'Sopranos' Sings One Last Time

[Lyrical]

Looks like my favorite show is going off the air. Ugh.



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Updated: 10:01 AM EST
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'Sopranos' Sings One Last Time

By Gary Levin, USA TODAY


HBOThe show's stars say they have no clue about their own fates.

More Coverage:
· Watch 'The Sopranos' Reruns
· Take a Mob Tour

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NEW YORK (Mar. 2) — The Sopranos unfolds its sixth season March 12 after the show's longest break yet: an interminable 21 months. But while fans are undoubtedly excited, TV's favorite New Jersey Mob family is down in the dumps.

The arrest of New York rival Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni, now seen in an orange prison jumpsuit, has upended the Soprano family. It renews simmering tensions between the clans and turns up the heat as the feds seem to close in.

Each season has its own recurring theme. This one is "dissatisfaction with one's life, failed expectations," says Michael Imperioli, who plays Tony's cousin Christopher.

"I think it's darker," says Lorraine Bracco, whose Dr. Melfi knows a thing or two about diagnoses. "I don't think it's desperation, but it's despair."

"They're on edge, disquieted, off balance," says creator David Chase, philosophically mulling. "What a short time we're on this Earth." Johnny's dire straits weigh heavily on Tony: "It affects him a lot. He only has to look at his friend across the river to see one version of his future."

It all adds gravitas to what producer (and Paramount Pictures chairman) Brad Grey calls "our best season, elegantly written and very rich."

The series wraps production on its 12-episode season just as it returns to HBO March 12 (Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT).

After a few months off, actors return in June to film eight final "bonus" episodes, due next January. Chase says he agreed to extend the series when he couldn't fit two important plots into the upcoming batch. But he's sticking with his original plan for how to end it, which he conceived more than two years ago.

Like most things Sopranos, the end is shrouded in secrecy: The show's stars say they have no clue about their own fates.

"I will not give up any info," longtime director Tim Van Patten says. "My friends know better than to ask; omertà reigns supreme."

Things kick into high gear with a momentous event near the end of the premiere. Look for major story lines involving Soprano son A.J. (Robert Iler), who gets a job, and Mob lieutenant Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri, who has "two very big personal issues that he deals with this year that are monumental," actor Tony Sirico says.

Bracco says she, too, has more screen time, "which I'm happy about, but it's also fun because it means Tony's trying to work it out" with his longtime therapist.

In the series' second overseas trip — following Season 2's sojourn to Italy — Carmela and Rosalie Aprile win a trip to Paris. And the wiseguys take center stage with plenty of maneuvering for position and influence.

"There's a lot of jockeying going on, and that in itself should provoke a lot of fans' interest," Sirico says.

Great attention to detail


There was plenty of movement on five vast soundstages at Silvercup Studios here last month as Gandolfini, Edie Falco (Mob wife Carmela) and Iler filmed a tense family scene in the Soprano living room. The room is part of a meticulously crafted copy of a real suburban McMansion in North Caldwell, N.J., that was used in the series pilot. But this season, the series spent more time on location in New Jersey than ever before.

Each episode takes about eight days to prepare and 15 to film, double the length of a typical network drama. The shoot is preceded by "tone meetings" with Chase, at which minutiae and an overall vibe to each episode are discussed. "It may not seem like it, but these are complicated story lines, so it takes a lot of work," Van Patten says. "Part of the success of the show is it's so detailed."

Viewers may be forgiven if they're hazy on such details or exactly where the show left off in — wow — June 2004. (Tony and Carmela reconciled, Sack was arrested, Christopher's fiancée, Adriana, was whacked and cousin Tony Blundetto was blown away by Soprano, who spared him from torture.)

"I don't remember where we left off, in a way," Gandolfini says. "The last hiatus was long, and it took a while to get back in" when shooting resumed in April.

"I personally prefer a month and a half off and get back to work. You get into kind of a groove."

Says Sirico, echoing the now-familiar complaints of viewers who are unaccustomed to such interminable breaks: "Coming back was wonderful. In terms of waiting to come back, it was horrible."

Bracco says she and fellow castmates tired of answering the same question for fans: When? "We just wanted to get T-shirts that said, 'Shut up, already!' "

But if history is any guide, most think the portrayal of a typical suburban family with a very atypical occupation is worth the wait. It's the most-watched series ever to air on cable; it averaged 9.8 million Sunday viewers for its fifth season and 11 million for its fourth. And it's one of TV's most acclaimed series, with multiple Emmy and Golden Globe awards, including the best-drama Emmy in 2004.

Befitting a show in its sixth season, characters have matured since the premiere in January 1999.

