HBO likes what they’re seeing in the third season of Boardwalk Empire, which just got underway recently. It’s been announced that the show has been renewed again, giving us a fourth season of the hit period drama next fall.

For those of you unfamiliar with the show, it’s set in 1920s Atlantic City (with visits to New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia as necessary) during Prohibition. It follows Enoch “Nucky” Thompson (Steve Buscemi) as a friendly public figure by day who leads a dark second life of crime as the man to see about buying liquor.

Boardwalk Empire — The Complete Second Season
Blu-ray l DVD
CREATOR: Terence Winter
DIRECTORS: Timothy Van Patten, Allen Coulter, Jeremy Podeswa, More
WRITERS: Terence Winter, Howard Korder, Steve Kornacki, More
STARRING: Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Jack Huston, Shea Whigham, Aleksa Palladino, Michael Stuhlbarg, Stephen Graham, Vincent Piazza, Anatol Yusef, Gretchen Mol, Paz de la Huerta, Michael Kenneth Williams, Dabney Coleman, William Forsythe, Anthony Laciura
HBO Studios
RELEASE DATE: August 28, 2012

I’ve made my love for HBO no secret, with two of my all-time favorite shows going strong right now in Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire, and a slew of others I’ve adored over the years. So instead of reviewing season 2 of Boardwalk on Blu-ray, I’ll just be swooning about it for a bit before sharing what bonus features there are to enjoy.

Where season 1 established the incredible collection of characters the show has to offer, season 2 expands on them (those who have survived, anyway), creating an intricately crafted web of often interconnecting storylines. The primary focus of the second season is again Enoch “Nucky” Thompson (Steve Buscemi) and James Darmody (Michael Pitt). But instead of being the boy Nucky helped to raise, Jimmy has reunited with his estranged father, the Commodore (Dabney Coleman), and is leading the charge to take control of Atlantic City and the alcohol coming in and out of it. As you might expect, Nucky isn’t fond of anyone trying to muscle him out of his position of power, let alone the man he’s helped to make who he is, and the two go to war. The results of this power struggle trickle down, affecting anyone associated with the two parties and leading to some interesting new business partners.

Boardwalk Empire The Complete First Season
Blu-ray l DVD
CREATOR: Terence Winter
DIRECTORS: Martin Scorsese, Timothy Van Patten, Allen Coulter, More
WRITERS: Terence Winter, Timothy Van Patten, More
STARRING: Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Shea Whigham, Aleksa Palladino, Michael Stuhlbarg, Stephen Graham, Vincent Piazza, Gretchen Mol, Paz de la Huerta, Michael Kenneth Williams, Dabney Coleman
HBO Studios
RELEASE DATE: January 10, 2012

TV has evolved to exciting heights with the arrival and ever-thriving world of no-restriction shows. Shows that are on pay cable channels and can be as gritty and realistic as necessary to tell their stories, often times getting away with more than most movies can even get away with.

We the TV-viewing audience are in love with these types of shows, and though there are many great options out there on various channels, no one does them quite like HBO.

They’ve been in the original programming game since the ’70s (mainly with comedy shows and documentaries at first, which they still do a lot of today as well) but started the current hour-long drama craze with shows like Oz and The Sopranos, continued it with titles like Six Feet Under, Deadwood, Rome, and Carnivale, and keep it alive and strong today with True Blood, Game of Thrones, and of course, Boardwalk Empire.

HBO has released another short preview trailer for their upcoming show, Boardwalk Empire. This has to be the best look that we’ve gotten of the new show so far, and absolutely the first to get me personally giddy about the show’s arrival since the project was first announced.

The new series is created by Sopranos writer Terence Winter, and it will make its debut this upcoming fall. Winter will also write multiple episodes and executive produce along with the legendary Martin Scorsese, who will be getting things going very strong by directing the pilot episode.

Head over to the other side to read the full synopsis and check out the new preview trailer.

It’s being reported that HBO has given the greenlight to a new series called Boardwalk Empire. Eleven episodes of the show have been ordered to start the ball rolling. This is another in a slew of new shows that HBO is bringing to the table — a table that features, or has featured, some of the best shows on TV. Empire will be joined by another drama called Treme, which is set in New Orleans right after Hurricane Katrina and is from the creators of The Wire. If the much-talked about fantasy show Game of Thrones — based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series — gets the full greenlight, then HBO will have one of the most exciting TV slates imaginable…if they don’t already have it.

Boardwalk Empire is a period show that’s based on the book of the same name by Nelson Johnson, which takes place in the roaring ’20s during prohibition. It follows Nucky Thompson (set to be played by Steve Buscemi), who acts as “equal parts politician and gangster,” while building a prosperous illegal alcohol selling empire.