I’ve been slacking
I’ve heard that in order for your blog to have a realistic chance of being taken “seriously,” that you need to add at least three entries per week. As you can tell, I’m kind of falling behind in that regard. What can I say? I’m not really in a bloggery state of mind.
So, about this Sopranos mishegas…
From what I’m seeing, the percentage of people who were satisfied with how the show ended seems to be right up there with President Bush’s approval rating, and I can understand why. You watch a show for eight years, put up with its ins and outs, wait eons between seasons, and when the show finally reaches the conclusion everyone’s been waiting to see for almost three years, all they see is the screen go to black. Tony doesn’t get whacked, and we have no idea what actually happened. On top of it all, the show concludes with a cliched song from the second most boring band of all time (after Rush). So I can see how people would get frustrated on many levels.
But, as a writer, I could see where David Chase was going with that ending.
I was arguing this point with my TV Squad boss Keith today (via IM, of course); as the writer of the show, Chase had every right to end it the way he saw fit, whether the audience was going to like it or not. Keith, on the other hand, argued that Chase had a duty to his loyal viewers to give them closure and a satisfying conclusion. Things were getting so heated between us, that I was sorely tempted to use a growling emoticon to indicate that I meant business.
OK, it wasn’t that bad. And normally, I’d agree with his argument. But The Sopranos is on HBO, which isn’t governed by ratings and advertising like a basic cable or broadcast network would be. This allowed Chase to have almost complete freedom when writing his show. This allowed him to create some of the most artistic and gripping drama TV has ever seen. So why is it such a surprise that he created an ending that was unlike any other seen on TV before? It seems odd that the same people who praised Chase and the show for being so daring the last eight years would now be completely pissed off that he didn’t give them a pat ending.
Of all the people who could shed some light on the matter, leave it to TV comedy legend Ken Levine to put things in perspective. Instead of boringly giving his opinion on the matter (like I just did), he illustrated what the Sopranos finale would have looked like if it was on a major network. He may exaggerate here and there — “We come back just as Meadow bursts in the door with an Uzi and blows the bad guys away” is one of his funnier changes — but much of the rest of it you’ve seen many times before.
So be happy that Chase did something a little bit different. Having Tony look back on an empty Badda Bing club and turn off the lights would have betrayed everything the series was about.
OK, now on to more important matters. Maybe I’ll post about Paris Hilton tomorrow… (cough cough)
i think the rule of thumb that suggests you have to post x number of times a week is outdated. maybe back in the day, when people followed only a handful a blogs, and manually checked them every day, they wanted/needed new content to stay interested. but now, with RSS feeds the norm, and people following 10’s or 100’s of blogs on some level, who cares? i’d rather read one good post every 2 weeks than 3 filler posts a week. god knows there’s enough filler out there.
as far as Chase’s ending goes, i think it was just as clever (and powerful) as the rest of his show. i would have expected no less. how could there be closure to a story like this? why would there need to be a neat and tidy ending? these people’s lives aren’t ending in June of 2007 for cryin out loud, only the show is. and you don’t get to watch any more of their lives unfold. oh boo-hoo.
June 14th, 2007 at 6:30 amCreed thoughts only updates once a week.
I thought the Sopranos ending was cocky and original. What plot points needed to be wrapped up in the episode? The show was bigger than a few quick answers, and I’m not even sure what the questions were.
And, are people really upset that a show about life in North Jersey ended in a diner with a cheesy 80s song playing? Could there have been a more appropriate setting?
June 18th, 2007 at 4:33 pmAlthough I didn’t really like the ending, I gave Chase the credit for doing it the way that he wanted. Too many shows try to button everything up almost too perfectly for their finales, which is almost just as bad as not giving us any answers like The Sopranos. One of my favorite finales has been Six Feet Under — I thought they told us enough to satisfy us but didn’t compromise the integrity of the show or characters to do so (like suddenly getting Ross and Rachel back together for the very last show).
June 26th, 2007 at 2:40 pm