Watching this show for the first time (currently in season 3) and one of my favorite parts about it is how self aware the writing is with the culture at the time. Makes it that much more believable. HBO’s willingness to include certain music, pro sports games, etc where the basic cable networks rarely go is a huge positive for me. I can’t stop saying capicola in my day to day conversations.
Their ability to make pop culture references that STILL land today is also absolutely impeccable. It’s such an immersive and timeless experience. Also funnily enough, I’m on a watch through at S3 right now too!
It still blows my mind that such a dark, subtly written, character drama became the cultural sensation that it was. There's no score to ease the viewers, only a handful of big shootouts, mostly just actors playing these complex roles in natural/realistic ways. It makes me think of how the mafia aspect of the show could almost be argued as a facade for what this actually is, a deeply layered story about humanity and mortality. I wonder how many people watched this live expecting a typical mafia narrative.
I know for a fact that my parents didn’t watch it from the start because they assumed it was. My mom loves it now but I have actually STILL been trying to convince my dad to try it despite his assumptions. I do think the fact that it was mostly in a world of its own when it came out helped it become such a sensation. Plus it had enough easily accessible elements that someone who normally wouldn’t tune in for such a challenging and strange show would still get sucked in and relate to it.
Not gonna lie, it won't feel like the Sopranos without James Gandolfini, but I'm still really excited.
Semi related but for the last few weeks been binging Boardwalk Empire and it’s got some Sopranos alum. 4 episodes left of the series and it’s crazy how Michael Shannon’s character descends from do gooder government agent to criminal.
Yes! It’s great. It was created by Terence Winter and shares some other cast and crew as well. It feels very real and lived in for the period setting and has incredibly memorable characters.
Boardwalk Empire is incredibly silly. It can be enjoyable in parts, but the dumbest possible ending that fans predicted halfway through the last season was the actual ending they went with.
Yeah i agree, boardwalk is very good in its first two seasons but after that i found most of it boring and hard to get through.
Man, season three has a bunch of my favorite stuff for the whole show. There’s a few moments in particular that pop into my head randomly and still mess me up. Season four I don’t remember as well, I think that one was my least favorite.
Speaking of Winter, is Vinyl worth checking out? I was meaning to see it when it first aired but then it got canceled after only its first season
Agreed. I will always hate him after that role, he was so evil, but I loved how he basically went Charlie Kelly WILD CARD over everything. Super frustrating as a human being of course, but fun to watch. I’ve always kind of viewed Boardwalk as if everyone involved in The Sopranos and The Wire found themselves back in time and decided to get real weird and campy and pulpy with it. Also Kelly Macdonald is a treasure and I wish she was in everything.
Yeah Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, and Michael Pitt were the only things I really liked in Boardwalk. I think Michael Shannon's character is one of the best written characters on any show I've ever seen.
but on the topic that started this all, HBO loves to recycle actors/actresses - Benny and Janice were very briefly in The Night Of as well and I couldn't take their scenes seriously. Beansy is Vinny's accountant in Entourage There are a few others I am sure Im missing haha