What Curtis Sliwa, Ron Kuby, Peggy Noonan, and Jody Applegate said about the Sopranos grand finale.
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Showing posts with label Television. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Television. Show all posts
Monday, June 11, 2007
Whacked Ending for HBO’s The Sopranos?
The Sopranos’ ambiguous ending was seen by millions last night and there is a wave of discontent and puzzlement sweeping the land. No doubt, opinions of the outcome will be expressed in Peoria as well as in New York but you expect New York City pundits to be all over the story.
Jody Applegate of FoxNews 5 had a live and simultaneous hookup with Curtis Sliwa and Ron Kuby of the Curtis and Kuby morning radio show. The idea of any New York City morning show is to get it and spit it fast. Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, stuffed his mouth with onion rings, aping the last scene of the long-running Soprano series. Applegate offered an opinion of the symbolism of the cat, saying it was the ghost of Adrianna sent to haunt the family. Ron Kuby joked that he thought his television cable was knocked out in the last scene before the credits, a blank screen which lasted a suitably long time.
Was the ambiguous ending a setup for a major motion picture? Tony sits with his enduring wife and both his offspring in the retro New Jersey restaurant where he started his life and career. Director David Chase set up the scene in classic paranoid style with the camera eye traveling across a broad spectrum of likely killers: a man in a fishing vest, another “guy” from North Jersey who goes into the bathroom ala Michael Corleone in The Godfather, a couple of people who might have been street gangsters who could be paid to kill you for less than you would pay for parking in a New York parking garage. The whole scene fades to black and we never find out.
Never finding out is a good ending if real life is your model. We live in the present and anything could happen. Peggy Noonan had it right in her Wall Street Journal column in characterizing David Chase as a prophet of a “Post 9-11 future.” Life is not a guarantee and that general insecurity is what causes guys like Tony Soprano to take chances. Whether you’re whacked today or whacked by old age is immaterial to people like Tony. The illusion of comfort and security is something more difficult to maintain after what happened as the result of those airplanes that hit New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. The Director’s concern for all that was seen in the little subplot of the Salafists who moved into Tony’s neighborhood and caused him some consternation.
But geez, what happened to that Phil Leotardo guy was awful! That was the only sure thing about The Sopranos ending. Those who like definite endings to their stories didn’t’ like it very much. Without a doubt, neatly tied up endings provide a great deal of satisfaction because an audience can put it behind them. That’s not going to happen with The Sopranos and that’s the way Director Chase wanted it. You can’t “fuggedaboutit”.
Jody Applegate of FoxNews 5 had a live and simultaneous hookup with Curtis Sliwa and Ron Kuby of the Curtis and Kuby morning radio show. The idea of any New York City morning show is to get it and spit it fast. Curtis Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels, stuffed his mouth with onion rings, aping the last scene of the long-running Soprano series. Applegate offered an opinion of the symbolism of the cat, saying it was the ghost of Adrianna sent to haunt the family. Ron Kuby joked that he thought his television cable was knocked out in the last scene before the credits, a blank screen which lasted a suitably long time.
Was the ambiguous ending a setup for a major motion picture? Tony sits with his enduring wife and both his offspring in the retro New Jersey restaurant where he started his life and career. Director David Chase set up the scene in classic paranoid style with the camera eye traveling across a broad spectrum of likely killers: a man in a fishing vest, another “guy” from North Jersey who goes into the bathroom ala Michael Corleone in The Godfather, a couple of people who might have been street gangsters who could be paid to kill you for less than you would pay for parking in a New York parking garage. The whole scene fades to black and we never find out.
Never finding out is a good ending if real life is your model. We live in the present and anything could happen. Peggy Noonan had it right in her Wall Street Journal column in characterizing David Chase as a prophet of a “Post 9-11 future.” Life is not a guarantee and that general insecurity is what causes guys like Tony Soprano to take chances. Whether you’re whacked today or whacked by old age is immaterial to people like Tony. The illusion of comfort and security is something more difficult to maintain after what happened as the result of those airplanes that hit New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. The Director’s concern for all that was seen in the little subplot of the Salafists who moved into Tony’s neighborhood and caused him some consternation.
