The Sopranos

[Johnny Sack 8397]

On 3/15/2021 at 12:41 PM, billfromlaketravis said:

Frankie Valli is a decent little actor. Good gravitas in the Tony B dinner meeting and one of the better death scenes. 

That animal Blundetto....

[Johnny Sack 8397]

On 3/14/2021 at 10:30 PM, VirginiaLonghorn said:

Vito ... you’re alive?

Phil loved him like a brother-in-law

[Sgt Hulk 13785]

Starting this myself in kodi now 

[dcbc 14487]

3 hours ago, Sgt Hulk said:

Starting this myself in kodi now 

You're in for a great time.  Definitely check back in with us after Meadow's college visits.

[billfromlaketravis 11515]

On 3/19/2021 at 7:58 PM, dcbc said:

You're in for a great time.  Definitely check back in with us after Meadow's college visits.

Season 3 Meadow is the best Meadow. 

[Vic Mackey 47082]

Totally forgot Omar from The Wire made a short appearance on here as the guy Jackie Jr went to.

Are spoilers allowed here? This show is pretty old now but I do see some people in here are watching for the first time and don't want to ruin anything.

[Deej 76830]

It's been 21 years since the show started it's run and 14 since it ended. I wouldn't worry about spoilers. 

[BayouBill 835]

Did the Grandma win any awards for her character? Holy crap does she nail the curmudgeony old grandma bit. Sometimes gives me anxiety because she is EXACTLY how my grandma was for the last 5+ years of her life, even down to the hand waive anytime she doesn't care for something. She's also just ruthless and still sharp as a tack in some situations....Love when Tony tells her if she'd only been in her prime after the feminist movement, she'd have been the big boss. 

[4th&Five 41558]

59 minutes ago, Vic Mackey said:

Totally forgot Omar from The Wire made a short appearance on here as the guy Jackie Jr went to.

Are spoilers allowed here? This show is pretty old now but I do see some people in here are watching for the first time and don't want to ruin anything.

He was just n WTF a couple weeks ago and talked about getting that part. I had just watched it too and had forgotten he was on it. 

[Johnny Sack 8397]

1 hour ago, BayouBill said:

Did the Grandma win any awards for her character? Holy crap does she nail the curmudgeony old grandma bit. Sometimes gives me anxiety because she is EXACTLY how my grandma was for the last 5+ years of her life, even down to the hand waive anytime she doesn't care for something. She's also just ruthless and still sharp as a tack in some situations....Love when Tony tells her if she'd only been in her prime after the feminist movement, she'd have been the big boss. 

Yes she did.  She was fantastic.  Always liked her.  I was too young for the Lou Grant show, but she also won 4 Emmys for her role in that show.

I remember her mostly outside of Sopranos as Frasier Crane's mother in an episode of Cheers (who hates Diane and threatens to kill her) and the Police commissioner in Naked Gun.

[Gil Bang 25975]

4 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

Yes she did.  She was fantastic.  Always liked her.  I was too young for the Lou Grant show, but she also won 4 Emmys for her role in that show.

I remember her mostly outside of Sopranos as Frasier Crane's mother in an episode of Cheers (who hates Diane and threatens to kill her) and the Police commissioner in Naked Gun.

"Lou Grant" was a great, great show.  And she was terrific in it. 

[dcbc 14487]

6 hours ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Season 3 Meadow is the best Meadow. 

I thought she was pretty good at the beginning of Season 6a, Episode 1.

 

Edited March 22, 2021 by dcbc

[Player 4575]

So I'm about to start re-watching the final season, and I've been dragged into the wormhole of The Many Saints ("Moltisantis") of Newark. Can't wait...

Silvio

Paulie

Uncle Junior

Dickie Moltisanti

Johnny and Livia

Tony

[billfromlaketravis 11515]

Jon Bernthal as Johnny Soprano, oh I like that. 

A guy that played Kato Kaelin as Paulie, yeah, f*** that. 

