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Sunday Night TV and Open Thread

HBO's "Boardwalk Empire" premieres tonight. I sure hope it lives up to its billing. My earlier description of the show is here. The episode description for tonight:

January 1920. On the eve of Prohibition, Atlantic City’s Treasurer, Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), condemns alcohol at a Women’s Temperance League meeting, where he is noticed by Margaret Schroeder (Kelly Macdonald), a pretty, pregnant housewife who comes to him for help in getting her abusive husband Hans (Joe Sikora) a job. Later that evening, the duplicitous Nucky privately tells his ward bosses about the opportunity to make huge profits selling bootleg liquor.

[More...]

At a countdown-tomidnight blast at Babette’s Supper Club, he assures Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt), a recently returned WWI vet, that his appointment as “Man Friday” to the new Chief Clerk of the Fourth Ward, Paddy Ryan (Samuel Taylor), will lead to bigger things. Jimmy, meanwhile, has higher aspirations and ends up making an alliance that could have dire consequences for both him and Nucky.

Let us know what you think of it. I hope it's better than Outlaw, which despite Jimmy Smits' best effort, was a huge disappointment.

If you're not watching but have other things to discuss, this is an open thread, all topics welcome.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Gaaaah! (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Sun Sep 19, 2010 at 07:02:12 PM EST
    Still a long way to go until the election it seems that every commercial is a political attack ad.

    Almost 2 more months of this?  Shoot me now...  

    I don't live anywhere important (none / 0) (#3)
    by Militarytracy on Sun Sep 19, 2010 at 07:36:52 PM EST
    I live in Duh land.  Treasure your attack and debate.  I have the guy saddling up his horse with a shotgun in hand in one of the oldest not riding horses anymore states in the union.....what a fricken fool.

    Parent
    When they're finally over... (5.00 / 1) (#7)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Sun Sep 19, 2010 at 08:03:27 PM EST
    ...I have to deal with the trauma of being a half-century old.  

    Pretty scary for someone who wasn't supposed to see his teens...

    Parent

    Keep on rockin kid (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by Militarytracy on Sun Sep 19, 2010 at 08:27:59 PM EST
    Today is what we have and where we really are.  I care about others.  I want better things for others and I want better things for my nation, and in the meantime I will enjoy the life I have to its fullest.  Joshua has taught me this.  When the doctor told us that we should amputate his feet and I cried all the way home, my son told me that today - everything is good and today is what we have.  So let's have our today, and in a few hours tomorrow, and not get overly concerned about doctors and projections of our much later futures.

    Parent
    Don't really know any other way... (5.00 / 1) (#9)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Sun Sep 19, 2010 at 08:44:47 PM EST
    ...to go about it.  But, I am finding it harder to do as the years go by.  Not only the mental aspect from having to deal for so very long, but the physical one of the body finding new and oh so exciting ways to betray me.  

    Oh well, what's life without a little adversity and challenge?

    Parent

    Sending thoughts of healing and (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by Militarytracy on Sun Sep 19, 2010 at 09:07:52 PM EST
    gentle balance your direction.  The soul of mankind is a shattered mirror, each piece reflecting a true angle of enlightenment and the image who we all are.

    Parent
    But he goes to church every Sunday (none / 0) (#4)
    by Militarytracy on Sun Sep 19, 2010 at 07:37:53 PM EST
    Therefore he is a contender....shoot ME now.

    Parent
    Political ads... (none / 0) (#12)
    by desertswine on Sun Sep 19, 2010 at 10:46:52 PM EST
    is why they invented the "mute" button. I can't stand them and they just drive me nuts.

    Parent
    I have salivated over Boardwalk Empire (5.00 / 1) (#5)
    by Militarytracy on Sun Sep 19, 2010 at 07:45:18 PM EST
    Buscemi and Pitt are not pretty boys in the strongest sense of the Hollywood word.  They must carry real water and chop real wood.  I think this series has been well cast.  I know that Jeralyn says she thought Buscemi's character in the Sopranos became tiresome, but I loved him and becoming tiresome was part of getting to where your cousin was offing you at the family "ranch" :)

    For a fleeting second I thought (5.00 / 1) (#6)
    by oculus on Sun Sep 19, 2010 at 07:55:20 PM EST
    maybe Brad Pitt is in this series.  But--no.  Do like Buscemi.  But no HBO.  Plus--Sunday night opera on KUSC FM.  A gal has her priorities.

    Parent
    If it's Sunday, it must be (5.00 / 2) (#11)
    by andgarden on Sun Sep 19, 2010 at 10:45:08 PM EST
    This is funny (5.00 / 3) (#13)
    by MO Blue on Sun Sep 19, 2010 at 11:39:15 PM EST
    Compliments of digby

    Carrying signs reading, "O'Donnell: Hands Off Our Masturbation," the angry masturbators clogged downtown Wilmington, stopping traffic for blocks.

    Harley Farger, a leading Delaware masturbator and planner of the Million Masturbators March, said it was difficult to organize masturbators "because they're used to acting alone."
    ...
    He said that Ms. O'Donnell's anti-whacking position was "ill-timed," adding, "In this economy, masturbation is one of the few simple pleasures people still can afford."



    If they make it illegal who will dust for prints? (none / 0) (#16)
    by Ellie on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 06:36:47 AM EST
    I've said it before, dammit, and I'll say it again, just a little more slowwwwwly and then over and over again ReallyReallyFast and then ... stop.

