January 20, 2011

Boardwalk Empire

Just walked passed a massive poster promoting
Boardwalk Empire, directed by Martin Scorsese, free and exclusive to all Sky customers
Not sure if the Advertising Standards Agency need a call - only the pilot episode is directed by Scorsese, the other eleven episodes in the first season are directed by less acclaimed directors. Scorsese's only an Exec Producer on the series, which is mainly the creation of HBO vet Terence Winter. Let's hope the "exclusive" piece of the promotion is similarly inaccurate after episode one - we can dream, anyway...

6 comments:

Unknown said...

The poster should have read 'Boardwalk Empire, directed by Martin Scorsese, free and exclusive to all Sky customers and anyone with a broadband connection and bittorrent client'.

Still, this is damaging to Virgin and it shows their absurd sale of Living and the rest to Sky has done them no good.

matthew said...

yep you are right Moroboshi...on episode 4 now....its ok but still feels good to get one over Sky!!!

Nialli said...

I don't agree with M; VM got a good price for those channels which they're reinvesting in the TV offering, if not content.
They could never compete with the money Sky has for content purchasing - better to get out of that particular money pit and use the cash to secure carriage deals. Much cheaper and puts them in a more comfortable position with Sky to negotiate if they're not competing on that particular front.
I am enjoying Boardwalk Empire (I've watched the first three) but don't think it will be to everyone's taste. Maybe it's a grower (like The Wire) but it is slower than I thought it would be, almost lethargic in its storytelling. A lack of sympathetic characters doesn't help endear it - my wife's just about hanging in there but she's not a big fan.
The Godfather lasts 3 hours. I know that's a high benchmark but the hype makes a direct comparison inevitable. This may have the production values but so far has failed to convince this particular viewer.

Erich said...

VM were never really in the game, when it came to competing with Sky's channels. Living, Bravo and Virgin never made any difference when VM owned them, and they haven't made a difference now that Sky has bought them... and apparently decided to close most of them.

As for Boardwalk Empire, it's really just a look-at-me-I'm-so-sophisticated show with few - if any - worthwhile qualities, particularly once you get past the Scorsese directed episode. It's painfully dull, and so surprisingly uninspired, you could be forgiven for thinking it was a British produced show. HBO did a terrific job hyping it, and the promos were infinitely more entertaining than the final product, which has completely failed to deliver on the entertainment front.

sibod said...

Sky Atlantic is being used as atrump card by Sky to entice HD subscriptions to go up.

I've said it elsewhere, - Sky simply cannot be allowed to continue as both broadcaster and platform owner, as it's always going to b tempted to damage the competition by pushing their own platform above any fair carriage deals with people like Virgin or BT Vision...

Nialli said...

Just finished watching episode 5 and I'm hooked. Very, very good now it has hit its stride. It is not The Sopranos and actually more like Mad Men in terms of pace and style.