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The Sopranos

wild_turkey

By wild_turkey
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pied

pied 252

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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.  

Just watched the series full through, was very hit or miss the first go round.  

Agree with the above. More than anything he was irritating.  He was always a follower and never really "did" anything.  He was horrible outside everything besides football and that was talked about cursory at best.  He was meh x1,000, but always around.

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qwertyu1234
qwertyu1234

Cooter Brown never had the makings of a varsity Sopranos watcher.

Jerry Callo
Jerry Callo

A bit hypocritical for you to making jokes about the size of a woman's ass.

Genco
Genco

You thought Little Carmine sucked?  You're at the precipice, BigDHornfan, of an enormous crossroad.

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Hate

Hate 20,109

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AJ's character represented Tony's failure as a father and a man. His whimpering and softness were an ever-present indictment of Tony. Strong men have strong sons. Tony had AJ. 

I think there is also a nature vs. nurture element there in that Tony was just born with that gene while AJ wasn’t. Tony tried to toughen AJ up, but AJ just didn’t have it in him.
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lateshow

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41 minutes ago, Texas St. Armadillos said:

I like what Melfi said.  That Tony resents AJ because Carmela protected him from his father, which was counter to how Tony's mom failed to protect him from Johnny.

Tony hated that AJ wasn't just like him, but at the same time did not want his son anywhere near the business. Carmela babied him and he turned out soft. Tony, as a father, really wasn't around much and didn't have a huge hand in raising him. That causes a lot of his internal conflicts. 

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billfromlaketravis

billfromlaketravis 11,511

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The Sopranos' dysfunction at home is a reflection of the dysfunction of mafia life. If AJ is normal and well adjusted like Meadow, and if Carm doesn't watch movies with Father Phil or flirt with Furio, it's a pretty normal household. Dad works late, sees a shrink, comes home drunk, sometimes smells like whores, he's a dick but a good provider. All pretty normal. 

 

Edited by billfromlaketravis
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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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53 minutes ago, mr. sunshine said:

I’ll take Walt Jr. for $2,000, stand-in Jeopardy host

You try a full day's cook starting your day sans a hearty breakfast tough guy! Junior is a human stand-in for how wobbly a man can get without a proper, balanced breakfast.  

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mr. sunshine

mr. sunshine 2,827

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3 minutes ago, Lobo said:

You try a full day's cook without starting your day sans a hearty breakfast tough guy! Junior is a human stand-in for how wobbly a man can get without a proper, balanced breakfast.  

Dammit I love breakfast so that’s a solid argument 

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BHMCruiser

BHMCruiser 1,814

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22 hours ago, Hate said:


I think there is also a nature vs. nurture element there in that Tony was just born with that gene while AJ wasn’t. Tony tried to toughen AJ up, but AJ just didn’t have it in him.

Yes but only sporadically. He would ignore AJ for long periods of time only to overreact to him with corrective measures that were too little, too late. 

 

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CurlyDumps

CurlyDumps 4,476

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17 hours ago, Vic Mackey said:

Who is the guy on the very right in the beige suit?

Using google image search I found this:

An Evening with the Sopranos - Golden Nugget 2004

Appears to be some sort of special event or meet and greet. Big Pussy's appearance suggests it's not some season X promotional photo since he was long gone by 2004.

Probably just a guy who attended the event, or someone connected to the Golden Nugget. Looks like there are some other randos in the photos, including the casino owners at the time.

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Vic Mackey

Vic Mackey 47,080

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Are there any other shows that come close to this? As we come to the final stretch and this being my 2nd watch, this show is so fucking amazing. I loved The Wire as well but this is above that. Seeing if there are any recommendations that I might have not came across. I gave Game Of Thrones a chance and watched the whole first season but I never got hooked at all and never came back to it.

The Wire, Dexter, Boardwalk Empire, The Shield, Homeland, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Narcos, Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy, Justified I have all seen off the top that I can compare to this.

Edited by Vic Mackey
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Vic Mackey

Vic Mackey 47,080

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1 minute ago, threesheets said:

Six Feet Under is a top 5 all timer for me if you haven't seen it @Vic Mackey

You didn't mention the Americans either.  Definitely watch that. 

 

Yep Six Feet Under is amazing. I made a thread after I binged it some years back. In fact, that was the the next show I watched after Sopranos. Not sure how good it woild be on a re-watch but I might give it a shot.

Have not seen The Americans or heard much about it. Thanks I will check that out.

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billfromlaketravis

billfromlaketravis 11,511

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1 hour ago, Vic Mackey said:

Are there any other shows that come close to this? As we come to the final stretch and this being my 2nd watch, this show is so fucking amazing. I loved The Wire as well but this is above that. Seeing if there are any recommendations that I might have not came across. I gave Game Of Thrones a chance and watched the whole first season but I never got hooked at all and never came back to it.

The Wire, Dexter, Boardwalk Empire, The Shield, Homeland, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Narcos, Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy, Justified I have all seen off the top that I can compare to this.

Season 1 of Brotherhood is worth your time. Maybe Season 2. Enter Season 3 at your own risk. 
 

It’s on Hulu so you don’t have to subscribe to Showtime which is nice. 

