Tag: The Sopranos

Quarantine Q2 TV Recommendations

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The obvious question here and one that Red immediately brought up IS the fact that we are not remotely close to being in Q2. And that is true, we are not in Q2….of the year. We are however in our second set of three months of quarantine. Our second quarter-year stuck mostly inside lest we infect ourselves and those around us with the virus named after Dom Toretto’s favorite beverage.

The problem with where a lot of us are at in life and in quarantine is that the obvious choices and nominations for our binging pleasure have indeed been binged. There are fears out there that we may even run out of T.V. That is why, spoiler alert, streaming services are already resorting to throwing the metaphorical spaghetti against the wall in the form of uploading shows from other English speaking areas of the world such as the UK and Australia. They are also banking, with some success, that we’ve expanded our horizons enough to have the patience to deal with either dubs or subtitles and have pushed foreign shows to our monolingual asses.

These and a few others make up my second hack at aggregating what’s out there for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.

Marcella (UK) – Netflix
(This may have been in the last binge blog but deserves another mention)

I may have noted in the past that FOTB Patty Blackouts has television tastes that run between police procedurals and the shittiest of reality T.V (Below Deck is his Sopranos). So needless to say I myself was shocked when I was able to hook him into this one. In Marcella, the titular character is drawn back onto the police force to hunt down a serial killer who has returned, despite the fact that her personal life is falling apart and she herself is in the throes of a perpetual psychotic break. If you like “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” you’ll like the familiar Nordic noir feel of this one, set in England and the UK aboard.

Dark (Germany) – Netflix

Grenga: Dark is a highly binge-able Sci-FI show, assuming you can get past the dubbing. It’s a mysterious ride through time that centers on 4 families in a small German town that is also home to a nuclear power plant. The first season is definitely confusing, but once you start to connect a few dots you can’t help but watch more. I haven’t finished the third season yet, but so far the show has lived up to it’s 95% Rotten Tomatoes rating.

Ladhood (UK) – Hulu

Hulu decided to just blatantly stage a British invasion of their platform, almost admitting they were running out of shit to promote. Ladhood might be the best of the bunch. In this interesting take of a coming of age tale, emotionally stunted, early-30’s Londoner Liam is probably a little more broken than he cares to admit (sound familiar). He tries to determine how this came to be by visiting scenes from his teenage years in Northern England, taking part as an audience member unseen by his younger self or friends as well as breaking the fourth wall to try and provide context. While it didn’t quite live up to what I wanted it to be it was a cool idea and definitely worth a watch. Here’s hoping for more seasons post-rona.

Hightown – Starz


We come back to Massachusetts for this round of attempted Boston accents and a fresh take on the opioid epidemic. Based on the Cape with a specific interest in Provincetown, Hightown centers on Jackie, a “fish cop” (National Marine Fishery Services Agent) who wants to have her cake and eat (snort) it too, enjoying all the carnal pleasures of living in PTown, New England’s gay capital, while investigating a murder off the books. Her moonlighting intersects with and gets in the way of an annoyed Statie Detective, Ray, whose not totally legit investigation into a drug trafficking ring is related to Jackie’s own search.


Stateless  (Australia) – Netflix

Fuck. A. Duck. Not only did I not see this one coming but when it arrived I did not expect to care. But here we are. This emotional, perfectly acted, gripping miniseries follows four separate but intertwined characters at an Australian detention center for refugees – an Aussie who thanks to a cult causing a psychotic break thinks she’s German; a guard who took the well-paying, government funded job with the center’s contractor to give his family a better life; a bureaucrat who is trying to keep the center’s as well as the refugee detention policy’s reputation above water, and an Afghan refugee desperate to give himself and his missing family the life he dreams for them. You can only imagine.


