Television series

Boardwalk Empire

Name: Boardwalk Empire
Genre: Drama, Crime
Released: 2010
Cast: Steve Buscemi, Shea Whigham, Kelly Macdonald, Vincent Piazza, Gretchen Mol

Boardwalk Empire is HBO's sprawling, novelistic account of Atlantic City's Prohibition-era political boss, Nucky Thompson, played with silky menace by Steve Buscemi. Gorgeous, unhurried, and morally exhausted, it treats organized crime as slow-motion tragedy rather than thrill ride. Expect meticulous period texture, a vast ensemble of real and invented gangsters, and a brooding tone that rewards patience over spectacle — this is prestige drama for people who like their corruption served cold.

TVMaze rating

8.4

If you liked this

The Sopranos1999

Same creative brain trust — Terence Winter cut his teeth here before building Boardwalk's operatic dread. If you love Nucky's moral rot, this is the mothership.

But Mob family therapy sessions and a slower, more domestic pace might frustrate if you want nonstop period spectacle.

The Godfather Part II1974

The gold standard for the immigrant-crime-empire story, tracing power's cost across generations with the same elegiac scope Boardwalk aims for.

But Three-plus hours of deliberate, hushed tragedy demands patience you might not have on a random Tuesday night.

GoodFellas1990

Scorsese's kinetic, funny, brutal ride through organized crime shares Boardwalk's fascination with charm curdling into violence.

But Its breathless energy and narration-heavy style are a world away from Boardwalk's slow-burn dread.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Public Enemy1931

Made while Prohibition was still current events, this is the ur-text of the gangster myth Boardwalk Empire studies from a century's distance — same rise-and-fall arc, but raw and unapologetic.

Cagney's breakout performance defined the American gangster archetype everyone since has been riffing on, including Nucky himself — watching it is like meeting the ancestor.

But Creaky production values and stagey 1930s acting take real adjustment if you're used to modern prestige TV polish.

Peaky Blinders2013

British gangsters, the same interwar chaos, the same fascination with men building empires out of ash and nerve.

But Stylised violence and anachronistic needle drops go for swagger over subtlety, if you want Boardwalk's grounded realism.

Mad Men2007

Same network pedigree of meticulous period detail and men reinventing themselves against a shifting, treacherous America.

But No gangsters, no gunfire — just quiet moral erosion in advertising offices, a much gentler kind of slow burn.

Miller's Crossing1990

The Coen brothers' Prohibition-era gangster noir has the same knotty loyalty games and doomed romanticism running through Nucky's world.

But Dense plotting and clipped, theatrical dialogue can feel more like a puzzle box than a straightforward drama.

Once Upon a Time in America1984

An epic, mournful portrait of gangsters across decades, obsessed with the same themes of memory, betrayal, and lost innocence.

But Nearly four hours long with dreamlike pacing — commit only if you're settled in for the evening.

The Untouchables1987

Capone-era Chicago rendered as glossy, operatic myth — pure entertainment if you want the gangster fantasy played big and loud.

But Broad strokes and movie-star heroics trade Boardwalk's moral murk for clean good-versus-evil thrills.

Public Enemies2009

Michael Mann's cool, digitally shot take on Dillinger captures the tail end of the era Boardwalk chronicles, outlaws becoming celebrities.

But Mann's clinical, distanced style keeps you at arm's length from characters Boardwalk would let you live inside.

Prohibition2011

Ken Burns' documentary lays out the real bootleggers, politicians, and moral panic that Boardwalk Empire dramatizes — the actual history hiding behind Nucky's fictional Atlantic City.

Turns out the true story is just as strange and morally tangled as the show, full of real-life Nuckys you'll recognize instantly.

But Talking-heads documentary pacing is a real gear change from Boardwalk's plotting, and history lectures aren't everyone's idea of a night in.

Chicago2002

Same Prohibition-era stew of murder, corruption, and celebrity criminals as Boardwalk Empire, staged as a glittering, cynical musical — proof the material can carry song and spectacle without losing its teeth.

Razzle-dazzle numbers wrapped around a genuinely nasty satire of fame and justice for sale, with Zellweger and Zeta-Jones at their sharpest.

But If musicals aren't your thing, the singing and dancing will feel like a wall between you and the story's real bite.