Martin Scorsese's "Boardwalk Empire"

By our guest blogger, Hillary Weston

With the last episodes of "Six Feet Under" and "The Sopranos" came the end of an era in great television. HBO is known for airing shows that are just too bold and innovative for network television, but in the past few years things just haven't been the same. Until now.  With the release of the teaser-trailer for HBO's new series, "Boardwalk Empire," it looks as if that's about to change.

From "Sopranos" writer Terence Winter and director Martin Scorsese comes a new drama series set in 1920s Atlantic City. We see the dawn of the prohibition era and the rise of the gangsters and boot-leggers who defined the era. The series is based on a book by Nelson Johnson, which recalls the sordid, sleazy and politically corrupt streets of Atlantic City. The show is centered around Sheriff Enoch "Nucky" Johnson, played by Steve Buscemi, who was the second of three bosses who headed the Republican machine that ran Atlantic City over a 70-year period in the city's history.

With Winter and Scorsese behind the series, we know there will be plenty of beautifully executed, cinematic violence because no one can orchestrate organized crime quite as well as those two. The show will feature everything Atlantic City had to offer during the roaring 20s and the set will be an exact replica of the times. After scouting several locations, the production team settled on Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where they would build their own set.

HBO has ordered 12 episodes and the series is set to debut in late 2010.

View the trailer for "Boardwalk Empire" below. What are your thoughts?