- October 2008
- May 2008
- December 2007
- September 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- November 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- July 2004
- June 2004
- May 2004
- April 2004
- March 2004
- February 2004
- January 2004
- December 2003
- November 2003
- October 2003
- September 2003
- August 2003
- July 2003
- June 2003
- May 2003
- April 2003
- March 2003
- February 2003
- January 2003
- December 2002
- November 2002
- October 2002
- September 2002
- August 2002
- July 2002
- April 2002
- March 2002
- February 2002
- January 2002
- December 2001
- November 2001
- October 2001
- September 2001
- August 2001
- July 2001
- March 2001
- February 2001
- January 2001
- December 2000
- November 2000
- October 2000
- December 1969
Community
Friends
News
Sopranos Sites
Syndicate
You must now register to post on the message board. Too many guests and anonymous users. This is for the betterment of the board and for clarity. Please take the time to register as it is a quick and easy process.
Outrageous Fortune, which will screen on TV3 next year, is being tipped as a Kiwi version of Sopranos, based on a family who make their living from crime.
It is the first adult drama series to be given taxpayer funding in more than a year - the last was TVNZ’s Insider’s Guide to Happiness. Funding agency New Zealand on Air (NZOA) had a surplus of more than $5m in its drama budget last financial year after TVNZ’s Mercy Peak and Street Legal, and TV3’s The Strip, were axed.
The $5.3m NZOA funding is one of the biggest sums given to a series and reflects the rising cost of production, said NZOA chief executive Jo Tyndall.
TV producers say a major knock-on effect of the growing film industry is the pressure it is putting on resources, fuelling price hikes across the sector.
South Pacific Pictures, which makes Shortland Street and NZ Idol, is producing the 13-part show, which will begin shooting early next year.
South Pacific managing director John Barnett said Outrageous Fortune was expected to feature well-known Kiwi actors. The key figure was a woman in her mid-to-late 30s.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe series, written by Serial Killers’ James Griffin and Mercy Peak’s Rachel Lang, would focus on the fall-out as the family tried to change its ways. He hoped the show would appeal to TV3’s target demographic, 18 to 49-year-olds, to ensure its future.
“We certainly hope this will run into a further series. It’s been set up so that it can, but at the end of the day that’s up to the audience and broadcaster.”
A TVNZ spokeswoman said the broadcaster had some drama series in development for next year, including a sequel to Insider’s Guide to Happiness.
Tyndall said she hoped to see more co-operation from broadcasters to ensure shows were not axed without replacements.
“It did, somewhat frustratingly, get to a point where all three (Mercy Peak, Street Legal and The Strip) had reached the end of their lives at the same time,” she said.
NZOA’s strategy aimed to have three local dramas across the major channels (TV1, TV2 and TV3) at one time.
“It’s been of some concern to us, particularly in Auckland, there’s been very little local drama production for the last year or so.”
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 24 - Can HBO keep soaring?
Despite this cable channel’s extraordinary dominance at the Emmy Awards on Sunday night, HBO executives insist that the best is yet to come. Rival television executives, perhaps thinking wishfully, say they are not so sure.
They note that HBO’s most prestigious and popular drama series, “The Sopranos,” will not be eligible for Emmys next year because it will not be shown again until 2006. HBO’s most popular comedy series, “Sex and the City,” has completed its run. And other cable channels, notably Showtime, have begun to play on the same creative turf as HBO.But Chris Albrecht, HBO’s chairman and chief executive, said he was confident that the channel would maintain its leadership. “Everyone is always saying, ‘What next?’ ” Mr. Albrecht said in an interview. “We’ve been answering that ‘what next?’ question for a long time.”
On Sunday HBO won 32 Emmys, far more than any other nominee, and almost double the number it won last year. “Angels in America,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Tony Kushner, which HBO turned into a two-part mini-series, won 11 Emmys, breaking the mini-series record (nine) set by ABC’s “Roots” in 1977. At the same time, after consistently losing to NBC’s “West Wing,” “The Sopranos” finally won as best drama series.
Among the HBO series returning this season are the acclaimed dramas “The Wire” and “Six Feet Under,” as well as “Deadwood” and “Carnivale,” which have had mixed receptions. Its comedies include “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “Entourage.” None of these shows have yet gained the audiences of “The Sopranos” or “Sex and the City.”