    Parent
    great story (5.00 / 1) (#19)
    by Capt Howdy on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 09:28:19 AM EST
    about the happy ending for some of Michael Vicks dogs:

    'The Lost Dogs': Michael Vick's Dogs And Their Tales Of Rescue And Redemption (PHOTOS)

    I missed the kickoff of Boardwalk Empire last night.
    glad they repeat stuff.

    The author (5.00 / 1) (#22)
    by nycstray on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 10:10:40 AM EST
    has been good about keeping up with the dogs. An earlier piece by him. And a photo spread. Bad Rap also has a lot of info on the dogs on their site.

    Parent
    Kevin Drum (5.00 / 1) (#21)
    by lilburro on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 10:09:26 AM EST
    criticism from the left = "circular firing squad"

    I know why Jane and Glenn and plenty of others are angry at Obama. Some of their disappointments I share, some I don't. And there's some history here. But still: come on, folks. It's a campaign fundraiser. It's a place where you rouse whichever troops are in the audience and reel off a list of your accomplishments, not one where you hang your head and talk about your failures. It's a place where you tell a few jokes -- like acknowledging the fact that liberals have been devotees of the circular firing squad for as long as liberals have existed. It's lighthearted after-dinner stuff, not an address to the nation.

    Translation:  let him pander to people paying $$$ a head at a fundraiser.  Oh wait, if I put it that way, that makes it sound bad, and we can't have that.

    And of course these comments are not in isolation (Gibbs said the same) and does anyone really think they aren't reflected in policy?  Look at the way Krugman and other economists that have actually been right have been excluded from or marginalized by the Administration, and see how policy has suffered for it.

    When Professional Pols Attack (none / 0) (#2)
    by FreakyBeaky on Sun Sep 19, 2010 at 07:32:24 PM EST
    Forget for a minute that it's Tony Blair and the writing is atrocious.

    ... "With each successive Tory leader," he writes, "I would develop a line of attack, but I only did so after a lot of thought":

    So I defined Major as weak; Hague as better at jokes than judgment; Howard as an opportunist; Cameron as a flip-flop, not knowing where he wanted to go. . . . Expressed like that, these attacks seem flat, rather mundane almost, and not exactly inspiring--but that's their appeal. Any one of those charges, if it comes to be believed, is actually fatal. Yes, it's not like calling your opponent a liar, or a fraud, or a villain or a hypocrite, but the middle-ground floating voter kind of shrugs their shoulders at those claims. They don't chime. They're too over the top, too heavy, and they represent an insult, not an argument. Whereas the lesser charge, because it's more accurate and precisely because it's more low-key, can stick. And if it does, that's that. Because in each case, it means they're not a good leader. So game over.

    From the September 13, 2010 New Yorker, The Which Blair Project.

    Obama Goes to church! (none / 0) (#14)
    by BrassTacks on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 01:36:15 AM EST
    Is anyone impressed?  Does anyone think this stunt was anything but political?  The whole family, holding hands, walking to church.  Color me very unimpressed.  

    I have become (5.00 / 4) (#20)
    by lentinel on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 09:45:51 AM EST
    always been deeply moved when I see leaders of our country making a public display of their Christianity. It reaffirms my belief in the sanctity of the Constitution and in the enshrined Christianness of our government as God the father of Jesus watches lovingly over the predator drones as His devoted followers on Earth send them to drop their blessed cargo upon the unrighteous.

    Parent
    Amen. (5.00 / 1) (#23)
    by Joan in VA on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 10:11:51 AM EST
    more to the point, (none / 0) (#15)
    by cpinva on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 04:46:53 AM EST
    does anyone really care?

    Parent
    Just curious (none / 0) (#17)
    by Ga6thDem on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 07:01:45 AM EST
    Where did he go?

    Parent
    St. John's Episcopal (none / 0) (#18)
    by ruffian on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 08:31:46 AM EST
    It made the Christian Post society page. Who knew?

    Parent
    Unlike Pres. Clinton, Pres. Obama (none / 0) (#25)
    by oculus on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 11:31:05 AM EST
    wasn't carrying a Bible--so family outing probably doesn't count.  They looked great though.

    Parent
    Church across Layfette Park (none / 0) (#27)
    by BrassTacks on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 02:16:09 PM EST
    It was perfect for a photo op.  They could walk, holding hands, and be filmed the whole way.  

    Parent
    Thought BE was a little tedious but suppose (none / 0) (#24)
    by Joan in VA on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 10:41:20 AM EST
    the first episode has to introduce the characters and set up the following episodes. Could have done without the sex and gore but it's HBO, after all. All the actors were excellent imo. Dislike the period music and fashion-feel like I dodged a bullet by being born much later! The cars were cool though. I think they did a good job making it authentic. $50 Million is a lot of dough to spend on a TV series and it showed.

    I liked the costumes & music... (none / 0) (#26)
    by kdog on Mon Sep 20, 2010 at 11:48:18 AM EST
    I coulda got down in the Roaring 20's AC I think...drinking, gambling, chasing flappers...a real party time!  

    I'll be tuning in, Buscemi was great in the lead so far, imo.  

    Wondering if the viewing audience will get the connection to the current prohibition and corruption problem...probably not.

    Parent