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I must admit I loved the Soprano's.  I grew up in the region where they filmed.  Some scenes include locations I recognize.  Moreover I have a strong suspicion kids with whom I grew up could easily have become gangsters.  In fact upon watching the very first show my stomach tightened and I had an uneasy feeling as if kids with whom I grew up were pointing a gun to my head;   the simple "friendly gesture" of one of the gang members but utterly frightening to all of the rest of us.

Today, upon learning of some little bit of news I was feeling aggravated.   In my perspective this is a classic Soprano's scene on aggravation...and to top it off ....its all about local coffee shops!!!!!   :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAYq9jSUKt4

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I must admit I loved the Soprano's.  I grew up in the region where they filmed.  Some scenes include locations I recognize.  Moreover I have a strong suspicion kids with whom I grew up could easily have become gangsters.  In fact upon watching the very first show my stomach tightened and I had an uneasy feeling as if kids with whom I grew up were pointing a gun to my head;   the simple "friendly gesture" of one of the gang members but utterly frightening to all of the rest of us.

I feel your pain. "Paulie" (well, the actor who plays him) is from my Bklyn. neighborhood. I used to watch him & some of the other older guys shoot pool when I snuck in to the local pool hall, located in a basement off Ave. J, 2 blocks from DiFara's pizza. Good type casting.

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Because of you two (Dave and Steve, I may begin watching The Sopranos). I've already watched the first episode, but it's been awhile, and I'll need to rewatch it. Are either of you up for an episode-by-episode discussion when you have time? I find that's what makes these topics interesting and satisfying in the long term - digging down into as much detail as possible. Running in parallel with Troilus and Cressida and Star Trek.

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If you talk too much about this stuff, you could get whacked.  Much easier to say that I don't remember nothing!  :unsure:

Having grown up in a mafia influenced area I agree with Steve R.  :D  (rather sleep in my bed than sleep with the fish(es))

Watching episode after episode and discussing is not my style.  But if you reference a few good scenes with Paulie or one of the wise guys whackin someone I'm always up for that.

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Are either of you up for an episode-by-episode discussion when you have time? I find that's what makes these topics interesting and satisfying in the long term - digging down into as much detail as possible. 

YES!

They've been re-airing them nightly on HBO so I've been getting my fix that way.  I think they're nearing the end of the series and with any luck, they'll start from the beginning again.  That's probably too much to ask, but if they do, it would be an easy for people to play along at (providing they have HBO of course).

Either way, I'm always up for a Sopranos chat.

One word of advice, if you do decide to watch, you should try to watch each episode (at least) twice.  I know that's a big commitment, but this is one of those shows where you catch tons of additional details the second time around, not to mention the great acting.

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Season 1, Episode 2: "46 Long"

"Green Grove is a retirement community! And it's more like a hotel in *Captain Teeb's!*"

-- Tony to his mother

Oh my Gawd! Does being the only person to think this is *hilarious* make me a snob? So be it, I'm a snob: RRRROFL!

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PISHADOO!

Want to talk about product placement?

I'm on SE3 EP9 of "The Sopranos," and to the best of my memory (when I began to notice), EVERY single bottle of red wine drunk on the show is a Ruffino Chianti.

If you're watching the series, look at every single bottle of red wine opened in a restaurant (and there are *many*), and it's this. I can't guarantee it's for the entire series, because I don't know how long the product-placement contract lasted, but I can guarantee it's for a disproportionate amount of time, and I'm calling BS and SPARE ME!

Ruffino.jpg <--- This is a mass-produced Chianti that is "decent" at best. Don't buy into the marketing hype.

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On 7/6/2014 at 12:01 AM, DonRocks said:

Season 1, Episode 2: "46 Long"

"Green Grove is a retirement community! And it's more like a hotel in *Captain Teeb's!*"

-- Tony to his mother

Oh my Gawd! Does being the only person to think this is *hilarious* make me a snob? So be it, I'm a snob: RRRROFL!