The new HBO series include “Big Love,” about a polygamist with three wives, and “Rome,” about that city’s ancient past. Forthcoming films include “The Life and Death of Peter Sellers,” with Geoffrey Rush and Charlize Theron, and “Empire Falls,” based on Richard Russo’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel. HBO is also developing a comedy series starring Lisa Kudrow, formerly of NBC’s “Friends.”
Mr. Albrecht said he believed that HBO’s dominance was partly explained by its ability to reach deep into the creative community. Top filmmakers and actors not often involved in television, like Steven Spielberg, Mike Nichols, Tom Hanks, Al Pacino, Emma Thompson and Meryl Streep, have worked on HBO projects.
Television executives _ - including Robert Greenblatt, president of entertainment at Showtime; John Landgraf, president of entertainment at FX; and Doug Herzog, president of Comedy Central - said HBO’s impact derived largely from doing what Mr. Landgraf called “highly idiosyncratic, original and character-driven shows.”
As a result of HBO, television’s creative landscape has changed, especially in the cable arena, but also in the networks.
“One could make the claim that ‘Arrested Development’ is more of an HBO show than a network show,” Mr. Herzog said, referring to the Fox comedy about a bizarre family, which won this year’s Emmy for outstanding comedy series. “On our show ‘The Daily Show,’ HBO helped kick the door down on that one for us. And F/X shows like ‘Nip/Tuck’ and ‘The Shield’ and ‘Rescue Me,’ they kind of stole the HBO playbook a little bit, too.”
Mr. Landgraf said that the broadcast networks had generally become “creatively conservative, creating a kind of orthodoxy about having franchise-driven shows that are more story driven than character driven.”
But HBO “became the premier stop for talented writers and directors for quality television,” he said, adding, “We and several others want to create a similar haven for real quality.”
FX’s season pilots include “Starved,” described by the network’s executives as a dark comedy about eating disorders, and “Home Front,” a series about American soldiers in Iraq and their families by Steven Bochco, the producer of “NYPD Blue” and “L.A. Law,” and Chris Gerolmo, the writer of the 1988 film “Mississippi Burning.”
The USA Network’s “Monk” has already won an Emmy for its star, Tony Shaloub, playing a neatness-obsessed crime investigator.
Read the rest of this entry »
WHEN James Gandolfini read his first “Sopranos” script, he loved the show, but thought he was all wrong for the lead role.
“I got the script and I remember reading it and I was laughing out loud, and I said, ‘There’s no way I will be able to do this,’ ” Gandolfini tells James Lipton in an interview for “Inside the Actors Studio” scheduled to air Sunday, Oct. 17, at 8 p.m. on Bravo.
“I really thought that they would pick someone, you know, different than I — [a] suave, good-lookin’ mafioso guy, you know, somebody a little more [of a] leading-man type, basically,” says the actor, who rarely grants interviews.
Despite initially picturing Tony Soprano as a thinner man than he, Gandolfini soon became comfortable in the role.
“How important is Tony’s weight?” Lipton asked.
“Actually, it’s important,” answered the thickset thespian. “When I do get thin, which is not often, but when it does happen, I don’t feel the same. I don’t walk the same [and Tony] doesn’t walk the same.”
In the interview, the fun-loving actor reveals that he relieves tension on the “Sopranos” set by dancing a hula or mooning Lorraine Bracco, who plays Tony Soprano’s psychiatrist, Jennifer Melfi.
The Gandolfini interview is one of several new episodes that will kick off the 11th season of “Inside the Actors Studio.” The season starts with Jennifer Lopez on Oct. 10, followed by Gandolfini on the 17th, William H. Macy on Oct. 24 and comedian George Carlin on Oct. 31. — Adam Buckman
Drea de Matteo’s character on The Sopranos has been killed off, but the actress is leaving the door open for her to return.
Speaking with reporters backstage at the Emmys, de Matteo — who won for supporting actress in a drama series for her performance as Adrianna — said she is still under contract to The Sopranos, and ready to go back if they call her.
I don’t know if (Adrianna’s) dead, said de Matteo. I believe she is, and if she is, she’ll probably come back and haunt them because she’s the innocent and they killed her.
That recalls a storyline involving Salvatore ‘Big Pussy’ Bonpensiero, played by Vincent Pastore, who was killed but came back to haunt mob boss Tony Soprano.
Writer Terrence Winter, who won an Emmy for the episode in which Adrianna was killed, reminded entertainment journalists that it happened off-camera.
I didn’t need that image in my head of a character I’ve come to know and love over the years, he said.
Winter said only creator-producer David Chase knows where The Sopranos will go next.
