I’ve been waiting for this since night since last winter, Save Jerseyans.
HBO’s smash hit series “BOARDWALK EMPIRE” debuts its second season tonight @ 9:00 PM. For those who made the mistake of not tuning in last season, the show stars actor Steve Buscemi and is loosely based on South Jersey’s Prohibition Era Republican powerbroker, Enoch “Nucky” Johnson (changed to “Thompson” by HBO for legal reasons). Gangsters, boozers, lawmen, severely corrupted politicians and even more dangerous women. Yup, this show’s got it all! The series itself was inspired by a book penned by a New Jersey Superior Court judge who currently sits in Atlantic County.
‘Boardwalk’ certainly makes for great television; an added bonus is that it’s been great for Atlantic City, too. Like Brian McGovern reported last month, HBO is putting a ton of money into Atlantic City to advertise the show. They’re beautifying AC roads and placing “Paid for by Nucky Thompson” signs along the route. It’s a pretty cool idea and definitely a welcome gesture for one of our state’s most-distressed locales.
For all of these reasons and more, I definitely recommend watching ‘Boardwalk’ tonight if you have access to HBO, folks. It’s an R-rated history lesson that, despite its many inaccuracies and lewd scenes, is a much better window into this state’s complicated identity than anything on MTV.
One more reason to watch? The show also takes place in an era when Republicans couldn’t lose an election if they tried below the Trenton line. It’s a nice bit of escapism for those of us marooned in machine land!
LIKE! LIKE! LIKE! I love Nucky! I hope he beats his brother to a pulp this season.