First look at ‘Sopranos’ prequel…

[JMAN723]

I’ve always believed Tony went to jail. Carlo could easily send him to jail since he was a high ranking member. His biggest fear was going to jail. He never did any real time and with his mental issues he probably couldn’t handle it. The family was pretty decimated by the end. Chris was dead, Bobby was dead, Silvio was basically dead. Paulie running things wax basically the final nail in the coffin if that happened

[Wiseguy]

It's my favorite show but I always felt Christopher's death was a waste and not interesting. It's shocking, that's it. If I had my way Christopher gets tripped up in season six and flips. The show still ends with Tony debating his future given he's looking at a guaranteed life sentence.

I'd watch a show about Christopher in witness protection. Imperioli could hold his own as Christopher in the lead 100%. Seeing the ultimate gen X gangster deal with with normal society while trying to stay hip would give us all kinds of gold. Wouldn't be the same without the full Sopranos cast, though.

Too bad Chase's idea for the Bacala sitcom never panned out. Bobby and Janice could hold their own as well, as you can see from Chase giving both characters bigger and bigger roles up to the end. Bobby was already comedic relief and Janice's evil insanity could be made funny. They could have had Bobby trying to run Junior's old crew of senior citizen gangsters... always potential comedy with a bunch of angry old men. Would have been the new Roseanne.

Honestly, Chase should have stuck with his original plan to do 5 seasons. But the success of the show, and the money HBO threw at everyone, convinced him to do a 6th. And not just a a 6th but a 2-part final season. I've always said seasons 1-5 were solid but the 6th season seems like it's treading water in some ways, rushing in others, and just not as well thought out as the previous ones.

Agreed that the Chris death was anticlimactic. And even if they wanted to do the gay Vito story (an obvious nod to D'Amato), they used up way too much screen time on it. You have Butchie being the driving force to butt heads with Jersey, while Phil is the one who is holding back. But later on you have Phil deciding to take a hard stance (because of "Leotardo"?) and Butchie going soft. Didn't make a lot of sense to me. I could go on.

Don't get me wrong. The Sopranos is still the best TV drama of all time. Chase just let it go off the rails a bit toward the end. One of the best things a series showrunner can do is know when to end it.

[Amershire_Ed]

I also think Chase, much like David Simon with the Wire, didn’t want the show to end up in the place everyone thought it would (Tony either dead or in jail). And I think both shows suffered a little bit in their last season because of it. Chase once mentioned that people who complained the show didn’t have enough mob stuff and focused too much on his family, dream sequences, etc only made him want to do *fewer* mob storylines. I think there was a lot of pressure on Chase to wrap the show up nice and neat and his natural instinct was like “eh, fuck that”.

[OcSleeper]

Tbf those dream scenes were awful.

[PolackTony]

Here’s a question for you all? Say Tony died and the show kept going. Who’d have been boss?
I would have rather see Chris whacked by NY. Also I’m really curious who Liotta is playing. I’ve heard French Lamanna, Broadway Dickie Moltisanti (Chris’ grandpa) & Ercole DiMeo. I hope it’s Ercole DiMeo, but who knows.

Liotta is too old to play Feech at that time, I think. He’s either old man DiMeo or Dickie’s pops.

Found out recently that Liotta went to the same HS as my dad (Union, NJ), incidentally. They’re also about the same age, but I don’t think that they knew each other. I also know someone who’s friends with Dom Chianese’s son, said the old man is a really cool guy in person.

[NJShore4Life]

Union (NJ) High School Famous Alumni: Ray Liotta, Robert Wuhl, and Artie Lange just to name a few off the top of my head…

-Dante

[B.]

It's my favorite show but I always felt Christopher's death was a waste and not interesting. It's shocking, that's it. If I had my way Christopher gets tripped up in season six and flips. The show still ends with Tony debating his future given he's looking at a guaranteed life sentence.

