Archive for the ‘the sopranos’ Category

#7 of 2007: The Sopranos

Tuesday, December 25th, 2007


I’m not going to pretend to know exactly what David Chase intended to convey with the final scene of The Sopranos, and I’m certainly not interested in spending 10,000 words making biblical references. Onion rings and transubstantiation? Zzzzzzzzzz… For the people not too consumed with arbitrary rage over what they see as insufficient closure, most explanations for the scene have been boring and trite – two characteristics we could never assign to The Sopranos.

This many months down the line, I’m no longer concerned with whether he lived or died, I’m just impressed that a television show on a premium cable network was able to bring the country to a standstill with ten seconds of blank screens. TV events like the JR shooting on Dallas, Luke and Laura’s General Hospital nuptials or the revelation that Bob Newhart’s second show existed completely in the dreams of his character in the previous series all grabbed the nation’s attention. Things like that don’t happen anymore. People don’t watch the same show at the same time. Fandom, DVRs and the ever-shortening attention span of the collective have polarized viewership more than ever. What The Sopranos did was bring TV watchers together. It made everyone who wasn’t tuning in feel left out.

As much as The Sopranos was landmark television and an unfailing entertainer, its departure was a welcome one. Ten years with a serial so frequently grim was starting to wear on my nerves. I appreciate its contributions though, and I’ll think of it every time I come out on the stinky side of the Lincoln Tunnel.

Posted in hbo, mikey likes tv, the sopranos, top 10 of 2007 | No Comments »

Emmys 2007: “A Wide Selection of Trash”

Monday, September 17th, 2007


The Emmys are something of a necessary evil. If you have any taste at all, you’re disappointed year after year by the criminal snubs, but if you like TV half as much as I do, you’re forced to pay attention anyways. This year wasn’t as bad as it could have been; Battlestar Galactica, Neil Patrick Harris and Minnie Driver all earned much-deserved nominations… not that they won. As for the ceremony itself, holding it “in the round” (just like JT!) proves that they’re at least aware of the their waning legitimacy. Ryan Seacrest was as non-present as a host could be. And his greatest success? A smart, if slightly dated, joke about his short relationship with Teri Hatcher – his last earnest attempt at feigning heterosexuality.

Since live-blogging would have required my watching the show in its painful entirety (and the onslaught of FOX plugs), I hope you’ll settle for my slightly delayed reactions to the big winners…

Supporting Actor in a Comedy – Jeremy Piven – Is it fair to award the same actor two years in a row for playing the same stagnant, stereotypical character that isn’t remotely different from who he is in real life? Apparently so. Piven, you may have Emmy, but you’ll never be half the bro Neil Patrick Harris is.

Supporting Actor in a Drama – Terry O’Quinn – As big of a Heroes fan as I might be… their Drama nod seems a little undeserved. Not so for Masi Oka though. He should have had this. Terry O’Quinn is all well and good in Lost, but if you’re going to award the supporting cast of the island, you could at least have given it to Ben Linus. Nice speech, though, Terry. Can’t say the same for the shirt…

Supporting Actress in a Comedy – Jamie Pressly – In all honesty, I’ve never watched more than five minutes of My Name is Earl, but I’m having a seriously hard time believing that a glorified extra from Not Another Teen Movie is more deserving of this award than Jenna Fischer or Vanessa Williams.

Supporting Actress in a Drama – Katherine Heigl – The reach of America’s love of Denny Duckett goes on long after he’s in the ground! “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama” is now officially the “Lengthiest and Most Annoying Mourning Period” award. Not that I don’t adore you, Izzie.

Lead Actor in a Comedy – Ricky Gervais – I love Gervais. I love him for his work on Extras, and I love him for not being there to speak.

Lead Actress in a Drama – Sally Field – Have people seen Brothers & Sisters? I watch it religiously, but it’s all kinds of sucky. Unless this Emmy is for the episode when Sally got stoned with Margot Kidder, I don’t buy it. Also… nice editing, Emmy guys! A full hour after Tell Me You Loved Me showed real-life vagina and prosthetic wieners, FOX still can’t let America hear a middle-aged woman say “god-damned.”

Lead Actress in a Comedy – America Ferrera – Wow, the first award of the night I actually called. And one of the few I don’t object to.

Lead Actor in a Drama – James Spader – Can I say “wow” again? Boston Legal is not something I’ve ever watched, or ever intend to, but it can’t be all that bad. Somewhere in Los Angeles, Gandolfini is watching Mannequin and getting trashed.

Outstanding Comedy – 30 Rock – I hate to throw it out there so soon, but 30 Rock is flirting with Arrested Development-type prophetic doom.

Outstanding Drama – The Sopranos – Despite the acting snubs, the Emmys’ love for The Sopranos could not have been more obvious. That Jersey Boys homage? They might as well have just paid someone to felate a bunch of HBO execs live on stage for three minutes. Whatever, it’s not like they don’t deserve it.

… Oh, and Tony Bennett won everything else.

Posted in 30 Rock, Brothers & Sisters, emmys, entourage, fox, grey's anatomy, hbo, heroes, lost, news, the sopranos, ugly betty | 1 Comment »

The Sopranos: Made in America

Monday, June 11th, 2007

It’s so very difficult to remember life immediately before The Sopranos. Northern Exposure was still considered the creative masterwork of television, Touched by an Angel and Veronica’s Closet ruled primetime and Tim Allen and Jenna Elfman were considered quirky. Then along came Tony and TV critics the world over quite literally creamed their collective pants. When it was at its best, it set the standard for cinema caliber television, and when it was at its worst it was a little bit of a self-congratulatory tease. And now after almost a decade on air, with hardly as many episodes as you’d expect it to have under its belt, we say goodbye. (more…)

Posted in hbo, r.i.p., the sopranos | 3 Comments »

The Sopranos: Kennedy and Heidi

Monday, May 14th, 2007


Tony Soprano’s flagrant misuse of the English language was always, and will remain to be for these final episodes, my primary impetus for watching the show. In at a very close second: my love of television violence. No show does death quite so well, and not just because HBO is capable of going to town on the graphics. A Sopranos’ death means a Sopranos’ funeral. And while normal grief might not be traditionally entertaining, Italian grief certainly is. In the bizarre universe in which you haven’t already heard who bit it on last night’s episode, read no further. (more…)

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