HBO renews 'Boardwalk Empire'
Premiere cops biggest HBO debut ratings in six years
Chalky White (Michael K. Williams) will be pleased: HBO has already renewed "Boardwalk Empire."
HBO has given a speedy renewal to "Boardwalk Empire" after Sunday's premiere was the pay channel's biggest in six years.
"All the ingredients aligned for this one, from Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson’s initial pitch, to Martin Scorsese’s enormous contributions as director and executive producer, to the genius of Terry Winter and the expertise of Tim Van Patten, to a stellar cast led by Steve Buscemi,” HBO president Michael Lombardo said in a statement. “The response from the media and our viewers has been nothing short of amazing.”
Either way you choose to count it, that's in the neighborhood that HBO's current flagship "True Blood" gets, and is the most-watched HBO premiere since "Deadwood" back in 2004, when that show had "The Sopranos" as its lead-in.
As I've said before, with "Boardwalk Empire," HBO threw a lot of money at the problem that was its post-"Sopranos" malaise. Sometimes, when you throw a lot of money at a problem you just waste money (see most of the Dan Snyder-era Redskins). Sometimes, though (see the 2009 Yankees), it pays off, both creatively and commercially, which it clearly has here.
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All through his childhood, Alan Sepinwall's relatives told his parents, "All that boy does is watch television! How's he going to make a living doing that?" His career as a TV critic has been 15 years and counting of his attempt to answer their concerns. "What's Alan Watching" is a blog whose title is self-explanatory: Alan watches TV shows, then writes about what he watched. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
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September 21, 2010 at 1:12PM EST Reply to CommentHow could we give up that 27-10 lead?! ;_;
September 21, 2010 at 3:29PM ESTOmagus
September 21, 2010 at 1:34PM EST Reply to CommentHBO doesn't waste time. Both Treme and Boardwalk Empire were renewed after one episode, which is just fine with me. All I need now is for Game of Thrones to also do well and I will be a happy HBO subscriber for at least another couple of years.
Danny
September 21, 2010 at 2:27PM EST Reply to CommentThis show was great on Sunday and looks to be great going forward. However I thought it was supposed to be one long 13 episode story. Ill take it longer if they keep it fresh, but with a lot of non-fictional charecters I wonder how long they can keep a goood storyline. I wish tv would just create shows knowing going in they will be x amount of seasons with a definite storyline already in place.
sepinwall No, it was always planned as a series. Terry Winter has said that he has stories to get him through the end of the 1920s, going roughly a year at a time (ala his buddy Matt Weiner at Mad Men).
September 21, 2010 at 2:32PM ESTdollarbin
September 21, 2010 at 7:32PM EST Reply to CommentI don't think anyone who ever saw Master Ninja on MST3K ever thought in a million years they'd read the phrase "the expertise of Tim Van Patten". Clearly the roots of The Van Patten Project! run deeper than the Swayze conundrum
Hester I'm glad I am not the only one who flashes on Crow T. Robot doing Tim Van Patten as General Patton every time I see his name at the beginning of The Sopranos, The Pacific, etc.
September 22, 2010 at 10:43PM ESTGridlock
September 22, 2010 at 10:23AM EST Reply to CommentMakes me sad for Deadwood again.
Trilby Oh!!! I'm in the middle of watching Deadwood via NetFlix. Best! Series! Ever! (after six feet under)
September 23, 2010 at 10:09PM ESTTrilby
September 23, 2010 at 10:07PM EST Reply to CommentAnyone else remember this?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Roaring_20%27s_%28TV_series%29
I was a small child then. It was better.