The Umbrella Academy – Netflix

Red: I’ll have a full blog about this later as I just finished season 1, but The Umbrella Academy is a quarantine must watch for anyone who’s into sci-fi, graphic novels, time travel, and just generally weird shows. You definitely have to kind of go with it in this show since it really leans into the weirdness, but hey that’s to be expected when you base a show off a comic written by the lead singer from My Chemical Romance.

Gomorrah – HBO Max

First things first from what I understand if you have HBO you probably have HBO Max for free although the Home Box Office has done a terrible fuckin job rolling this thing out. Anyway, I won’t try and lie, I’ve never watched Gomorrah. But I’ve been told it’s actually one of the best shows out there and I saw recently it was ranked the #5 foreign show of the decade. By the New York Times maybe? Anyway here’s the wikipedia rundown:

“Set in the suburbs of Naples, Italy, the crime drama goes inside the Camorra, a fierce Neapolitan crime organization led by Pietro Savastano. The story is told through the eyes of Don Pietro’s right-hand man, Ciro Di Marzio, whose faith in the family is tested when he realizes how far Don Pietro is willing to go to keep his power.“

“F” Is For Family – Netflix

This serves as more of a reminder that a new season of Bill Burr’s hilarious cartoon dropped during quarantine. The lightly-autobiographical tale of a working class family in the 70’s remains absolutely hysterical, something we all need right now.

The Sopranos – HBO

WATCH THE FUCKING SOPRANOS YOU UNAMERICAN FUCKS.

What Song Does the HBO Intro Remind You of First?

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I saw this question posed on Twitter somewhere, but can’t find the original tweet so here we are. Now I have a feeling the answers are going to skew wildly here. Everyone has an HBO show that they watched religiously before the fracturing of content with social media and streaming. These days I watch so many shows on so many platforms I don’t really associate them with any one channel. Back in the day though you’d have to wait all week for your next fix and come Sunday night when that HBO static noise drops its like the first drip of morphine.

Disclaimer: This is not a list of the *best* HBO shows, this is a list of what hits your brain first when you hear the opening static. The Sopranos is an all-time show, but I was 10 when it started so I only watched episodes here and there with my dad in later seasons. I didn’t even properly binge Sopranos until last year, so go ahead and shame me if you want, but Tony’s fate in my rankings is not as ambiguous as that finale was.

With so many all-time shows and cult classic series, what song does the HBO Intro remind you of first?

3.) True Detective

The first season of True Detective is one of the few instances of TV in the past decade that was appointment viewing. The HBO Opening followed by that creepy Bayoux theme song was a one two punch that had me glued to my seat no matter what. There could have been a fire in my kitchen and I would have let my shitty Allston apartment burn just so I could try and figure out who the Yellow King was.

2.) Game of Thrones

Pound for pound my favorite TV show of all time and one that changed the game forever, despite some minor (massive) missteps over the final season or two. This was a show you couldn’t afford to miss the opening seconds so the dog was walked, the snacks were set up, and the lights were dimmed at 8:58 pm leaving nothing but silence in my house as that sweet, sweet HBO Opening hit followed by one of the greatest opening sequences in TV history. I literally went to a Ramin Djawadi concert just to hear this played by a live orchestra and it was some of the best money I ever spent.

1.) Entourage

For me the hands down No. 1 in the Power Rankings is Entourage. I readily admit a lot of this has to do with the age I was when Entourage was starting off and hitting its stride, but when I hear that HBO static the first thing I think of is Vinny and the boys. This show was just straight up fun to watch with your buds so it’s probably just a dopamine connection in my brain. Did the show become formulaic in its later seasons? Sure, but that doesn’t change the fact that my brain is hardwired to play Jane’s Addiction in my head as soon as I hear the HBO Intro.

So who ya got?

PS – The honorable mention that didn’t make this list is Ballers. I don’t even really associate Ballers with the HBO Opening (hence not making the list), but tell me you can’t think of The Rock just crushing deals every time you hear Lil Wayne and Drake’s “Right Above It.”

