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Is Boardwalk Empire the new The Wire or The Sopranos?

Though the gritty Prohibition crime drama is only on its eighth episode, the new series is already drawing comparisons to HBO’s other pivotal shows. Let’s explore at length the ties between these three artistic landmarks. For one, they are HBO original series. All are gritty crime dramas. Terence Winter is the screenwriter for Boardwalk and The Sopranos; Steve Buscemi also acts in both. Boardwalk and The Wire explore the story from not only the criminals’ perspective but also from the perspective of the law officials investigating them. The Sopranos shares 27 actors with the Martin Scorsese film Goodfellas; Martin Scorsese directed the pilot episode of Boardwalk.

Critical response for each of them generally includes the words “complex,” “grand,” “staggering,” and “saga.” They all feature prominent gay characters (spoiler alert: there is a prominent gay character in Boardwalk Empire). Michael K. Williams appears in all of them (as Ray Ray in The Sopranos; as Omar—one of the prominent gay characters—in The Wire; and as Chalky White—not gay this time—in Boardwalk Empire).

Fans of the shows range from “zealous” to “militant” and consider even the most moderate criticism a personal affront. And perhaps most importantly, IMDB.com users ranked all three shows higher than WALL-E and March of the Penguins. This all points to a culture of nepotism, corruption, and intrigue within the walls of HBO that surpasses that depicted in their programs.

Yet the most invidious crime of all is that, at the end of Boardwalk Empire, the viewers will have been duped into watching the same show three times.