TV: The Sopranos Discussion Thread

Jan 9, 2007
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Australia
The local morning radio people I listen to were talking about it since it is on again and they were poo-pooing the psychiatrist scenes, aren't they pretty essential part of establishing Tony's character and rolls into the mob storyline in season 1-2? And in the Me-too/"toxic masculinity" era we live in, haven't they aged even better?

Maybe the second time they are a little redundant since you already know Tony is awful, but I couldn't have disagreed more with the take.
They are absolutely essential IMO.
 

Mr Jiggyfly

Registered User
Jan 29, 2004
34,272
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Jeez - Tony Sirico went downhill



Ya I had to ffwd through when he spoke. Was kind of painful.

Sounds like James G was a great guy by the way they all talk about him. Always read stories how he was one of the nicest celebs around and the glowing way they all talk about his kindness was pretty incredible.
 

Mr Fahrenheit

Valar Morghulis
Oct 9, 2009
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Ya I had to ffwd through when he spoke. Was kind of painful.

Sounds like James G was a great guy by the way they all talk about him. Always read stories how he was one of the nicest celebs around and the glowing way they all talk about his kindness was pretty incredible.

From what I heard about them talking about James right after his death was that he was the nicest man and basically the exact opposite of Tony
 

kook10

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Jun 27, 2011
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From what I heard about them talking about James right after his death was that he was the nicest man and basically the exact opposite of Tony

He even gave two or three hundred crew members $3k watches at the end of the show, and several dozen gold versions to cast and production execs. Very generous guy.
 
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Mr Fahrenheit

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Tony: I thought I told you to back the f*** off Beansie!
Richie: I did, then I put it in drive

Paulie: I want to talk to you about Beansie Gaeta
Sil: He may never walk again
Paulie: Never say never
Richie: No, say never. He's a shopping cart, from here on out

Richie was the best antagonist in the show
 

Mr Jiggyfly

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Jan 29, 2004
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He even gave two or three hundred crew members $3k watches at the end of the show, and several dozen gold versions to cast and production execs. Very generous guy.

He cut many of the cast members in on his own profits from Sopranos DVD sales.

Apparently he was the only one crafty enough to have it cut into his contract, and when he found out the other actors weren’t getting a dime, he called them into his trailer one by one and wrote them a significantly large check.

What James Gandolfini Did For His Sopranos Co-stars Who Were Screwed Out Of Money
 
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kook10

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Jun 27, 2011
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He cut many of the cast members in on his own profits from Sopranos DVD sales.

Apparently he was the only one crafty enough to have it cut into his contract, and when he found out the other actors weren’t getting a dime, he called them into his trailer one by one and wrote them a significantly large check.

What James Gandolfini Did For His Sopranos Co-stars Who Were Screwed Out Of Money

He did much more than that -

'Sopranos' Actor: James Gandolfini Gave Costars Gifts of $33,000

Chris Albrecht: James Gandolfini Stood With Cast in 'Sopranos' Contract Dispute

He was apparently always uncomfortable with how much money he made and was very free with it, especially at the end. When season 6 was split into 6a and 6b, the actors argued that it was really two seasons renogotiated and all got massive raises for the final 9 eps. A lot of people believed he was so generous to offset his sometimes bad behavior on set and absenteeism.

The Night James Gandolfini Disappeared: Brett Martin's Story of The Sopranos
 
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LightningStrikes

Champa Bay Lightning
Nov 24, 2009
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What do you mean out of place for the show?
Same question. They did a great job showing the FBI con and at the same time introducing Tony as the true new boss. He’s standing, holding the speech, dominant meanwhile Junior is sitting and appears uncomfortable. And the FBI fell for it (hanging Junior’s picture). The music does the rest.
 

Mr Fahrenheit

Valar Morghulis
Oct 9, 2009
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What do you mean out of place for the show?

It makes it seem like this epic case building you might see in the Wire but the Sopranos was never like that. We never see anything like this again in the show, every time we see the FBI its just a casual meeting where they just chat. This scene it looks like they are about to take down John Gotti and the Sopranos has always been about the perception of the Mafia is different from the reality, in show reality.
 

Mr Jiggyfly

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Jan 29, 2004
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It makes it seem like this epic case building you might see in the Wire but the Sopranos was never like that. We never see anything like this again in the show, every time we see the FBI its just a casual meeting where they just chat. This scene it looks like they are about to take down John Gotti and the Sopranos has always been about the perception of the Mafia is different from the reality, in show reality.

They took down Johnny Sack and Junior was basically on trial for half the series.

The FBI also turned a number of big name characters into informants like Big Puss and Adriana... that got them whacked.

I’d say the FBI had a pretty central role in the show.

I’m kind of confused as the others what you mean...
 

End on a Hinote

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Aug 22, 2011
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It makes it seem like this epic case building you might see in the Wire but the Sopranos was never like that. We never see anything like this again in the show, every time we see the FBI its just a casual meeting where they just chat. This scene it looks like they are about to take down John Gotti and the Sopranos has always been about the perception of the Mafia is different from the reality, in show reality.

The first scene of season 2 was like this as well.

The thing that made the scenes more unique was they had background music, something rare in the Sopranos.
 

chicagoskycam

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Nov 19, 2009
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He did much more than that -

'Sopranos' Actor: James Gandolfini Gave Costars Gifts of $33,000

Chris Albrecht: James Gandolfini Stood With Cast in 'Sopranos' Contract Dispute

He was apparently always uncomfortable with how much money he made and was very free with it, especially at the end. When season 6 was split into 6a and 6b, the actors argued that it was really two seasons renogotiated and all got massive raises for the final 9 eps. A lot of people believed he was so generous to offset his sometimes bad behavior on set and absenteeism.

The Night James Gandolfini Disappeared: Brett Martin's Story of The Sopranos

That last link is a looong read. Gandolfini was just as stressed and unhappy at Tony S it seemed.
 

chicagoskycam

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It makes it seem like this epic case building you might see in the Wire but the Sopranos was never like that. We never see anything like this again in the show, every time we see the FBI its just a casual meeting where they just chat. This scene it looks like they are about to take down John Gotti and the Sopranos has always been about the perception of the Mafia is different from the reality, in show reality.

Yeah it's like you missed some episodes in there. As posters already mentioned they arrest Johnny Sack. They plant the wire in the house on the lamp. There are several scares where Tony goes Awol waiting for indictments. They flip several of them including p***y, Adrianna, and a few others. Tony is arrested for the gun with hollow points.

He gets a bit of a reprieve when agents are reassigned to terror but eventually, he's going down. The one thing they never did was have Tony spend an extended amount of time in Jail/Prison. Could have been interesting.
 

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