Hi, Curious if anyone has heard about this new show coming to HBO. First I've heard about it and the Soprano's similarities, especially Steve Buscemi, Tim van Pattens involvement and the fact IT IS on HBO, has got to have some intrigue. Is it something to get excited about? I need something to get excited about!!! With Weiner's success on Mad Men (although after 4 tries i actually finally did sit through and mildly enjoyed last Sunday's episode), I have to think Winters hand in this will garner some memories.
Anyway, wouldn't mind any other info someone may have heard. For those who haven't, here's the story:
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment...anos-1.1416003
The next "Sopranos?"
9:20 AM By Verne Gay
Did HBO pick up "The Next Sopranos" yesterday? Probably a question the pay cabler just as soon not ask - why jinx this now? - but it's an inescapable one. As you may know, HBO finally gave a series order to "Boardwalk Empire," which'll be written/produced by Terry Winter, who was show-runner for much of "Sopranos'" run; David Chase was of course series creator and overall chief without whom "S" would never have been, but Winter in time became almost equally important in the "S" firmament; IMDB lists him exec producer on 67 episodes - there were a total of 86 - and he wrote, or shared writing credits on, many of those. So without Winter, there likely would not have been "Sopranos" either - or a very different "Sopranos," and certainly no one would ever wish that. Sure, there were other cooks in this wonderful kitchen - Frank Renzulli, a genuine tough guy (with a big heart) who knew the Boston mob intimately; Mitchell Burgess and Robin Green, the husband/wife team who had made "Northern Exposure" the success that it was; and Matthew Weiner, whose story you already know well.
TV shows, it goes without saying, are great and complicated collaborations and "Sopranos" was the sum of a thousand parts, but the question about "Boardwalk" will still be asked - partly because the parallels here are so striking. Tim Van Patten is, I believe, also working on the show, and he definitely was in on the early part of the development process - he was another important creative force on "S." The great Steve Buscemi's in the title role as Nucky Thompson, the bad guy who ran the Atlantic City rackets during prohibition (poor, violent, crazed, insane, recidivist Tony Blundetto met an unfortunate end on "S.") Martin Scorsese's directing the pilot too.
Meanwhile, there's the whole Nelson Johnson association. Johnson's a particularly interesting part of this puzzle: he's a judge in Superior Court in the Garden state, who wrote his AC history, "Boardwalk Empire," in part because he was so intimately familiar with the place, after sitting on the planning and zoning board during the casino build-up. He never wrote for "The Sopranos," but given his knowledge of how, umm, business is done here, he could have probably written half a dozen between cups of coffee.
When will this show launch? 2010, and my absolutely unfounded and probably irresponsible guess is January 10. That's eleven years to the day when one of the greatest shows in TV history bowed.
Boardwalk Empire
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