"Green Grove" in the Soprano's is in reality currently a large retirement home, Greens retirement home or something like that.  It was within walking or biking distance from where I grew up.  Long before it became a retirement home it was a well known popular large hotel dating back to the early 1900's known as Greens or Greens Hotel.  In fact my parents hosted a reception after my bar mitzvah there as they probably did for my brother and sister as did quite a few parents of bar and bat mitzvahs back in the day.

Who would have thought it would be featured for a while in the Soprano's where Tony's mom was probably contemplating "whackings" of those who had crossed her path.  Nice lady.  If Tony's mom had been real and lived in my town mothering a kid who was a friend of mine, she might have fed me milk and cookies or PBJ while similarly planning whackings.  A bell weather member of the community who might have always attended PTA meetings!!!

Meanwhile when Green's was first developed in the early part of the 1900's it was probably considered country, attracting city dwellers from NYC and Newark.  When my mom was a child growing up in Newark they would travel out that way for country food and ice cream.  Adjacent to Green's and its lands was a par 3 golf course owned by another large hotel property.   Oooh:   that golf course was so easy to sneak onto:  its where I refined my golf game.  Strangely I never saw a whacking on that course while playing through.

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5 hours ago, DaveO said:

"Green Grove" in the Soprano's is in reality currently a large retirement home, Greens retirement home or something like that.

The thing that was so funny (which nobody will pick up on, so I'm just going to spill it) is that Green Grove was described to (a completely clueless) Tony Soprano as being like a hotel in Cap d'Antibes, which is a luxury area in Southeast France where some wealthy Europeans spend time in retirement.

Screenshot 2018-09-11 at 15.36.17.png

Then, when Tony was trying to sell his mother on the virtues of Green Grove, he described it to her (complete with his New Jersey accent) as being like a hotel at "Captain Teeb's." He had no idea what he was saying; he was just parroting what he had heard. I happened to be watching the subtitles at the time, or I might not have picked up on just how funny this was, but it was fun-nee!

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On 9/11/2018 at 10:47 AM, DaveO said:

"Green Grove" in the Soprano's is in reality currently a large retirement home, Greens retirement home or something like that.  It was within walking or biking distance from where I grew up. 

A fair number of scenes from the Sopranos were filmed near where I grew up.

Before she moved into "Green Grove" Livia, Tony's mom, lived in a house from my home town, very close to where I grew up

879683125_LiviashouseTheSopranos.jpg.86fc99aec67d76aa77b24b12d60fa2e7.jpg

 

Now Tony's somewhat larger home was located two small towns away...a rather lavish spread235575355_TonySopranoshouse.jpg.233f8950129c76862711c6fadfee41f3.jpg

 

Ah, the mafia...while growing up they were all around....one captain of the Newark mob had a home right around the corner from my family....though as a neighbor, one never would have known it.

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I grew up in Rhode Island, and, even though I didn't recognize many of the places in "The Sopranos" (other than the DRIVE SAFELY gas tank just outside of NYC), I recognized a lot of the culture.

The other day my daughter came home from preschool saying "capisce" (as in "cah-peesh"), which caused me and some of my friends to discuss the Italian-American Italian we grew up hearing, including moozarell, pro-shoot, and GABAGOOL (which in Rhode Island was more like "cap-uh-coal").

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I don’t tend to watch  rewatch and study either film or TV series and have only rewatched bits and pieces of The Sopranos even as I loved it.  In that it was filmed over many locales in Jersey there might be only about a dozen sets (pure guess) with which I was significantly familiar and close to where I grew up.  Enough of them that it was striking but probably a small minority relative to the entire body.

The nature of the characters and their language was something with which I was quite familiar.  It wouldn’t surprise me if kids from my town became members of the mob.  I tend to say that my nose punched out a small number of Italian fists growing up as their noses punched out my fists on occasion.  Those were more often than not my friends fists and noses.  The language and attitudes on the Soprano's were very familiar to me while growing up.

