two, considering that this is a big prestige project with a lot of big names attached and the Emmy voters are inveterate star-chasers.

I see at TV By the Numbers that a number of people guessed a big opener, but then tempered that with the suggestion that it'll tail off fast. Will be interesting to see if they're right or not.

I wonder what the rationale for that will be. I mean, presumably some people found the plot too confusing and won't be much up for episode two; but at the same time Boardwalk Empire has a consistently popular premise and the pilot seems to be a lot more accessible than Deadwood (because it doesn't have David Milch's baroque dialogue) or The Wire (because although it's a large cast, most of the actors are familiar enough to make them recognizable).

[grozeng]

Except people keep talking about how the actor playing Jimmy was great in this film, that film, etc? I'm ashamed to admit I just knew him as the freshman on "Dawson's Creek" (Damn my sisters for making me watch that show with them! Damn them to hell!)

Maelys, I am with you there. When I saw the preview I thought, Cool it has the kid from Dawsons Creek in it.

[Ocean of Notions]

Diane from Trainspotting, I wasn't expecting to see her. I can't say I loved the first episode, but I'm intrigued. I'd like to see more.

I agree with some of the forced dialogue. I can do with more polishing up. I'm also a bit disappointed that they didn't go into Omar's character more. You can't dangle that in front of us and not deliver!

And how old is Michael Pitt now? It's been years since The Dreamers and he still has that babyface.

[Analu]

Boardwalk Empire has a consistently popular premise and the pilot seems to be a lot more accessible than Deadwood (because it doesn't have David Milch's baroque dialogue)

I dunno man. I remember being completely blown away by Deadwood in the first episode. When Bullock and Swearengen got into it (either in the opener or ep2) for the first time, I remember thinking "Holy shit, this is the greatest show ever!"

Maelys, I am with you there. When I saw the preview I thought, Cool it has the kid from Dawsons Creek in it.

I know, right? At first I was thinking, how do they expect me to believe that the wimpy emo kid from Dawson's Creek is some tormented war hero? Then he blasted half that guy's face off with a shotgun at close range, and it was like, okay he's a legit badass. Hah!

[Green Apple Fossoway]

I dunno man. I remember being completely blown away by Deadwood in the first episode. When Bullock and Swearengen got into it (either in the opener or ep2) for the first time, I remember thinking "Holy shit, this is the greatest show ever!"

You talking verbally or physically, when you say got into it? They fought in the first episode of season 2 and it was awesome, but I don't remember anything more than charged words between them in the pilot (which was also awesome).

[Analu]

You talking verbally or physically, when you say got into it? They fought in the first episode of season 2 and it was awesome, but I don't remember anything more than charged words between them in the pilot (which was also awesome).

Yah, I was just talking about words when I say "got into it". I forget which episode but it was early in S1 when they're trying to negotiate a price for the hardware store lot and Swearengen tells Bullock to go fuck himself and Bullock is almost shaking in rage as they stare at each other. First time I ever got chicken skin watching a scene on TV.

Just talking about it here makes me want to go dig up those DVDs later and watch it again. I've been meaning to revisit Wild Bill's awesomeness, anyways.

[Anya, Vengeance Demon]

I dunno man. I remember being completely blown away by Deadwood in the first episode. When Bullock and Swearengen got into it (either in the opener or ep2) for the first time, I remember thinking "Holy shit, this is the greatest show ever!"

I'm not denying the awesomeness of Deadwood or David Milch's writing. Speaking entirely for myself, I love it; and similarly, I love that The Wire throws you into a world without letting you know who half the people are at first. However, these things can be barriers of entry to people who aren't willing to put in the time to figure out exactly who is who or what everybody is saying. Boardwalk Empire doesn't appear to be as hard to get into.

[Ser Greguh]

Loved the pilot. It took a couple of watch-thrus before I felt like I had a handle on all the different characters, but once I did, I found it to be rich and rewarding television, layered but not impenetrable, well-written, well-acted, well-directed. It bordered on having a little too much directorial flair (Scorcese has always rubbed me the wrong way with all of that; sometimes I feel like he's doing things more for the sake of putting his directorial fingerprint on too much, rather than trying to tell the story the best way possible), but by and large, I have no serious complaints.

