Rewatching
David Thompson says “The Godfather plays every year; The Sopranos in reruns will bore you.” Ross Douthat responds:
Well! The Godfather does play every year, but it’s also only three hours long, and thus a completely different artistic animal than The Sopranos, which clocks in roughly eighty hours when all is said and done. There’s no perfect analogy here, obviously, but on length alone it’s a little like comparing James Joyce’s “The Dead” to David Copperfield. Yes, Coppola’s masterpiece has a self-contained perfection to which a long-running television show simply can’t hope to aspire – and yes, as a result, there are episodes and even long swathes of David Chase’s show that bore upon reacquaintance, just as there are sections of Copperfield or War and Peace that I wouldn’t care to read and re-read every year. But trust me: I’m watching The Sopranos in re-runs right now, and as a cumulative experience – allowing for bumps and blind alleys and boredom along the way – it’s no less impressive than the first time or two I watched it.
Let me start off with the quick note that I took Fred Kaplan’s advice and recently rewatched the Godfather movies as re-released on Blu-Ray and was not disappointed. Ross is both right about this and also being somewhat too easy on The Sopranos. The relevant comparison here is to The Wire which, though not quite equal in length to The Sopranos, is comparable in scale. And the Wire, though I think it does flag a bit in seasons four and five, absolutely never stops feeling like a single coherent work that deserves to be watched uninterrupted from end to end. The Sopranos is extremely well-made television, but especially after season two it begins to get very “televisiony” — full of occasional digressions and sub-plots that feel like filler or stalling or efforts to spread screen time around rather than being crucial to the development of the story. If The Wire had never existed, one might be inclined to say that this is just intrinsic to the medium, but we while it is endemic to the medium we also know now that it’s avoidable.
80 Responses to “Rewatching”
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October 24th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
In my experience, The Wire suffers greatly on the second or third watching, while The Sopranos holds up extremely well to repeated viewings.
A lot of this has to do with The Wire’s strength being its original vision, while The Sopranos’ strength being its superior filmmaking.
Good filmmaking always holds up better to repeated viewings than original visions…
October 24th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
But the Sopranos isn’t supposed to be a coherent story. It’s 8 years in the life of this family. There are stories along the way, but the series doesn’t exist to develop any particular storyline.
That said, there’s still no comparing anything to the Godfather. I’m partial to Part II myself.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
the sopranos was overrated
anyone who didn’t notice the first time may notice the second time
October 24th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Ugh. I thought I was reading some commentary on the Sopranos/Godfather and you slipped in some Wire-talk. God am I sick of hearing about that shitty show.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
“The Sopranos is … full of occasional digressions and sub-plots that feel like filler or stalling or efforts to spread screen time around rather than being crucial to the development of the story.”
The fact that Matthew voices this as a criticism may be key to understanding why Michael Bay is his favorite filmmaker.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Jeez, first the GOP=football, Dems=hoops thing, and now this. Apparently I’ve internalized some Petey. I need a hobby.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
I have heard that there is a television program called The Wire. I would appreciate knowing whether or not anyone has heard of this series, and if it was enjoyable.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
“The Sopranos is … full of occasional digressions and sub-plots that feel like filler or stalling or efforts to spread screen time around rather than being crucial to the development of the story.”
I vividly remember reading The Brothers Karamazov when I was 14 and being incredibly frustrated that Dostoyesky wasn’t advancing the plot fast enough.
Of course, then I grew up…
October 24th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I want to write a bot that finds all blog posts about the Sopranos and puts “the Wire was so much better” in the comments
October 24th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
“Jeez, first the GOP=football, Dems=hoops thing, and now this. Apparently I’ve internalized some Petey. I need a hobby.”
At least you got to the spot before I did…
October 24th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
S5 has big problems, but I can’t believe M.Y. thinks S4 “flags”. Come on man, those kids!!
October 24th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
“I have heard that there is a television program called The Wire. I would appreciate knowing whether or not anyone has heard of this series, and if it was enjoyable.”
THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!!! FOR CLAY DAVIS!!!