The 10 Greatest “Bench Player” Characters In (More Recent) TV History

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Real quick: I try and make these as spoiler-proof as possible but I’m only human. If you recognize a show you’re still watching I’d skip ahead or stop reading.

This is a blog I’ve had in my back pocket for forever. Every show has either a main character or a group of main characters that carry it. We all know that. Hell, that is the way stories work in general, be it a book, TV, movie, porno, epic poem, play, etc….However, in particular with television, a show often lives and dies by its #2 characters, its “bench players” as I have called them here.

The tricky part in making this list is deciphering where the line is between a main character and a true #2. For example you’ll see later on that Carmella Soprano is not on this list. Why? Well I’d consider her too involved in the show and too central to many plot-lines to be a #2. If Tony’s wife had been a different kind of person the show could have been drastically different or lacking. With that said, let’s define a #2 character/bench player as a character who, while the show and plot could have easily moved forward either without them or by substituting any number of other characters for them, was executed so excellently they pushed the show beyond what it already was. Here goes.

**As always with these, please don’t consider this in any particular order.**

10.) The Hound, Game of Thrones

In The 300s group chat the argument for best #2 in the realm came down to our two favorite sell swords, The Hound and Bronn, later Ser Bronn of the Blackwater. I was eventually outvoted for the Hound and have exactly zero qualms about that. The gigantic mercenary with about 1/10 of a normal conscious that he used at exactly the right times was a source of incredible battles, nihilistic monologues, and pithy one-liners that always threatened to steal the show.

9.) Mike Ehrmantraut, Breaking Bad 

Lippa: Mike may look like (and is) a grandfather, but he is one of the most no-nonsense characters in the history of television. He doesn’t take shit from anyone and doesn’t have time for anyone’s bullshit. His disdain for everything Walter White represents and his biting sense of sarcasm makes him an elite secondary character.

8.) Wags, Billions

A lot of folks, including a couple of my colleagues, probably want me executed right about now because they consider Wags more of a main character. However if we stick with a #2 as defined, the show could move forward without Wags without losing momentum. It would not have been as funny as it is at times, but it’s also not a comedy in and of itself. That said, “Uncle” Wags’ Ari Gold-like unbridled macho energy and profanity laden, analogy-based monologues regarding everything from profit to sushi make him a legendary bench player.

7. Kevin and Veronica, Shameless

I think it’s fair to include “Kev” and “V” as a unit as that is how they’ve always existed on the show. One a white trash, golden retriever of a meathead armed with tank tops and below average intelligence. His better half a street-smart, maternal, tough loving black girl who always knows what to do in a pinch. They (hilariously) serve as the Gallagher’s next door neighbors, confidantes, security blankets, and closest advisers all while dealing with their own shit. Regardless, whether they are living in the highest of highs or lowest of lows, they have always been the most consistent relationship on the show. True love indeed.

6.) Paulie “Walnuts” Gaultieri, The Sopranos

Paulie Walnuts might be the quintessential bench player. There were a slew of mostly faceless capos and soldiers in Tony’s circle. They were brought into the thick of the plot if and when necessary but for the most part they were interchangeable. Paulie stood out though. Despite being a true wiseguy and a tough customer, Paulie would wax poetic on just about anything, regardless of how much sense it made. He often provided the levity needed to make such a psychologically taxing show work.

5.) Max Piotrowski, Homeland

I feel like there is a Max Piotrowski in all of us. By that I don’t mean we are all wizard-like when it comes to every facet of technology, particularly that related to intelligence. What I mean is I feel like we’ve always been in a job or a role or place in life where we’ve felt that we’ve done a fantastic job and/or put in incredible amounts of effort and never really were given the credit we deserved. Max has always been that guy for Carrie Mathieson and the rest of the CIA team. On top of all that, he really fucking cares about what happens. A lot. So maybe that’s the part about Max we should focus on. Not just that he does what he does, but that he does it at 100% and out of shear loyalty.

