Boardwalk Empire is an American period crime drama television series created by Terence Winter for HBO. It is based on the book Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times and Corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson. Set in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era, the series stars Steve Buscemi as Enoch "Nucky" Thompson (based on the historical Enoch L. Johnson),[1] a political figure who rose to prominence and controlled Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition period of the 1920s and 1930s.
The series received widespread critical acclaim, winning various awards including Golden Globe Awards for Best Drama Series and Best Actor in a Television Drama Series for Buscemi for its first season.
During the course of the series, 56 episodes of Boardwalk Empire aired over five seasons, between September 19, 2010, and October 26, 2014.
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | Average viewership (in millions) | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | ||||
1 | 12 | September 19, 2010 | December 5, 2010 | 3.17[2] | |
2 | 12 | September 25, 2011 | December 11, 2011 | 2.73[3] | |
3 | 12 | September 16, 2012 | December 2, 2012 | 2.32[4] | |
4 | 12 | September 8, 2013 | November 24, 2013 | 2.05[5] | |
5 | 8 | September 7, 2014 | October 26, 2014 | 2.01[6] |
Main article: Boardwalk Empire season 1 |
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | US viewers (millions) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "Boardwalk Empire" | Martin Scorsese | Terence Winter | September 19, 2010 | 4.81[7] |
2 | 2 | "The Ivory Tower" | Tim Van Patten | Terence Winter | September 26, 2010 | 3.33[8] |
3 | 3 | "Broadway Limited" | Tim Van Patten | Margaret Nagle | October 3, 2010 | 3.41[9] |
4 | 4 | "Anastasia" | Jeremy Podeswa | Lawrence Konner & Margaret Nagle | October 10, 2010 | 2.57[10] |
5 | 5 | "Nights in Ballygran" | Alan Taylor | Lawrence Konner | October 17, 2010 | 2.85[11] |
6 | 6 | "Family Limitation" | Tim Van Patten | Howard Korder | October 24, 2010 | 2.81[12] |
7 | 7 | "Home" | Allen Coulter | Tim Van Patten & Paul Simms | October 31, 2010 | 2.67[13] |
8 | 8 | "Hold Me in Paradise" | Brian Kirk | Meg Jackson | November 7, 2010 | 3.21[14] |
9 | 9 | "Belle Femme" | Brad Anderson | Steve Kornacki | November 14, 2010 | 2.98[15] |
10 | 10 | "The Emerald City" | Simon Cellan Jones | Lawrence Konner | November 21, 2010 | 3.05[16] |
11 | 11 | "Paris Green" | Allen Coulter | Howard Korder | November 28, 2010 | 3.00[17] |
12 | 12 | "A Return to Normalcy" | Tim Van Patten | Terence Winter | December 5, 2010 | 3.29[18] |
Main article: Boardwalk Empire season 2 |
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | US viewers (millions) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
13 | 1 | "21" | Tim Van Patten | Terence Winter | September 25, 2011 | 2.91[19] |
14 | 2 | "Ourselves Alone" | David Petrarca | Howard Korder | October 2, 2011 | 2.59[20] |
15 | 3 | "A Dangerous Maid" | Susanna White | Itamar Moses | October 9, 2011 | 2.86[21] |
16 | 4 | "What Does the Bee Do?" | Ed Bianchi | Steve Kornacki | October 16, 2011 | 2.55[22] |
17 | 5 | "Gimcrack & Bunkum" | Tim Van Patten | Howard Korder | October 23, 2011 | 2.69[23] |
18 | 6 | "The Age of Reason" | Jeremy Podeswa | Bathsheba Doran | October 30, 2011 | 2.63[24] |
19 | 7 | "Peg of Old" | Allen Coulter | Howard Korder & Steve Kornacki & Bathsheba Doran | November 6, 2011 | 2.74[25] |
20 | 8 | "Two Boats and a Lifeguard" | Tim Van Patten | Terence Winter | November 13, 2011 | 2.54[26] |
21 | 9 | "Battle of the Century" | Brad Anderson | Steve Kornacki | November 20, 2011 | 2.55[27] |
22 | 10 | "Georgia Peaches" | Jeremy Podeswa | Dave Flebotte | November 27, 2011 | 2.73[28] |
23 | 11 | "Under God's Power She Flourishes" | Allen Coulter | Howard Korder | December 4, 2011 | 2.97[29] |
24 | 12 | "To the Lost" | Tim Van Patten | Terence Winter | December 11, 2011 | 3.01[30] |
Main article: Boardwalk Empire season 3 |
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | US viewers (millions) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
25 | 1 | "Resolution" | Tim Van Patten | Terence Winter | September 16, 2012 | 2.89[31] |
26 | 2 | "Spaghetti & Coffee" | Alik Sakharov | Howard Korder | September 23, 2012 | 2.62[32] |
27 | 3 | "Bone for Tuna" | Jeremy Podeswa | Chris Haddock | September 30, 2012 | 2.36[33] |