October 24th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Again, a strong case for The Sopranos over The Wire? Matt’s preference for the latter. The Wire is second rate, middle-brow, pretentious garbage. Please, someone explain why it’s good art and not merely a flatteringly wonky–to folks like Matt–, wankishly “true to life,” and over-earnest, didactic potboiler.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Maybe the former newspaperman in me found parts of season 5 of The Wire interesting that others would not. But season 4 is no stop awesomeness. Watching those kids navigate their lives is heart-wrenching to the max. Lord, I still wish I could swoop in and save Randy from the undeserved beatdown life gave him. Here’s the thing about The Wire: Season 3 is possibly the greatest season of any TV series ever. Anything after that, even mere awesomeness will pale in comparison. I’ve already seen the whole series twice and it holds up much better than the Sopranos.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Yes the Cult of The Wire has reached biblical proportions in the lefty political blogosphere. Matthew and Ezra Klein need an intervention on the issue, and perhaps a stint in rehab. To quote William Shatner, it’s just a TV show, for crying out loud.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Its come to a point where I wonder if Matt and his fellow travellers are being subsidized by The Wire’s producers.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
lol @ all the haters, I mean, why are you taking Matt’s opinion on The Wire seriously when he sez that S4 “flag[ged]“?
October 24th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
“The Wire is second rate, middle-brow, pretentious garbage.”
Disagree.
The Wire is first rate, middle-brow, social realist entertainment.
Just because it’s not up to the very high standards of The Sopranos doesn’t make it worthless.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
After season 1 The Sopranos was pointless. It was entertaining but pointless. Other than the Mafia angle there is no reason to compare The Godfather (I and II there is no III) to a tv show.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
I recently watched the Godfather films on Blu-ray also. The first two were as superb and enjoyable as always, though they looked much better than in their previous SD DVD incarnation. My opinion changed on the third one though–it was even worse than I remembered and was just torture to sit through.
Obviously, movies have more replayability than long running TV shows just for the time factor. However, with DVD I think there will be more of the latter. Having a lot of free time lately (OK, I find myself unemployed ATM), I spent about 5-6 weeks doing little but a marathon chronological rewatching of the Buffyverse–144 episodes of Buffy the Vampre Slayer and 110 episodes of spinoff Angel (yes, my life is pathetic, thank you). I had never seen these shows on broadcast, but only on DVD (where such serialized shows play much better than on broadcast). But my initial watching was over a period of several years as the DVD sets were released; I had never watched them in a confined space of time (or with all the crossover episodes available in proper sequence). It was a great and immersive experience, though obviously not doable very often.
BTW, those not familiar with the Buffyverse may laugh, but these are really great shows. And as a 55-year old male, I am certainly not part of the generally assumed target audience (though Joss Whedon would probably say–and I agree–that these shows are aimed at everyone). But as a consumer of episodic TV for almost fifty years, I probaby rank BTVS and Homicide: Life on the Street as the best network hour long series ever. Although I general prefer older movies (particularly ‘30-’40s Hollywood) to newer movies, it is the reverse with TV drama. Although there were great TV shows in the ’60s, episodic TV has gotten better in recent years since it was freed (starting with Hill Street Blues) to have long form plotlines and evolving characters.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Season 4 of the Wire is the best season of television.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Hey, calm down you two! New Shimmer is both a floor wax and a dessert topping!
October 24th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
When is Sledge Hammer going to get the respect it deserves?
October 24th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
After season 1 The Sopranos was pointless.
I’ll refine that. After they quit having ducks in the pool, the show became “30something” with guns.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Oh and Sopranos is awesome too. I think the Sopranos holds up better than the Wire to repeated viewings because it is more beautiful and better acted and has generally more interesting characters.
On the other hand I think judging artwork based on how it holds up to repeated exposure isn’t terribly useful. It isn’t like the initial wow of being transported to this really real seeming world and the intricately plotted tension are less valuable. It’s just that plot and novelty matter less the second time around.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Petey implies that Matt’s problem is that Sopranos “wasn’t advancing the plot fast enough.” The real problem is that the Sopranos creators didn’t plan ahead, pace themselves, and write with an ending in mind. When HBO threw a bag of money at David Chase, he decided to stretch the tale of Vito and Johnny Cakes over half a season to prolong the show. He did a similar thing with Tony Blundetto, who seems entirely unnecessary and unmemorable in retrospect.