4.) Tony Almeida, 24

If I’m being honest, re-watching 24 and being transfixed with Almeida’s intensity is what made me want to come up with this list. He was Jack Bauer’s adviser and enabler. He would do what Jack needed him to do even when filled to the brim with apprehension and completely unsure of what the result might be. Sure, they butted heads sometimes, but only when Almeida thought things were completely out of hand. He was a true Patriot and shared the blind loyalty trait with Max.

3.) Omar Little, The Wire

I know, I know, but hear me out.

Despite Omar being one of the greatest TV characters point blank period – I’d rank Tony Soprano above him and maybe no one else – where he was positioned in the show was as a #2 character. In season 1 for instance, any snitch could have been used by McNulty and company to put a case on Bird. It could have been another conjured crew that goes to war with the Barksdale organization and tangled with Marlo, couldn’t it? But the show wouldn’t have been half as awesome as it was and that is what makes Omar Omar.

Come for the king, you best not miss.

2.) Opie, Sons of Anarchy

This is another one where I’m towing the line dangerously close to “main character” status. Opie played a significant part on this show throughout his run. But in the end, there were countless SAMCRO members, named and unnamed, that could have shouldered his load in some capacity. Only he did it his own brooding, imposing way.

“This is what she felt.”

1.) Mr. George Feeny, Boy Meets World

It’s interesting that both Boy Meets World and Home Improvement were on during the same time period and both employed the use of a sage next door neighbor. However, Feeny, in my respectful opinion, is the far superior character as he is immersed in the lives of those he is dispensing advice to while Home Improvement’s Wilson comes in with almost deus ex machina-esque wisdom to save Tim Taylor’s ass when all hope is lost. Indeed the kids, and sometimes adults, of Boy Meets World could have gone to anybody when they were in a pickle. But it was always the grandparent-like Mr. Feeny who guided them on their journey through life, love, stress, and setbacks (shout out Atmosphere).

The Sopranos Debuted 20 Years Ago Today

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This is one of the difficult things I’ve ever written. Not in the eulogy sense – I’m not getting choked up or lost in a trance of nostalgia. It’s just, how do you reflect on the debut of, in the opinion of many, the greatest television show of all time and one of the most impactful occurrences in pop culture history.

20 years ago today the first episode of “The Sopranos” aired. It starred little known actor James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, a physically imposing, violent, scheming, yet emotionally complicated and psychologically, crumbling gangster prince from New Jersey. We followed Tony through his exploits, criminal and (semi-)legal, and daily life, flanked by fellow non-A-listers (at the time) such as Edie Falco, of HBO’s most recent hit at that point “Oz” fame, as Tony’s wife Carmella; The E Street Band Guitarist Steven Van Zandt as Tony’s right-hand man Silvio Dante; and Dominic Chianese, formerly known as Johnny Ola in “The Godfather Pt II”, as Tony’s Uncle and, reluctantly for both sides, mentor Corrado “Junior” Soprano. It should be noted that this cast was largely filled out by Mafia medium veterans such as Tony Sirico (“Gotti”, “Love and Money”), Kathrine Narducci (“A Bronx Tale”), and a crew of actors from “Goodfellas” including Michael Imperioli, Lorraine Bracco, and Frank “Now get your fuckin’ shinebox” Vincent. To go off on a bit of a tangent because I missed this earlier, Sirico of course was also in “Goodfellas”. In the show, he played fan (and my) favorite,  Tony’s soldier, Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri.

