Fair point thatOriginally Posted by Passenger
The only one I have watched fully again is Sopranos.
I did start to do MadMen again but it was too soon after initial warch but will watch again for sure.
The Mrs never got into the Wire so if I rewatch that it's on my own.
I notice there's a new series of Fargo now too which I can't get her interested in.
It’s gets better every season unlike most series that get worse.
The first season watching back is a bit of a slog with it focused of Tony’s mental health and his mother.
I despise his mother as a character !
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Lyvia was a monster.. Uncle Jun' until he lost his marbles was sharp as a tack, on Lyvia, ''like a woman with a virgina ham under each arm singing the blues because she's got no bread''
https://www.google.com/search?q=like...3GmEU0eF0,st:0
Funny that, I don't like his mother, either.She looks like a bloke in drag.
The actress actually died half way through filming season 1.
If you look closely you’ll realise she is computer generated for the back end episodes.
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It's just occurred to me, I gauge a truly great TV series now on something a member here said when I finally got into Sons of Anarchy: "I'm incredibly jealous of you getting to watch if for the first time".
That just sums up a show with a great story and enough twists to keep you guessing. I still love Sons but it hasn't aged quite as well as The Sopranos. Even so, it's up there as one you really should watch once. Opie... my god, that scene haunts me to this day.
SOA was a guilty pleasure during lockdown for me when I was off. Watched it all.
TBH not in the same league as these other shows mentioned but it was addictive.
The last 2 or 3 series were preposterous especially the IRA nonsense.
Really enjoyed SOA and yes the Opie scene was a tear jerker.
The acting is borderline laughable at times but the more you watch you seem to forget / accept it and it’s a thoroughly enjoyable watch.
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S.O.A. was very big in the day. I remember having a kid in class with a 'S.O.A. Afghanistan' t-shirt. His dad was in the army and he was on a mission and stationed in Kabul. When he returned, he brought that shirt home for his son.
I’m rewatched it again last year. To my mind it gets better with repeated viewings.
I had forgotten about the Intervention scene. It absolutely cracked me up!
Tony Scrico (Paulie Walnuts) in that scene... and honorable mention to Andrea DeMateo for her New York (New Jersey) accent.
During the Sopranos Tour we did, the guide told us that James Gandolini was not happy with the way the crew was paid. He bought 450 watches for all the crew members and gave everybody a watch. Worth about 2 million dollar. (He was paid enough for his role to be able to spend that).
lots of good ones already mentioned , i'll throw boardwalk empire and the shield in there (for newer narcos and gangs of london are also good)
SOA is good for one watch only , i watched it when it first came out and tried to rewatch it again last year - it was just laughable (bad acting /same routines over and over) - for some reason every time they jumped on the bikes to chase after someone i kept thinking that it needed the benny hill music playing.
They were Kobold watches, some in solid gold - Gandolfini was a friend of Michael Kobold and somewhat of an ambassador for the brand - bought as mementos during the final season.
Following a very acrimonious pay dispute with HBO, which involved retaliatory legal actions and a threat by HBO to cancel the show, Gandolfini shared his multi-million dollar windfall with the main cast, presenting each with a $33,000 cheque from his own money, totally circa $0.5m.
Whilst no doubt due to his genuine generosity, part of it might have also have been a little sheepishness on Gandolfini’s part for the delay, uncertainty and threat caused by his pay stand off.
The pressure, very heavy workload, attention and media scrutiny associated with such an iconic and key role meant Gandolfini was often difficult to be around on set, working himself into an agitated state, literally beating himself up at times in frustration at missing lines. He often wore his trademark heavy bathrobe under the hot studio lights to make himself feel uncomfortable, all the better to help portray the rage and edginess associated with Tony Soprano. He called in sick, refused to work or missed shoots, all of which wasted huge amounts of time and money (the Sopranos was a very expensive production) for the cast and crew, including going missing on one occasion for several days.
Perhaps in apology, he would pay out of his own pocket for a sushi chef or masseuse to attend set as a treat.
The physical, emotional and mental toil of playing Tony Soprano, and the bleed-in from the more troubled, substance abusing side of Gandolfini’s personal life, in tandem with his much-loved character traits, combined to make his multi-faceted mafia boss portrayal a fascinating and towering acting achievement.
Still need to watch this!
Fair enough and I did enjoy Ozark fwiw though I can't recall great lines, scenes, certainly not to the same extent as Sopranos, just as another example of qualitative difference. Oz was very good at conveying the sense of the family´s claustrophobic isolation, the precarious situation, danger as Marty and his wife struggle to keep the plates spinning but I feel dramatically it just doesn´t offer the same breadth, nuance, humour and just occasionally as a viewer, I felt Marty´s money laundering Macgyverism was implausibly too convenient. To call Ozark a one trick pony would be unfair, but... can you see my point at all ...Have you watched the Sopranos btw?
Last edited by Passenger; 18th January 2024 at 11:28.
No argument in terms of your view, as for all of us we're subjective in our responses. Re Sopranos, I never managed to stay with it... not sure why, but worth another shot, I think.
Talking of subjectivity, SoA isn't fit to be spoken about in the same breath as the other top notch fodder mentioned in the thread (IMO, obvs).
SOA not in the same league, agreed...rewatch it, I wouldn't.
I've decided to watch The Sopranos from the beginning again. It's donkey's years since I watched it so it'll feel quite new I suppose.
