The Sopranos (1999-2007) - Teh Forum

<body> <div id="header"> <span class="left"> <span class="back"><a href="lthread_list.php?webtag=DEFAULT"><span class="image mobile_back" title="Back"></span></a></span> <span class="image mobile_logo" title="Beehive Forum Logo"></span> </span> <ul> <li> <a class="reply_all" href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43032.0&return_msg=43032.6"> <span class="image mobile_reply_all"></span><span class="text">Reply to All</span> </a> </li> <li> <a class="navigation" href="#"> <span class="image mobile_navigation"></span><span class="text">Show messages</span> </a> </li> <li> <a class="main" href="#"><span class="image mobile_menu" title="Menu"></span> </a> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="menu main"> <ul> <li><a href="lthread_list.php?webtag=DEFAULT">Messages</a></li> <li><a href="lpm.php?webtag=DEFAULT">Inbox</a></li> <li><a href="lsearch.php?webtag=DEFAULT">Search</a></li> <li><a href="llogon.php?webtag=DEFAULT">Login</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="menu navigation"><a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.1">1–10</a><a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.11">11–20</a><a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.21">21–28</a></div> <div id="page_content"> <h3 class="thread_title"><a href="index.php?webtag=DEFAULT&amp;msg=43032.6">The Sopranos (1999-2007)</a> </h3> <div id="messages" data-navigation="43032_6_28_10"> <a name="a43032_6"></a><div class="message" id="message_43032_6"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: Drew (X3N0PH0N)<span class="message_time"> 4 Jun 14:05</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: Drew (X3N0PH0N) <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 4 Jun 14:05"></span></span> <span class="message_count">6 of 28</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.6">43032.6</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.5">43032.5</a></div> <div class="message_body"> The reason I don't *quite* put Succession up there is that while it made me *sympathise* with these moral black holes of characters it never made me *love* them like Sopranos did. It lacked that extra layer which made Sopranos so clever.</div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43032.6&return_msg=43032.6" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43032.6"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43032_7"></a><div class="message" id="message_43032_7"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: milko<span class="message_time"> 5 Jun 13:55</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: Drew (X3N0PH0N) <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 5 Jun 14:28"></span></span> <span class="message_count">7 of 28</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.7">43032.7</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.5">43032.5</a></div> <div class="message_body"> I feel like Arrested Development was possibly the best at its peak but the later series kinda soured it a bit, like that one where the cast were almost never in the same room so it's nearly all greenscreened. So few comedies manage to keep the bar high throughout. Similar with Community. Still, it lives in my head forever, can't hear the word bees or beads without the whole BEES/BEADS thing playing out in my mind, or angrily saying it's not a trick it's an illusion and so on.<br /> <br /> I know what you mean about recency bias, I end up second guessing myself on everything. Well, except for Deadwood which has overcome that for me to a silly degree where I just won't question it or hear any contrary opinion now. Cowboys constantly talking in some sort of baroque Shakespeareanesque ludicrous dialogue is unbeatable. I don't really have the vocabulary to express it properly.<br /> <br /> here's a recent one:<br /> Severance (apple tv) is dead good but A: I keep thinking it might be Succession and it isn't at all but the names are quite similar B: only one series so far, could blow it. Still, it was a very good series and I will be eager to try the second.<br /> </div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43032.7&return_msg=43032.6" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43032.7"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43032_8"></a><div class="message" id="message_43032_8"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: Drew (X3N0PH0N)<span class="message_time"> 5 Jun 14:42</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: milko <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 6 Jun 14:59"></span></span> <span class="message_count">8 of 28</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.8">43032.8</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.6#a43032_7" target="_self">43032.7</a></div> <div class="message_body"> Yeah, those latter Arrested Development seasons were rough. Not quite as bad as the consensus would hold, I think, and I liked that they tried something new rather than just more of the same. But yeah, not as good, certainly. But I agree, most comedy tends to go that way when it outlives itself.<br /> <br /> (I don't think anything else on TV has made gut-laugh as hard as "Bob Loblaw", dunno why that's the one that landed best for me)<br /> <br /> Community at its best was exceptionally good. But its lows were prety low too. And it was never quite as clever as it thought it was.<br /> <br /> Deadwood I need to continue with. I got sidetracked. Very much enjoyed what I'd seen though.<br /> <br /> And yeah, Severance is great. I nearly mentioned that among my recent ones. *But*... I'm worried that it's just going to be a mystery box thing à la Lost or whatever. Though that one scene, where the dude from the pizza shop in Do the Right Thing is getting interviewed by the lady with the long face from The 100 in the kinda HR assessment thing - that's one of my favourite scenes of TV ever. I rewound and rewatched that like 15 times in a row. It's exquisite.<br /> <br /> Show you might like, got something in common with Severance but more actiony: The Peripheral.