But geez, what happened to that Phil Leotardo guy was awful! That was the only sure thing about The Sopranos ending. Those who like definite endings to their stories didn’t’ like it very much. Without a doubt, neatly tied up endings provide a great deal of satisfaction because an audience can put it behind them. That’s not going to happen with The Sopranos and that’s the way Director Chase wanted it. You can’t “fuggedaboutit”.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Good-bye, Sopranos - Hello, John from Cincinnati
Bloomberg News Television reported recently that some folks at HBO headquarters were worried about the bottom line now that The Soprano’s is set for its final series segment. I’m talking about the really, really final segment. Most other final segments were followed by other final segments, and The Sopranos has, in recent years, found itself in the position of an aging fighter still unwilling to retire.
But that’s neither here nor there. Sunday June 10 is the final run for the long running series which made lots of people happy and rich. HBO is owned by Times-Warner Corporation which has cable and telecom divisions among other things. It seems weird that one television production company could impact the profit margins of a giant like Time-Warner but that’s what the moneybags executives were talking about.
John from Cincinnati is the new show which will replace The Sopranos, June 10, the last episode for the Sopranos. HBO has a good idea in airing the new series shows just after we find out whether Tony Soprano gets it by the feds or by the rival mob factions. One feels a little sorry for Tony. It’s been pretty clear in the recent episodes of The Sopranos that things are falling apart with the family. It’s positively strange how a person as mundane and law-abiding as me has a twinge of sympathy for a man of pathological ambitions. That’s a tribute to the talent of The Sopranos producers, directors, writers, and cast. Of course, the success of The Sopranos also plays upon the corruption that lurks in our larcenous hearts.
Right after Tony Soprano goes down in a hail of bullets along with the antagonistic and highly grating Phil Leonardo, the moment will be right for the John from Cincinnati to walk onto the scene. The scene is Southern California, close to the Mexican Border on a strip of beach famous for its surfing. Surfing on the West Coast of the U.S. has a deeper, more imbedded mystique than it does on the East Coast. It’s a kind of religion, in fact, and its gods are the Surf Gods and Goddesses, the often blond-haired, blue-eyed Adonis and Venus types who seem not to be really there when you talk to them. In fairness, it must be said that a large part of the reason surfer boys and girls seem to be “not there” is because they don’t want you to be there. Surfers prefer the company of the raging Pacific waves to people and you have to have a big wave land on you to really appreciate their power, attraction, and allure. Especially if you survive.
John from Cincinnati is many generations later than the first Big Kahunas. Surfing has become a well-known money and glamour sport. Surf stars have become surf bums. Old Kahunas have given way to new stars. The enclave comprises three generations of the Yost family deteriorating in successive generational waves. Their best hope for future surfing stardom lies with Shaun, the thirteen-year old son of a drug and alcohol addicted father named Butchie. Butchie still has it in him to be the best but instead of waves, he surfs alcohol, memories, and whatever intoxicant he can get his hands on.
Shaun’s grandmother Cissy (played by Rebecca De Mornay of Dogtown) is the driving force riding herd on this wild bunch. Aside from managing the surf shop which provides a living for the Yosts, Cissy is a rock of stability in a world of shifting water and sand.
Cissy is not your average granny nor does she look like what most folks think of when they think “granny”. . She’s a creature of the Southern California beaches, a heady world of sun, fun, flame, fame, and pleasure seeking. Cissy uses all the tools she’s learned in her life to ride herd on this wild bunch. She’s the type of woman young Shaun needs in his corner if he’s going to make it to the top in the surfing world. The idea of a thirteen year old threatened with the prospect of tumbling into an abyss of family dysfunction is a solid one and we get by with a little help from our friends.
That’s where John from Cincinnati comes in: mysterious, unknown, enigmatic. His character adds an additional spirit-world dimension to the lives of the Yosts and to the community in which they live. Not everyone appreciates the stranger in their midst.
