Entries Tagged 'Sopranos' ↓

The most searing, scarring, difficult, rewarding piece of television you are likely to see anytime soon debuts on HBO Sunday night. "Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq" is a deceptively simple production. On a darkened stage, young, horribly wounded Army and Marine veterans of the Iraq war sit and talk one-to-one about their experiences to "Sopranos" star James Gandolfini. The actor is often silent, sitting nearly with his back to the camera, saying only as many words as needed, in most cases, to keep the vets talking. But the effect is devastating.
These soldiers were victims of IEDs and other awful weapons. And they all perhaps would have died on the battlefield but for the miracles of combat medicine. The soldiers all know their "Alive Day," the day they didn’t die, as a second birthday. But that does not mean their second lives are easy. Sgt. Bryan Anderson lost both […]

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Although the Michael Imperioli story didn’t make the front page, the headline was worth waiting for:
IT’S A BADA-BOOM
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A pipe bomb exploded early this morning on a ledge by the entrance to a Manhattan theater studio owned by "The Sopranos" star Michael Imperioli. A mob message? Or just someone pissed off by the "fade to black?" At this point, no clues. But given that his character, the late Christopher Moltisanti, was always trying to blend show business and funny business, ya gotta wonder. You also know the Post is going to find a pithier way to say it than "Life Imitating Art?"
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The 2007 Primetime Emmy Awards will be handed out Sept. 16 in Los Angeles, live on Fox, in a ceremony hosted by Ryan Seacrest. And it seems like now is a good time to get our predictions in the major categories on the record, before fall premieres clog our bandwidth next week. Four days, 10 categories, and absolutely nothing at stake except our honor: Write your own joke. Today, we consider the four comedy-acting categories.
Best Supporting Actor In A Comedy nominees: Kevin Dillon as Johnny Drama and Jeremy Piven as Ari Gold on HBO’s "Entourage"; Neil Patrick Harris as Barney Stinson on CBS’ "How I Met Your Mother"; Rainn Wilson as Dwight Schrute on NBC’s "The Office"; Jon Cryer as Alan Harper on CBS’ "Two And A Half Men."
MeeVee’s take: Dillon’s nod is frankly a surprise. Piven won last year and could repeat, but "Entourage" has slipped a […]

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The critics were articulate and funny in presenting two trophies to "The Sopranos" at last night’s TCA Awards. "Sopranos" creator David Chase (below, with Robert Iler) thanked a long list of people but was otherwise a man of few, funny words. Here are the highlights:
Molly Willow of the Columbus Dispatch, presenting the award for Outstanding Achievement in Drama: After eight years of some of the best writing and performances
ever on on television (we) love the show so much, we didn’t want to see it end. And
as it turned out, we didn’t. (Laughter.) …
In this, its final season, we enjoyed everything from
discourse on Yeats to the proper rules of monopoly, and had one final excuse to
convince our editors to put in the paper the words Big Pussy. (Laughter.) … After nine episodes and perhaps television’s best squish
sound effect with an SUV tire, we had no idea what was coming next, […]

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This short but hilarious post from TV Squad outlines "Five Child Rearing Tips I Learned from the Sopranos Finale," beginning with Don’t let your children park their SUV in the forest. Of course, Livia’s tips might be different.
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Sales of Journey singles have skyrocketed since The Sopranos finale, and Hillary Clinton seems to have jumped on the bandwagon for both the band and the show, with this new campaign spot:

But it’s worse. Much worse. Yes, she’s still put herself in the position of Carmela Soprano, but she’s ended up with a genuinely terrible campaign song: "You And I" by melismatic Canadian singer and embarrassment to humanity Celine Dion.
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TMZ reports that fans won’t stop downloading Journey’s "Don’t Stop Believing" after the song was featured in the controversial final scene of the "Sopranos" finale. The song was up 482% and hit #1 on the iTunes rock chart.
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"The Sopranos" creator David Chase hasn’t been willing to comment on the "fade to black" ending, but everyone else in the world has. Now James Gandolfini, who plays Tony Soprano, has added his two cents: he’s got no more clue than anyone else.
OK, we get it: the ending is ambiguous. Now, if David Chase would only explain the one correct interpretation, we could all get some rest.
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We’ll give it to our friend Tim Goodman of the SF Chronicle and the Bastard Machine blog, who has a long, impassioned and funny screed about this week’s debate over the "Sopranos" finale. He is, of course, entirely wrong about which of the two plausible answers is correct. The abruptness of the cut to black makes it very clear to me that Tony got whacked - and the identity and motives of the shooters matter no more than the indictment issues Tim dismisses for the "life goes on" side. But he gets everything else just about right.
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