On process, the Wire holds up better on a re-watch because its creators planned ahead, paced themselves, and wrote with an ending in mind.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
I spent about 5-6 weeks doing little but a marathon chronological rewatching of the Buffyverse…(yes, my life is pathetic, thank you)
Yes, your life is pathetic. Unfortunately, it’s not really pathetic in a “self-aware bittersweet-whimsy Joss Whedon” sort of way.
A professional psychotherapist once told me that the number one subject people talk about in therapy is “their mental and emotional issues,” and the number two subject is “Buffy episodes.”
October 24th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
“On the other hand I think judging artwork based on how it holds up to repeated exposure isn’t terribly useful.”
Well, no.
An artwork that only really works on first exposure can still be a great thing, but there is something to be said for highly valuing artwork that thrives on multiple exposure.
I end up seeing almost any movie I intensely like at least twice, and the really good ones reward multiple exposure.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Wait, the Sopranos was high brow?
October 24th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Lost interest in the Sopranos before the last season.
But why is only the first season of Mad Men on dvd??
October 24th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
If The Wire had never existed, one might be inclined to say that this is just intrinsic to the medium, but we while it is endemic to the medium we also know now that it’s avoidable.
I think you mean it’s endemic to American television where S.O.P. is to run a show just as long as possible, usually with diminishing returns for the viewer. There are loads of British, Australian, Canadian, etc. series that “[f]eel like a single coherent work that deserve to be watched uninterrupted from end to end” because they were conceived that way.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
But why is only the first season of Mad Men on dvd??
Because the second one is still being broadcast.
There are loads of British, Australian, Canadian, etc. series that “[f]eel like a single coherent work that deserve to be watched uninterrupted from end to end” because they were conceived that way.
They may tend to be more “coherent” but that doesn’t mean they’re better. The U.S. produces the best television in the world.
October 24th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Yeah, what’s this strange American mania of making endless seasons of the same show until it becomes unwatchable? There’s a better way of doing things, you know (at least on cable)?
October 24th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Hello:
I would throw BAND OF BROTHERS, another HBO series, into the discussion. While it is much shorter then SOPRANOS/WIRE (12 hrs) it is much longer then a movie.
Yet it’s watchable every time its replayed on HISTORY (which is about 3-4 times a year).
October 24th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
While we’re on HBO, was Generation Kill awesome or what?
There’s really nothing on now that’s a must-watch. I’m thinking of switching to Showtime (I refuse to pay for both).
October 24th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I don’t expect to convince anyone here, nor, I think, do I want to, but The Wire does stand up to repeated viewings extremely well. After the second and now the third viewing, I’ve definitely come to pick up on the humor more. It is a seriously funny show. I think I must have laughed for five minutes after Lance Reddick’s perfectly pitched line “Fuzzy Dunlop?” in season two. The humor of that line doesn’t come through until you’ve gotten to know Daniels well. This example illustrates a more general feature of the show. People who call the show “didactic” miss this – the humor is the most subversive part of the show. It’s similar to those who read Kafka without seeing the humor in his writings.
As far as writing is concerned, I don’t think there has been a finer set of writers for a television series than The Wire. George Pelecanos, Denis Lehane, Richard Price, and, of course, Simon and Burns. I agree that Season Five is weaker, but Season Four, in my estimation, is the most moving season of television that I’ve seen. I cared about those kids. By the end of Season Six of the Sopranos, I couldn’t have given a shit about the fate of Tony Soprano. (The ending of the Sopranos, which I liked at first, decayed after a few viewings).
As far as liberal bloggers being fanboys of The Wire…well, we could reanimate the thread on the last Batman movie…
Oh, why is Deadwood always left out of these discussions?
October 24th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Deadwood. You simply can’t see Wu employ his pigs too many times.
The show’s early demise probably contributes to the unity of its story, but I would have liked to see where Milch was headed at the end.
Incidentally, I watched Deadwood on DVD long after it first came out. Everyone was telling me that The Wire was even better. I didn’t believe them, but I’ve just finished season 5 and, man, was everyone right!
October 24th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
“While we’re on HBO, was Generation Kill awesome or what?”
It was pretty damn good. Though I’ve got a feeling it may be another example of a show that wouldn’t survive repeated viewings particularly well.