Tony is now "a middle-aged man, and he's not immune to any of those changes that happen, both physical and psychological, and emotional," Chase says. (He does seem to have put on weight.)

"Tony has mellowed a little bit, just out of necessity," Gandolfini says. "He was driving himself crazy, so he has calmed down."

And just as he and Carmela have recovered from a stormy fifth season of marital discord, his relationship with protégé Christopher "is becoming more one of equals, which is probably good."

"Christopher has matured," Imperioli says, to the point of ratting out his snitching fiancée. "I guess he sees himself more as an equal than he actually is with Tony. He has gotten closer to him in life experience, (where) there was much more of a generation gap" in earlier seasons.

But the biggest changes this season are in Soprano offspring Meadow and A.J., who have grown up and are now more aware of their dad's Mob life, enjoying its perks and yet struggling to deal with it.

"Neither one of those kids are kids anymore, and yet they're not prepared to be adults," Chase says.

This season's guest stars include Julianna Margulies (ER), who plays a real estate agent named Julianna; Hal Holbrook as a former Bell Labs scientist who crosses paths with Tony; Ben Kingsley as himself; and Elizabeth Bracco (Lorraine's sister) as a wiseguy's wife. Also returning are Jerry Adler (Hesh), Tim Daly and Frankie Valli.

Though he has changed his mind twice before, Chase insists this season really will be the last. He agreed to next winter's eight episodes — a pattern identical to the final year of Sex and the City - for creative reasons.

"There were two story lines that were supposed to be in the final season that we never got to, we never had room for," he says. "One of them ties all the way back to the beginning of the show."

Plans for what's next


Chase is asked why he thinks fans are so passionate about the series. "I would wish it was because of the top writers, that it didn't make sense some of the time, it was well executed, and it was mysterious," he says. "Maybe The Sopranos is happening down the street."

Although there is plenty of work to do, cast and crew already are thinking of life after the show. Gandolfini is still toying with playing Ernest Hemingway in a biopic, though he's finding it a long and difficult process to set up the project at a studio.

Sirico hopes to play second fiddle in a sitcom "as somebody's Uncle Carmine, just out of the can. That would be fun."

Imperioli is waiting for "whatever comes along" and says he doesn't necessarily favor movies over television.

But Chase wants to make a feature film and is mulling ideas for a comedy or psychological thriller.

Now that the final season is extended, a Sopranos movie is less likely, though the actors say they're game. Even Chase "couldn't rule out the fact that somebody might want to do a movie that takes place over one or two days in 2005, something that happened in the last Sopranos you never saw," as a stand-alone prequel to this season.

Gandolfini has another idea: "I was hoping we'd do a Gilligan's Island dream. I'd be the captain, and I'd pin him with a hat all the time. Edie and Sharon (Angela, who plays Rosalie) can be Marianne and Ginger. The professor would be Stevie Van Zandt," aka Silvio Dante. And Steve R. Schirripa, who plays Tony's new brother-in-law Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri: "Thurston Howell."

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[Thorpe]

I thought that was old news. I could have sworn I heard something about that a year or so ago when they first started talking about the new season. I'm not sure though, I have never watched Sopranos, I just always hear my friends talking about it.

[Kan]

Ya I think it was announced awhile back this season will be the last. I never watched much of this show minus season 2 cause a buddy has it on DVD plus I dont have HBO.

[Thorpe]

A friend of mine had read an article that believed the promotional poster for the final season is actually portraying the death of the main character, who is surrounded by his family and in the window's reflection, you can see his doctor (psychologist I think). I found it a cool idea after looking at the poster. I want to start watching from season one. My friends all tell me the earlier seasons are better anyway.

[Ham n Cheese]

Trailer looks really sweet, can't wait.

[xeg_IS]

Been waiting a long time for this.

[Cybsled]

Too bad they bumped Deadwood to June...was supposed to be out in March as well.

[Grimmlokk]

They had to. If they had the pure concentrated awesome of Tony Soprano and Al Swearengen on the same night they'd lose millions of viewers to spontaneous head explosions.

[Frax]

Originally Posted by Cybsled

Too bad they bumped Deadwood to June...was supposed to be out in March as well.

They moved Deadwood because it is able to draw a crowd on its own like the Sopranos, and unlike the new show that premieres after the Sopranos next week. I would assume next year, Deadwood will start in march in the Soprano's slot.

[Cybsled]

Those hooplehead cocksuckers!!!

[Cybsled]

A friend of mine had read an article that believed the promotional poster for the final season is actually portraying the death of the main character, who is surrounded by his family and in the window's reflection, you can see his doctor (psychologist I think).

