| Author | Message | ||
     Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 4 Registered: 03-2006 |
Just taking a survey: how many on this board are fans of the HBO series, "The Sopranos"? Is anyone else out there jonesing as hard as I am for the season premiere this Sunday? Does it start Sunday in Australia and the UK? | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 148 Registered: 05-2005 |
Watched the first two series Hardin, then I got bored with it. Gratuitous HBO link I love when I see the HBO sign appear on my TV screen, because it means there is another episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm about to start. Larry David is a genius - this program allows him to act and say all the things that Seinfeld wasnt allowed to say. That episode "Beloved Aunt" is simultaneously the funniest and most cringeworthy TV I have ever witnessed. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 187 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Sopranos is the greatest TV series ever bar none. I adore it and wish it was starting here (Australia) on Sunday. I have all five previous series on DVD. | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 185 Registered: 08-2004 |
I've got all of them so far. Thanks to bittorrent I'll see the first of the new series next week. My fave film is Goodfellas & the first series referenced that so much, with lots of actors appearing over the years. Great acting, music & violence = quality TV. Hardin do you know if this is the last series, or as rumour has it will there be another later this year? 24 is popular here partly due to the Go-b's link. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 210 Registered: 05-2005 |
24 first series was great, got bored... Soprano's, haven't seen too much of it, but found it as interesting as a Goodfellas TV series could want to be... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 191 Registered: 05-2005 |
Jerry, the actors are only contracted for series 6. However, they are shooting 20 episodes together and releasing them as a 12-episode series 6 (13 in each previous series) and an eight-episode finale series) in order to get around this. That's supposed to be the end of it then, but it was only supposed to be four series in the first place so I would not bet on it really ending with these 20 episodes. | ||
| Todd Slater Member Username: Todd_slater Post Number: 29 Registered: 01-2005 |
Ah Padraig, I hope you're right as I'm an out & out Sopranos junkie. Probabaly the best telvision series ever to come out of the US. Having said that I do love 'Six feet under' the Fisher family in my book is not too far behind the loveable Soprano family ! | ||
| Mark Leydon Member Username: Mark_leydon Post Number: 42 Registered: 05-2005 |
My three favourite TV series ever: Callan Twin Peaks The Sopranos | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 186 Registered: 08-2004 |
Callan was never as good as The Equaliser :-) That's probably it Padraig. I wonder who'll still be alive at the end of the 1st 12 episodes, to wind up in dream sequences for the rest of the series. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 214 Registered: 05-2005 |
Starsky and Hutch Planet of the apes (TV) Roots | ||
| Wilson Davey Member Username: Wilson Post Number: 44 Registered: 05-2005 |
Twin Peaks is superb. You can get series 1 on DVD but not series 2 !! A travesty. Bit like buying liberty Belle and finding Side 2 is blank... | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 157 Registered: 04-2005 |
I couldn't watch the Sopranos anymore after a particularly brutal and senseless scene (in the third season, I think) where some young mob punk beat a stripper to death and Tony basically let the guy off with a warning. I know the show's about an amoral world where a different code of justice applies than what the rest of us live by, but that scene was just ugly misogyny and it made me not want to watch the show anymore. I'd rate four other HBO series ahead of it anyway: Six Feet Under, The Wire, Deadwood, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 193 Registered: 05-2005 |
It was Ralphie that did it Kurt and it was exceptionally brutal. Part of the reason it was done was to turn the viewers off Tony, to show he was just as much a beast as the other amoral fucks. Never fear though, retribution was had. At the end of series four Ralphie was killed by Tony and dismembered by Tony and a skagged-up Christopher. At one point Chris was holding the head trying to cut it off and a toupe came off in his hand. It was hilarious, especially the look on Chris' face. It seems the actor who played Ralphie, Joe Pantoliano, really does wear a hairpiece, but I was as surprised as Chris' character was. Sorry, this might all be a bit sick for a Go-Betweens board! | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 158 Registered: 04-2005 |
Yes, this board has taken a different turn, hasn't it? Thanks for the clarification, Padraig--it's good to hear Ralphie got his in the end. I probably will go back to the show someday, but I have several other HBO shows I'm trying to catch up on first. I've had friends tell me not to even bother with season four of the Sopranos and go straight to five. What do you think? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 194 Registered: 05-2005 |
Series five was superb, but you need them all. Series four had a couple of disappointing episodes (though less so than a couple of the duds on series three), but even an average Sopranos episode is better than probably 90% of anything else on TV. | ||
| Todd Slater Member Username: Todd_slater Post Number: 30 Registered: 01-2005 |
I agree series five was great but there were some gems in series four as well. Particularly the episode Steve Buscemi directed (name escapes me), it was a classic (Paulie & Christopher spend the night deep in snow covered woods in a van after a failed hit) Glad you mentioned the finale to series 4 Padraig as watching Ralphie go down to via a hot pan to the face from Tony amongst other things was a beauty, especially since Christopher had just taken a hit minutes before. I can't wait till it all starts again here sometime this year. | ||