Also, analyzing the reasons it got universally bad reviews and zero buzz despite being a damn good show would be an interesting topic…
October 24th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
I can think of no reason to give Generation Kill bad review, except for stupid critics. The only TV critic I read much, Tim Goodman of the SF Chronicle, loved it.
I think it might stand up to repeated viewing. The action, especially in the first few episodes, was really hard to follow, and it might be clearer on second viewing. And the writing was just so ridiculously good that I figure there must be some great lines that I missed.
I never read Evan Wright’s book, but the miniseries took a bunch of dialogue directly from his Rolling Stone articles. That dude is a great reporter.
October 24th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
“I can think of no reason to give Generation Kill bad review”
It really did get almost universally bad reviews, and after enjoying watching the show quite a bit, I did spend some time trying to figure out the bad reaction. Here are a few reasons I came up with:
- Wire backlash
- Lefty audiences have no appetite for a combat flick. Righty viewers have no appetite for a lefty combat flick.
- Realistic focus on 2003 turns off audiences looking for a 2008 take on Iraq
The best example of all of this I saw was David Simon getting interviewed on Charlie Rose while promoting the show. Rose spent the entire interview just berating Simon about the show in a basically incoherent manner, and Simon was utterly befuddled as to what Rose’s objection was.
Shorter version: no film or TV show about Iraq will “work” until about five years passes after the end of the war, if the relevant history holds…
October 24th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Phil writes about the strength of the writers at The Wire. Agreed, but one of the best scenes in the entire series was when McNulty and Bunk are investigating the scene of a long-ago shooting and the entirety of the dialogue consists of variations of “fuck”. And very funny. I sure do miss the Bunk.
October 24th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Well, judging from some of the comments on this thread, the Wire backlash is coming, and soon it will be cool to bash The Wire as elitest wankery. That is ridiculous and unfortunate. The Wire, I think, is the only TV show that really transcends the medium. The Sopranos is great when Tony Soprano is onscreen, but when he’s not onscreen I want to fall asleep.
October 24th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
The Sopranos always lost me with all those film school project dream sequences. Don’t get me wrong. I generally enjoyed the Sopranos, but I never felt like it was as good as the show obviously wanted me to think it was.
Also, the final season had a very odd theme–people who like the Sopranos for the wrong reasons are assholes. Has ever a TV guy hated his audience as much as David Chase?
October 24th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
“Also, the final season had a very odd theme–people who like the Sopranos for the wrong reasons are assholes.”
Chase had been focusing the viewer through the lens of Melfi’s conflict between the attractiveness of Tony’s lifestyle and the immoral repulsiveness of it since the very beginning. It’s the place where the show consistently came closest to verging on didacticism.
That theme (which you fundamentally mischaracterize) had been central to the show since the first season. Don’t blame the creators if it took you eight years to notice.
October 24th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
It really did get almost universally bad reviews
It’s sad, but not surprising, to learn that Petey’s faith-based approach to the facts is not confined to politics.
As reported by Metacritic.com, 22 out of 27 reviews of Generation Kill in the major media were favorable. Many of these were not merely favorable, but glowing. Generation Kill’s metascore is 79, which makes it one of the best-reviewed shows of the year.
October 24th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
To the commenter complaining about American series running forever until they’re well into the ground – these shows are extremely expensive to conceive, develop and originate. Most aren’t profitable in the second season, let alone the first. From an artistic standpoint, it is unfortunate that many shows keep running well beyond their natural progressions, but more and more show runners are using their influence to end shows earlier. ABC, for example, might have kept Lost going for 10 years if allowed, but the producers used their pull to set and end date, and the show is better for it.
For some of the previous stated reasons, when shows are pitched, they have to have a five- or six-season plan. However, most of these serialized shows, which I enjoy over the stand-alone procedurals and bad sitcomes, end up running through their organic story lines entirely in the first season. See Friday Night Lights, Veronica Mars, Twin Peaks, Heroes, The OC, etc.
Anyone else have zero interest in the mob? I can respect the artistry on display in The Godfather or the occasional Sopranos episode, but I do not give a fuck about mafia entertainment.
Lastly, anyone watching the Life & Times of Tim cartoon on HBO? Not great yet, but quite funny.
October 24th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Season 4 of the Wire was the best season of anything I’ve watched in my entire life.