Sopranos is magnificent, I watch the whole series at least once a year and it improves with age. The Wire is also fantastic. BCS is essential, Bob Odenkirk is genius in it.
True detective series 1 is also terrific.
I enjoyed BB but I’ve never felt the need to watch it again.
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I finally watched the wire end of last year and yes it lived up to its reputation
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When I tell pals I havent watched the wire, their face
On my list to watch, I haven't seen it.
Tried the Wire couple of times but I don’t really get into it. Watched Sopranos last year for the first time. Indeed superb
I enjoyed The Sopranos until the end of the last episode. That ending just ruined it for me. It was lazy, and all the superb writing was undone for me. Never re-watched it, never will.
Or was it genius. You do know David chase had the ending written right from the start. It’s even implied in the first episode
I've never been a huge fan of US Gangster things.
Some of the period movies, I've liked, but, for instance, The Godfather movies were OK, but I've never felt any urge to rewatch them.
As such, neither The Sopranos or Breaking Bad have ever really appealed.
I tried The Wire a couple of times, but couldn't get into it (I found the dialogue impenetrable!)
Mad Men LOOKED great, but after watching all of it I was left wondering why I'd bothered.
Another series people rave about is True Detective, so I tried watching the first episode of that and found my attention wandering off.
I do have a cold, so I've decided to come back to it sometime, perhaps.
Perhaps, though, the whole environment is just too alien for me to really engage with?
Suggestions (elsewhere) to 'watch all season 1 and then you'll get into it by half way through season 2' (of something) haven't really inspired me either.
Series like Hill Street Blues and the later The Shield were big favourites of mine, though.
M
Last edited by snowman; 20th January 2024 at 16:38.
Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
Snowman, the True Detective series are all stand alone shows - new story, new cast, new setting... completely separate to what's gone before. I enjoyed the first series, didn't really enjoy the second but loved the third.
We watched episode 1 of the new series last night and while it looks intriguing I'm not feeling any chemistry or charisma from either of the two leads. It's too soon to write it off of course but I had high hopes when I saw Jodie Foster attached to the project.
I have watched the Wire and the Sopranos all the way through many times each. Love them both and would probably say the Sopranos just edges it but close enough don't really care?
When I first watched Breaking Bad I felt the same but it doesn't stand up on a re-watch. Better Call Saul is better, they are both excellent shows, but Sopranos and Wire are elite and hit a different level.
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This.
We took many tries until it clicked. Worked on the fact there must be something amazing to have had so many series. By my own logic I’m going back to the slowest series ever next week; The Wire, as can’t have been as bad as I’ve seen it as!
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Yes, I knew they were separate storylines for each series, a bit like Fargo (I'm hoping the next series will end up on terrestrial TV sometime as I'm not paying for Prime for it, but the trailer looked far more promising than the last series, which we gave up on very quickly), but it was Jodie Foster's inclusion in the latest one that encouraged me to take a look at it.
On that basis Coronation Street must be the best programme on TV!
M
Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
Spot on.
At the time it was first aired I screamed at the TV "WTAF" at that ending.....but over time it became so clear it was, as you say, a genius ending to 6 magnificent seasons of "The Soprano's"
As someone else here has done I also took the Soprano's tour (our guide for the day was "Vito" AKA Joseph R. Gannascoli as at that time he was a minor member of the cast) soon after the TV series was a hit and it was a fantastic day out for any true fan of the series. We even had a quiz on coach going around New Jersey and after ptting my hand up 4 times in a row with the right answer (won some pasta and cannoli's !!) my girlfriend at the time said "If you answer one more obscure question and win all the prizes we will get lynched at the end of the tour........" LOL
Shame we didn't get to see the Soprano family house at 14 Aspen Drive, North Caldwell as that was too far out on the day but it is still possible to visit it today and annoy the new owners who bought it in 2019......
Thing was that on that tour most of the US folks were not the obsessive type of fan that I don't mind admitting I am. I've watched every episode and all 6 series dozens and dozens of times and still re-watch every year when it is on Sky Atlantic. For me it's still by far the most complete TV series ever made and the attention to detail and authenticity (for example, the vast majority of the whole cast are New Jersey born and bred and 90% of the location shoots were always shot there and not in LA on a soundstage/location plot) was just incredible.
I've also avoided watching "The Many Saints of Newark" to avoid tainting the memory of "The Soprano's" but I might weaken and watch one day and scream at the TV all over again!
If you can get through the first season and into season 2 you will be hooked.
Gotta say I watched the Many Saints of...I felt it was almost disrespectful, undermining-betrayal even to what the Sopranos is, don´t waste your time would be my advice taking on board how much you evidently enjoyed the show...or watch if you must with the notion in mind it´s not really linked to the show.
Last edited by Passenger; 2nd February 2024 at 10:12.
I have persisted with the Sopranos, and yep ..... it gets better and better.
I am now onto Series 3, and the characters are really coming out.
Some genuine laugh out loud funny moments, including the scene at Tony's Mothers funeral!
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Waste Management Consultant.
Felt the same, it’s akin to the special episode of only fools and horses. Ruins it’s for me .Gotta say I watched the Many Saints of...I felt it was almost disrespectful, undermining-betrayal even to what the Sopranos is, don´t waste your time would be my advice taking on board how much you evidently enjoyed the show...or watch if you must with the notion in mind it´s not really linked to the show.
Last edited by eagletower; 16th March 2024 at 09:52.
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