I totally got the relationship between Nucky and Jimmy, and understand why Nucky wouldn't have had Jimmy's balls off for the offenses he committed. The hijacking itself was almost venial by the time it went down. Nucky's worried that he's getting in over his head, but as Jimmy succinctly puts it, you can't be half a gangster anymore. Nucky's corrupt and greedy, and capable of brutality if the guy's got it coming (ala Margaret's husband), but sees himself a step removed from the thuggish gangsters and more of a businessman. A major arc of the show looks to be his transformation. Rothstein had already pissed Nucky off to an extreme degree, and I'd be willing that a big part of Nucky is laughing that Rothstein's shipment (that Nucky had to pay HIM for, after Rothstein took his casino for $90k) got jacked.

The bigger crime of Jimmy's is snitching to the feds regarding Mickey Doyle's operation. This is still forgivable, though; Nucky had no great love for Doyle (he was an imbecile, and likely a liability), and he knows that Jimmy, a hothead, had a personal beef with the guy for the "prank" he pulled off (and yeah, I'd be pretty pissed about a formaldehyde cocktail, too). It's unlikely to become a habit, and with as far as they go back, Nucky feels that he can trust Jimmy not to rat him out for that reason.

As for his seeming reluctant to take the cash, it's not that he didn't want it, of course; I just read it as surprise, because that's not really how he sees himself. He'll take a payout for every business transaction under the sun, he gets a piece of everything in town that's illicit and that he keeps running smoothly and unprosecuted by the law, but taking a cut for the hijacking of a New York gangster's liquor shipment falls out of his normal MO. That's not a corrupt politician's play, that's the play of a straight out gangster, and thus, in giving him a cut off the heist, Jimmy is elevating Nucky to a position of mob boss that Nucky's not quite sure he's ready to accept.

I also didn't get the impression that any material involving Omar was cut. He had a meeting scheduled with Nucky, but Nucky appeared to cancel it.

A solid show. I'm definitely in.

[red snow]

I'm not denying the awesomeness of Deadwood or David Milch's writing. Speaking entirely for myself, I love it; and similarly, I love that The Wire throws you into a world without letting you know who half the people are at first. However, these things can be barriers of entry to people who aren't willing to put in the time to figure out exactly who is who or what everybody is saying. Boardwalk Empire doesn't appear to be as hard to get into.

I got your meaning in terms of "the wire" and "Deadwood" throw a lot of characters at you at once and they are not all easy to distinguish and it ends up taking several episodes to know who's who. There was still a little bit of that in BE but Jimmy, Nucky, Nucky's brother, Lucky, Capone and colisimo were all very easy to get a handle on.

[Stone-Made-Soft]

Was it not more the case that she had a miscarriage? It seemed pretty clear from the 1 minute long Nucky staring at the weird baby incubator shop that he had lost a child at some stage in his life. I was thinking that may be how he lost his wife too. Secondly what if his opening speech had some truth in it? The bit about the abusive drunk dad and poor start in life. That would also help explain his interest in the woman who came begging.

His wife died of consumption (Tuberculosis). She might have had a miscarriage though.

I thought it was a great debut. I'm eagerly awaiting more.

[Analu]

I'm not denying the awesomeness of Deadwood or David Milch's writing. Speaking entirely for myself, I love it; and similarly, I love that The Wire throws you into a world without letting you know who half the people are at first. However, these things can be barriers of entry to people who aren't willing to put in the time to figure out exactly who is who or what everybody is saying. Boardwalk Empire doesn't appear to be as hard to get into.

I get what you're saying, but my take is that the Boardwalk pilot may be more audience-friendly, not so much because of Deadwood's dialogue or The Wire's large cast, but because people have a passing familiarity with the era and the names associated with that era. When they see Al Capone or Lucky Luciano being introduced in the show, they already know these names, making it easier identify them later on.

The Wire didn't have that and opener aside, never really found its audience despite raves from critics right from S1 all the thru its 5 seasons.

I don't recall having any issues with Deadwood's opener, but I guess I can see how Milch's dialogue could've thrown some viewers off. I just remember being in shock at how great it was when I was watching it, and thinking that I didn't know television like this even existed at the time.

But anyways, we're agreed that all those shows were awesome and hopefully Boardwalk will bring in the ratings.