Edie Falco to leave Oz
GF2020
Man, this sucks.......
"Ordinary people, real drama"
http://www.suntimes.com/output/television/phil24.html
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email me at GF2...@aol.com
"Dave, There comes a time in every friendship when you have to say ,"
I never liked you, Get Lost."
-Bill Mcneal ( Phil Hartman)
Gina Marie
>
>"Ordinary people, real drama"
>http://www.suntimes.com/output/television/phil24.html
Here is the whole acticle:
Ordinary people, real drama
December 24, 1999
BY PHIL ROSENTHAL TELEVISION CRITIC
Of all the many remarkable things about HBO's "The Sopranos," the most
extraordinary may be that its characters are so ordinary.
Except for the murder, racketeering and other illegal stuff, of course.
"All of them are just human beings trying to get by, and this is the way that
they've found," said Edie Falco, whose Emmy-winning performance as capo Tony
Soprano's put-upon wife, Carmela, is a linchpin to the much-acclaimed series.
"They're just people, and they're not following any set of TV rules or movie
rules. They're just sort of living life, which is why people are responding to
it."
Knowing just how special "The Sopranos" is, HBO is blowing out its prime-time
schedule next week to re-introduce viewers to New Jersey mobster Tony, Carmela
and their two kids; Tony's crazy mom, Livia; street boss Uncle Junior; screw-up
nephew Christopher; Tony's psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi, and the rest of
the gang.
The first season's 13 episodes will be rerun two-at-a-time at 9 p.m. Sunday
through Thursday, with the final three hours to be rerun the night of Jan. 2.
The second "Sopranos" season debuts on Jan. 16--and, if the first three
episodes sent to critics for preview are any indication, the drama only deepens
with Tony continuing to feel the physical and psychological pull of his family
and his "family."
"We shot the whole first season and [series creator] David Chase looked at us
and said, `It's too bad nobody's going to get this, too bad nobody's going to
be interested,' " Falco said. "But once they started airing, it's just surreal
what's gone on."
First, the nation's critics showed unprecedented unanimity in their love of the
show. Then, viewers soon followed suit. As word of mouth spread, people
reportedly bought HBO just to get "The Sopranos."
Falco's Carmela is a huge reason why. While James Gandolfini's wonderfully
understated Tony, Nancy Marchand's Livia, Dominic Chianese's Junior, Michael
Imperioli's Christopher and Lorraine Bracco's Dr. Melfi all bring important
elements to the table, no character is more accessible than Carmela.
Decidedly unstereotypical, her inner conflicts are universal. And she is not
without flaws.
"She does whatever she has to do to get by," said Falco, who is dropping out of
her other HBO series, "Oz," to go to London to reprise her role in the play
"Side Man." "Ultimately, she has a husband that comes home to her, two kids
that she takes care of and that much she is sure of. So she conducts her life
on that basis.
"She cares about her family. That's why so many people relate to her. She cares
very much for her husband and her children. The whole rest of the world could
fall apart and she would still make sure that would hold together. The rest of
the stuff is on some level superfluous, like what he does for a living and all
that stuff. That's what makes it interesting."
At turns tender and violent, thoughtful and reflexive, "The Sopranos" confounds
expectations. Even the cold-blooded have warm hearts here, and those capable of
unconscionable acts still have guilt.
If the film "Analyze This" found comedy in a mobster's struggles, "The
Sopranos" finds something deeper and more affecting.
Tony's fight to come to grips with himself and his sins make him sympathetic.
So it's bitterwsweet when his son learns the old man isn't in the waste
management business, after all, and downright tragic when, during a trip to
look at colleges with his daughter, he has to settle a score by killing a man
with his bare hands.
"It treats its audience members with respect in that it's an intelligent show,"
Falco said. "You're presented a bunch of people and a bunch of circumstances
they find themselves in, and you're not told how to feel about it. As in life,
you're presented different sides and left to wonder who you're supposed to be
rooting for, who's the good guy.
"I love the fact that people get a fuller experience watching this thing and
your feelings about people and their situations can change dramatically in a
matter of minutes, it seems. That's the thing about Tony. People love this
character and find themselves hating themselves for loving him because he just
killed somebody."
That, too, is Carmela's struggle.
"She's a Catholic, she keeps reminding everybody of that, and what goes on in
her husband's life is diametrically opposed to all that she believes in," Falco
said. "But I think perhaps there are things like that in everybody's lives."
Except for the murder, racketeering and other illegal stuff, of course.
Love, Gina Marie
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