October 24th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
“It’s sad, but not surprising, to learn that Petey’s faith-based approach to the facts is not confined to politics. As reported by Metacritic.com…”
While the median opinion matters greatly in politics, in art reviews, only the elites matter. And the elites hated Generation Kill.
The NYTimes, LATimes, and New Yorker all were negative, for example. Places like Slate, Charlie Rose, and the lefty blogosphere tend to follow the CW of the elites, and indeed followed suit in this case.
The way Orlando votes matters in politics, but the opinions of the Orlando Sentinel’s TV reviewer aren’t germane to the topic at hand.
(But thanks for making me visit metacritic for the first time. I’ve been meaning to take a lookie-see at the site for a while now…)
October 24th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
“Don’t blame the creators if it took you eight years to notice.”
No one does “I’m a fuck-face.” quite like Petey.
October 24th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Matt: “The Sopranos is extremely well-made television, but especially after season two it begins to get very “televisiony” — full of occasional digressions and sub-plots that feel like filler or stalling or efforts to spread screen time around rather than being crucial to the development of the story.”
“Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” seems to be falling into that trap a bit in its second season. Apparently Josh Friedman, the creator and executive producer, got the idea that since season one was cut short to nine episodes by the writer’s strike, season two should have more “stand-alone” episodes so that new viewers can get involved with the show.
I think this has proven to be a mistake, as the primary value of this show is the ever-growing intensity and complexity of the overall story arc and the development of the characters.
Still, every week this season, something has happened to both develop the characters and move the story along, if somewhat slowly. The writing, directing and acting have remained top notch, so much so that the People’s Choice Awards have it up for nomination as Best Sci-Fi Show.
Episode four, “Allison From Palmdale”, in particular, should get Summer Glau an Emmy nomination for her performance portraying both a human and a Terminator AND a Terminator “channeling” a human.
While the show’s ratings have been improving, they still remain a bit low, primarily due to being slotted against Monday Night Football, thus cutting into the 18-39 demographic that is the show’s primary audience. This has resulted in major increases every week of DVR audience ratings. T:SCC is consistently in the top five DVR’d programs. It is also a top-rated program among Net downloaders and re-broadcast Web sites.
Fans have been screaming for Fox to move the show to Wednesday nights next to “Bones”, which would benefit both shows.
Nonetheless, despite rumors of cancellation, Fox has ordered the “back nine” episodes, so the show will have a full 22-episode season.
With the next Terminator movie coming out next year, it would behoove Fox to maintain the show, and take advantage of probable viewer increases subsequent to the movie’s debut. While the show and the movie have no connections to each other, and this has been agreed to by the producers of both the show and the movie, the cross-marketing benefits are obvious.
Viewers can watch previous episodes of the show on the Hulu Web site:
http://www.hulu.com/terminator-the-sarah-connor-chronicles
October 24th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
You’re just confirming your ignorance, Petey.
The New York Times summarized GK as follows: “Generation Kill, which has a superb cast and script, provides a searingly intense, clear-eyed look at the first stage of the war, and it is often gripping.” Metacritic assigned its review an 80% favorability rating. The Los Angeles Times review was rated 70% favorable. The Washington Post review was rated 100% favorable, and that review called GK “among the truest and most trenchant war movies of all time.”
The only “elite” publication on the small list of unfavorable reviewers was The New Yorker.
October 24th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
I’ve gotta say, Mixner is pwning Petey on the supporting data front here. I’m a little worried about the implications for the space-time continuum.
October 24th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
While the the final season was it’s weakest because the season was foreshortened a bit and their riff on the press didn’t quite, the Wire was the best tv series ever shown on television, and its characterizations and acting ensemble towered over the Sopranos. It did for television what Doestoevsky and Dickens did for novels. No tv ever so brilliantly exposed a slice of society and culture the way the Wire went at turn of the century Baltimore, and there never was an anti-hero to match Omar Little, the gay thug samurai. And how they tied the Russian novel worthy number of character threads at the end also brilliant. No one element of the Sopranos could touch the emotional impact of the fall of Stringer Bell. The Sopranos was a very good tv serial of the Italian Mob genre story, but The Wire was another breed of cat entirely. One was a kind of fable, the other the real deal.