[billfromlaketravis 11515]

If we need to start a Many Saints of Newark thread, please say something. 

I'm fascinated with the Dickie Moltisanti - Tony mentorship. Was Dickie an addict/drunk like Christopher assumed he was? Why was Dickie schooling Tony when his father Johnny was very much in the life? Did Johnny want Tony in LCN? Will we get a death scene/explanation for Dickie? Many Saints is set in the 60's and 70's with the 1967 Newark Riots prominently featured. If Dickie died in the mid-70's, the math could work out. 

[Deej 76830]

1 hour ago, Player said:

So I'm about to start re-watching the final season, and I've been dragged into the wormhole of The Many Saints ("Moltisantis") of Newark. Can't wait...

Silvio

Paulie

Uncle Junior

Dickie Moltisanti

Johnny and Livia

Tony

[lateshow 1304]

I'm in, but vehemently opposed to the casting of Paulie Walnuts. Is there a dearth of Italian actors that could've played him? 

Edited March 23, 2021 by lateshow

[ButtFumble 5180]

On 3/15/2021 at 11:25 AM, Celery Man said:

love the little things like that. I didn't make the connection that it is Frankie Valli playing Rusty Millio - I wonder if there are any references or jokes around that in the show? Also loved in the Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti (in the same scene where the Vito actor plays a different character prior to Vito's introduction to the show), Christopher shoots the worker at the bakery in the foot (as his character Spider was shot in the foot in Goodfellas).

 

maybe similar to that - Tony with his bottle of orange juice in his botched hit, calling back to the oranges in the Godfather movies. That connection between oranges and death carried through those movies (or at least I guess until the orchard scene). I think in The Sopranos, eggs play a similar role. Which works well given the whole.. birds thing. I need to watch again.

 

all you need to know is that Tony likes his OJ with some pulp not full pulp

[billfromlaketravis 11515]

1 hour ago, lateshow said:

I'm in, but vehemently opposed to the casting of Paulie Walnuts. Is there a dearth of Italian actors that could've played him? 

Yeah a blonde hair/blue eyed actor named Magnussen has no business playing Pauline Walnuts. There’s a Boardwalk Empire connection, so that probably got his foot in the door. 
 

Chase has abandoned his casting authenticity principles. I believe he cast only Italian Americans from New York and New Jersey with the exception of Richie and Hesh who were both portrayed by Jewish actors from New York. 

[Player 4575]

Probably a good call on Hesh since he was, ya know, Jewish.

[Guest Lobo]

Yeah, was that supposed to be some kinda longshot casting decision?  When he walked around the scene, the guy literally sounded like a pastrami sandwich being smooshed into a bag.  

[billfromlaketravis 11515]

1 hour ago, Player said:

Probably a good call on Hesh since he was, ya know, Jewish.

Haha yes of course. I could have worded that better. 

[billfromlaketravis 11515]

37 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Yeah, was that supposed to be some kinda longshot casting decision?  When he walked around the scene, the guy literally sounded like a pastrami sandwich being smooshed into a bag.  

I’m pretty sure Magnussen was Nucky’s assassin in Boardwalk Empire. I think they also implied that his character was Jimmy’s son. 
 

Without looking it up, I would assume the casting director for Saints of Newark worked for Chase on the Sopranos and then Terrance Winter on Boardwalk Empire. That’s probably the connection. It doesn’t make it right, but it happens all the time in the business. 

[Guest Lobo]

Oh, I was talking about Hesh in my post and thought I was being funny.  Jerry Adler.  Still acting (as of right before Covid-19) in his early 90's.  

[VirginiaLonghorn 4777]

... Hesh as a youngster.

 

[Sawbonz 27578]

6 hours ago, Deej said:

[Mac8111 2107]

Somebody start a new thread.

[lateshow 1304]

17 hours ago, Player said:

Probably a good call on Hesh since he was, ya know, Jewish.

Fun fact, the original choice to play Hesh was Jerry Stiller. But he was already booked to do something else. 