| Peter Collins Member Username: Tyroneshoelaces Post Number: 88 Registered: 05-2005 |
Maybe it's just me, but regardless of how amoral and unattractive they make these people, I find it utterly repellent that these programmes turn scummy human beings into heroes. I saw the first episode of The Sopranos and was repelled. By contrast, Six Feet Under and Curb are just top top top quality. | ||
| Matthias Treml Member Username: Matthias Post Number: 65 Registered: 05-2005 |
Todd, that episode is my favorite too. Didn't realize Steve directed it. Hilarious. It's called Pine Barrens and was in season 3. Last night's premiere for season 6 was no dog. I had a feeling June was gonna shoot Tone when he made a J Edgar comment. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 5 Registered: 03-2006 |
Very gratifying, the response to this thread...I somehow suspected that folks discriminating and discerning enough to be members of this board would be into the "best TV series ever bar none". (I agree totally, Padraig. I also agree with the person who's a fan of Curb Your Enthusiasm, another HBO winner, and, really, the funniest thing I've ever seen.) One thing, one ingredient, in its success, is the use of music. It features probably the best use of music in a filmic context (not trying to sound pretentious, just the only way I could think of to put it. It's early Monday morning, after a late night, you guessed it - watching the season premiere and pounding red wine. You almost have to drink red wine, when watching the Sopranos. In fact, it may be a law. It was an EXCELLENT season opener, by the way, with a hugely shocking act of violence that will change the whole direction of the show) I've ever seen. It occurs to me that the GoBs music could fit well in an episode, being as it is, so very evocative. Any thoughts, suggestions? Maybe, as is the case with "24", there's a GoBs fan working in the Sopranos production office. I'm thinking Cattle and Cane would work well, as well as a lot of Spring Hill Fair - it has that metallic edge that I think would blend in nicely, particularly "River of Money"... | ||
| Bob Mail Member Username: Bob Post Number: 1 Registered: 03-2006 |
One other show I think is worth a mention is "The Wire" I stumbled onto this program by accident and I think for my money is up there with the Sopranos in terms of being another great HBO show. Great stories and characters and truly under appreciated in my view | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 9 Registered: 03-2006 |
I agree with you, Mr. Mail...despite being a huge fan of the Sopranos, I have to say "The Wire" is as good...when the hell is it coming out with a new season? | ||
| Bob Mail Member Username: Bob Post Number: 3 Registered: 03-2006 |
Hardin, I believe season 4 is due out later this year. I just viewed the third season and its amazing. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 63 Registered: 03-2006 |
Anybody watch it last night? I forget who lives where and who gets it...I must tell ya, it was pretty gosh darn exciting...Funnily enough, the dream sequence was set in Costa Mesa where I live - I think they were dissing it, by portraying it as a bland, bedroom community,which it is...least it's close to the beach... | ||
| Jerry Clark Member Username: Jerry Post Number: 209 Registered: 08-2004 |
Saw this Thursday night. By the end of the first dream sequence, I'd forgotten how episode 1 had finished. Peter Collins, I can understand that you don't like the violence aspect, but it proves that you are missing the whole point! | ||
| Matthias Treml Member Username: Matthias Post Number: 70 Registered: 05-2005 |
Prediction: Paulie Walnuts gets whacked this season among others. There's always a major character that goes. His time is due. Ever since the debacle with the Russian in the woods. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 177 Registered: 03-2006 |
I agree - completely overdue, though he's one of my favorite characters on the show, based on his entertainment value...wasn't his reaction to Tony hilarious, after Meadow had warned him to be positive? Every season has a couple of standout episodes and Pine Barrens was it for that one, I think. One of the funniest ever for sure... | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 56 Registered: 01-2005 |
The X-Files was just as consistent thru five seasons as The Sopranos. However The X-Files started going down the tubes in season six and never recovered IMHO. I never did buy seasons 8 and 9 on DVD, but I have 1-7. Twin Peaks Season 2 will be out on DVD this year! | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 180 Registered: 03-2006 |
Yeah, the X-files really jumped the shark somewhere around then, didn't it? But before that it was the greatest. I think it was around the time the Scully/Mulder romance started to come out in the open instead of being just sexual tension that it started to go pear-shaped...they stretched all the mythology stuff out way too much, too...it all just became too confusing...I noticed they've repackaged some of them by themes, like "Abduction" and "Black Oil"...Probably a fun way to view them, but alas, like you, Michael, I've invested heavily in them already - I think I have 2-6 on DVD... I think the Sopranos has been remarkably consistent, though not everybody agrees. It seems like everybody in my circle is watching it, and even the ones who don't like all this "dream stuff", etc., wouldn't dream of ever missing an ep...they can frigging expound on it at length, though they don't necessarily "like" it. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 57 Registered: 01-2005 |
I also blame part of the problem of The X-Files going down the tubes starting in season six was leaving Canada and re-locating to LA for shooting the series. They lost the comraderie of the Canadian crew, the great wooded locations and the overcast skies. Blame it on DD for wanting to be close to Tea Leoni. He also started to look bored in some of the episodes if the scripts were below par. |