October 24th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
There’s really nothing on now that’s a must-watch. I’m thinking of switching to Showtime (I refuse to pay for both).
I’ve become entranced by True Blood and still greatly enjoy Entourage. I definitely support the Vampire Rights Amendment, although I fear I may come to regret it.
On Showtime, Dexter still sparkles and Californication is a guilty pleasure.
October 24th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
As usual, never fucking trust Petey on any subject.
Generation Kill garnered a 79 on Metacritic and a received glowing reviews from the Boston Globe, SF Chronicle, Washington Post and Chicago Tribune.
And I can’t imagine watching The Sopranos again without being heavily medicated. Every time one I’d see yet another example of foreshadowing that never went anywhere or was even mentioned again, I couldn’t help wanting to punch David Chase in the face.
October 25th, 2008 at 9:40 am
General theme running through these comments appears to be either The Sopranos or The Wire…I say, why either/ or? Both of these shows are exemplary, fantastic television, demonstrating a breadth of vision and rigor that’s all too rare in the medium. One’s fabulist and expressionistic, the other is no less stylized but in a far more kitchen sink, naturalistic vein: both offer rich emotional rewards, complex character depictions and often profound commentary on the human condition. Art ain’t sports. It’s not a ‘my show’s better than yours’ dichotomy. Celebrate the fact that at least two productions have come along in the last decade that in quality and reward, far exceed the usual televised drivel.
October 25th, 2008 at 10:04 am
If you don’t like The Wire, fine. But if you do, I do not see how Seasons 3 and 4 cannot be considered the finest of the series. I’d roughly say 4, 3, 1, 5, and 2 in that order. After season 1, they found ways to make plots interesting and add new characters.
It’s hard to imagine a show that could combine the idiocy of the drug wars in the cities, the crassness of racial politics — mostly as practiced by black politicians, a white white-night mayor, the many sides of street drug dealing culture, school testing and manipulation of tests, crime stats and their manipulation, better and worse sides of unions, etc.
The Sopranos went downhill after season 1 and never really recovered. I actually liked the idea of plots digressing into dead ends, but the dream sequences? Ugh.
The Godfather holds up quite well. I actually like II better showing the rise of loyalty and “family” followed by a rise in success but the complete loss of family.
October 25th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Good point, Ross, and sorry if I contributed to that attitude.
About “usual television drivel,” I would suggest that TV has been getting better, even at the network level. People can differ on quality here, but there is some creativity and originality to Desperate Housewives, Lost, and other shows out there. Even so, at least 90% of every medium is not so good and will not stand any test of time. Decades or centuries of filtering might have us believe that all impressionists were Renoir or Monet, Dutch painters were Vereer or Rembrandt, or that Mozart was typical of his time.
October 25th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Late to the party, as usual, but FWIW….
Even if it weren’t so much better written, The Wire would be an order of magnitude better than The Sopranos because of the depth of the narrative, the social relevance of the situations, and the variety and complexity of the characters. For these same reasons, it is unquestionably superior to The Godfather, although, of course, considerably more uneven.
In retrospect, the bottom line on The Sopranos is that the principle characters were deeply bad people. As stylish as some of them were, at some point one has to admit that not only were they not really likable, but despicable as well. Whenever that point came, from then on there were really no justifiable reasons to associate oneself with them.
October 25th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
After recent research on the subject, I’m sad to report that Police Squad does not hold up to repeated viewing.
October 25th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
People who don’t recognize the greateness of the Sopranos simply don’t understand it. Repeated viewing of the series again should only reinforce that it’s the greatest piece of art of the last 25 years.
For example, just read Part 2 of this moving elegy to David Chase’s masterpiece.
What is most impressive is that the writer has crafted a rather exhaustive critique of the conclusion of the final episode, while also providing a larger contextual view, of which the ending is a piece.
The writer also offers an analysis of the final scene and the sequence of shots that I haven’t read elsewhere. The essay also contains a fascinating look at the Kevin Finnerty coma dreams, the connection between Phil and Tony in the final season and of course, the meaning of those ducks and how they relate to the final scene.
What it expresses more than anything else is that David Chase created one of the great works of art of the last century. Reading this I want to watch the whole series again.
http://masterofsopranos.wordpress.com/the-sopranos-definitive-explanation-of-the-end/
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