[Bogeywon 2519]

8 hours ago, Mac8111 said:

Somebody start a new thread.

 

[Texas St. Armadillos 1381]

Just watched The Test Dream (s. 5 ep. 11).  One of the most wild captures of a dream sequence.  Loved the cameos.

[Red Five 40862]

1 minute ago, Texas St. Armadillos said:

Just watched The Test Dream (s. 5 ep. 11).  One of the most wild captures of a dream sequence.  Loved the cameos.

Always thought that was a very accurate portrayal of how dreams work. He's out at dinner and for some reason Annette Bening is there. And then he realizes it. "Hey you're Annette Bening aren't you". 

[jeevsie 3734]

Most often used phrase?  I'm going with "There he is!"

[Cousin Strawberry 1261]

“You ever think what a coincidence it is that Lou Gehrig died of Lou Gehrig's disease?”

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

On 3/15/2021 at 1:09 PM, Wade said:

Years ago, some guy wrote an excellent detailed analysis of the final scene to prove Tony's death.  Big part of his discussion was the fact that the show turned the real ice cream shop into an orange toned space.  Orange everywhere.

One detail about the ending that's really telling -- one the little jukebox, note that B-side to "Don't Stop Believin'"  

 

That is counterfactual. The B-side to "Don't Stop Believin'" was "Natural Thing."

Chase is telling us something with that fictional B-side. 

[Guest Lobo]

That Al Czervik is violating a noise ordinance?  

[TPCJ007 48]

11 hours ago, jeevsie said:

Most often used phrase?  I'm going with "There he is!"

I submit "oh" and "ho".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRkE_Gv6ALM

[4th&Five 41558]

 

[BayouBill 835]

We're into season 3 now and Janice is back...I truly, TRULY hate her character. Was hoping they'd left her in Seattle for good.

[billfromlaketravis 11515]

2 hours ago, 4th&Five said:

 

Good actor. RIP. I wish he had in more shows/films. Hollywood seems determined to keep rolling Chazz Palminteri out there for every mob role not directed by Scorsese. 

[DallasGatr 216]

Good actor. RIP. I wish he had in more shows/films. Hollywood seems determined to keep rolling Chazz Palminteri out there for every mob role not directed by Scorsese. 

And the problem is?

[billfromlaketravis 11515]

4 minutes ago, DallasGatr said:

And the problem is?

Oh I like Chazz. He was great in a Bronx tale. I just wish a guy like Siravo got more work while he was living. 

[Harry Waters 57]

On 3/22/2021 at 11:12 AM, Johnny Sack said:

"...and the Police commissioner in Naked Gun."

Oh shit!  How did I miss that?

[Genco 3041]

40 minutes ago, billfromlaketravis said:

Hollywood seems determined to keep rolling Chazz Palminteri out there for every mob role not directed by Scorsese. 

Like a fucking albacore around his neck!

[Johnny Sack 8397]

2 hours ago, BayouBill said:

We're into season 3 now and Janice is back...I truly, TRULY hate her character. Was hoping they'd left her in Seattle for good.

She was awful.  The actress that played her was fantastic though.

[billfromlaketravis 11515]

Janice reaped what she sowed, but I did feel pity for her by the end of the show. 

[Guest Lobo]

Yeah, the actress did as much as she could with that role.  The show-runner's notes on her were basically, "Annoying cunt of a sister, run her off in season 3."  But then the mom dies and Tony needs a triumvirate of estrogen-laced evil coming at him at all times.  Carmella, his mother, and his current love interest.  Meadow and Dr. Melfi, while challenging to Tony and calling him on his bullshit, still see the good in him.  When the mother was gone, they substituted Janice.  But instead of a mind-fuck like the Mother was, she was just generally around to annoy him and remind him of her.  But the character was just flat.  

