Is Boardwalk Empire worth watching?

[dscross]

Pretty much what the title says. I'm a fan of the Sopranos, mad men, period dramas etc, so it sounds like I'll enjoy it, but obviously it depends on the quality of the show and how gripping it is. It's not on Netflix so I'd have to buy it probably...

 

[dscross]

It's entertaining, yes. Has some bumps. ZombieProof did some of the storyboards, but I don't think he comes here anymore, sadly.

how would you rate it out of 10 if you had to. And how does it compare to other gangster shows / period dramas?

 

[Queen Michael]

It's generally well-received, so yeah, give it a watch.

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

I would give it a watch.

There is one season (I can't remember which one) that is a bit of a slog, but it's still pretty good. The characters are really fleshed out, the story is great that has solid ties to actual history (for the most part anyways), and the acting is just fantastic. Steve Buscemi is great as Nucky Thompson, and so are the actresses that play Gillian and Margaret respectively.

It's great as a period drama and if you like The Sopranos, then you would like this.

 

[dscross]

I would give it a watch.

There is one season (I can't remember which one) that is a bit of a slog, but it's still pretty good. The characters are really fleshed out, the story is great that has solid ties to actual history (for the most part anyways), and the acting is just fantastic. Steve Buscemi is great as Nucky Thompson, and so are the actresses that play Gillian and Margaret respectively.

It's great as a period drama and if you like The Sopranos, then you would like this.

I've read it ends pretty disappointingly. Is that true?

 

[Fiz_The_Toaster]

I would give it a watch.

There is one season (I can't remember which one) that is a bit of a slog, but it's still pretty good. The characters are really fleshed out, the story is great that has solid ties to actual history (for the most part anyways), and the acting is just fantastic. Steve Buscemi is great as Nucky Thompson, and so are the actresses that play Gillian and Margaret respectively.

It's great as a period drama and if you like The Sopranos, then you would like this.

I've read it ends pretty disappointingly. Is that true?

Some of it was disappointing, but it wasn't bad or anything. It felt a little rushed since they could have taken their time with it because of what happens at the end, and because of what they were hinting at during the final season.

I wasn't all that bothered by it, but I know some people were.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

Definitely worth a watch. I love gangster movies, but I haven't watched any gangster series except for Boardwalk. It's got a high level of polish, period settings, accents (can't gauge how good they are though), fashion, are all pretty cool. The main characters are played very well, suspense and tension is built at the right moments, character development is great though maybe a bit cliche at this point. The calculating business guy, the useless dopey guy, the wrong place wrong time hard luck guy, the ambitious young guns, the double crossers, and the unhinged, spontaneous aspiring gangster. I'll second that the actresses of Gilian and Margaret are second to none, very consistent in their expressions and mannerisms, reactions to each scenario.

Some say the ending is kinda short-lived, but that's really all that's wrong with it (the ending). It still manages to hint at what's coming and tie up the story nicely, it's just rather abrupt and unsatisfying, but it's not a 'wtf is that it?' cheap ending or anything. I enjoyed it, go and get it.

 

[American Fox]

and so are the actresses that play Gillian and Margaret respectively.

You didn't name them. This part of the sentence bothers me. A lot.

 

[dscross]

Definitely worth a watch. I love gangster movies, but I haven't watched any gangster series except for Boardwalk. It's got a high level of polish, period settings, accents (can't gauge how good they are though), fashion, are all pretty cool. The main characters are played very well, suspense and tension is built at the right moments, character development is great though maybe a bit cliche at this point. The calculating business guy, the useless dopey guy, the wrong place wrong time hard luck guy, the ambitious young guns, the double crossers, and the unhinged, spontaneous aspiring gangster. I'll second that the actresses of Gilian and Margaret are second to none, very consistent in their expressions and mannerisms, reactions to each scenario.

Some say the ending is kinda short-lived, but that's really all that's wrong with it (the ending). It still manages to hint at what's coming and tie up the story nicely, it's just rather abrupt and unsatisfying, but it's not a 'wtf is that it?' cheap ending or anything. I enjoyed it, go and get it.