I'd watch a show about Christopher in witness protection. Imperioli could hold his own as Christopher in the lead 100%. Seeing the ultimate gen X gangster deal with with normal society while trying to stay hip would give us all kinds of gold. Wouldn't be the same without the full Sopranos cast, though.

Too bad Chase's idea for the Bacala sitcom never panned out. Bobby and Janice could hold their own as well, as you can see from Chase giving both characters bigger and bigger roles up to the end. Bobby was already comedic relief and Janice's evil insanity could be made funny. They could have had Bobby trying to run Junior's old crew of senior citizen gangsters... always potential comedy with a bunch of angry old men. Would have been the new Roseanne.

Honestly, Chase should have stuck with his original plan to do 5 seasons. But the success of the show, and the money HBO threw at everyone, convinced him to do a 6th. And not just a a 6th but a 2-part final season. I've always said seasons 1-5 were solid but the 6th season seems like it's treading water in some ways, rushing in others, and just not as well thought out as the previous ones.

Agreed that the Chris death was anticlimactic. And even if they wanted to do the gay Vito story (an obvious nod to D'Amato), they used up way too much screen time on it. You have Butchie being the driving force to butt heads with Jersey, while Phil is the one who is holding back. But later on you have Phil deciding to take a hard stance (because of "Leotardo"?) and Butchie going soft. Didn't make a lot of sense to me. I could go on.

Don't get me wrong. The Sopranos is still the best TV drama of all time. Chase just let it go off the rails a bit toward the end. One of the best things a series showrunner can do is know when to end it.

I agree on every point.

Every time I rewatch it I'm completely immersed through season 5 (the earlier seasons being the best), then season 6 I always notice the drop-off. It feels like the writers were pulling random ideas out of a hat for what should have been crucial moments.

I don't mind the gay mobster storyline itself but the way they stretched out the New England love affair with a freakin' lumberjack or firefighter or line cook, whatever Johnnycakes is, just seemed like a way to stay socially relevant. The Sopranos usually balanced that kind of thing much better (i.e. Meadow's progressive politics vs. Tony's Archie Bunker responses).

The peyote scene is one of the worst in the series... Tony goes to Vegas and meets a random woman who apparently has a history with Christopher (when? is she even mentioned earlier in the series?) and Tony uncharacteristically smokes pot and takes psychedelics in the desert and has an epiphany? They don't even tie his psychedelic epiphany in with the rest of the story.

It's like they were trying to riff on the Tony/Adriana story with him taking drugs and wanting to screw Christopher's woman, but cocaine and sexual tension with his nephew's hot girlfriend makes sense and created an incredible storyline (that scene w/ Tony and Carmela afterward... wow). This was just a waste. I'd rather watch Little Vito's antics for another 20 minutes than whatever this peyote thing was supposed to be.

If they ended after season 5 I think I'd always wonder what could have been so at least this way we know they ended it at the right time. It was still obviously worth watching until the end and you can't say that for most shows.

[Nick Prango]

It's my favorite show but I always felt Christopher's death was a waste and not interesting. It's shocking, that's it. If I had my way Christopher gets tripped up in season six and flips. The show still ends with Tony debating his future given he's looking at a guaranteed life sentence.

I'd watch a show about Christopher in witness protection. Imperioli could hold his own as Christopher in the lead 100%. Seeing the ultimate gen X gangster deal with with normal society while trying to stay hip would give us all kinds of gold. Wouldn't be the same without the full Sopranos cast, though.

Too bad Chase's idea for the Bacala sitcom never panned out. Bobby and Janice could hold their own as well, as you can see from Chase giving both characters bigger and bigger roles up to the end. Bobby was already comedic relief and Janice's evil insanity could be made funny. They could have had Bobby trying to run Junior's old crew of senior citizen gangsters... always potential comedy with a bunch of angry old men. Would have been the new Roseanne.

Honestly, Chase should have stuck with his original plan to do 5 seasons. But the success of the show, and the money HBO threw at everyone, convinced him to do a 6th. And not just a a 6th but a 2-part final season. I've always said seasons 1-5 were solid but the 6th season seems like it's treading water in some ways, rushing in others, and just not as well thought out as the previous ones.

