Another Walk

I gave up on the much-touted Boardwalk Empire after the first few episodes.  Recently HBO repeated the whole first season, so I gave it another look.

Sorry, this show just doesn't do it.  It's not a total washout (like Treme), the the stories and characters aren't that compelling.  The setting and scenery aren't bad, but the plot shuttles back and forth without moving forward.  The leads, Steve Buscemi, Kelly Macdonald and Michael Pitt, don't seem to have zeroed in on their characters yet.  And Buscemi still seems miscast.  Some of the secondary characters such as Michael Kenneth Williams's Chalky White have little to do.  Far worse is Michael Shannon as the cliched law men, who's seemingly upright and stricly religious but is actually quite twisted.  If they want to improve the show, removing his character would be a good start.