Casting Steve Buscemi as the head gangster is like casting Don Knots as Michael Corleone. Good choice. He makes the deadpan humor possible.

"Empire," is full of gangster and police violence, greed, brothels, gambling joints, Jazz, government corruption, illegal alcohol during the Prohibition era of the 1920's.
It's great entertainment with a little of fictional history.

Season 1 of this deeply racist Gangster TV series,is very similar to the Gangster movies from Martin Scorsese,as well as ''The Sopranos'',which Terrence Winter most definitely worked on as well period.

Nucky is the Don Draper of the 1920s. A wonderful period piece that reflects the decadence and corruption of Atlantic City during this time period.

Outstanding. Loved it. 8.7/10 on IMDb (as of this writing) is quite an endorsement, and I am on the same page. Buscemi shines as the surprisingly good hearted yet unflinchingly power driven and unapologetically corrupt political mogul Nucky Thompson. He's quite an enigma. And Kelly Macdonald's wholesome and unpolluted Margaret complements him nicely. One wonders to which side the other will concede to, good, or bad. Tremendous writing, character development, and casting. Bravo HBO. FIVE STARS.

This is a great series. I wish I had started watching it sooner.

Marginal in quailty of production compared to Game of Thrones or Borgias, do not start watching without getting hooked on watching the entire series!

I guess this is okay for television, and it's great visually, but the script is silly and overwritten, the characters are unbelievable, and the actors are unconvincing. Sure, it shows the corruption and violence of the American political and economic system - and that's the only saving grace in the script - but the characters are superficial and seem to be acting mainly to work in a clever line or a plot turn. And the actors are as superficial as the script. When I look at a well produced television production (Downton Abbey, The Borgias), even with their over-the-top improbable plots, the scripts and the acting have depth and conviction that I don't see here. Boardwalk Empire just makes me roll my eyes when the characters do something that the writers think is smart.

Story of Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic, and Cape May Counties.

I really appreciated the subtley and restraint that the pilot episode showed, especailly considering it was directed by Martin Scorsesse. By the second episode, all of that restraint is thrown out the window. This series doesn't disappoint as far as fans of violence, gore, sex and nudity. The story is fairly conventional, a slightly different spin on the mobster world. Still, the writing is excellent, as is the production design and the actors such as Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Michael Shannon and Gretchen Mol are a joy to watch.