Edited by billfromlaketravis
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4th&Five

4th&Five 41,558

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34 minutes ago, Vic Mackey said:

Yep Six Feet Under is amazing. I made a thread after I binged it some years back. In fact, that was the the next show I watched after Sopranos. Not sure how good it woild be on a re-watch but I might give it a shot.

Have not seen The Americans or heard much about it. Thanks I will check that out.

+1 on Americans. I watched it for the first time about a year ago and loved it. I’m actually binging Six Feet Under for the first time right now. 6 more episodes to go. 
 

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Dutch

Dutch 4,472

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2 hours ago, threesheets said:

You'll like it from episode 1.

 

1 hour ago, 4th&Five said:

+1 on Americans. I watched it for the first time about a year ago and loved it.

Yep, +2 for The Americans. Great writing, great acting, great storytelling...it’s one of my all-time favorites.  And Keri Russell’s ass. 

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HornPhD

HornPhD 1,368

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7 hours ago, Vic Mackey said:

Are there any other shows that come close to this? As we come to the final stretch and this being my 2nd watch, this show is so fucking amazing. I loved The Wire as well but this is above that. Seeing if there are any recommendations that I might have not came across. I gave Game Of Thrones a chance and watched the whole first season but I never got hooked at all and never came back to it.

The Wire, Dexter, Boardwalk Empire, The Shield, Homeland, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Narcos, Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy, Justified I have all seen off the top that I can compare to this.

Oz

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mchookem

mchookem 16,336

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13 hours ago, HornPhD said:

Oz

i loved Oz! 

it was the precursor to some of the most fantastic programming we've seen, particularly on HBO. 

i read an interview with some HBO execs, probably more than a decade ago, they were talking about how the The Sopranos came about...they basically credited Tom Fontana and the HBO execs that took a chance on Oz.

prior to that, serial dramas were not a 'thing' on cable. i remember them talking about the actual construction of the story each episode, how on broadcast tv series, scripts were purposely broken into segments, basically built around commercial breaks. Oz was written differently, each episode constructed holistically, a whole different way of constructing a script...i can't remember exactly how they described it but it made total sense. 

anyway, the phrase i always remember from that interview was one of them saying "without Oz you would never have gotten The Sopranos, The Wire, etc." 

 

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Chopper

Chopper 17,236

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On 4/16/2021 at 5:10 PM, Vic Mackey said:

The Wire, Dexter, Boardwalk Empire, The Shield, Homeland, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Narcos, Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy, Justified I have all seen off the top that I can compare to this.

I'd put The Bureau on the list among the best tv series of all time. Absolutely phenomenal spy/suspense drama. But in french with english subtitles. Also Fauda about the Israel-Palestine conflict told mostly from the perspective of the Israel Special Forces. Alternates between english, hebrew and arabic, so subtitles. Also the BBC's 2018 adaptation of The Little Drummer Girl (6 episode special series) is top notch television. I believe Little Drummer Girl and The Bureau are both on Sundance TV, which makes it a no-brainer to subscribe for a month or find a 'free for a month' code.

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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She was absolutely brilliant on that show.  Edie Falco is maybe the most underrated actress of her entire generation.  She had this very delicate tightrope to walk in that Carmella wants to be torn between her comfortable life/motherhood, and wanting to be a good Catholic and demand to be treated with respect and love by her husband.  She wants to be independent and savvy at business, but doesn't want to give up any of her trappings of wealth.  But in the end, nobody gave a shit about her inner turmoil because it wasn't genuine.  And Falco brought this genuine disingenuous to the role, it was so deftly handled.  She made you see into Carmella's wanting to be conflicted, but also worrying about being exposed as flat and unsympathetic.  She made you love Carmella's constant and never-successful search for complexity and depth.  

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Vic Mackey

Vic Mackey 47,080

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32 minutes ago, Cousin Strawberry said:

Carmela is the best actor on the show.

 

She is no doubt a great actor but I did not care for her character the first time around. Her nagging of Tony when she knew exactly what she signed up for got old. Especially when she would talk to the other women and admit she knew Tony had his sidepieces and this was how it was in that lifestyle but then still flip out when it happened.

Edie Falco was great as Nurse Jackie as well.

Edited by Vic Mackey
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dcbc

dcbc 14,487

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22 hours ago, Lobo said:

She was absolutely brilliant on that show.  Edie Falco is maybe the most underrated actress of her entire generation.  She had this very delicate tightrope to walk in that Carmella wants to be torn between her comfortable life/motherhood, and wanting to be a good Catholic and demand to be treated with respect and love by her husband.  She wants to be independent and savvy at business, but doesn't want to give up any of her trappings of wealth.  But in the end, nobody gave a shit about her inner turmoil because it wasn't genuine.  And Falco brought this genuine disingenuous to the role, it was so deftly handled.  She made you see into Carmella's wanting to be conflicted, but also worrying about being exposed as flat and unsympathetic.  She made you love Carmella's constant and never-successful search for complexity and depth.  

When she and Tony get into that huge fight that ends in their separation at the end of Season 5 (I think), it is some of the best acting I've ever seen.  She is fabulous.

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dcbc

dcbc 14,487

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3 hours ago, lateshow said:

White Caps. Season 4 Finale. 

Okay.  So I guess there are two great ones in that episode.  It didn't hit me quite so much as it did during my 4th rewatch.  Jaw was on the floor. 

 

Edited by dcbc
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