It could also represent him shutting everyone out or feeling alienated. Notice that everyone is outside of the house except the psychologist, who is hiding behind the door. Also notice the people...all the people in his "mafia" family are looking at Tony. His real family + shrink arent looking at him. There is a clear division between both groups.

[Zarniwoop]

Season 5 packed in so much awesome: Johnny Sacks maneuvering to take control of NY; Tony's cousin (Steve Buscemi) getting out of jail and trying to make a clean break; and, Adrianna ratting to the feds.

Here's an AP article on Season 6.

Reproduced:

'Sopranos' creator is still family boss
FRAZIER MOORE
Associated Press

NEW YORK - Even as "The Sopranos" returns Sunday with its first new episode since June 6, 2004, long-deprived fans can be pardoned for wondering: What took David Chase so long?

Clearing his head? Racking his brain?

It turns out that, whatever Chase was up to as he prepared to push beyond the 65 installments aired thus far, the "Sopranos" mastermind spent his time well.

To judge from four previewed episodes, the season that awaits us (9 p.m. EST Sunday on HBO) is richer, deeper and more thrilling than ever as it probes the world of New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano.

How has Chase done it?

"I give a lot of weight to luck," he says.

A slight man with sad, seen-it-all eyes and a wry sense of humor, Chase has greeted a reporter to the "Sopranos" production offices at Silvercup Studios in Queens. The airy loft space is the polar opposite of the tomblike back office frequented by Tony (series star James Gandolfini) and his crew at the Bada Bing! strip club. Here are 30-foot ceilings and broad windows displaying the Queensborough Bridge arching over to Manhattan.

But despite the cheery setting, "don't get too comfortable" stayed on Chase's mind as he crafted this sixth season.

"We are here for a certain period of time," he says, trying to sum up the season's overriding theme, "and how much of your life are you gonna choose to spend with distractions? How do you make your choices? What is important?"

Sounds like, on some level, the end is closer than we think. Gulp.

Of course, fans are full of end-is-near talk concerning the show. Somewhat premature? A dozen episodes are ready to go, then another eight air early next year. That means almost one-fourth of the ultimate 85-episode "Sopranos" canon is yet to be seen.

Cold comfort for insatiable "Sopranos" fans. And in direct proportion to our growing dismay that the series must, indeed, eventually conclude is our gnawing curiosity: How will it all end?

Years ago, Tony Soprano imagined his options during a gloomy psychiatric session: "dead, or in the can."

But it will be Chase - who has a writing or co-writing credit on some 20 episodes and supervises all the rest, along with every other detail of the series - who will make that final call. He is the supreme being who concocts The Chart, from which all narratives and scripts emanate. The Chart, whose episode-by-episode and character-by-character coordinates pin down "The Sopranos'" destiny. The Chart is finished, Chase says.

Granted, it's subject to revision.

"Usually I try to stick to my first impulse," he explains. "But it could be that we get close to what I thought was gonna be the ending we planned, and something better will come along into our heads."

He notes that shooting will continue through December. Post-production won't wrap until next March.

So maybe the end ISN'T closer than we think.

Elsewhere in the Silvercup complex - Studio X - it appears to be business as usual. In the Soprano living room the latest family crisis is erupting. Teenage son A.J. (played by Robert Iler) has screwed up again.

"So," rails his mom, Carmela (Edie Falco), "every time I said to you, 'How's work?' and you said, 'Fine,' you were having your own private little joke on me?"

"What's going on?" says Tony, entering through the front door.

"I went to Blockbuster today to rent `Cinderella Man,'" Carmela fumes, "and guess what?"

"It still sucks."

"I found out that our son, the liar, had been fired three weeks ago!"

"From Blockbuster!" Tony is a mix of rage and bewilderment. "How the f--- do you do THAT? They got rhesus monkeys as managers there!"

But while shooting the scene, Gandolfini stumbles over a word. He lets out a frustrated growl. While the cameras reset, his meaty hand seizes his script (individually numbered and boldly labeled "CONFIDENTIAL") to check his lines.

The episode, airing late this season, is directed by Tim Van Patten, whose many "Sopranos" installments include last season's execution of beloved mob moll Adriana, as well as "Members Only," this Sunday's premiere.

A director of clearly diverse skills (his credits include 30 segments of "Touched By an Angel"), Van Patten is already waxing nostalgic.

"There's not gonna be a day I drive over the Queensborough Bridge and see Silvercup and don't think, 'Those were great days,'" he admits. "It's very strange to sense the end. No one says it out loud, but the actors are feeling it."

Steven Van Zandt feels it and he says it out loud.

The longtime guitarist in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, he made his acting debut as Silvio Dante, Tony's pompadoured consigliere. Growing reflective in his Manhattan office-studio (where he champions rock-and-roll on his nationally syndicated radio show, "Little Steven's Underground Garage"), he says he'll miss the "Sopranos" gig.

