Sunday 6 February 2011

Sky Atlantic

"Everything you see here, its mine. If you steal from my men, you steal from me."

A line by Enoch Thompson (played by Steve Buscemi) from the brillant new show Boardwalk Empire. The first show to air on Sky Atlantic, billed as the biggest show ever! Which had a merit of truth in being the most expensive pilot in history and directed by none other than Marty Scorsese(directed only the pilot). Is it time I moved flat just so I can get Sky? Not yet unfortunately!

The channel opened big, very big indeed. Sky Atlantic is basically HBO UK, so you can expect to see Mad Men from next season, Entourage and True Blood. These shows have of course been available on terrestial tv before but strangely were never highly advertised or given primetime slots. Sopranos for example was usually on Channel 4 at 23:30, Mad Men was on BBC 3 which I wasnt aware of until I stumbled upon it on iplayer. The Wire was broadcast on FX with an audience of around 30,000.

Will I be signing up? The problem for me has always been in the past, the show broadcasts in the US months before it reaches the UK. Boardwalk Empire Season 1 has finished stateside and yes I have seen it in its entirety now, the same goes for Entourage. Sky have promised they will be showing the shows much closer to the US premiere going forward. Unless its the next day I dont see them solving the problem of it being viewed online before its premiered on Sky Atlantic. The hardcore fans of these shows are young men 20-35 and we will not wait!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I tried to watch boardwalk empire a few times but for some reason could never get into it. I guess maybe if I watched every episode I might follow it better- eh? Naw.
True Blood was great the first season but unfortunately got ri-goddamn-diculous this last season. I think they run out of material so they just go nuts. fuckin HBO.

Toners said...

Watched the third episode the other night and I like it. Buscemi is fantastic as always.

Must kick back into Treme. I trailed off after a few episodes but they've renewed it for a second season.