The season 6 semi-finale of The Sopranos is upon us. Make your predictions for “Kaisha”, episode 77 right here.
Synopsis by TV.com:
Phil Leotardo is not happy with the current situation. Meanwhile, Chris is becoming more like Tony. Tony helps Carmela go back to work, and A.J. finds that his job has some fringe benefits.
Posted May 22nd 2006 1:14AM by Tom Biro
(S06E11) It’s probably not too often that an actor comes up with a plotline idea for his own character that is not only successful in keeping people interested in the show, puts his tv self in harm’s way, and it’s a good thing. For those of you waiting to see what would come from Vito’s “situation,” let’s just say, this was what you’ve been waiting for this whole season. It amazes me to think back to how long ago it was in real time to when Vito was seen by Finn on the construction site, but it’s all good now.
If there was anything that this show brought even more to life, it was the “things that irk Tony.” We open up to Carm giving AJ the business because he was apparently fired from his job at Blockbuster - three weeks ago - and has somehow been going on $1000 nights hanging out with Hernan and his pals. Outside of that, Vito tracks down Tony at the mall to ask if he can “buy back in” to the family. Tony does more or less what you’d expect, snubbing him and throwing out some insults in the process. Something makes me wonder, though, whether or not Vito would have appealed to Tony’s good side had he not brought his brother along for “protection.” Between that situation, and the fact that Phil Leotardo and his hairstyled pal continue to drive the Jersey boss mad, it was enough to cause problems that will be felt for awhile.
Vito somehow decides that getting his whole family together and telling his kids that he works for the CIA and might have to go away again for a little while is a good idea. Of course, that was just one of the few steps that would be his undoing. Although, for a moment, his wife seemed like she appreciated the effort he made. Calling one of the boys and seeing if he can get a little more help working his way back into the business was the issue, though. It was pretty clear that he got sold down the river for $20k. It’s not exactly thirty pieces of silver, but don’t be surprised to see that guy killing himself, or being killed, should anyone ever find out that he sold Vito out to the New York crew. Not that the boys wanted to protect Vito, but with the killing of one of his murderers by Carlo and Sil, trouble has been stirred up.
The promos for next week talked a lot about the family being gone, and having issues. Are we looking at all-out war between New York and New Jersey? Now that Tony’s had a little bit of a taste for what he used to be up to - or perhaps just the stripper did - and he’s being as raw with his kid as his father (and so on) was with him, things are-a-changin’.
Column by Tom Burns, contributing editor
Previously on The Sopranos:
Johnny Sack took a fifteen-year plea bargain from the Feds and no one’s that happy about it, particularly his right-hand man, Phil. A.J.’s bar tabs are out of control, Carmela’s spec house is going nowhere, and Paulie Walnuts has prostate cancer. Oh yeah, and Vito’s back in town.
This week: “Cold Stones”
Say a prayer for the Johnny Cakes man.
This week, The Sopranos finally ended the sad, surprising tale of Vito Spatafore, the gangster who was forced out of the closet and wound up facing some pretty harsh consequences. Let’s be honest. Vito wasn’t the nicest guy in the world, but you’ve got to hand it to Joseph Gannascoli for taking a fairly minor figure in the Sopranos universe and turning him into a strangely compelling leading character.
Maybe it was the sensationalism of the subject matter, but the Vito storyline has been one of the least predictable elements of The Sopranos’ sixth season. (It didn’t help that the Internet was packed with fake spoilers. Certain sites swore that the crew filmed a brutal rape scene between Vito and Meadow’s fiancée, Finn, which turned out to be bunk.)
In “Cold Stones,” Vito’s back in Jersey and he sets up a clandestine meeting with Tony to discuss getting back into the life. Tony’s indignant, but Vito offers him $200,000 and pledges to set up business in Atlantic City, away from the family, but close enough to be a top earner. Tony wants to consider it, but Phil Leotardo’s out for blood, particularly now that Johnny Sack is stuck in jail. As acting head of Johnny’s family, Phil now controls plenty of union “no show” jobs that Tony’s associates need for health benefits, so if Tony backs Vito… there’s going to be trouble. Tony eventually decides that siding with Phil makes better business sense.