Ok. It sounds like you rate it so I'll maybe give it a shot. Feel like I should try and sample it first before I go ahead and buy the whole box set. Btw, if you like gangster stuff, watch the Sopranos next. It's my favourite show,

 

[Chewster]

I enjoyed it a great deal until it sort of went off the rails in the 4th season. I'm told the 5th wraps the series up nicely but I don't really have any interest it watching it. It is incredibly well acted and stylish though.

It strikes me as another one of those shows that didn't quite know what kind of story it wanted to tell overall (or what I call Lost syndrome) and as such, each subsequent season after the first is a bit more unravelled if that makes any sense. Think about the best TV shows out there, stuff like The Sopranos, Mad Men, The Wire, Breaking Bad etc. The showrunners knew what they wanted to do with it, had an overall vision of what direction the series should go in and ended it at just the right time. Boardwalk Empire started really strong, became insanely popular and I feel like Terence Winter didn't really know where to go from there and they just kind of made it up as they went along.

 

[jademunky]

I would give it a watch.

There is one season (I can't remember which one) that is a bit of a slog, but it's still pretty good. The characters are really fleshed out, the story is great that has solid ties to actual history (for the most part anyways), and the acting is just fantastic. Steve Buscemi is great as Nucky Thompson, and so are the actresses that play Gillian and Margaret respectively.

It's great as a period drama and if you like The Sopranos, then you would like this.

I've read it ends pretty disappointingly. Is that true?

The timeline jumps ahead and you are suddenly meant to feel that the Nucky is a dying breed destined to make way for this new ruthless type of gangster. The problem with the story is that it feels like more of a "we need to write an ending for every character" type motivation rather than "we have an actual good story that we would like to tell."

Just watch the first two seasons. When Bobby Cannavale shows up, you know it is time to stop watching.

 

[dscross]

I would give it a watch.

There is one season (I can't remember which one) that is a bit of a slog, but it's still pretty good. The characters are really fleshed out, the story is great that has solid ties to actual history (for the most part anyways), and the acting is just fantastic. Steve Buscemi is great as Nucky Thompson, and so are the actresses that play Gillian and Margaret respectively.

It's great as a period drama and if you like The Sopranos, then you would like this.

I've read it ends pretty disappointingly. Is that true?

The timeline jumps ahead and you are suddenly meant to feel that the Nucky is a dying breed destined to make way for this new ruthless type of gangster. The problem with the story is that it feels like more of a "we need to write an ending for every character" type motivation rather than "we have an actual good story that we would like to tell."

Just watch the first two seasons. When Bobby Cannavale shows up, you know it is time to stop watching.

I don't like the idea of investing time in a tv series if it ends poorly though. The ending is paramount.

 

[Typhusoid]

I would highly recommend watching just the first two seasons. Then stop. Absolutely stop after that. You won't want to, because you'll think "this is really good, surely it can't get that bad". But it kinda does. The later seasons aren't the worst TV you've ever seen or anything, but it's all just a confusing, aimless, unsatisfying mess punctuated by a few good moments. The first two seasons have a clear arc and a satisfying ending, and honestly the whole show works best if you just kinda pretend everything after that doesn't exist.

 

[jademunky]

I don't like the idea of investing time in a tv series if it ends poorly though. The ending is paramount.

In this particular case, I would say that the setting is paramount. It is very similar to Downton Abbey in the sense that the location and period is really the main character of the show. Just such an insane amount of detail is put into the set, the costumes, even the characters themselves and how they interact with each other to give you an idea of what life was like in 1920's Atlantic City. (seriously, you could get fined for walking the Boardwalk while showing too much exposed knee!)

I don't want to give the impression that the 3rd through 5th seasons are bad. They're decent TV, just nowhere near the level of the first two. If you worry about closure, well minor spoiler:

Spoiler

the season 2 finale ends on a pretty damn definitive note that you could just walk away from afterwards and call it the ending.

Or just go with what Typhusoid said.

 

[ItouKaiji]

I would highly recommend watching just the first two seasons. Then stop. Absolutely stop after that. You won't want to, because you'll think "this is really good, surely it can't get that bad". But it kinda does. The later seasons aren't the worst TV you've ever seen or anything, but it's all just a confusing, aimless, unsatisfying mess punctuated by a few good moments. The first two seasons have a clear arc and a satisfying ending, and honestly the whole show works best if you just kinda pretend everything after that doesn't exist.

This. The first two seasons are an easy 8 out of 10. Everything after is a 5 to 6 out of 10.