"It's such a mental vacation to be somebody else, to be out of my own world," he says. "Being Silvio is my meditation."

Thinking back on the lifestyle he has helped portray during the "Sopranos" run, Van Zandt can't help but laugh. For all the focus on the show's violence, much of how Silvio, Tony and the rest occupy themselves is playing pool at the Bada Bing! or sitting around in front of the pork store, reading The Racing Form.

"I think one of the most remarkable things David and the other writers have accomplished is turning a very mundane existence into something compelling," Van Zandt says. "When you look at what mob guys are doing today, it's not the Roaring Twenties."

It's just one more reason why "The Sopranos" was a very long shot to get a greenlight as a series, and no one knows that better than Chase. The premise: a basically unlikeable guy at the center of a mob drama. "How tired is THAT!" laughs Chase.

Even when the series got HBO's go-ahead, he figured it would air one year, tops. The first season's 13 episodes were in the can before the January 1999 premiere. And if a few plot strands were left dangling (item: where did "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero disappear to? Chase originally had no idea), he figured, who in the audience would care, or even notice?

Then "The Sopranos" caught on, but big. In Season Two, Pussy (a close Soprano operative turned FBI informant) had to be accounted for, and was, to his ill fortune. Through the subsequent run of "The Sopranos," the narrative strands would multiply and the series would expand into a population whose ever-more-entangled connections defy even Chase's own immediate recall.

"There are other writers here who remember more than I do," he admits. "What I probably have, more than anybody else, is a sense of the family Tony Soprano came from."

After all, the 60-year-old Chase was the only child in a New Jersey Italian-American family whose difficult mother famously inspired Tony's hateful mother, Livia.

"I have Tony's background in my head very clearly," says Chase. "I keep creating his back story as we go along, and it seems like I'm the only one who can do that, or should."

He points to psychiatrist scenes where Tony recounts his past to Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco): "I think the other writers feel that I'm on more solid ground writing about that. Because they might go off some place where I would say, `THAT never happened' - not that ANY of it ever happened - more likely than I would say, 'I don't believe Tony would do this in the present day.'

"It's been enjoyable to see all those connections happen, and to have the history kind of branch out," he adds.

"I sort of made my bones on `The Rockford Files,'" he says, referring to the lighthearted 1970s drama about private eye Jim Rockford. "It was a great show to work on. But Jim never really changed, or his father, Rocky, or Dennis, the detective. Nothing interwove. That's how television used to be."

Chase would have been happy to keep "The Sopranos" a series of freestanding hours.

"HBO was more enamored of a serial structure than I was," he says, "but the first season I tried to keep the serial element to a minimum. My goal was to do a little movie every week about a different subject. That's always been what we tried to do. But over time, as the universe expanded, the serial elements have grown larger.

"I still hanker to do more stand-alone episodes," he says.

Indeed, this season's second episode, "Join the Club," which Chase wrote, sets in motion an underlying story of mistaken identity that could stand on its own as a modern "Twilight Zone" yarn.

Like most, that episode is sparked with dialogue where characters reveal themselves (to the audience, at least) as either clueless, or lying, or hiding from the truth.

In a tender moment, Carmela tells Tony, "You're a good father. You care about your friends."

Say what?!

Chase chuckles. "The best part of writing the show is that whatever the person is saying is not the real world. Everything is a lie, or at least 80 percent of it. 'I love you, T!' The character is habitually saying that which isn't. And that's fun."

Fun for the writers, and fun for the audience, who catch the oh-so-cagey characters as they expose themselves repeatedly.

So perhaps the viewer has been put on notice: Look for no grand lessons here from Chase, other than the human penchant for commingling untruths with the real thing.

And don't try to second-guess him on how the series will end. Not when Chase, who oversees perhaps the most meticulously executed show in TV history, can say, "Control is an illusion."

But even so ... er ... how about a few tea leaves for fans to read?

"I guess," Chase offers, "the question is: `Do we really believe that crime does not pay?'" He shrugs. "That's what we're told. That's what most gangster films have told us. Is there justice in the world?"

So, whatever it is that Chase happens to believe, that might have some bearing on the series' grand conclusion?

"Yeah, I think so," he says, mulling it over. "I think so."

[Grimmlokk]

Pretty cool article on David Chase killing characters.

[Cybsled]

Holy shit...I totally did not see the end of that episode coming. Pretty good way to start the season ;p

Will Tony's fat save his ass? ;p

[Fender]

I'd say he survives. He got the call off....and if you remember from William Shatner and Rescue 911 they do send someone out there!