The Sopranos
April 3rd, 2008
The Sopranos has proven to be one of the most popular dramas on television and is the most popular cable drama. More than 13.4 million viewers watched the premiere episode of the fourth season. The Sopranos has been a critical success as well. Is it is frequently hailed as the top drama series and is cited as one of the best shows on television. TV Guide magazine ranked the Sopranos fifth in its list of the "greatest of all time" television shows. The show has received numerous Emmy award nominations and won the Emmy for outstanding drama in 2004. The show has also taken home at least one acting-related Emmy award every season.
However, not everyone joins in the glowing praise of this dramatic presentation. The show is often criticized for its stereotypes of Italian Americans. Several national groups who advocate on behalf of Italian-Americans have been quite vocal in their opposition to the show. In some cases, the cast of the Sopranos has even been barred from participating in public events.
The Sopranos was created and is produced by David Chase, who served as show runner, executive producer, and head writer during the eight years the show was in production. In addition to writing several episodes per season, he would oversee all the editing and do extensive re-writing of episodes written by other writers. Many members of the creative team behind The Sopranos were handpicked by Chase, some being old friends and colleagues of his, others were selected after interviews conducted by producers of the show.
Many of the show's writers wrote for television prior to the The Sopranos. Writing team and married couple Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess, who together wrote or co-wrote 19 episodes of the series between 1999 and 2006, had worked with Chase on Northern Exposure. During the early stages of the show's development, Chase approached the two about a position as staff writers. Two-time Emmy Award-winner Terence Winter, who became a writer for the show during its second season, practiced law for two years before deciding to pursue a career as a screenwriter, eventually catching the attention of Chase. Matthew Weiner, a staff writer during the show's final three seasons, wrote a spec script for a show called Mad Men in 2000 (it was eventually produced by AMC in 2007). The script was passed on to Chase who, after reading it, was so impressed that he immediately offered Weiner a job as a writer for The Sopranos. Two cast members have also written episodes for the show: Michael Imperioli, who plays Christopher Moltisanti, is also a screenwriter and has written five episodes of the series, many of which deal with Italian-American issues; Toni Kalem, who plays Angie Bonpensiero, also wrote the season five episode "All Happy Families...".
Most of the exterior shots of the series were filmed on location in New Jersey, with the majority of the interior shots—this includes most indoor shots of the Soprano residence, the back room of the strip club Bada Bing!, and Dr. Melfi's psychiatrist's office—filmed at Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, Queens, New York City. The pork store, a frequent hangout for the mobsters on the show, was in the pilot known as Centanni's Meat Market, an actual butchery in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The meat market was supposed to be a recurring location but because it was a real business it could not keep closing for shooting. After the series was picked up by HBO, the producers leased a building with a store front in Kearny, New Jersey. For the remainder of the production period, this building served as the shooting location for scenes outside and inside the pork store, now renamed Satriale's. After the series ended, the building was demolished. Bada Bing!, a strip club owned and operated by the character Silvio Dante on the show, is an actual go go bar on Route 17 in Lodi, New Jersey. Exteriors and interiors (exception-the back room) are shot on location. The club is called Satin Dolls and was an existing business prior to the show starting. The club continued to operate during the eight years the show was filmed there and continues to do so now. As such, a business arrangement was worked out with the owner. Locations manager Mark Kamine recalls that the owner was "very gracious" as long as the shooting didn't "conflict with his business time." All the exterior and some interior shots of the Soprano residence were filmed on location at a private residence in North Caldwell, New Jersey.
The central character, Tony Soprano, is portrayed by James Gandolfini. Gandolfini was actually born in New Jersey where much of the show is filmed. Anthony "Tony" Soprano is the quick-tempered and fierce Underboss or de facto Boss of the New Jersey-based DiMeo crime family and patriarch of the Soprano household. Tony begins to suffer from depression and have many panic attacks after years of stress over his "business" and a difficult childhood. He seeks treatment from Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco). Tony Soprano's therapy and interaction with his therapist, Dr. Melfi, have played a continuing central role in the show's plot. Adding to Tony's complicated life is his strained relationship with his wife Carmela Soprano (Edie Falco)and their two children, Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) and Anthony Junior (Robert Iler).
To get a sense of how The Sopranos drama series changed TV, get a pen/pencil and make a list of the 10 best TV dramas before 1999. That list will very likely include Magnum, P.I. This mafia saga showed just how complex and involving TV storytelling could be, inspiring an explosion of ambitious dramas on cable and off. In Tony Soprano's world, it wasn't the Mob that kept pulling you back in to old, destructive patterns, it was your family: your controlling mother, your maddening wife, your feckless kids. Meanwhile, the big-F Family drama of the declining Mafia business offered popcorn entertainment alongside the deeper insights. Some fans may have hated the series abrupt ending, but the fact that the show's last moments obsessed us demonstrates that America never stopped believin' in the power of this story.