I’m not going to know what’s next until at least January, when we go back to work, he said.
Editor’s Note: I wouldn’t be suprised if she was back just as every other character that has been killed off has come back for various appearances in hallucinations and dream sequences.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The dark side of American life dominated the 56th annual Emmy Awards Sunday as the mobsters of “The Sopranos” and the AIDS victims of “Angels in America” walked off with top awards, making cable network HBO king.
But the evening had a sentimental side as the stars of two recently departed prime-time comedy favorites — Sarah Jessica Parker of HBO’s “Sex and the City” and Kelsey Grammer of NBC’s “Frasier” — won the best acting awards in their categories.
The evening also had its surprises with the award for best comedy going to “Arrested Development,” a critical darling on the Fox network that is struggling to survive poor ratings. And the award for best actor in a drama went to film star James Spader for his portrayal of an unethical lawyer on the final season of ABC’s “The Practice.”
After four previous losing bids for top honors, “The Sopranos” finally claimed the elusive crown as U.S. television’s best drama, rubbing out competition from defending champion, NBC political drama “The West Wing.”
“Angels in America,” an adaptation of Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play about the AIDS epidemic, won 11 Emmys, the most of any show this year, and eclipsed the miniseries record of nine Emmys set by ABC’s seminal slavery drama “Roots” in 1977.
“Angels” stars Al Pacino and Meryl Streep picked up the awards for best lead actor and lead actress in a miniseries. “There are some days when I think I am overrated, but not today,” a delighted Streep said from the stage.
“Sopranos,” about a conflicted New Jersey mob boss, earned four Emmys in all. Michael Imperioli was named best supporting actor in a drama series for his role as the hitman nephew, and Drea de Matteo, who played his ill-fated girlfriend won for best supporting actress in a drama series.
Drea De Matteo Wins Emmy Award for ‘Sopranos’
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=entertainmentNews&storyID=6274465
Michael Imperioli Wins Emmy Award for ‘Sopranos’
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=televisionNews&storyID=6274251
Nods to the Mob couple. I knew it would happen.
Well, maybe. But that was what people were saying last year, too.
The HBO show about Mafia boss Tony Soprano and his unhappy mob families has been a critical favorite since its debut in 1999. Every year it’s been nominated for best drama, however, it’s lost — usually to another critical favorite, NBC’s “The West Wing.” That was true even last year, when “Wing” was widely seen as having slipped in quality following the departure of creator Aaron Sorkin.
“‘The Sopranos’ will finally win the best drama Emmy it has deserved for so long. This year nothing comes close,” TV Guide columnist Matt Roush told Goldderby.com, the awards handicapping site overseen by entertainment critic and author Tom O’Neil.
The 56th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards are scheduled for 8 p.m. EDT Sunday on ABC. Gary Shandling will host.
The best drama competition this year includes “The West Wing” — again; “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” CBS’ top-rated show about a police forensic team; Fox’s “24,” the Kiefer Sutherland show about a beleaguered government agent; and “Joan of Arcadia,” the surprise CBS hit about a teenage girl who talks to God.
Both Goldderby’s reviewers and the oddsmakers at WagerOnSports.com have “The Sopranos” as the favorite, and even the competition agrees.
“We’re fairly sanguine that this is the ‘Sopranos’ ‘ coronation year,” Joel Surnow, executive producer of “24,” told The Hollywood Reporter’s Ray Richmond, “and that’s just fine because we’re all huge fans of the show.”
Quality family time with The Sopranos has been hit-and-miss on CTV. But the network has finally scheduled another big whack attack, with the fourth season premiere airing on CKY Ch. 5 Sept. 26 at 10 p.m. When last we saw Tony Soprano on CTV, we were actually feeling kinda sorry for him — he’d just been forced to order Ralphie to kill Jackie Aprile Jr., after all. Still, it was his own fault when he had to send a henchman to put the fear of Mob into his crazy girlfriend Gloria — picking up a woman in Dr. Melfi’s waiting room was just begging for trouble if you ask us.
Anyhoo, the fourth season has plenty of must-see highlights. Heads up for the most shocking episode, in which we discover Ralphie wears a toupee — and bowls. You’ll die laughing when Paulie Walnuts cares, shares and puts the boot in during a hilarious intervention with rehab-bound Christopher. And you can almost feel the heat as Carmela burns with desire for henchman Furio — Edie Falco earns her Emmy Award during a raw emotional showdown with Tony in the finale.