Possibly one day I’ll rewatch the bulk of it. Not now though.   I will say though that after watching show #1 season 1 my stomach got a tight knot and I felt like kids with whom I grew up were part of Tony’s gang and were apt to greet me with a “high Dave” then blow me away with a bullet to the head.  It was close to home in many ways.

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On 3/22/2014 at 6:36 PM, Steve R. said:

I feel your pain. "Paulie" (well, the actor who plays him) is from my Bklyn. neighborhood. I used to watch him & some of the other older guys shoot pool when I snuck in to the local pool hall, located in a basement off Ave. J, 2 blocks from DiFara's pizza. Good type casting.

Wow:  According to this biograpical piece Paulie Walnuts is the real deal.

Amazingly his brother is a priest and founder of a Religious/Economic Think Tank, who has been published in various highly respected journals.  

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1 hour ago, DaveO said:

Wow:  According to this biograpical piece Paulie Walnuts is the real deal.

Amazingly his brother is a priest and founder of a Religious/Economic Think Tank, who has been published in various highly respected journals.  

You have to love his "wings" - my favorite quote from Paulie is when Gigi dies while sitting on the toilet and looking at Penthouse magazines, and Paulie - at Gigi's funeral service - casually mentions that it's humiliating to die on the Pishadoo (whatever the hell that word means)!

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2 hours ago, DonRocks said:

You have to love his "wings" - my favorite quote from Paulie is when Gigi dies while sitting on the toilet and looking at Penthouse magazines, and Paulie - at Gigi's funeral service - casually mentions that it's humiliating to die on the Pishadoo (whatever the hell that word means)!

That is 30 minutes of effin great lines and scenes. 

"Pishadoo".   hm.  i used to hear people make up words like that all the time.  A guy like Paulie in real life could have heard the yiddish word "pisher" in his neighborhood or from a nearby neighborhood and created his own phrase. It could have come from something like that.  Who knows?

Also, not unlike the reference above when Tony mishears, misspeaks and miss understands a reference to the retirement home, in the above video Tony hears about Aida and questions it:   "I eat her"?  

Keep going into it...and it gets more and more hilarious...and effin repetitive....though Ho effin Ho during Christmas is one I never heard.  That one cracked me up.

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14 minutes ago, DaveO said:

Keep going into it...and it gets more and more hilarious...and effin repetitive....though Ho effin Ho during Christmas is one I never heard.  That one cracked me up.

I'm on SE4 EP2, so I've made headway - I have a definite favorite episode: It's unlike any other, and can be watched as a standalone show even if you don't watch the series: SE3 EP11, "Pine Barrens" (don't research it; just watch it if you haven't - it's hilarious). Interestingly, it was directed by Steve Buscemi.

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18 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

I'm on SE4 EP2, so I've made headway - I have a definite favorite episode: It's unlike any other, and can be watched as a standalone show even if you don't watch the series: SE3 EP11, "Pine Barrens" (don't research it; just watch it if you haven't - it's hilarious). Interestingly, it was directed by Steve Buscemi.

The Pine Barrens was a creative episode.  Though I haven’t seen it in years it was one I watched more than once.  Paulie and Christopher were engagingly humorous and pathetic.  Additionally Gloria became a great character over time.  She reminded me of alluring women of that time and place

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22 hours ago, DaveO said:

The Pine Barrens was a creative episode.  Though I haven’t seen it in years it was one I watched more than once.  Paulie and Christopher were engagingly humorous and pathetic.  Additionally Gloria became a great character over time.  She reminded me of alluring women of that time and place

Pine Barrens is my favorite episode so far. Paulie always makes me laugh.

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2 hours ago, DIShGo said:

Pine Barrens is my favorite episode so far. Paulie always makes me laugh.