Agreed that the Chris death was anticlimactic. And even if they wanted to do the gay Vito story (an obvious nod to D'Amato), they used up way too much screen time on it. You have Butchie being the driving force to butt heads with Jersey, while Phil is the one who is holding back. But later on you have Phil deciding to take a hard stance (because of "Leotardo"?) and Butchie going soft. Didn't make a lot of sense to me. I could go on.

Don't get me wrong. The Sopranos is still the best TV drama of all time. Chase just let it go off the rails a bit toward the end. One of the best things a series showrunner can do is know when to end it.

I agree on every point.

Every time I rewatch it I'm completely immersed through season 5 (the earlier seasons being the best), then season 6 I always notice the drop-off. It feels like the writers were pulling random ideas out of a hat for what should have been crucial moments.

I don't mind the gay mobster storyline itself but the way they stretched out the New England love affair with a freakin' lumberjack or firefighter or line cook, whatever Johnnycakes is, just seemed like a way to stay socially relevant. The Sopranos usually balanced that kind of thing much better (i.e. Meadow's progressive politics vs. Tony's Archie Bunker responses).

The peyote scene is one of the worst in the series... Tony goes to Vegas and meets a random woman who apparently has a history with Christopher (when? is she even mentioned earlier in the series?) and Tony uncharacteristically smokes pot and takes psychedelics in the desert and has an epiphany? They don't even tie his psychedelic epiphany in with the rest of the story.

It's like they were trying to riff on the Tony/Adriana story with him taking drugs and wanting to screw Christopher's woman, but cocaine and sexual tension with his nephew's hot girlfriend makes sense and created an incredible storyline (that scene w/ Tony and Carmela afterward... wow). This was just a waste. I'd rather watch Little Vito's antics for another 20 minutes than whatever this peyote thing was supposed to be.

If they ended after season 5 I think I'd always wonder what could have been so at least this way we know they ended it at the right time. It was still obviously worth watching until the end and you can't say that for most shows.

Agreed. Season 6 is so depressing, especially while binge watching.Watching it all wither away while Tony lays on his back in a freezing cold safe house with his giant machine gun always hits me hard in the penultimate episode. Even showing the shore in the winter is a great scene, how cold and dark a place that is normally seen depicted as warm and fun. Just masterfully written, acted, set designed, filmed, scored, and edited…. and super cheap painful to watch as the joy and life of the show is sucked out of it.

[Raven]

I really liked Mikey Palmice and felt like they wasted a great character killing him off so soon. That is my biggest gripe about the show.

[Nick Prango]

It's my favorite show but I always felt Christopher's death was a waste and not interesting. It's shocking, that's it. If I had my way Christopher gets tripped up in season six and flips. The show still ends with Tony debating his future given he's looking at a guaranteed life sentence.

I'd watch a show about Christopher in witness protection. Imperioli could hold his own as Christopher in the lead 100%. Seeing the ultimate gen X gangster deal with with normal society while trying to stay hip would give us all kinds of gold. Wouldn't be the same without the full Sopranos cast, though.

Too bad Chase's idea for the Bacala sitcom never panned out. Bobby and Janice could hold their own as well, as you can see from Chase giving both characters bigger and bigger roles up to the end. Bobby was already comedic relief and Janice's evil insanity could be made funny. They could have had Bobby trying to run Junior's old crew of senior citizen gangsters... always potential comedy with a bunch of angry old men. Would have been the new Roseanne.

Honestly, Chase should have stuck with his original plan to do 5 seasons. But the success of the show, and the money HBO threw at everyone, convinced him to do a 6th. And not just a a 6th but a 2-part final season. I've always said seasons 1-5 were solid but the 6th season seems like it's treading water in some ways, rushing in others, and just not as well thought out as the previous ones.