While she made my teeth itch during the series, I gotta give Janice some credit.  Although she looked like an autistic kid sculpted her out of spam from his memory of what a fat Italian woman should look like...she managed to land some powerful men into her bed.  But she has to fuck quite a weird triumvirate of men herself---Richie Aprile, Ralph Cifaretto, and Bobby Baccalieri.  That group of guys, plus the family she came from, is enough to make any crazy broad even more deplorable.  Horrible to watch on screen, but you can sort of get her plight.  

But A.J.?  I'll never understand that character.  Why write him like that?  I get the idea was never to groom him for a life in the career.  It's never really said, but Tony never wanted that for him.  He could see Meadow in the role, but she was a woman.  Other than some misdeeds and minor crimes which Tony has to fix using his "boss" hat on, A.J. never really veers into Tony's crime family world.  And he's really not pivotal in the home life.  He was never really a wedge between Carmella and Tony.  They kinda use him a bit for financial shit and emotional revenge on one another.  But not much.  95% of his scenes, it's just, "Oh here comes A.J., just waiting to suck."  You'd be hard pressed to find a character who had so much screen time on a series that advanced the plotline so incredibly little.  Tony needed a son who he didn't want to be a part of the mafia life, but that son didn't need so many scenes devoted to him.  

[Player 4575]

3 hours ago, Johnny Sack said:

She was awful.  The actress that played her was fantastic though.

Correct on both counts. After she got involved in the soccer mom scrap she kinda seemed like she was making a good-faith effort to straighten her shit out with the anger management stuff. Tony of course couldn't stand to see her happy, so he goaded her until she tried to stab him at the dinner table. Just another typical sunday family dinner in northern NJ, really. 

[Johnny Sack 8397]

4 minutes ago, Player said:

Correct on both counts. After she got involved in the soccer mom scrap she kinda seemed like she was making a good-faith effort to straighten her shit out with the anger management stuff. Tony of course couldn't stand to see her happy, so he goaded her until she tried to stab him at the dinner table. Just another typical sunday family dinner in northern NJ, really. 

One of the more despicable things Tony did was in that scene.

[jeevsie 3734]

You Sopranos - you go too far!

[Dennis Taylor 18830]

2 hours ago, Lobo said:

Yeah, the actress did as much as she could with that role.  The show-runner's notes on her were basically, "Annoying cunt of a sister, run her off in season 3."  But then the mom dies and Tony needs a triumvirate of estrogen-laced evil coming at him at all times.  Carmella, his mother, and his current love interest.  Meadow and Dr. Melfi, while challenging to Tony and calling him on his bullshit, still see the good in him.  When the mother was gone, they substituted Janice.  But instead of a mind-fuck like the Mother was, she was just generally around to annoy him and remind him of her.  But the character was just flat.  

While she made my teeth itch during the series, I gotta give Janice some credit.  Although she looked like an autistic kid sculpted her out of spam from his memory of what a fat Italian woman should look like...she managed to land some powerful men into her bed.  But she has to fuck quite a weird triumvirate of men herself---Richie Aprile, Ralph Cifaretto, and Bobby Baccalieri.  That group of guys, plus the family she came from, is enough to make any crazy broad even more deplorable.  Horrible to watch on screen, but you can sort of get her plight.  

But A.J.?  I'll never understand that character.  Why write him like that?  I get the idea was never to groom him for a life in the career.  It's never really said, but Tony never wanted that for him.  He could see Meadow in the role, but she was a woman.  Other than some misdeeds and minor crimes which Tony has to fix using his "boss" hat on, A.J. never really veers into Tony's crime family world.  And he's really not pivotal in the home life.  He was never really a wedge between Carmella and Tony.  They kinda use him a bit for financial shit and emotional revenge on one another.  But not much.  95% of his scenes, it's just, "Oh here comes A.J., just waiting to suck."  You'd be hard pressed to find a character who had so much screen time on a series that advanced the plotline so incredibly little.  Tony needed a son who he didn't want to be a part of the mafia life, but that son didn't need so many scenes devoted to him.  

And I had such high hopes for the boy...