» Singing Their Praises: The Sopranos in the Media Options

[Finchster]

This is from the print edition of the latest National Review. I thought is was a good insight.

Tony was a thug from the beginning, but he appeared to have a gentle side. Carmela once fretted over Tony’s lifestyle, Meadow was a sweet young girl, and A.J. was little more than an adorably chubby adolescent troublemaker. But time has passed — eight years now since the show’s debut — and the family’s narcissism has calcified. Their chipper domestic façade has crumbled before our eyes, revealing the full extent of the brutishness, the crassness, the selfish nihilism that drives these four lost souls. The show’s creators have not been kind to their quirky TV family, nor to the ideal it represents. They have piled on the sins and indulgences, stripped away the pretense of manners and civility, and left only the ugly, unsatisfied remains.

In its final season, especially, the show’s creators have let slip the all-encompassing depravity that was initially somewhat obscured, forcing viewers to face up to the suburban decay that was their true subject all along. Despite its reputation, The Sopranos was never just a gruesome thriller about the hard-living, dim-witted thugs and swindlers of mafia legend; it was a morality play about the toll that decadence and selfishness take on families.

[RCSanders]

Berkeley Breathed predicts the end of the Sopranos:

God I loves me some Berke Breathed...

Opus should be saying "Ack", though, instead of "Gasp". ;)

[Alias246]

Entertainment Weekly's top 10 episodes.

There's also another article in the current EW - 6/15/07 - but I don't see it online yet.

[smellyvalentine]

Bobby Bacala tells Paris Hilton to stop "whoring around"

Sopranos" thug Steve Schirripa had some advice for Paris Hilton in her newfound freedom -- "Stop being a whore!"

Outside the TRL studios yesterday, Schirripa gave this special message to Hilton on TMZ cameras: "Stop whoring around Paris, behave yourself, you got a second chance!"

Words to live by.

view the video here: http://www.tmz.com/2007/06/08/sopranos-sta...whoring-around/

[TeresaDee]

NY Times article, "One Final Whack at that HBO Mob" in the Arts & Leisure section today--sorry, not on their website (yet).

[alsep73]

I tried the " 10 best sopranos episodes" link and it didn't work... can anyone send me the "real" link or at least list the 10 best episodes?

The link worked fine for me, but here it is again

If that still doesn't work, here's the list, sans explanations (it's chronological):

• "College"
• "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano"
• "Amour Fou"
• "Whoever Did This"
• "Whitecaps"
• "Irregular Around the Margins"
• "Join the Club"
• "Mr. & Mrs. John Sacramoni Request..."
• "The Second Coming"
• "The Blue Comet"

[Princess Louie]

Here's Tom Shales' interview with David Chase from today's Washington Post:

David Chase talks about the series

[hughster]

NY Times article, "One Final Whack at that HBO Mob" in the Arts & Leisure section today--sorry, not on their website (yet).

Here's the link.

[Harry24]

The most surprising comment in the Times article:

But the glasses were never intended to define Junior. “Everyone else on the show has very large eyes,” Mr. Chianese said. “I have deep-set eyes. David wanted a consistent look. He’s a visual artist. So he gave me the glasses

I've never heard this before.

[clancy25]

What about Tony Sirico's comment about the Russian? Was he actually serious about that?

[Circumvrent]

Robert Iler was pretty great on The View Friday.

Co-host Kathy Griffin: So, what's it like when someone gets killed on your show?

Iler (looking to Elizabeth Hasselbeck, Joy Behar, and Barbara Walters): I don't know, what is it like?

It took a minute for them to realize he was talking about O'Donnell. A bunch of "ooohhh"s from the crowd. Iler yelled, "I'm kidding! I'm kidding!"

[Uncool]

Circumvrent, I agree about Iler. I was very impressed with the way he handled himself. He was smart and charming (and funny). Who knew?

[Jimbosil]

I propose a new term for the TV culture lexicon:

Meadowpark (noun): An ambiguous, sudden ending to a long-running television series.

"Oh my God, did you remember that last episode of the X-Files? What a fucking meadowpark that was..."

PS:
Here's the first article I can find on the finale.

[Alias246]

'SOPRANOS' FINALE: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ADJUST YOUR SET

[alsep73]

Star-Ledger review of the finale