Why did Boardwalk Empire lose me?

Why did Boardwalk Empire lose me?

Posted inTelevision
Boardwalk Empire. Oh man, everything about it was right up my alley. It was a well-polished period piece with smart writing, great actors, the involvement of Martin Scorsese, gangsters, and it was set here in my home state of New Jersey. Plus, I've said before that HBO does awesome television. So why the hell didn't it click with me? And I mean, it TOTALLY didn't click with me. I only made it halfway through the first season. Like anyone with as lick of sense, I loved the setting. Great production values, great cast, great premise, and the pilot episode was pure Scorsese,…
Re-Watching the Sopranos – Season 5

Re-Watching the Sopranos – Season 5

Posted inTelevision
I put my Sopranos series on hold for a while simply because I got busy, but with the recent death of James Gandolfini, it seems appropriate to pick up where I left off. So here are my thoughts on revisiting The Sopranos season 5 many years later. As always, this is written assuming you have watched the season, so SPOILERS ALERTS apply. At the time I first watched this, I felt this was one of the stronger seasons. I still think so. In a way it's more fragmented than previous seasons, with many short arcs rather than several large arcs (though those…
Re-Watching the Sopranos – Season 4

Re-Watching the Sopranos – Season 4

Posted inTelevision
Sorry for the long gap between this post and my post on season 3. I had planned on doing these weekly, but other things have taken priority. Anyway, onto the post...and as always, SPOILERS abound. One of my favorite episodes of the entire series comes up halfway through season 4, specifically "The Weight," an episode dealing with Johnny Sack's obese wife. This poignant and funny episode stands out because it's one of the rare times we feel bad for a cast member. The Sopranos generally gave the audience few characters we could truly sympathize with. You can name only a…
Re-Watching the Sopranos – Season 3

Re-Watching the Sopranos – Season 3

Posted inTelevision
When I started this series of blog posts, I meant to do it weekly. Life got in the way. But hey, here I is! I'm back. And here's more. As I've mentioned, these posts are full of SPOILERS. If you have not watched the series and think you will one day, avoid them. If you have, read and argue with me below. As I also mentioned, these are meant to be casual posts. I put my time in when it comes to studying cinema. Now I'm just here to have fun. Watching this again in rapid succession, it really struck…

Re-Watching the Sopranos – Season 2

Posted inTelevision
Picking up from last week, when I began posting about my recent re-watch of The Sopranos. As with last week, I will freely post SPOILERS, so don't read if you haven't seen these episodes. Also, I'll be light and quick; these are just some fast impressions, not deep essays on the show. For a great in-depth, episode-by-episode look at the show, read this excellent series of essays. Following the groundbreaking creation that was season 1 of The Sopranos, it wouldn't have been hard to imagine the show failing to live up to the amazing potential it displayed. We've all heard…