Episodes from the third season repeat at midnight Saturday and Sunday. Home network HBO aired season five earlier this year. The final shows aren’t expected until 2006.
LOS ANGELES - In its four seasons of Primetime Emmy eligibility, HBO’s “The Sopranos” has won 13 statuettes — including three apiece for stars James Gandolfini and Edie Falco.
advertisement
But what has eluded the HBO mob drama — some say inexplicably — is the biggest prize of all: outstanding drama series. In its first year of eligibility — 1999 — the show was beaten by ABC’s “The Practice.” In 2000, ’01 and ’03, it was runner-up to NBC’s “The West Wing.”
The prevailing wisdom now says that “Sopranos” is overdue to be honored with the drama trophy on the occasion of the show’s fifth consecutive series nomination when winners are announced on Sept. 19. And even the competition is conceding it should happen.
“We’re fairly sanguine that this is the ‘Sopranos” coronation year,” says Joel Surnow, executive producer of Fox’s Emmy-nominated “24,” “and that’s just fine because we’re all huge fans of the show. I mean, it’s amazing it didn’t win during its first four seasons. We don’t expect to win. We’ll put on our tuxedos and have a good time. But this seems like it should be the ‘Sopranos” year.”
Well, it’s difficult to argue with that. And “Sopranos” executive producer Brad Grey isn’t about to.
A thrill just to be nominated
“For the academy to acknowledge us with 20 nominations is something we’re just thrilled about,” Grey says of “Sopranos,” which now has 89 lifetime Emmy nominations — or five more than “West Wing.”
“I feel like we had a particularly strong season. This show continues to grow, which is the best part. From the word of mouth we get, it seems that people really had a good time watching us this year.”
Fine, fine — but should the show finally win this year, Brad?
“Obviously, it would be wonderful for everybody to share in a best drama award,” Grey admits. “But it’s not as if we feel like we’re owed anything. It would be nice if we could all share that moment and that recognition together. Still, not to sound too cliched, but the nomination really is a wonderful acknowledgment in itself.”
Yes, it is. This also is how “West Wing” executive producer John Wells views the Emmys, even as his show looks to tie the record held by NBC’s “Frasier” of winning five series trophies in as many years. All told, “West Wing” has 23 Emmys to show for its 84 nominations. And Wells, when informed of the show’s potential to tie the Emmy record, expressed surprise.
“I wasn’t aware of it,” Wells acknowledged. “It’s really been pretty amazing to win year after year. We were hoping really hard to win that first year (2000). Every other time, it’s been a bigger surprise with each passing year. I mean, there are a lot of other terrific shows out there, and at some point, you just look at it as being delighted to be mentioned in the same sentence as ‘The Sopranos,’ as (CBS’) ‘CSI,’ as ‘24,’ as (CBS’) ‘Joan of Arcadia.”’
With the general perception being that “West Wing’s” best days are perhaps behind it, it would shock many — Surnow among them — to see the show win its fifth straight series statuette. But then again, few expected it to win last year, either.
Telling some ‘great, scary stories’
“Like I said, this feels like the year for ‘The Sopranos,”’ Surnow offers. “That isn’t to sell us or anybody else short. For instance, I think we did our best work ever during the second half of last season. From episodes 13 and 14 on, we kicked it into as high a gear as we’ve ever had. I think our cast was exceptional. And we mined some new territory with the story line that charted the release of the virus. We tapped a vein that allowed us to tell some great, scary stories.”
This is the third year in a row that “24” has been nominated for top drama; the show has four Emmy wins in its previous two years of eligibility. It’s also the third straight drama series nod for “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” (which has two wins prior to this year).
“Joan” is the newcomer in this group, a freshman that took advantage of the fact that HBO’s “Six Feet Under” lacked the necessary episodes to qualify this year. “Joan” creator-executive producer Barbara Hall will take it.
“I was surprised we got in,” Hall admits. “I mean, given the competition and the types of shows that traditionally get nominated, it’s really exciting for us to have slipped in there. We really are the little show that could. And we’re trying to be as ambitious as the other shows are, but we do it in such a different arena — with a young girl as our star, Friday nights at 8. This nomination validates the fact that we could examine the subject of spirituality and keep it intelligent and artistic.”
Yet, even Hall is inspired to sing the praises of “Sopranos.”
“I do think it’s the ‘Sopranos” year,” Hall offers. “I have to say that as a fan. It’s hard to deny them. But I also have to think it’s possible for us to win. The fact that we even made the list means we can’t be ruled out.”
Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.