Agreed that the Chris death was anticlimactic. And even if they wanted to do the gay Vito story (an obvious nod to D'Amato), they used up way too much screen time on it. You have Butchie being the driving force to butt heads with Jersey, while Phil is the one who is holding back. But later on you have Phil deciding to take a hard stance (because of "Leotardo"?) and Butchie going soft. Didn't make a lot of sense to me. I could go on.

Don't get me wrong. The Sopranos is still the best TV drama of all time. Chase just let it go off the rails a bit toward the end. One of the best things a series showrunner can do is know when to end it.

I agree on every point.

Every time I rewatch it I'm completely immersed through season 5 (the earlier seasons being the best), then season 6 I always notice the drop-off. It feels like the writers were pulling random ideas out of a hat for what should have been crucial moments.

I don't mind the gay mobster storyline itself but the way they stretched out the New England love affair with a freakin' lumberjack or firefighter or line cook, whatever Johnnycakes is, just seemed like a way to stay socially relevant. The Sopranos usually balanced that kind of thing much better (i.e. Meadow's progressive politics vs. Tony's Archie Bunker responses).

The peyote scene is one of the worst in the series... Tony goes to Vegas and meets a random woman who apparently has a history with Christopher (when? is she even mentioned earlier in the series?) and Tony uncharacteristically smokes pot and takes psychedelics in the desert and has an epiphany? They don't even tie his psychedelic epiphany in with the rest of the story.

It's like they were trying to riff on the Tony/Adriana story with him taking drugs and wanting to screw Christopher's woman, but cocaine and sexual tension with his nephew's hot girlfriend makes sense and created an incredible storyline (that scene w/ Tony and Carmela afterward... wow). This was just a waste. I'd rather watch Little Vito's antics for another 20 minutes than whatever this peyote thing was supposed to be.

If they ended after season 5 I think I'd always wonder what could have been so at least this way we know they ended it at the right time. It was still obviously worth watching until the end and you can't say that for most shows.

The Julianna skiff stuff was rather boring, it didn't add anything new and was a forced way to have some tension between Tony and Chris.

[Nick Prango]

I really liked Mikey Palmice and felt like they wasted a great character killing him off so soon. That is my biggest gripe about the show.

I would’ve liked to have seen him for another season or two. Mikey was a true soldier. Loyal as shit to Junior. Would never have ratted, just like Junior wouldn’t. THAT was a solid crew..... Tony’s crew on the other hand....

[B.]

I really liked Mikey Palmice and felt like they wasted a great character killing him off so soon. That is my biggest gripe about the show.

Haha I like that it's your biggest gripe, but I agree. Palmice was great. One of the best characters outside of the main leads.

I was glad they brought his wife back for a cameo when Bobby's wife died. She reminded me heavily of Phil Colletti's wife in Philly who is in some documentaries.

[Ivan]

She reminded me heavily of Phil Colletti's wife in Philly who is in some documentaries.

Brenda Colletti is hilariously weird in those.

Kathy Ciancaglini is a of fun in those, too. I can do a superb impression of her bitching about John Veasey crank calling her.

[B.]

She reminded me heavily of Phil Colletti's wife in Philly who is in some documentaries.

Brenda Colletti is hilariously weird in those.

Kathy Ciancaglini is a of fun in those, too. I can do a superb impression of her bitching about John Veasey crank calling her.

Don't forget Celeste Morello gushing about Salvie Testa's "big brown eyes".

Maybe Scarfo was right when he told Caramandi he didn't want Scarfo Jr. dating Philly girls. That's an overlooked Scarfo classic.

[Ivan]

She reminded me heavily of Phil Colletti's wife in Philly who is in some documentaries.

Brenda Colletti is hilariously weird in those.

Kathy Ciancaglini is a of fun in those, too. I can do a superb impression of her bitching about John Veasey crank calling her.

Don't forget Celeste Morello gushing about Salvie Testa's "big brown eyes".

Maybe Scarfo was right when he told Caramandi he didn't want Scarfo Jr. dating Philly girls. That's an overlooked Scarfo classic.

I kinda DO want to date one. I've been jailed a couple times so that probably gives me an in with them.