Another Sunday.....Another Excellent HBO Show

Hard to believe just last week, "Game of Thrones" was ending and I was depressed that I had a long wait until it returned in 2012. And then Sunday rolled around we had a brand new episode of "True Blood." Say what you will about the season opener, but the show is trashy, funny, and....way more enjoyable than most network dramas. And that's what HBO is really all about: Quality.

It seems like from now to the end of time there will be shows that I want to watch on HBO. When "True Blood" ends, viewers will have a new season of comedies "Entourage" and "Eastbound n' Down" to look forward to. And then there is "Luck," which has gotten a shockingly minuscule amount of press. From "Deadwood" creator David Milch and action mastermind Michael Mann, the show focuses on the seedy world of horse racing. Did I mention it starts Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte, and John Ortiz among others.

Finally there is "Boardwalk Empire," one of my favorite shows. Last night they released the season 2 trailer and dayum does it like awesome. No other network has the money to make shows like these (The "Boardwalk" pilot supposedly cost 30 million and the "Game of Thrones" pilot was similar as well), and no other network has the amount of quality talent both in front and behind the camera. Some folks say that HBO is a prison for actors, but if it is....then I'm enjoying the show.

TV FInale Showdown: Boardwalk Empire vs. The Walking Dead

Forget fancy lead in sentences, I thought last night's finale of "The Walking Dead" was weak at best. It left me completely un-excited for the next season and worse, left me questioning why I really enjoy the show in first place. For me the most exciting part of the show was the last 3 minutes, when our heroes/victims finally got back to stopping the dead from walking with their axes, shotguns, pistols, and crossbows. AMC knows their audience, and the audience wants some zombie killin. Prior to that, we basically got a groovy explanation of how zombie brains work complete with an Enya soundtrack, great they're dead, but they walk, I get it.

That being said, where did the show leave us? Our survivors are back on the road, that's all, destined to go to another quarry where they can post up, catch fish, hunt zombie deer, and brood about how screwed they are. Yes, I know that the doctor, (expertly played by Noah Emmerich) whispered something to our hero Rick, but he could have been talking about another hot shower location and not something crucial (you realize that twice on this show, characters have enjoyed hot showers in montages). Don't get me wrong, I like seeing zombie heads explode as much as the next guy, but I'm going to need a little bit more plot to keep me truly interested.

Speaking of important conversations we can't hear, last nights "Boardwalk Empire Finale" featured one hell of a trio speaking about something which really will impact next season. Nucky's brother Eli, his father figure Commodore, and his metaphorical son Jimmy all met and plotted while the rest of the country celebrated the election. This is how you set up a second season, with three characters of different power levels scheming on how to take down the central protagonist of the show. 

Did you catch the shot in closing montage of Jimmy Darmody walking along the ocean? It looked just like Nucky walking the ocean in the opening credits, that's foreshadowing yo.  The show is once again proving to be exciting, visually gorgeous, and loaded with metaphors. The final montage set to "Life's A Funny Proposition" was brilliant in how it showed all the characters both where they've been and where they are heading. And while both shows have second seasons shrouded in mystery, only "Boardwalk" has created drama through their characters emotions and actions, not the characters skill at bustin' zombie skulls (although that still is cool).