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The following is my reaction and rebuttal to an article published in Entertainment Weekly on April 13th, 2000 (right after The Sopranos season finale). |
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Why is it that when you're a tv or movie critic you're opinions are almost always negative and you feel you have the 'pulse' of what the viewers want? This is what you get when you read Bruce Fretts article at Entertainment Weekly. The article from April 13th is titled: "Mob Mentality - Why Hollywood should end the glut of Mafia projects. " Mr. Fretts states that due to the failure of CBS's Falcone and The Sopranos, he believes that Hollywood should put "a yearlong moratorium on all Mob-themed entertainment". In addition he writes "It's just that if I see another Mafia-related TV show or movie anytime soon, I'll get sicker than Tony Soprano did after eating Artie Bucco's bad seafood." He also goes on to bash a few other movies (Analyze This and Starz! Kiss Toledo Goodbye). While he liked The Sopranos this season, he was disappointed with the season finale because it had too many dream sequences and not enough shock value (as the prior episode offered). And finally he says that although Falcone was not that bad, it will never be as good as The Sopranos, so "don't bother trying". Mr Fretts argues with Hollywoods current "Mob Mentality". I, on the other hand, will argue with TV critics such as Mr Fretts "Critic Mentality". I believe many critics say and write things in order to get a reaction, whether it be good or bad. If a reaction is created, then you generate publicity, and publicity keeps up the interest and readers. I've personally not seen Falcone so I cannot comment on whether it was good or not, but to dismiss the entire show or any other up and coming shows because they will never be as good as The Sopranos is ludicrous. First of all, if you don't try something new, you'll never know if you can take it to the next level and improve on it. Also if you take his attitude then why even bother doing anything? Should you not paint because you'll never be as good a Leonardo DiVinci? Should you not write music because you'll never do anything as good as Beethoven? Chances are, not matter what we do, someone else will have done it better. So to dismiss and entire series or upcoming series with a similar theme is absurd. In addition, Mr. Fretts is comparing the effect of a show on cable to one on network television. You simply can't DO that. They are not built on the same foundation nor can they play by the same rules. If you took The Sopranos and removed the language, the sex, the nudity, the graphic violence and the way the scripts develop what would you end up with? Probably a show that would draw quite a bit of interest, but it would not have been nominated for emmy's or anything else revolutionary. It would have been like a Dallas with a Mafia theme. Dallas was a great series in it's heydey and you have to accept it's limitations due to the format it had to follow. Don't you think J.R ever swore? We certainly knew he had sex all of the time... you just never saw it. That doesn't make it any worse, it just makes it different. You can't compare the two. David Chase has also remarked on almost every occasion that the pace, direction and content of the show is radically different because it is on cable. In an interview with David Chase (also with Entertainment Weekly) David says: "At HBO you're allowed to tell stories in unconventional ways, with a slow build. They don't freak out if not all the information is vomited out and the audience says, 'Gee, I wonder what that means?' "When it comes time to be violent, the show is very violent," ...... you see other parts of them that are very human and full of foibles and even sweetness, but they are very brutal men." TV Spin-off's are a way of life. People are always looking to join the bandwagon and ride on the coat-tails of something popular. As I mentioned in another article on this site there is even a porn movie available titled "The SoPORNo's". I communicated via email several times with one of the filmers and according to him the video was raking in money hand over fist. They were in the process of coming up with the sequel. I wonder why Mr. Fretts isn't asking Hollywood to put a one yearlong moratorium on TV comedy sitcoms? If anything should be put a stop to or limits on it's these half hours shows which take up prime time every night of the week. The cast of Freinds just signed a two year contract and will receive $750,000 PER EPISODE! plus higher royalties on reruns. Okay, so Friends is popular and the networks and advertisers are going to go along with this obscene salary. But why not put a stop to comedy rip-off's and shows like it? You argue to stop Mafia shows for a year because there are a handful of them to watch and none of them are to your liking. You state "America refused..." Falcone due to it's low ratings. This, in addition to your belief that Falcone will never be as good as The Sopranos is good enough reason to kill the show and put a halt to all shows of it's kind for a year. To his credit, Mr. Fretts has done a lot of good work and is enjoyable to read. However, on this topic I beleive he is way off and has missed the boat on what the viewers really want to see.
To read Mr. Fretts full article click here. To read the Jan 15th 1999 interview with David Chase click here.
As always, please feel free to share you thoughts and opinions on Bruce Fretts article or my rebuttal. |