28 | 4 | "Blue Bell Boy" | Kari Skogland | David Stenn | October 7, 2012 | 2.11[34] |
29 | 5 | "You'd Be Surprised" | Tim Van Patten | Diane Frolov & Andrew Schneider | October 14, 2012 | 2.19[35] |
30 | 6 | "Ging Gang Goolie" | Ed Bianchi | Steve Kornacki | October 21, 2012 | 2.34[36] |
31 | 7 | "Sunday Best" | Allen Coulter | Howard Korder | October 28, 2012 | 1.97[37] |
32 | 8 | "The Pony" | Tim Van Patten | Terence Winter and Howard Korder | November 4, 2012 | 2.09[38] |
33 | 9 | "The Milkmaid's Lot" | Ed Bianchi | Rolin Jones | November 11, 2012 | 2.06[39] |
34 | 10 | "A Man, a Plan..." | Jeremy Podeswa | Dave Flebotte | November 18, 2012 | 2.18[40] |
35 | 11 | "Two Imposters" | Allen Coulter | Howard Korder | November 25, 2012 | 2.30[41] |
36 | 12 | "Margate Sands" | Tim Van Patten | Terence Winter and Howard Korder | December 2, 2012 | 2.73[42] |
Main article: Boardwalk Empire season 4 |
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | US viewers (millions) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
37 | 1 | "New York Sour" | Tim Van Patten | Howard Korder | September 8, 2013 | 2.38[43] |
38 | 2 | "Resignation" | Alik Sakharov | Dennis Lehane and Howard Korder | September 15, 2013 | 2.21[44] |
39 | 3 | "Acres of Diamonds" | Allen Coulter | Terence Winter | September 22, 2013 | 1.87[45] |
40 | 4 | "All In" | Ed Bianchi | David Matthews | September 29, 2013 | 1.99[46] |
41 | 5 | "Erlkönig" | Tim Van Patten | Howard Korder | October 6, 2013 | 2.09[47] |
42 | 6 | "The North Star" | Allen Coulter | Eric Overmyer and Howard Korder | October 13, 2013 | 1.90[48] |
43 | 7 | "William Wilson" | Jeremy Podeswa | David Matthews and Terence Winter | October 20, 2013 | 2.16[49] |
44 | 8 | "The Old Ship of Zion" | Tim Van Patten | Cristine Chambers and Howard Korder | October 27, 2013 | 1.91[50] |
45 | 9 | "Marriage and Hunting" | Ed Bianchi | David Matthews & Jennifer Ames & Steve Turner | November 3, 2013 | 1.90[51] |
46 | 10 | "White Horse Pike" | Jake Paltrow | Dave Flebotte | November 10, 2013 | 2.08[52] |
47 | 11 | "Havre de Grace" | Allen Coulter | Howard Korder | November 17, 2013 | 1.98[53] |
48 | 12 | "Farewell Daddy Blues" | Tim Van Patten | Terence Winter and Howard Korder | November 24, 2013 | 2.18[54] |
Main article: Boardwalk Empire season 5 |
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | US viewers (millions) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
49 | 1 | "Golden Days for Boys and Girls" | Tim Van Patten | Howard Korder | September 7, 2014 | 2.37[55] |
50 | 2 | "The Good Listener" | Allen Coulter | Terence Winter | September 14, 2014 | 1.81[56] |
51 | 3 | "What Jesus Said" | Ed Bianchi | Cristine Chambers & Howard Korder | September 21, 2014 | 2.11[57] |
52 | 4 | "Cuanto" | Jake Paltrow | Howard Korder & Cristine Chambers & Terence Winter | September 28, 2014 | 2.05[58] |
53 | 5 | "King of Norway" | Ed Bianchi | Steve Kornacki | October 5, 2014 | 1.94[59] |
54 | 6 | "Devil You Know" | Jeremy Podeswa | Howard Korder | October 12, 2014 | 1.55[60] |
55 | 7 | "Friendless Child" | Allen Coulter | Riccardo DiLoreto & Cristine Chambers and Howard Korder | October 19, 2014 | 1.95[61] |
56 | 8 | "Eldorado" | Tim Van Patten | Howard Korder & Terence Winter | October 26, 2014 | 2.33[62] |
Season | Episode number | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | ||
1 | 4.81 | 3.33 | 3.41 | 2.57 | 2.85 | 2.81 | 2.67 | 3.21 | 2.98 | 3.05 | 3.00 | 3.29 | |
2 | 2.91 | 2.59 | 2.86 | 2.55 | 2.69 | 2.63 | 2.74 | 2.54 | 2.55 | 2.73 | 2.97 | 3.01 | |
3 | 2.89 | 2.62 | 2.36 | 2.11 | 2.19 | 2.34 | 1.97 | 2.09 | 2.06 | 2.18 | 2.30 | 2.73 | |
4 | 2.38 | 2.21 | 1.87 | 1.99 | 2.09 | 1.90 | 2.16 | 1.91 | 1.90 | 2.08 | 1.98 | 2.18 | |
5 | 2.37 | 1.81 | 2.11 | 2.05 | 1.94 | 1.55 | 1.95 | 2.33 | – |
Season | Episodes | DVD and Blu-ray release dates | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Region 1 | Region 2 | Region 4 | |||
1 | 12 | January 10, 2012[64] | January 9, 2012[65] | January 11, 2012[66] | |
2 | 12 | August 28, 2012[67] | September 3, 2012[68] | September 5, 2012[69] | |
3 | 12 | August 20, 2013[70] | August 5, 2013[71] | August 21, 2013[72] | |
4 | 12 | August 19, 2014[73] | August 18, 2014[74] | August 27, 2014[75] | |
5 | 8 | January 13, 2015[76] | January 12, 2015[77] | January 14, 2015[78] | |
Total | 56 | May 19, 2015[79] | TBA | TBA |