That is an episode I should re watch.  I recall it, but in only vague terms.   Paulie and Christopher were pathetic in the woods.  Completely out of their element and with a formidable foe.  Also I know that Annabella Sciorra showed up in that episode as Gloria.  I don't recall if she was introduced in that episode or not.  Her character captivated me that season.   OMG:  She reminded me of some of the alluring young women I knew while growing up.   Jeeez Louise.   Her character had me strolling down memory lane.  Jeeeez.  Too much of that show was too close for comfort. 

One other thing:  I watched that approximate 30 minute summary of season 3.   It explodes with the "f" word.   I grew up with it among my age peers.  It runs through my language.  Unlike others, I probably didn't discipline myself at an early age to not let it overrun my language.   Over the many decades since I've had to apply tight discipline to NOT explode with its usage.  

A few years ago I used to meet once a week with a group of males, two of us from Jersey and two of us who used the F word liberally.   When he and I were together we tended to wind one another up and it sprinkled through our conversation more and more.  It ultimately bothered the other guys.  F as nouns, adjectives, verbs, ...used multiple times in one sentence....probably used as dangling participles:   The f word would be used to spice up other curse words.   

Most of the time I apply a certain discipline to cut back on that usage.   Ahhhh....but watching the Soprano's releases those difficult disciplines.   I get a kick out of it. 

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2 hours ago, DaveO said:

That is an episode I should re watch.  I recall it, but in only vague terms.   Paulie and Christopher were pathetic in the woods.  Completely out of their element and with a formidable foe.  Also I know that Annabella Sciorra showed up in that episode as Gloria.  I don't recall if she was introduced in that episode or not.  Her character captivated me that season.   OMG:  She reminded me of some of the alluring young women I knew while growing up.   Jeeez Louise.   Her character had me strolling down memory lane.  Jeeeez.  Too much of that show was too close for comfort. 

I found Annabella Sciorra captivating as well. The episodes with Gloria and Tony were fun to watch. Unfortunately, she was one of the many women who was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. 

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1 hour ago, DIShGo said:

I found Annabella Sciorra  captivating as well. The episodes with Gloria and Tony were fun to watch. Unfortunately, she was one of the many women who was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein. 

Yes.  Have to admit I watched her in a film possibly a decade before the Soprano's, was captivated by her, ....and she disappeared, at least as I recall.  She did a terrific job during her year or more on the Soprano's.   Then that damn story about Harvey Weinstein exploded with his multiple assaults on women.  Unbelievable and heinous.  I read she was one person seriously wounded by that experience.  

Horrific. 

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I went back to a reference from people in my old home town, including folks I knew from decades ago.  Scenes filmed there include:

Livia’s house

Bobby Bacala’s house

The restaurant owned by the Russian mobster in the Pine Barron’s episode

The HS varsity soccer field

The local Catholic Church

The local/county park

A scene in a local lumber yard

Then there are possibly a half dozen or more scenes filmed nearby in adjacent towns from places I recognized.  Evidently the high school basketball coach at the time became a Soprano mob member in the latter years and an actor from that point on.  In season 1 or 2 when Livia got sick they used a rescue vehicle from the local volunteer fire department.  That had been manned years ago by classmates and an ex classmate long time resident was the fire chief during  that decade.  I kept hearing from people I knew who knew someone(s) who had something to do with various scenes from parts of North Jersey.  The entire show felt very close to home.   

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On 9/10/2018 at 8:49 PM, DonRocks said:

PISHADOO!

Want to talk about product placement?

I'm on SE3 EP9 of "The Sopranos," and to the best of my memory (when I began to notice), EVERY single bottle of red wine drunk on the show is a Ruffino Chianti.

If you're watching the series, look at every single bottle of red wine opened in a restaurant (and there are *many*), and it's this. I can't guarantee it's for the entire series, because I don't know how long the product-placement contract lasted, but I can guarantee it's for a disproportionate amount of time, and I'm calling BS and SPARE ME!

Ruffino.jpg <--- This is a mass-produced Chianti that is "decent" at best. Don't buy into the marketing hype.