Audiences became infatuated with Tony’s gangster life but also, and maybe even more so, his relationships. They were sometimes loving, but mostly violent and almost always manipulative. We came to know Tony’s view of the world and people around him in just pre- to post-9/11 Metro NY not just through observing his bull-in-a-china shop pirouette to power, but also through his sessions with his psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi(Bracco). Indeed this was one of the most important plots of the show, for those both behind and in front of the fourth wall, if not the genesis for the story being told: How could someone who finds success and fortune via a complete apathy towards the vicious and Machiavellian also need to seek therapy for severe panic attacks and bouts of manic depression? Could it be that just like so many out there, Tony’s flaws and undoing was simply caused by a toxic relationship with his mother, Livia (Nancy Marchand)? To us, particularly at a time when mental health was not as much at the dead front of the public consciousness as it is now, this was as intriguing as it was perplexing. It was a most startling juxtaposition and one that could have only been brought to life by a brooding, smoldering James Gandolfini, who was so invested in his performance of a lifetime that he admitted to being troubled by his character’s frequent callousness and malicious indifference

I think in the end what truly drew us to the show, the plot, and the man himself, as well what not so ironically what brought the Tony to see Dr. Melfi, is how torn he was. Was he a doting albeit expectant father to his daughter and son (Jamie Lynn Sigler, Robert Iler)? Was he a larger-than-life leader to his crew, as well as sometimes mentor to his “nephew”, Christopher Moltisanti (Imperioli)? Did he see himself as a Tony Montana-esque force of nature who would be the king no matter who lost their head? Or, in the end, was he just sick of it all? Of the path he chose for himself and that his father chose before him. Of the monotony and tediousness in the packs of cigarettes and trunks of stereos that came with being a gangster. Of the killing of the aloof and just-post adolescent that sometimes came with the job description. Could he be all of that at once? Could any human being contain that much contradiction? For parts of nine years and over 6 (the sixth being a double) seasons, viewers asked themselves this. Audiences obsessed over this question as if they could put Tony at peace if they could answer it. They became so engrossed in the on goings of these North Jersey gangsters that for an hour at a time, we forgot we weren’t a part of it. Full disclosure: Sopranos came out as I finished elementary school. I saw an episode here and there but then truly binged and digested the show when I was 25. My own anecdote of immersion is that I would save this tantalizing, life-changing show for Sundays, where I would binge 6+ episodes at a time. And what would I order to accompany it? Pasta. My blood is 100% Celtic but for the majority of the day every Sunday for a financial quarter (I missed a day here and there), I was a Pisan in my own mind.

The legacy of the “The Sopranos” is, basically, the absence there of. After David Chase’s tidal wave came and then went in 2007, Mafia shows and movies were put on hold, scrapped altogether, or simply never even considered. The genre was all but a taboo. Why? Because how could you top it? One could argue that, over a decade after it went off the air, the mob genre in Hollywood still hasn’t regained traction in “The Sopranos” shadow. I mean, “The Departed”, easily the most successful gangster movie since, killed off the Italians straight off the bat. I suppose you could make an argument with “Boardwalk Empire”, but that was as much of a period piece and a tale of political corruption than it was about the mob, despite having Mafia characters. The success, popularity, and perfection of “The Sopranos” have simply been, too much for Hollywood to top, at least head on.

After the show went off the air, and even during its final days, there were rumors and whispers, maybe just glorified hopes, of a possible movie. There usually is with shows that become as omnipresent in the day’s pop culture as Sopranos was. Those dreams died with James Gandolfini, who passed away tragically and suddenly of a heart attack in 2013. He was 51 years old. With Gandolfini, who brought Tony Soprano to life as Chase could have only dreamed, went our hopes of ever finding out what happened to Tony after “Don’t Stop Believing” and the final scene ever simply and without warning cut to black. It just wasn’t meant to be. David Chase is, however, now working on a movie prequel called “The Many Saints of Newark”. This will follow the story of Tony’s father and idol, Johnny aka “Johnny Boy”, Soprano as well as Christopher’s father Dickie Moltisanti and a host of other names Tony bemoaned as being from the past hey-day of “this thing of theirs”.

As of yesterday, it was even confirmed a young Tony Soprano would make an appearance.

Don’t fuck this up kid. Salut.

-Joseph “Joey Ballgame” B.