Boardwalk Empire is a period drama series that premiered September 19, 2010, on HBO. Set against the backdrop of Atlantic City during the Prohibition era, the show is based on the real-life story of Nucky Johnson, a gambler, gangster, and political influence in Atlantic City during the 1920s.http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/steve_buscemi_as_nucky_thompson_35Eo58rVrOqfO77Jp9787O Actor Steve Buscemi plays the lead role of Nucky Thompson, and is supported by a cast that includes Michael Pitt, Kelly Macdonald, Shea Whigham, and Michael Shannon.http://www.hbo.com/boardwalk-empire/index.html#/boardwalk-empire/about/index.html

Created by Terence Winter and Martin Scorsese, Boardwalk Empire was renewed for a second season after the show's premiere ratings averaged 4.8 million viewers, the network's highest premiere audience since the March of 2004 debut of Deadwood.http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-09-21/hbo-renews-boardwalk-empire-after-premiere-ratings.html

The show won two awards at the 2011 Golden Globe awards, including Best Television Series (Drama). For that honor, it beat Mad Men, Dexter, The Good Wife and The Walking Dead. The show's other win went to Steve Buscemi, who beat Jon Hamm, Michael C. Hall, Hugh Laurie and Bryan Cranston to win the award for Best Actor in a Television Series(Drama). Kelly Macdonald was also nominated in Best Supporting Actress category, but lost to Glee star Jane Lynch.http://www.goldenglobes.org/nominations/

• Steve Buscemi as Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson

• Michael Pitt as Jimmy Darmody

• Kelly Macdonald as Margaret Schroeder

• Michael Shannon as Agent Nelson Van Alden

• Shea Whigham as Elias 'Eli' Thompson

• Aleska Palladino as Angela Darmody

• Michael Stuhlbarg as Arnold Rothstein

• Vincent Piazza as Lucky Luciano

• Stephen Graham as Al Capone

• Dabney Coleman as Commodore Louis Kaestner

Boardwalk Empire has generally been given good reviews by television critics. Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle said that Boardwalk Empire is the "great series that HBO has been searching for in recent years."http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/17/DDK61FENPH.DTL Brian Lowry of Variety Magazine also gave Boardwalk Empire a good review as well.http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117943535.html?u=IMDB&p=H2BE&cs=1 Aaron Riccio of Slant Magazine was mixed with his review, saying that the show has too many story lines involved; he compares the show to taking a short walk down a long pier, saying "at least there's a destination in sight."http://www.slantmagazine.com/tv/review/boardwalk-empire-season-one/206

• First rule of politics, kiddo: Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.—Nucky Thompsonhttp://seriesandtv.com/best-quotes-from-boardwalk-empire-series-premiere-on-hbo-by-martin-scorsese-steve-buscemi-and-michael-pitt/3938

• Two years in the field do not prepare you for a whole lot else.—Jimmy Darmodyhttp://seriesandtv.com/best-quotes-from-boardwalk-empire-series-premiere-on-hbo-by-martin-scorsese-steve-buscemi-and-michael-pitt/3938

• You can´t be half a gangster Nucky, not anymore.—Jimmy Darmodyhttp://seriesandtv.com/best-quotes-from-boardwalk-empire-series-premiere-on-hbo-by-martin-scorsese-steve-buscemi-and-michael-pitt/3938