So, a quick Google (because what I was supposed to be doing was boring and hard) suggests that there is a lot of Ruffino being quaffed.  However, he did knock back at least fiasco of Chianti consumed.

article-2345049-0080F7C000000258-978_634

Far more interesting, though, is Season 6, Episode nine, where Chris and Tony stumble across a couple of bikers looting a liquor warehouse ("wooden crates, that's good wine") and decide to appropriate a few cases for themselves -- of '86 Chateau Lalande.  No world on what Carmella and Ro drank at Le Grand Vefour, but I'm guessing it wan't Italian.  ;)

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While it had been decades since I  lived in Jersey I had stayed in touch with various old friends, classmates, neighbors, etc, some of whom remained in that part of Jersey.  In the early 2000's those that lived in the area were enthralled with the opportunities to be part of some scenes that made it to the Soprano's.   I heard about these tales during the following years.  Two stories that came to mind, but I needed more clarity to get them straight:

During season 1 there were a number of scenes which included Mama Livia's TV home, filmed in my home town, Verona NJ.  The house is less than remarkable but might well represent 30-60% of the homes in that town.   Nancy Marchand, playing Livia, was ill during the filming and it was incorporated into the story line.   One scene included a visit from the local ambulance/emergency squad, which was an all volunteer fire department and still is.  The chief at the time was in fact an old classmate.  We were friendly if not close but have been in touch.   He related this story:

When they used the emergency vehicle my old friend got to meet with Gandolfini, Stevie Van Zandt, and some others.  Van Zandt was the most famous of all of them at the time as it was the first year and Van Zandt was part of the E Street Band.  My old friend asked Stevie if he could introduce him to Bruce Springsteen.   Van Zandt immediately went into Silvio mode and told him in accent--"nobody meets the boss. "   My old classmate does have an autographed photo out of it.

In a different story, there was filming at the Bobby Bacala house.  The woman who owned it was outside waiting.  During the waiting time she heard her cookie jar being opened.  Later Gandolfini came out and admitted he filched a cookie.  She got an autographed photo with Gandolfini out of it. It sat framed on her living room mantle.  It evidently later helped her sell that house.

Needless to say the locals relished the Soprano filmings in and around the region.

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Tonight, I watched SE7 EP7, "Luxury Lounge," and it was the low point in the series for me - this series has declined in quality over its final few seasons, but this was the absolute worst.

*** SPOILER ALERT *** TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THIS POST NOW IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW!

Screenshot 2018-10-21 at 23.51.02.png <--- Do you know what this screen shot is of? Mouse over the answer below:

It's of Christopher Moltisanti decking Lauren Bacall in order to steal her gift basket. Really.

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17 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Tonight, I watched SE7 EP7, "Luxury Lounge," and it was the low point in the series for me - this series has declined in quality over its final few seasons, but this was the absolute worst.

It's of Christopher Moltisanti decking Lauren Bacall in order to steal her gift basket. Really.

Yeah, the first half of Season 6 (not 7) is rough going, but the second half is truly great.  You'll be rewarded if you stick with it.**

 

**YMMV on the finale, though.

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There is a prequel to the Soprano's  being developed, "The Many Saints of Newark".  It is set in the late 1960's around the time of the riots in Newark and the trials against various local mafia plus the mayor of Newark, Hugh Addonizio .  I grew up in that general area and time. 

In anticipation of the prequel NJ.com published a story about New Jersey's finest from that period, earlier periods and decades since.   A cast of pleasant folks.

I lived around the corner from Tony Boy, and knew of his father, Ritchie the Boot, the Don of NJ with a castle a few miles away located on a 30 acre estate.  You never would have known there was a major mafioso in the house.  

If you want to get a more personal feel for Ritchie Boiardo (Ritchie the Boot)  go to the Facebook site for a book written about him:  In the Godfather Garden

The comments in various threads are fascinating.  A lot of people knew Ritchie The Boot, loved him, and wished there were more like him. Nobody I knew were among his friends and family.  Very fascinating. 

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