It’s particularly sad because Vito is trying to reconnect with his family, claiming he was never gay in the first place and taking the kids out to brunch at Rockefeller Center. Vito eventually calls Jim, his “Johnny Cakes” man back in New Hampshire. Vito argues that he came back for his family, but Jim accuses him of simply missing the gangster life. Vito eventually heads back to his motel, where Phil and his crew are waiting for him. Vito’s gagged, beaten to death, and molested with a pool cue before they’re finished with him. (The episode’s saddest moment comes when Vito’s kids finally read the truth about their dad’s lifestyle and death in a newspaper.)
Staff and agencies
22 May, 2006
By MELISSA RAYWORTH, For The Associated Press 22 minutes ago
“The Sopranos” has always been a curious hybrid — a drama that mixes the bloodiest violence with achingly tender moments. This week was no exception: While Carmela contemplated the meaning of life on a trip to Paris with Rosalie Aprile, brutal murders took place back home.
In the role of stay-at-home mom Carmela, Edie Falco is most often seen reacting to others rather than charting her own course. So it was refreshing to see Falco given the chance to drive the action in her scenes last night — though, try as she might, it wasn‘t possible to inspire her shallow pal Ro to ponder life‘s larger questions.
Only one new episode remains before the show‘s final hiatus, so it‘s unlikely Carmela will uncover the truth about Adriana‘s death anytime soon. But another subplot has been fully resolved: Vito was beaten to death by two of Phil‘s goons, after he‘d begged Tony for a chance to rejoin the family. (In a painful scene, Vito‘s young children read a newspaper report about his death and discovered that he‘d lied about being a CIA agent. This is another of the show‘s strong points: It rarely glosses over the reality of pain.)
Meanwhile, Tony ordered A.J. to work at a construction job or lose his car. To make sure his coddled son got the point, Tony smashed the A.J.‘s windshield — a fairly violent move, but far tamer than anything Tony‘s own father would have done. Perhaps, in his awkward way, Tony is on the verge of discovering the balance of love and boundaries that A.J. needs to flourish.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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The scene, filmed during production of the first season of “The Sopranos,” certainly looks familiar. There is Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, swallowing a Prozac and chaser at the bar of the Ba Da Bing! strip club, when a television report reduces him to tears with the news that the acting boss of his crime family has died of cancer.
As the pole-dancing and music grind to a halt, one of the dancers, in an apparent allusion to the Kennedy assassination, says, “I’ll never forget where I was this day.”
While close viewers of “The Sopranos” on HBO may well remember such a scene in the series’s fourth episode, this particular version, shown to a reporter in an editing suite recently, contains an obvious revision: the dancer and her two colleagues, who were topless when last seen on HBO, have since been strategically covered up by what appear to be skimpy bathing suits.
The scene, and hundreds of others from the first five seasons of “The Sopranos” (as well as its current, sixth iteration), are in the process of being edited ever so slightly by the A&E Network. This basic-cable channel has, in effect, been sanitizing those episodes as it prepares to begin showing “The Sopranos” in syndication next January.
Though A&E, like HBO, is exempt from the Federal Communications Commission guidelines on nudity, violence and coarse language that apply to the broadcast networks, it differs from HBO in two critical respects: it is advertiser-supported, and, because subscribers do not pay a premium to receive it, it is available in three times as many homes as HBO.
And so, just as TBS did when it began showing syndicated episodes of “Sex and the City,” with ads, in 2004, A&E has been pruning “The Sopranos” of material that it fears may be too risqué or vulgar or grotesque — not only for basic-cable viewers but also for the luxury car companies, soft drink manufacturers and other advertisers that may eventually choose the series as an opportunity to reach consumers. A&E, which is available in about 90 million homes, will begin selling those ads next month.
