Question: Perhaps you can help to settle a disagreement. My mom and I were discussing what our favorite shows are, and I was surprised that she left Boardwalk Empire off her list as she is an avid weekly watcher. She said that she didn't really qualify Boardwalk Empire as a show because it was a mini-series, and then HBO decided to do another season. She thinks that all of the episodes were filmed before the first episode ever aired, and that once they had all aired then that would be the end. I disagreed with her, saying that if HBO decided right after the premiere to renew it for a second season, that there was no way that all the episodes would have been filmed, and that they already had an "end" in mind. Boardwalk Empire seemed like a huge investment for HBO, given that many said it fills the void left by The Sopranos, that I can't imagine HBO didn't hope for it to be a huge success and hope for many seasons. — Alex
Matt Roush: You're on the right track. Production schedules really had nothing to do with HBO's handling of this show. (I'm not sure if the entire production had wrapped by the premiere, but most of it surely had; critics got screeners of the first half of the season well in advance of the series launch, and that's uncommon.) Boardwalk Empire was always intended to be a long-running, multiple-season series, not a miniseries (although these limited-run cable series always seem to blur the line). HBO made a huge investment in creating this world, and once the reviews and early ratings came in, HBO gave a second season an instant green-light. (Hardly unheard of at HBO and Showtime these days.)
Source: TV Guide
