'Boardwalk' draws 3 million for season finale

The second-season finale of "Boardwalk Empire" drew 3 million viewers Sunday night, on par with the first-season closer. HBO skein also drew 834,000 for a repeat showing later in the evening to bring the total to 3.8 million. Pay cabler has renewed the Atlantic City-set Prohibition drama for a third season and the Terrence Winter-created skein looks to be a longtime player for HBO. At 10 p.m. immediately following "Boardwalk Empire" was a sneak preview of the David Milch-written horseracing drama "Luck." Set at Santa Anita Park and starring, among many, Dustin Hoffman, Denis Farina and John Ortiz, the pilot garnered 1.1 million. The official regular season begins Jan. 29. The 1.1 million was below the 3 million who tuned in to see the season finale of Milch's last show for HBO, "John From Cincinnati," but that series had the benefit of series-ending episode of "The Sopranos" when it debuted in 2007. Sunday was a busy night for other cablers as well. A&E offered two hours of the Stephen King miniseries "Bag of Bones," which brought in 3.3 million viewers. Showtime ran the penultimate episodes of the season for both "Dexter" (1.9 million) and "Homeland" (1.3 million). Contact Stuart Levine at stuart.levine@variety.com