In choosing to strike a balance between censoring itself, and not diluting a series that relies heavily on its grittiness, Bob DeBitetto, executive vice president and general manager of A&E Network, said that he and his colleagues are relying as much on gut feeling as anything else. Among the test questions they have asked themselves about potentially problematic moments are: “What’s the use of it in the context of the shot? Is it gratuitous?”
As A&E works its way through the project — it is currently deep into screening episodes from the first two seasons — Mr. DeBitetto says that he has already been surprised by one dynamic: that the network has actually had to designate very little to cut. On average, it has trimmed less than 30 seconds from each episode, which can run from 45 minutes to nearly an hour. One reason, Mr. DeBitetto said, is that so much of the tension in “The Sopranos” hinges on the unseen anticipation of violence. And when someone does die in a “rubout” or “whack,” Mr. DeBitetto said, those scenes are often no more gruesome than those one might see on a drama like “24″ on broadcast television.
In such instances, loyal viewers may be hard-pressed to determine what exactly A&E has retouched. For example, in one scene from the first season, two of Tony’s lieutenants, Silvio (played by Steven Van Zandt) and Christopher (Michael Imperioli), put a bullet through the head of a quivering turncoat who has been found to be wearing a wire. In the edited scene, as in the original, blood splatters on a nearby wall. All that is missing in the edited version of the shot is perhaps two seconds of film in which what appeared to be a chunk of brain matter began to slither down an air-conditioning unit.
Considering that so many scenes from “The Sopranos” are set in the Ba Da Bing! or involve Tony’s infidelities — and with so much of the dialogue between him and his crew peppered with expletives — A&E has also done a fair amount of screening for obscenity and vulgarity. But there again, the network — which paid HBO an estimated $2.5 million for each of what will ultimately be 85 episodes of “The Sopranos” — has been the beneficiary of what it describes as a welcome surprise.
As they were working, David Chase and the other producers of “The Sopranos” had the foresight to film alternative versions of numerous scenes, which may not be as compelling but are invariably less provocative. They also had the actors record alternative dialogue, known as loops, in which sound-alike words (like “freakin’ “) were substituted for what they said originally, and which will be surgically dubbed into a scene, sometimes mid-sentence.
“Unless you’re an expert,” Mr. DeBitetto said, while showing one such shot to a visitor, “I defy you to see a ‘lip flap’ there.”
All of that material — which had been prepared, not necessarily with an eye on syndication, but in anticipation of “The Sopranos” being shown internationally — has been made available to A&E.
New York Daily News
May 6, 2006
It’s sad to say, but “The Sopranos� just isn’t what it used to be.
Eight episodes into the new season, and it’s merely a good one, not great. The first episode on March 12 was solid and an excellent way to return to HBO’s lineup. Since then the show has sunk to just so-so levels.
I expect more from this show. I think most people do.
Yet, compared with any other quality drama, “The Sopranos� has more not-sohot episodes in a season than any other. And this season, the one we waited 18 months for, has had more clunkers than a used car lot.
ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy� puts on 22 episodes a season and it doesn’t have this many low episodes. FX’s “Rescue Me� didn’t have any notgreat episodes in its last 13-episode run. Fans of “24� continue to rave about the quality of the current run.
What’s wrong with “The Sopranos�?
This season, some plot points have been telegraphed so easily, a third-grader could figure them out. Really, was there anyone who didn’t think Johnny Sac would be pulled out of his daughter’s wedding early, or that Vito would hook up with the cook of his favorite Johnny Cakes?
The reason for killing Frankie Valli’s Rusty Millio was unexplained and a waste. Artie Bucco’s (John Ventimiglia) restaurant antics felt like this season’s Columbus Day Parade episode — a throwaway to rest tired writers.
And Christopher, one of the most intriguing characters of this fictional mob, has been relegated to extra status this year.
“The Sopranos� can get away with this shortfall because viewers and critics tend to grade this week’s episode on a curve with the previous five seasons. That means a bad one this week is offset by the memories of what we saw in, oh, season three, when the show was so far above anything else on TV, it stood alone.
There’s also a tendency in some quarters to judge the show based on what creator David Chase might give us down the road. That is, judge it not on what we’ve seen, but where we think we might be heading.
