Wednesday February 27, 2008
Married to the mob
Catch critically-acclaimed series The Sopranos on HBO.
By ZACK YUSOF
entertainment@thestar.com.my
THE Sopranos may have ended its run last year but for those who have only heard the hype about this award-winning series, tuning into HBO every Monday night is a wonderful way to get up to speed with a show that some critics have hailed as “the greatest television series of all time”.
Arriving on US television screens back in January 1999, The Sopranos – which revolves around the lives of a dysfunctional family of suburban gangsters – grew over the course of six seasons to become “one of those rare phenomena: a programme reflecting the culture that goes on to become part of the culture”, according to Britain’s Uncut magazine.
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The cast of The Sopranos includes (from left) Vincent Pastore, Steve Van Zandt, James Gandolfini, Michael Imperioli and Tony Sirico. |
Better written, directed and edited than most films to have come out of Hollywood, The Sopranos – created by David Chase – made for essential viewing for almost a decade. Certainly, the impact that The Sopranos had on viewers was immense. Real Mafioso, wannabe hoodlums and gangster movie aficionados alike, they all loved The Sopranos unequivocally. Those of us sitting at home in front of the television – well, we were blown away too by everything the show had to offer in terms of vivid characterisation, complex, multi-layered storytelling and out-of-this-world acting.
Carrying the series with plenty of presence and charisma was James Gandoflini who seemed to wear the complex character of mob overlord Tony Soprano, with all his many foibles and propensity for violence, like a second skin. The way Gandoflini played him, one couldn’t help but be charmed by Tony. At the same time, there was this feeling that this man was not someone you’d ever want to cross.
The beautiful thing about The Sopranos was that from Episode One, it was never just about the mob boss alone. Instead, Chase chose to populate his show with some of the most memorable characters to ever appear on television, affording it a depth and range other shows lacked. Tony’s brassy, street-smart wife Carmela (Edie Falco); Tony’s impetuous nephew Christopher (Michael Imperioli, himself a Goodfellas old boy); Uncle Junior (Dominic Chaianese), Tony’s consigliere or advisor and best friend Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt); Paulie Gualteri, Tony’s loyal foot soldier (Tony Siroco); Dr Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco, another Goodfellas alumnus), Tony’s shrink ... these are all vivid portrayals that will live in the memory long after the show has disappeared from the air. What’s more, there’s a never-ending parade of other great characters in the show still to come.
Blending Martin Scorsese-esque crime drama with the appeal of the soap opera while using the best elements of each to show us the black hearts and dubious motivations of America’s non-tax paying fraternity, The Sopranos was cutting-edge television operating at the peak of its powers.
The other remarkable thing about the show was the level of consistency that it managed to achieve over six seasons. In all that time, standards rarely dropped with the show’s producers and the writers remained dedicated to pushing the envelope.
Beyond the show’s gritty violence and strong language (these are mobsters after all, not boy scouts), The Sopranos was fundamentally antithetical to the way television shows are meant to be, in that it very rarely comes to a concrete conclusion that wraps every nicely at the end.
Because the show was made for cable rather than television, The Sopranos was allowed to take chances with its content and remain edgy and dark. But therein lies the appeal of the show.
With The Sopranos, things are way more open-ended and a lot more honest with a moral complexity that other shows simply aren’t allowed to have.
Very often, an episode of The Sopranos will stay with you long after it has finished and leave you pining hard for the next one.
The greatest show on television? Quite possibly.
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