Sopranos...don't stop believin'

D. Phillips · Post by **D. Phillips** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 10:37 am

Sugarcubes Forever wrote:Do you guys really pay all that cash so you can watch 9 hours of The Sopranos once every 15 months?

Rome, The Wire, Entourage, etc. There's a lot of great programming on HBO besides The Sopranos. Not to mention Curb Your Enthusiasm.

I've liked nearly every HBO original show since that piece of shit ARLI$$. I haven't ever watched the Wire though, despite hearing from evferyone with half a brain how great it is. I just never seemed to hit it. I'll likely get the DVDs someday.

Tom4 · Post by **Tom4** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 10:42 am

D. Phillips wrote:
I've liked nearly every HBO original show since that piece of shit ARLI$$. I haven't ever watched the Wire though, despite hearing from evferyone with half a brain how great it is. I just never seemed to hit it. I'll likely get the DVDs someday.

I'm with you. I keep hearing about how amazing it is, and I believe the final season is approaching. So I've got the first season downloaded, I'm going to dive in from the beginning.

HBO is still worth it for Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage, and Big Love, and with a whole batch of new shows ready to hit the air, there might be something else worth watching in there.

Post by **Jake** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 1:11 pm

"Sopranos" creator defends uncertain ending:

"I have no interest in explaining, defending, reinterpreting, or adding to what is there," Chase told New Jersey newspaper The Star-Ledger in an interview from France where he was on vacation while avoiding the media frenzy.

"No one was trying to be audacious, honest to God," the paper quoted him as saying. "We did what we thought we had to do. No one was trying to blow people's minds or thinking, 'Wow, this'll (tick) them off.'"

"People get the impression that you're trying to (mess) with them, and it's not true. You're trying to entertain them.'"

[...]

Asked whether the ambiguous ending was a way of setting up a movie, Chase said: "I don't think about (a movie) much."

"I never say never. An idea could pop into my head where I would go, 'Wow, that would make a great movie,' but I doubt it," The Star-Ledger quoted him as saying.

"I'm not being coy," he added. "If something appeared that really made a good 'Sopranos' movie and you could invest in it and everybody else wanted to do it, I would do it. But I think we've kind of said it and done it."

It goes on and on and on...

Sven Killer Robot Spacema · Post by **Sven Killer Robot Spacema** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 6:23 pm

I love how they poke fun at Entourage on The Office by making it Michael's favorite show.

Better use of "Don't Stop Believin" ---Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci lesbo roller skating scene in "Monster"

Post by **Jake** » Tue Jun 12, 2007 10:36 pm

29 Thoughts on the 'Sopranos' finale by Adam Boyle

My favorites:

7. And what was up with that restaurant? You really needed to call and make a reservation to go to that joint?

[and]

10. No, I didn't know who Carlo was at first, either. I can't keep track of everything, David Chase.

Thanks, Sarah!

Mick · Post by **Mick** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 2:15 am

the cat whacked tony, it's obvious, all blood and fur.

anybody get geeky and find out what twilight episoded was refrenced?

Tom4 · Post by **Tom4** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 7:48 am

Jake wrote:29 Thoughts on the 'Sopranos' finale by Adam Boyle

My favorites:

7. And what was up with that restaurant? You really needed to call and make a reservation to go to that joint?

[and]

10. No, I didn't know who Carlo was at first, either. I can't keep track of everything, David Chase.
Thanks, Sarah!

I haven't read the whole thing yet, I will, but anyone who's watched the show somewhat seriously over the last two years should know Carlo. He's been a capo/major character for a while, unlike the guy who popped Phil (who didn't start really getting lines until Tony killed Chris). It's not Chase's fault you can't pay attention.

And that restaurant is great. Holsten's in Bloomfield. It's more of an ice cream shop than a restaurant, though. Best ice cream in North NJ, made on spot. And it looks different on the inside. I don't think they usually have all those banners of varsity football players hanging (Tony never had the makings of a varsity athlete).

Post by **Jake** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 9:03 am

Tom4 wrote:It's not Chase's fault you can't pay attention.

It is when it takes him 18 months between seasons.

steve-o · Post by **steve-o** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 4:50 pm

I've been able to think on it for a few days after the initial confusion:

There's another theory going around that the ending was the audience getting "whacked." Which personally I think is perfect. Because that's how it happens right? You're just sitting there, going about your life when BAM- silence and darkness- because you never hear it or see it coming. And he builds up the supsense at the end just to get us as engaged as possible, where we are waiting for someone to die, and it ends up being us. What's a bigger surprise for the audience than that? We never saw it coming.

Chase obviously has never had qualms about taking out major characters, so what better way to pull us out of their lives than to essentially show us what it's like, at the same time saying, "Hey, life goes on for Tony without the viewer jsut like it did when all the other characters have died over the years."

I love it. I couldn't think of a better ending. Still hate Journey though.

Tom4 · Post by **Tom4** » Wed Jun 13, 2007 5:42 pm

steve-o wrote:I've been able to think on it for a few days after the initial confusion:

There's another theory going around that the ending was the audience getting "whacked." Which personally I think is perfect. Because that's how it happens right? You're just sitting there, going about your life when BAM- silence and darkness- because you never hear it or see it coming. And he builds up the supsense at the end just to get us as engaged as possible, where we are waiting for someone to die, and it ends up being us. What's a bigger surprise for the audience than that? We never saw it coming.

Chase obviously has never had qualms about taking out major characters, so what better way to pull us out of their lives than to essentially show us what it's like, at the same time saying, "Hey, life goes on for Tony without the viewer jsut like it did when all the other characters have died over the years."

I love it. I couldn't think of a better ending. Still hate Journey though.

I like that theory, but my preferred theory is the one about Chase using the ending to comment on our fascination with entertainment. Throughout the show, transcendent current events always framed the plot -- most recently, terrorism. Earlier in the episode, AJ derides the rest of the repass table for gossiping about American Idol and the Oscars with so much going on in the world. Sort of the way people have spent the last few days going on endlessly about the Sopranos ending (myself included).

So it seems to me that Chase, notoriously against his audience and confounded by their obsession with the show, was basically saying: "I've been trying to tell you that there's more to life than The Sopranos. And yet you continue to sit, glued to the TV. So the ending you've been waiting, obsessing over for 8 years? You're not getting it. Since you are apparently unable to turn off your TVs, I'm turning it off for you."

Of course, that just provided more talk. But if that was his intent, or at least part of it, I admire the hubris.