That’s not good enough.
The landscape has changed a lot since “The Sopranos� first hit big, and the show hasn’t been able to keep up.
Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who plays Meadow, was asked by Maxim about her favorite episode. She chose “College,� the series’ fifth episode in the first season. That’s an interesting choice by Sigler and notable because it happened long ago.
One blockbuster episode at this point can’t make the whole season special. What’s worse is this mess won’t sort itself out until 2007, when the final eight episodes hit HBO.
Chase has said at each renewal point in his run at HBO that he would only continue forward if there were good stories to tell. I’m afraid this show might have gone one season too long.
On TV
“The Sopranos� airs 9 p.m. Sunday on HBO.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=64931
Michael Gannon, Register Staff
05/05/2006
HAMDEN — Loyal viewers of “The Sopranos” undoubtedly will tune in Sunday night to see if someone gets whacked and just how Tony will deal with Vito, who ran away to New Hampshire because he was discovered to be gay.
But loyal customers of DiSorbo’s Italian Bakery on Dixwell Avenue might also see the purveyors of their favorite pastries, including a giant specialty cannoli that truly takes the cake.
“We got a call back in November of last year,” said Joe DiSorbo, part of the second generation that works in the shop. “Someone asking us if we would be willing to donate some cannolis for the show. We thought ‘Yeah, right!’ on the whole drive down to New Jersey. But then we pull into where they’re shooting and the first person we see is James Gandolfini,” who stars as Tony Soprano.
They are sworn to secrecy about plot details, but DiÂSorbo could say he and his brother Stefano were set up at a typical booth one might see at a street fair, adorned with a red, white and green banner emblazoned with their bakery’s name.
The delegation to New Jersey included their parents, Luigi and Linda, sister Lena and her husband, Mathew Sorensen.
“They said they just wanted ordinary people to serve as extras,” Joe DiSorbo said.
Luigi DiSorbo, who founded the bakery on Grand Avenue in 1962, suspects somebody connected with the show must have had a taste of their handiwork while passing through town.
“They wanted our cannolis,” he said. “Everyone loves cannolis.”
Monday, May 08, 2006
By Brian Vanochten
The Grand Rapids Press
Imissed it.
I had made plans to sit through every Barry Bonds at-bat during ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” telecast to see if the controversial slugger might hit his 713th home run.
He had to do it, of course, during the “Sopranos” hour.
Hey, pardon the interruption, but when it comes to capturing our attention, the self-centered, self-loathing Bonds is no match for Tony Soprano and the rest of the goodfellas shooting it up Sunday nights in prime time on the hit HBO series.
Sopranos 1, Bonds 0.
An hour later, I watched numerous replays of Bonds launching a prodigious blast off the facing of the third deck in Philadelphia to pull within one homer of Babe Ruth.
Good enough for me.
The point here is that Bonds chasing Ruth to become No. 2 isn’t something that should bring the sports landscape to a standstill. There’s been much debate about that in the media, with ridiculous charges of racism from ostrich-thinking radio talk show hosts like Bill Simonson of the “Huge Show” on WBBL-AM (1340) screaming the loudest on this non-issue.
I respect that Simonson and much of the sports universe are treating Bonds’ pursuit of the Bambino as a milestone achievement. I just don’t share their enthusiasm.
No place for race card
(S06E09) A lot of fans of the show, including myself, have hemmed and hawed over episodes this season (and heck, last season) when no one was offed, or when a few different storylines were advanced but a lot of the show focused on the inner thoughts of people. This week, there were quite a few “events,” lots of drama, and it was an all around good show.
Christopher conveniently ends up being a father just a day or two before Carmela bumps into Ade’s mother at the Feast - thank goodness Ms. La Cerva didn’t find out that Christopher had gotten married, as well. Additionally, this Christopher-centric episode showed him and Tony having a good old time just moments after getting lost in Western Pennsylvania, in a shoot ‘em up reminiscient of something you might have caught on an old-time gangster movie. And who doesn’t like that?