</div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43032.8&return_msg=43032.6" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43032.8"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43032_9"></a><div class="message" id="message_43032_9"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: Drew (X3N0PH0N)<span class="message_time"> 5 Jun 14:46</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: milko <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 6 Jun 14:59"></span></span> <span class="message_count">9 of 28</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.9">43032.9</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.6#a43032_7" target="_self">43032.7</a></div> <div class="message_body"> One notable thing about Arrested Development which sets it apart from most other sitcoms is that it was perfect right from the first episode. They knew *exactly* what they wanted it to be from the outset rather than having to find it as they went along, as most others do.</div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43032.9&return_msg=43032.6" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43032.9"> <span class="rating">+1/1</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43032_10"></a><div class="message" id="message_43032_10"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: Kenny J (WINGNUTKJ)<span class="message_time"> 6 Jun 08:37</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: Drew (X3N0PH0N) <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 6 Jun 14:39"></span></span> <span class="message_count">10 of 28</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.10">43032.10</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.6#a43032_8" target="_self">43032.8</a></div> <div class="message_body"> > The Peripheral<br /> <br /> I kind of enjoyed this, but I'd read the book, and I wonder how it played for people who haven't. Especially in the final episodes, it kind of left me wondering what the point of it was, and since they never did a second season, I guess we'll never know. Still waiting for the third book in the trilogy, but I didn't find the second (Agency) to be particularly engaging.</div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43032.10&return_msg=43032.6" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43032.10"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43032_11"></a><div class="message" id="message_43032_11"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: Drew (X3N0PH0N)<span class="message_time"> 6 Jun 14:41</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: Kenny J (WINGNUTKJ) <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 7 Jun 13:15"></span></span> <span class="message_count">11 of 28</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.11">43032.11</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.6#a43032_10" target="_self">43032.10</a></div> <div class="message_body"> Oh, I didn't know they're not doing a second season. Cos yeah, it was just getting going (intrigue-wise). Well that's fucked.<br /> <br /> That's a real shame cos it seemed like it was going somewhere interesting.<br /> <br /> (I've not read the book(s). I may now)</div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43032.11&return_msg=43032.6" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43032.11"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43032_12"></a><div class="message" id="message_43032_12"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: milko<span class="message_time"> 6 Jun 15:11</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: ALL<span class="message_count">12 of 28</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.12">43032.12</a></div> <div class="message_body"> The Peripheral - yes. As a book-having-reader I was enjoying it quite a lot while wondering if it was making much sense for anyone who didn't, and it was far from perfect but I had hopes it would get it going as the second season got going. But yeah, not happening, bah. That writer's strike did it in, unfortunately (though, obviously, support the union!). Also, Chloe Grace Moretz doing the deep south accent thing, I could just listen to that all day (see also: Matthew McConaughey as Rust Cohle in season one of True Detective, another fine show).<br /> <br /> Severance Mystery Box - yes definitely that's absolutely the main fear. They've taken a long time making series 2, I hope it's because they were writing something properly. John Turturro will always be "The Jesus" from The Big Lebowski to me! He's so so good in this.<br /> <br /> We are trying out SHOGUN next. Very early impressions are that the main English guy's voice is very funny. I can only picture this, every time.<br /> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XebF2cgmFmU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XebF2cgmFmU</a><br /> A SUCCULENT CHINESE MEAL?</div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43032.12&return_msg=43032.6" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43032.12"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43032_13"></a><div class="message" id="message_43032_13"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: milko<span class="message_time"> 6 Jun 15:19</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: ALL<span class="message_count">13 of 28</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.13">43032.13</a></div> <div class="message_body"> which reminds me, I thought Chloe Grace Moretz was in Outer Range but it turns out that's Imogen Poots. Anyway, I see series 2 is out but apparently they say they wrote it on the fly and it's bad. Which given that series 1 wasn't exactly great, I would say avoid that.<br /> <br /> I thought it'd be up my street, being about cowboys and a mysterious big hole in the ground.</div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43032.13&return_msg=43032.6" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43032.13"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43032_14"></a><div class="message" id="message_43032_14"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: william (WILLIAMA)<span class="message_time"> 8 Jun 20:45</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: Drew (X3N0PH0N) <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 8 Jun 22:35"></span></span> <span class="message_count">14 of 28</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.14">43032.14</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.5">43032.5</a></div> <div class="message_body"> You covered a lot in your post. <br /> <br /> It's SO different now, from my first experience of television, even though there are SO many things the same.