Is HBO gonna take its title back from showtime as the king of cable TV drama? Well its too early to tell yet, but the pilot of Boardwalk Empire is a step in the right direction. It lays it groundwork nicely for a period crime drama, characters begin to develop, we get a glimpse into their motivations and weakness's. The Buscemi character's soft spot for babies echo's Tony Soprano's soft spot for animals; it gives the character a sympathetic side that helps the audience to identify with him and ultimately root for him despite his villainous profession. The Pitt character establishes himself, rather heavy handedly, as the loose cannon whose filled with self hate, and capable of anything. These two characters have a great potential to constantly butt heads and create remarkable drama as the series unfolds.
Sadly the pilot episode was not a good episode, it was a bit slow, and a great deal to flashy. However this perhaps is the best endorsement for the show. I am hard pressed to think of a great show that had a great pilot. The Sopranos pilot was terrible, when Carmella came outside with the assault rifle she was a completely different character than the show went on to portray. In Seinfeld, Kramer did none of the slapstick, and came off more as a Steven Wright type of character that what he developed into. Don't even get me started on the first episode of The Simpsons. Perhaps the recipe for a great show includes a terrible pilot; but this can be a problem, cause it stand to reason a terrible show will have a terrible pilot as well. As far as Boardwalk Empire goes, only time will tell.
Can anyone think of a great pilot that stands out as great in comparison to the series?
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