Letters to the Editor
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The Sopranos has been dead me...
...for years now. 20 episodes in 4 years has been a forced trial separation and I'm ready to sign the papers. Let's remember the good times, Tony...
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Thank you Salon
Now this was a good story about a TV show. It was a discussion of a show I love, not a spoiler piece. Perfection!
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goodstuff
I agree that this is well crafted and insightful writing. Thank you. Maybe its our secret wish to be Mafia dons, but we have bought into Tony, and despite our better judgment we care about him. You have caught the lever of tension well.
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Never seen a single minute of a single episode
So WTF do I know. But the only way to end this show is either in handcuffs or a hail of bullets, or both. I mean as long as we're making it all Shakespearean and shit.
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Not too spoilery
I was afraid the spoilers were going to "spoil" the first two episodes for me, but after reading this, I don't feel that they did at all. Nice piece! I'm really excited about watching the final episodes of The Sopranos after the last decade of watching the show--I only wish there was something of the caliber that could replace it.
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Thank you, Heather
I have been a passionate fan of The Sopranos since day 1 and watching the final episode of this series will no doubt be a gut-wrenching experience. Watching this show completely changed my television viewing habits to point where virtually nothing on network television even remotely appeals to me. I am spoiled forever thanks to the genius of David Chase and his cohorts; they and the characters they created will remain a part of the cultural landscape (and my DVD collection) forever.
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A good article about an indifferent series.
I've been one of the biggest Havrilesky haters here, although I think she hates herself and life itself even more than I could. However, this is one of the best articles she has ever submitted. It shows sensitivity and understanding of The Sopranos that she has never lavished on any other series.
The thing is...after years of trying, I've never been able to warm to this series in the slightest, after renting season disk sets and trying to watch new episodes. There was a previous TV series that effectively and quickly established the same kind of pathos and sense of wasted life that it's taken The Sopranos seasons to establish.
That series never got heavily into the personal sorrow and anger of family life that The Sopranos detailed. It was blasted by critics and politicians for the violence it brought to broadcast TV. It was seen as selling violence to a generation - oddly, in a decade where government was selling it far more efficiently. But the old Quinn Martin-produced series The Untouchables, "Starring Robert Stack as Elliot Ness...and narrated by Walter Winchell" told the same story week after week.
By the time the series produced "The Frank Nitti Story," the farewell to Bruce Gordon's performance as the series's regular nemesis, I could feel more sorry for the mob boss betrayed by a mysterious Mafia council than for the fumbling and wimpy Tony Soprano. And yes, The Untouchables fictionalized most of its stories; it is no more realistic than Soprano's affairs. (The real Nitti committed suicide due to being investigated over his corruption of the movie industry - including the companies and the exectives involved with The Untouchables. Too close for comfort.)
Maybe this generation prefers to chew over its tragedies and make them more tragic, and feels the need to drag in sexuality and sentimentality, as if sex was an answer to anything. I just prefer my Greek tragedies to be finished within fifty minutes and accompanied by the ominous music of Nelson Riddle than dragged out over seasons full of crappy pop tunes.
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Perfect reading
I too have often slammed Heather's articles, but this was a terrific reading of this show, managing to shed light on the final chapter without revealing too much. Thanks, Heather!
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Another good HBO show gone
I have learned to live without the women of Sex and the City along the freaks from Carnivale, the cowboys of Deadwood, and the hot men in Ox. It will me awhile, but I am sure I will adjust to no more Tony and the gang, too.
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Final Days
I've enjoyed the ride but it's time for the series to end. The last season was its weakest and seemed to be marking time. I'll be looking forward to bigger narrative gestures and a sense of final closure.
Two possible endings:
I don't think Tony will end up as Lear; instead he'll become Oedipus, living out his days in the Colonus Penitentiary.
Or perhaps that the Chechen who disappeared mysteriously in the Pine Barrens episode (or the Russian mobsters on his behalf) will bring the show to a close.
(The irony is that Tony should have resolved that issue then, giving up Paulie and Christopher to the Russians. Whenever Tony shows mercy, the universe always falls out of balance.)
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This WAS Good
And considering who wrote it, that's a hell of a surprise. Nevertheless, this article got very close to the heart of "The Soprano's" appeal. I've watched the show from the beginning, and although I've always believed it was both thematically and structurally a rip-off of "Goodfellas", it has changed by TV habits too. I can't imagine watching the crap on network TV, or even other cable networks. Although Showtime has had its share of good shows, HBO has turned itself into the 800 pound gorilla of quality television.
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HBO
The Sopranos and Deadwood are the only two serials I have ever watched on TV. I am reconciled to seeing the end of Tony and the bunch, but I still miss Deadwood so. What the hell happened at HBO to kill such great and promising series? Do you think politics were involved? Damn! Now my only spare time recreation will be reading Salon items and the letters.
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No Longer Tops, or Is It?
There can be no denying nor overstating the artistic benefits this series has had on American television and pop culture in general. But as this show has helped to raise the bar on competing shows, one has to wonder if now isn't the time to end the Sopranos because it no longer has the effect that it now has. Rome was a spectacular show, and it's passing was way, way too soon. And in terms of dramatic effect, storyline, ability to promote a theme, and possibly acting ability, I would now put the Wire ahead of the Sopranos, and call it the most gripping show on television today.
Of course, part of this may have to do with the irony of the Sopranos characters themselves. No matter how you identified with them, you'd never shed a tear for their misfortune, for these are deeply sinister people. Whatever happens to Tony, whether it be death or the Justice System- the man deserves every bit of it.