<br /> <br /> I mean, when I was tiny, like just bigger than a toddler, we didn't have telly at all. I remember being about four with flu (I suppose. Some kind of fever) and my parents brought the wireless into the bedroom so I could hear "Beyond our Ken" which was the precursor to "Round the Horne". Of course, I missed all the gay references, but then again so did my parents. I suspect my dad thought that the nancy-boys were funny as long as they didn't go too far.<br /> <br /> Our first telly had 2 TV channels, BBC and Independent Television. Independent Television was what the rough people watched. If you turned the clunky dial past the rough channel, you got the Home Service on the wireless, then the Third Programme. Our set couldn't be tuned to the Light Programme. Wireless was available from daybreak until bedtime. Television started around 4 pm with a news broadcast which handed over to children's broadcasting around 5 pm for an hour. Then there was more news for about 30 mins. Typically a magazine programme lasted until 7:00. Then there would be a soap opera or two, or a quiz show, maybe a drama presentation until 8:00. At 8:00 the premier programmes began, either documentary or drama. This was the same for both BBC and ITV.<br /> <br /> It's no surprise that if the Forsyte Saga had a rape scene in prime viewing hours ON A SUNDAY with a suggestive proportion of Nyree Dawn Porter's breasts exposed, this would feed into a vast national debate at work on the Monday. There was literally nothing else to watch. Of course, it had a positive effect. Many more people were exposed to serious thought and debate (than probably wanted to be exposed). God knows what they made of it. It also allowed some quite brilliant people to rise to the top of the media. I doubt that somebody as talented as Jonathan Miller would have succeeded in a 500 channel environment. Then again, maybe a comedian so supremely untalented as Jim Davidson wouldn't have floated upwards either.<br /> <br /> I'm struck by the fact that nearly every television show discussed in this thread is American. I have a fair few American shows in my all-time favourite list. But not all by any means. I'll come back to this.<br /> <br /> </div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43032.14&return_msg=43032.6" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43032.14"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div><a name="a43032_15"></a><div class="message" id="message_43032_15"> <div class="message_header"> <div class="message_from"> From: Drew (X3N0PH0N)<span class="message_time"> 8 Jun 23:09</span> <div class="clearer"></div> </div><div class="message_to">To: william (WILLIAMA) <span><span class="image post_read" title="Read: 9 Jun 07:09"></span></span> <span class="message_count">15 of 28</span><div class="clearer"></div> </div> </div> <div class="message_links"> <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.15">43032.15</a> In reply to <a href="lmessages.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=43032.6#a43032_14" target="_self">43032.14</a></div> <div class="message_body"> For me, TV had 3 channels, (BBC1 & 2 and ITV). And they shut off at ... 10pm? 11pm? When I tell my niece about that she is aghast. Channel 4 came along while I was in primary school but we couldn't get it where we lived.<br /> <br /> I loved documentaries as a kid. Any documentary would keep me quiet. A lot of them were nature documentaries. And they were *very good*. I distinctly remember one, I was about 6 or 7, and it was real-time footage of a snake swallowing an egg. And - and this is fucking amazing today - there were large stretches with no narration, the narrator would only speak when something happened. Remember being rapt by that.<br /> <br /> (TV) documentaries are fucking shit now. They do that thing that shit teachers do where they feel they have to trick you into finding it interesting. They try so hard to 'make' the subject interesting that they forget to actually tell you anything and it's boring.<br /> <br /> Most of the scripted TV I watched was American. I almost brought this up before. I can't think of very many British TV shows that I've enjoyed. House of Cards, The Thick of It, Brass Eye/The Day Today. I watched Humans recently and enjoyed it but it was enjoyable trash rather than *good* good.<br /> <br /> I don't *generally* enjoy British comedy all that much. All the stuff that's held up, like Fawlty Towers, I never got, I can't even really tell what's *supposed* to be funny in it. My dad fucking loved Fawlty Towers and Dad's Army and that. <br /> <br /> Our news, documentaries and current affairs shows pissed on anything American. But for scripted/drama/comedy I think America just makes better TV for the most part.<br /> <br /> But I grew up on The Fall Guy, The Rockford Files, Columbo, Perry Mason etc. so I dunno how much of it is just having my aesthetic preferences set young by that stuff.<br /> <br /> Oh one thing I did want to mention. We didn't have a VHS player when I was growing up. So the only ways to see feature films were the once-a-year cinema trip or when they came to TV. Later, round friend's houses when they had VHSes.<br /> <br /> So a big film coming to TV was a *big deal* and we'd all be talking about it at school the next day. <br /> <br /> I also got to see a good selection of older films. In the space that would be filled with morning TV and reality stuff now, they used to just put some random film on. I think *kids today* have a kinda shallow/narrow cultural experience for lack of something like that. </div> <div class="message_footer"> <div class="message_footer_links"><a href="lpost.php?webtag=DEFAULT&reply_to=43032.15&return_msg=43032.6" class="reply"><span class="image post"></span>Reply</a></div> <div class="message_vote_form" data-msg="43032.15"> <span class="rating">0/0</span> <span class="image vote vote_down vote_down_off" title="Vote Down"></span> <span class="image vote vote_up vote_up_off" title="Vote Up"></span> </div> </div> </div></div> <div class="message_page_footer"> <ul> <li class="right_col"><form accept-charset="utf-8" method="get" action="lmessages.php" target="_self"><input type="hidden" name="webtag" id="webtag" class="bhinputtext" value="DEFAULT" dir="ltr" /><input type="hidden" name="msg" id="msg" class="bhinputtext" value="43032.16" dir="ltr" /><input type="submit" name="submit" id="keep_reading" value="Keep reading…" class="button" /></form></li> </ul> </div> </div> </body>