As much face time as Christopher received this week, Paulie was just as integral to what was going on. His attitude towards the church, which wanted a bump five times higher than it was going to get from the Feast being run by the boys, leads to a few issues, including complaints from the food sellers, and a lack of safety standards from the rides that are featured, as there wasn’t enough money to get the rides that were used in previous years. it had been awhile since Janice had pulled any scams, so when the ride she was on with her daughter and Bobby’s son came to an abrupt halt, and one or two other people on it are injured, she’s just got to make the situation all about her. Of course, this was just to get Bobby to act on the situation, which he eventually did, only after she ratted him out at the Sopranos’ dinner table. And again, the mastery of the editors working on the weekly previews showed Bobby yelling at Paulie last week, and followed that up with Janice yelling for an ambulance. That ambulance, ladies and gents, was for the actual injured boy on the ride, who cracked his teeth on the car. Hoo boy.
Had Tony not gone through the shooting and some other family issues of his own in the last few seasons, I can see him being much less tolerant of what has been going on with Paulie right now. First, Paulie and Vito were looking to screw Carmela while the boss was in a coma, and Vito ended up leaving town just after Carm told her newly awakened husband to keep an eye on him. Somehow, she didn’t feel that Paulie was a problem. Then, Paulie’s mom turns out to not be his mom, he beats up the Barone kid - which I feel will probably come back to bite him - and he might have prostate cancer at this point. Not that any of this is really driving his need to make cash for himself - and kick it Tony’s way, too - but he’s making it seem that way, and Tony is buying it.
Written by Cindy White
Monday, 08 May 2006
With this season’s narrative detours, philosophical journeys and roundabout studies of peripheral characters, it seems as though The Sopranos has been taking a somewhat indirect route to the series climax (which happens in — yikes! —just four more episodes, including this one). In “The Ride,� though, it seems we’re back on track with a story that brings the focus back to Tony and Christopher, with a little Paulie thrown in for good measure.
It’s time for the annual Feast of St. Elzear, a five-day, church-sponsored festival of carnival rides, fried Italian food and prayers to the local patron saint. Paulie is in charge of the “feast,� which, of course, is just a profit opportunity with a little money donated to the church for the sake of appearances. But the ever-inflating cost of the event means that Paulie has to make cuts wherever he can. Instead of the usual company, he hires a shady, fly-by-night operation to run the rides, one of which breaks down (with Janice and her daughter Nica on it), injuring several guests. For the already wound-too-tight Paulie, this is merely the least-important item on a long list of annoyances, beginning with the family situation revealed in “The Fleshy Part of the Thigh� and continuing with a biopsy to test for prostate cancer.
Meanwhile, on a business trip to Pennsylvania, Tony and Christopher come across a pair of bikers loading crates of wine into a truck in a back alley and seize the opportunity for some “old school� snatch and grab. The impromptu mini-heist becomes a bonding experience for them, and it’s clear that for Tony, Christopher is the surrogate son that A.J. could never be: loyal, reliable and ruthless. In the midst of their drunken revelry, we get a flashback to the day Christopher came to Tony with the revelation that led to Adriana’s appointment in the woods in last season’s “Long Term Parking.�
The specter of Adriana looms over this episode in more than one storyline. Carmela runs into Adriana’s mother at the feast, and finds out that she suspects Christopher of killing her daughter (as does the FBI). Carmela confronts Tony about it, but he’s as evasive as usual. She drops the subject, not totally convinced, but not willing to press it either. It’s her typical coping mechanism: What she doesn’t know, she doesn’t have to deal with. This time, however, the signs may just be too hard to ignore.
Having gotten his new girlfriend pregnant, Christopher returns from Atlantic City sporting a wedding ring. He dives into domesticity, even buying a house, but it’s not all as blissful as it may seem. And it can’t compare with the rush of adrenaline that his job gives him or, for that matter, the irresistible high of heroin. Yes, Christopher is officially off the wagon and spiraling downward once more. No matter how he pretends otherwise, Adriana’s death has obviously taken a toll on his psyche.
