Tuning 'The Sopranos'

By ERIC DEGGANS

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 4, 2001

Character and plot changes - planned and otherwise - have the series' creator balancing concerns of artistic integrity, innovation and audience expectation in this new season.

When he says it, you can't help wondering if he's acting coy or just yanking your chain a little.

But Sopranos creator and mastermind David Chase swears he's unaware of any high expectations created among fans by his Emmy-winning show's three-month delay in coming back to HBO.

And he says it with a straight face.

"I'm either naive or stupid or both . . . But until you mentioned it, it never occurred to me," said Chase during an interview last week with TV reporters across the country.

Let's see . . . you create a groundbreaking mob drama that captivates audiences, leaves critics swooning and wins Emmys for stars Edie Falco and James Gandolfini. Then, you announce after the second season ends that your third installment of 13 episodes won't start until March 2001 -- months later than your usual January ramp-up -- for creative reasons.

But you don't perceive any raised expectations.

Riiight.

"Coming up with stories is more difficult than in a franchise (series)," explained Chase, noting that most shows with established characters have only to thrust them into new situations; The Sopranos strives for more.

"In our show, real wiseguys don't do a whole lot. They collect money and play cards," he said. "And keeping Tony Soprano a credible mob boss without going off the charts . . . that's important."

[Photo: HBO] Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), left, faces new family challenges in The Sopranos' new season, among them a romance between daughter Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler), right, and a biracial friend.

In case Chase needs proof fans are stoked, he need only scan the scores of Web sites now devoted to Tony Soprano and his crew -- along with a hot-selling DVD and videocassette of the first season, a sizzling soundtrack CD (with Volume 2 on the way) and a coffee table book filled with minutiae about the fictitious wiseguys.

One enterprising New Yorker has even organized a bus tour of all the locations featured in the show -- from the real Bada Bing nightclub to Ramsey Sport and Outdoors (the store owned by a degenerate gambler played by current X-Files co-star Robert Patrick).

"People somehow feel so connected with these characters, they want to mix that fantasy and reality," said Georgette Blau, president of On Location Tours. But even as the show inspires Seinfeld-level devotion from fans, The Sopranos heads into its third season at a crossroads.

[Photo: HBO] David Chase, executive producer of the series, says that the show's overall theme this season is basically Tony and Carmela Soprano (Edie Falco) as parents.

Mob boss Tony Soprano's greatest nemesis -- his emasculating mother, Livia -- is out of the picture for good, because of star Nancy Marchand's death last year (though she makes a brief appearance in tonight's episode via some slightly creepy camera trickery).

The show's other great ongoing story lines, the betrayal of Tony by his best friend-turned-FBI informant Sal "Big Pussy" Bompensiero (Vincent Pastore) and a mounting challenge from ruthless thug Ritchie Aprile (David Proval), ended last season with both characters' deaths.

So where will this New Jersey "waste management specialist" find his next great challenge?

According to Chase, among his own children.

"In my mind, as we look back at the first season, it was about a man discovering his mother didn't love him the way he wanted her to," the executive producer said. "The second season was about how you can't keep blaming your parents for how you turned out. This season is about Tony and (his wife) Carmela as parents."

As tonight's episodes unfold, Tony's son Anthony Jr. is 15 and beginning to develop his own identity, while daughter Meadow is studying at Columbia and dating a biracial film geek.

Beyond the effects of mob life on the junior Sopranos, HBO's favorite mob family sees lots of changes coming, including the death of Livia, increased attention from the authorities and the arrival of a new, mad-dog Mafia thug, Ralph Cifaretto (The Matrix's Joe Pantoliano). Charles S. Duttonand Annabella Sciorra (Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Jungle Fever) also make guest appearances this season.

[Photo: HBO] Mafioso Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano) is a new face on the scene, bringing fresh complications to replace some of the story lines that wound up last season.

Through it all, Tony continues his visits to psychiatrist Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), unearthing secrets from his childhood that might shed new light on the panic attacks that still threaten to incapacitate him.

It remains a wonderful mixture: a mob boss ruthless enough to bust up his best friend's business, but sensitive enough to faint when he learns his daughter is dating a biracial friend.

For Chase, it's all about keeping the story lines fresh and the work unpredictable.

"I wanted to do something different that we hadn't done in the first two seasons . . . and it took me (an extra three months) to think of that," he added.

He backed away from comments reported weeks ago suggesting he would leave the show after his contract ends in 2002.

"If there's still something more to be done with the show, I guess I'd be open to doing it," he said. "Right now, it's still very fresh for us, and we're all having a good time doing this. But there's a potential for the show to start repeating itself. And I don't want that."

Already, some activist groups are weighing in on The Sopranos' new season, accusing the show of presenting a distorted picture of Italian Americans.

"Our research clearly proves that programs like The Sopranos, which presents Italian Americans as under-educated people who are either criminals or in blue-collar jobs, bear no resemblance to the average Italian American," said Frank J. Guarini, chairman of the National Italian American Foundation, in a statement.

It's not the first time Chase and company have faced criticism. Last year, Essex County, N.J., refused to allow the show to film scenes there, after officials reacted badly to the way their neighborhoods were portrayed. (Three other New Jersey counties offered to take the business.)

When Chase speaks on this issue, he doesn't point out that a few Sopranos characters, including Dr. Melfi and Tony's neighbor Dr. Cusmano, are Italians with white-collar jobs. Instead, he points to the news.

"Organized crime of a particular type in the Northeastern U.S. -- sports betting, union infiltration -- is Italian American. That's a fact. It's in the newspapers," he said, noting that he ended a meeting with representatives from one activist group when they all admitted they had never seen the show.

"One guy asked me, "Isn't it true that the real purpose of The Sopranos is to discourage legitimate business people from entering the waste management business?' " Chase said, his anger rising. "After that, I gave up. I'm not talking to these people anymore."

On that score, the show's greatest defense is its layered characters. No cardboard cut-outs or second-rate Godfather retreads here; Chase's mobsters can kill a rival one moment and cheer their daughters' soccer teams the next.

And the executive producer gives credit for much of that complexity to one man: star James Gandolfini.

"He brings this relatable humanity . . . I think people feel like they are this guy or could be this guy, when he plays Tony Soprano," Chase said. "It's because of Jim that people are really able to invest in Tony."

Still, apart from the usual fine performances, the four new Sopranos episodes provided to critics seem lacking in subtle ways.

Most obvious is the absence of a strong, overarching story line to tie the series' many loose ends together, in the way Tony's eventual showdowns with his mother and "Big Pussy" Bompensiero helped unify seasons one and two.

Chase said such ambiguity is his goal. "I don't believe it's the function of art to find answers . . . it's the function of art to ask questions and challenge you to find the answers," he added.

The biggest loose end? Whether Tony Soprano is a truly good man.

Even though he has killed people, blown up a friend's restaurant and even contemplated whacking his own mother, Chase isn't sure he knows the answer -- or even wants to.

"Is he a bad person? Well, I guess that's the tension of the show.

"A lot of (characters) on shows have foibles -- they care too much, they're crusty -- but they're very manageable," he said. "Tony's foibles are not manageable; he does some really horrible things. I don't know where Tony's going to lead us . . . and because it's not over for me, the jury's still out on Tony."

At a glance: The Sopranos returns to new episodes with two hourlong installments at 9 tonight on HBO. Grade: B+. Rating: TV-MA (Mature Audiences).

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