HOLLYWOOD—America in 1920: The Great War was over, Wall Street was about to boom and everything was for sale, even the World Series. It was a time of change when women got the vote, broadcast radio began and young people ruled the world.

From Terence Winter, Emmy® Award-winning writer of “The Sopranos” and Academy® Award-winning director Martin Scorsese, “Boardwalk Empire” is set in Atlantic City at the dawn of Prohibition, when the sale of alcohol became illegal throughout the United States.

On Sunday night’s debut episode, the action kicked off by starting in January 1920. On the eve of Prohibition, Atlantic City’s Treasurer, Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), condemned alcohol at a Women’s Temperance League meeting, where he is noticed by Margaret Schroeder (Kelly Macdonald), a pretty, pregnant housewife who later came to him for help in getting her abusive husband Hans (Joe Sikora) a job. Viewers saw first hand why so many women in that era were against drinking. Margaret’s husband would often beat her after getting drunk.

Later that evening, the duplicitous Nucky privately told his ward bosses about the opportunity to make huge profits selling bootleg liquor. The 18th Amendment was perhaps one of the nation’s most outrageously stupid laws ever placed on the books. Historians compare it to the slavery statutes, which also seem today almost unthinkable, but during the early twentieth century outlawing booze seemed appropriate.

At a countdown-to-midnight blast at Babette’s Supper Club, Nucky assured 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, showed that he had higher aspirations and ended up making an alliance that could have dire consequences for both him and Nucky.

Jimmy’s not very smart and he’s also a loose wire for Nucky, one that he ultimately plans to reign in.

“Boardwalk Empire” lived up to the hype that HBO has been touting. The sets are spectacular, from the affluent home of one of the city’s most distinguished criminals, down to the company houses which lined the Atlantic seaboard in the northeast that are now part of history. The costuming is perfect, with every detail taken into consideration. This authentic dramatic series has me hooked, as it most probably has millions of HBO viewers who tuned in to see what would happen on the premiere.

The episode was written by Terence Winter. Oscar award-winning director Martin Scorsese directed the episode. This is one of Scorsese’s best projects to date. “Boardwalk Empire” producers and HBO have taken painstaking measures to make sure everything about this series is something we’ll all be talking about at the water cooler at work on Monday mornings this fall. The acting is Emmy-worthy.

The series airs on Sunday nights on HBO at 9 p.m.

 

Photograph is Courtesy: Craig Blankenhorn/HBO