A key element in this HBO venture is the mysterious, ethereal, and spiritual world. The concept of magic and mystery is now so familiar to film and video audiences that it does not take away from the “reality” of a plot any more than daydreaming is a reason for any of us to be locked up in a nuthouse. The physical, emotional, and spiritual worlds are intertwined as we go in search of the big wave in our daily lives. We’re not robots, after all, and it will be a long time before legions of the world’s best scientists will be able to put a robot on a board, let it pick a wave, and run it successfully through a massive pipeline.
John from Cincinnati will be fun if the HBO talents that guide it can sustain it over a long period of time. California surf culture endures.
But that’s neither here nor there. Sunday June 10 is the final run for the long running series which made lots of people happy and rich. HBO is owned by Times-Warner Corporation which has cable and telecom divisions among other things. It seems weird that one television production company could impact the profit margins of a giant like Time-Warner but that’s what the moneybags executives were talking about.
John from Cincinnati is the new show which will replace The Sopranos, June 10, the last episode for the Sopranos. HBO has a good idea in airing the new series shows just after we find out whether Tony Soprano gets it by the feds or by the rival mob factions. One feels a little sorry for Tony. It’s been pretty clear in the recent episodes of The Sopranos that things are falling apart with the family. It’s positively strange how a person as mundane and law-abiding as me has a twinge of sympathy for a man of pathological ambitions. That’s a tribute to the talent of The Sopranos producers, directors, writers, and cast. Of course, the success of The Sopranos also plays upon the corruption that lurks in our larcenous hearts.
Right after Tony Soprano goes down in a hail of bullets along with the antagonistic and highly grating Phil Leonardo, the moment will be right for the John from Cincinnati to walk onto the scene. The scene is Southern California, close to the Mexican Border on a strip of beach famous for its surfing. Surfing on the West Coast of the U.S. has a deeper, more imbedded mystique than it does on the East Coast. It’s a kind of religion, in fact, and its gods are the Surf Gods and Goddesses, the often blond-haired, blue-eyed Adonis and Venus types who seem not to be really there when you talk to them. In fairness, it must be said that a large part of the reason surfer boys and girls seem to be “not there” is because they don’t want you to be there. Surfers prefer the company of the raging Pacific waves to people and you have to have a big wave land on you to really appreciate their power, attraction, and allure. Especially if you survive.
John from Cincinnati is many generations later than the first Big Kahunas. Surfing has become a well-known money and glamour sport. Surf stars have become surf bums. Old Kahunas have given way to new stars. The enclave comprises three generations of the Yost family deteriorating in successive generational waves. Their best hope for future surfing stardom lies with Shaun, the thirteen-year old son of a drug and alcohol addicted father named Butchie. Butchie still has it in him to be the best but instead of waves, he surfs alcohol, memories, and whatever intoxicant he can get his hands on.
Shaun’s grandmother Cissy (played by Rebecca De Mornay of Dogtown) is the driving force riding herd on this wild bunch. Aside from managing the surf shop which provides a living for the Yosts, Cissy is a rock of stability in a world of shifting water and sand.
Cissy is not your average granny nor does she look like what most folks think of when they think “granny”. . She’s a creature of the Southern California beaches, a heady world of sun, fun, flame, fame, and pleasure seeking. Cissy uses all the tools she’s learned in her life to ride herd on this wild bunch. She’s the type of woman young Shaun needs in his corner if he’s going to make it to the top in the surfing world. The idea of a thirteen year old threatened with the prospect of tumbling into an abyss of family dysfunction is a solid one and we get by with a little help from our friends.
That’s where John from Cincinnati comes in: mysterious, unknown, enigmatic. His character adds an additional spirit-world dimension to the lives of the Yosts and to the community in which they live. Not everyone appreciates the stranger in their midst.
A key element in this HBO venture is the mysterious, ethereal, and spiritual world. The concept of magic and mystery is now so familiar to film and video audiences that it does not take away from the “reality” of a plot any more than daydreaming is a reason for any of us to be locked up in a nuthouse. The physical, emotional, and spiritual worlds are intertwined as we go in search of the big wave in our daily lives. We’re not robots, after all, and it will be a long time before legions of the world’s best scientists will be able to put a robot on a board, let it pick a wave, and run it successfully through a massive pipeline.
John from Cincinnati will be fun if the HBO talents that guide it can sustain it over a long period of time. California surf culture endures.
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