Empire Complete Series

[Hilda Bagnoli]

Throughout its five-season run, the hit HBO series Boardwalk Empire stood "at the pinnacle of TV achievement" (Philadelphia Inquirer), garnering 18 Emmy Awards and critical accolades for its superb cast and its unfaltering attention to 1920s period detail. From Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Terence Winter and Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese, the series chronicles the life and times of Enoch "Nucky" Thompson (Golden Globe winner Steve Buscemi) as he undergoes vicious power struggles and deals with opportunistic rivals -- including Arnold Rothstein, Lucky Luciano and Al Capone -- at a time when Prohibition proved to be a major catalyst in the rise of organized crime in America.

'Boardwalk Empire' played out over five of the best seasons of television there's ever been. It's unfortunate that it always seemed to be overshadowed by HBO's next big show, but its quality never waned.

One important note to bring up here is that this set has consolidated the number of discs. The stadalone releases for seasons 1-3 each had five discs in them. However, here those seasons have been pared down to four discs each. Testing out those seasons did not reveal any egregious compression errors, or any other anomolies related to fewer disc space. The previous video presentation reviews still hold true.

The complete series collection for 'Boardwalk Empire' does indeed have some new content, which is what you want from an exclusive release like this. However, that content doesn't seem to be enough to entice fans who bought all the standalone seasons to go ahead and double dip here. Instead the complete collection seems geared toward people that haven't invested already in any of the Blu-rays for 'Boardwalk Empire' or those who were waiting to jump into the show when the complete series was finally released. Because of its unwavering quality, and how good the show actually is, 'Boardlwalk Empire: The Complete Series' is recommended.

Founded in April 2006, High-Def Digest is the ultimate guide for High-Def enthusiasts who demand only the best that money can buy. Updated daily and in real-time, we track all high-def disc news and release dates, and review the latest disc titles.

In January, we reported that Extreme Ghostbusters was set to receive its long-awaited and much overdue North American DVD release, with a complete series set listed through Amazon. However, hours after news began to spread, ordering was pulled. Adding to the confusion, the listing details were inaccurate, with discrepancies in the series runtime and the number of discs, prompting many fans to wonder about the status and the authenticity of the supposed release.

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