All of those of you who are sad that The Sopranos is finally over, worry not: the premiere of Li'l Bush is on Comedy Central tomorrow night! He's like the real Bush, except he's little! The commercials make that show look hilarious. He's little but he sounds just like the big one! He's not the big one, though. He's the little one! Ha ha HA!
Speaking of The Sopranos, I've been wrestling with how I feel about the finale. Without ruining it for anyone who hasn't seen it, I think the last scene was a pretty amazing piece of filmmaking with tension comparable to the Italian restaurant scene in The Godfather. And the scene with Phil Leotardo and the SUV and the "say goodbye to grandpa"? Ho. Ly. Sheeet.
While I'm still digesting a lot of the episode and the dramatic choices, there's one thing for sure: there were never any creative compromises on The Sopranos. It was the unfiltered vision of a true artist. David Chase made a dense, sometimes uneven, occasionally confusing tale with a relentlessly dark world view. Because he was free to do what he wanted, he made something truly unique that will stand the test of time.
Again, why is it so hard for Hollywood to do this? All the networks have to do is give control to a smart, creative person and not interfere. At the worst, you get an interesting failure (like Lucky Louie or Extras, for instance). At best, you get The Sopranos or Larry Sanders or Curb Your Enthusiasm. You know what you don't get? The fucking pablum mediocrity of committee thinking. You don't get Friends.
I know, I know - Friends was a cash cow. A lot of people liked it. Blah blah blah. I'm talking about the creative soul, people. Don't slow my irrational rantings down with your "real world."
Speaking of Real World, I caught an episode of the Vegas reunion. All the girls have gotten way too skinny and gross except for Brynne, who's still really sexy but doesn't act wild and get naked anymore. It's true - you can't go home again.
Speaking of The Sopranos, I've been wrestling with how I feel about the finale. Without ruining it for anyone who hasn't seen it, I think the last scene was a pretty amazing piece of filmmaking with tension comparable to the Italian restaurant scene in The Godfather. And the scene with Phil Leotardo and the SUV and the "say goodbye to grandpa"? Ho. Ly. Sheeet.
While I'm still digesting a lot of the episode and the dramatic choices, there's one thing for sure: there were never any creative compromises on The Sopranos. It was the unfiltered vision of a true artist. David Chase made a dense, sometimes uneven, occasionally confusing tale with a relentlessly dark world view. Because he was free to do what he wanted, he made something truly unique that will stand the test of time.
Again, why is it so hard for Hollywood to do this? All the networks have to do is give control to a smart, creative person and not interfere. At the worst, you get an interesting failure (like Lucky Louie or Extras, for instance). At best, you get The Sopranos or Larry Sanders or Curb Your Enthusiasm. You know what you don't get? The fucking pablum mediocrity of committee thinking. You don't get Friends.
I know, I know - Friends was a cash cow. A lot of people liked it. Blah blah blah. I'm talking about the creative soul, people. Don't slow my irrational rantings down with your "real world."
Speaking of Real World, I caught an episode of the Vegas reunion. All the girls have gotten way too skinny and gross except for Brynne, who's still really sexy but doesn't act wild and get naked anymore. It's true - you can't go home again.
15 Comments:
dear brendo:
frankly, i think you are being ridiculous about the whole "friends" thing. it never intended to be "the sopranos" or "curb your enthusiam". it was a relatively smart, and relatively funny (and when it was *on*, very very funny), accessible show about 30 somethings. when did accessible get bad? and accessible can still be done better ( i agree with you that things like 40 year old virgin and knocked up are certainly accessible, and better than friends for the most part), but hell, when did TV have to be perfect? while friends didn't change my world, i still giggle my way through most episodes i catch on re-runs. and, if it's the quiz challenge for who gets the apartment episode, well, then, i'm not making it in time for our dinner date, i can tell you that much.
so lay off "friends." i agree with you, there's a lot of dreck out there for our entertainment dollar, but "friends" is hardly the bottom of the barrel. no one *hates* friends. and if they do, they are just a hater-ater with no love for their neighbors nor respect for the common intelligence.
i love you,
matthew perry
The low of network TV? Two Words: Pirate Master.
Ha - if only a single episode of Friends were as well written and thoughtful as Mr. Perry's post.
But as long as we live in a world where they prematurely cancel Arrested Development while Yes, Dear has a whopping six-year run, I will not lay off Friends.
For the record, I have no problem with accessibility. I think Everybody Loves Raymond was tremendously well done. Unlike Friends, it had a soul. You could hear a creative voice coming through, and it wasn't the boring voice of a bunch of executives in a committee meeting.
Friends was a favorite of my family, my college roommates and friends, and now my fiancee, so I have watched many, many, MANY episodes, and I can say without even a lick of dishonesty that I have never so much as giggled at it. Not even once, which seems incredible.
I don't hate it, but it's 'kooky' in the way a skit at a corporate conference is 'kooky'. Watching it makes me sad in a vague way, like when people say 'Oh, you'd really get along with my friend so-and-so, he's CRAZY', and then so-and-so shows up and he just wears tie-dye shirts or does the Kramer-entering-a-room thing over and over.
My triangulated knowledge of Friends, Ocean's 11, and 12 (actually, I haven't seen that one) gave my trivia team a big boost last night, thankyouverymuch.
Question: Name 4 actors who were in both Ocean's 11 and 12, and have guest-starred on Friends.
Question: Name 4 actors who were in both Ocean's 11 and 12, and have guest-starred on Friends.
Tom Selleck, Fischer Stevens, the monkey that used to be on the show, and my dad.
Tom Selleck, Brad Pitt, Elliot Gould, and Julia Roberts. And they were boring. Even Elliot Gould.
Sorry, I meant Clooney, not Selleck. I tend to lump men who are sexier than me into one faceless, nameless mass.
Watching it makes me sad in a vague way...
I'm aware that this makes me a sort of juvenile douchebag, but some small part of me weeps that Eliot Gould probably reached the most people not as Philip Marlowe in Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye, but as Monica's dad on Friends.
I mean, I'll get over it.
He will always reach me as the guy who told me to jerk-off whenever I felt like doing cocaine or killing myself (As though those were the only alternatives! I smell a hole in your worldview, Gould!), so you have that on your side.
CBS cancels a great show like Jericho but makes plenty of room for Pirate Master. What is going on?
Also, someone tell me what happened at the end of the Sopranos. My cable went out - it just went dark.
and, if it's the quiz challenge for who gets the apartment episode...
"Actually, it's Ms. Chanandler Bong."
that's what i am SAYING!
-matthew "i hooked up with piper perabo! man, i am awesome! at least give me credit for that! did you SEE that lesbian movie she was in with the guy from chasing liberty? she is smoking!" perry
and, if it's the quiz challenge for who gets the apartment episode...
OR the New Year's Eve episode with "the routine"!!
This is a little weird.
Guess what episode of Friends is on TBS right. now.
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