Decker

I just read this article in the USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/enter/t...and-spears.htm

Here's the meat of the article:
PASADENA, Calif. — Don't look for new episodes of The Sopranos in March, a year after the third season began.

With Sopranos creator David Chase working on something longer than a 12-month cycle, HBO executives know the fourth season of the hit Mob drama won't be ready until June and episodes might not air until as late as September 2002. The Sopranos received 22 Emmy nominations last week, more than any other program.

In the meantime, the pay-cable network will begin presenting repeats of the first three seasons (39 episodes) sequentially, starting Aug. 12 at 8 p.m. and running through May.

HBO executives are trying to decide whether to start the fourth season next summer or have fans wait three extra months for the fall, when viewing levels are higher.

"Is September too long to wait? Is Sopranos a summer show? Is it a better show in September?" asked HBO chairman Jeff Bewkes, explaining the scheduling issues to TV critics gathered for the summer press tour

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All I can say is that really sucks! All the other dramas turn out 22 episodes a season and have a paltry four months off. The Sopranos shoots 13 episodes a year and can take almost a year between seasons. What, exactly, is it that James Gandlofini and David Chase want to walk away from?

Rant

I hope they can at least release Season 3 on DVD sometime Summer 2002 to help hold us over.

Deftones

as long as they have another season of 6 feet under sometime in the spring to early summer, I don't really care when the Soprano's comes back on.

Kenwood

Wow...tha't a long time to wait

Jlbkwrm

Not only is that a /really/ long gap, it means they're not eligible for any awards next year.

I can't help but wonder if this isn't going to injure the show, at least a little. A full year of no real hype...

Decker

Gee, I found Six Feet Under to be VASTLY inferior to The Sopranos, and it has generated none of its "buzz". I found it to be the first HBO series since "Arli$$" to be less-than-stellar. Maybe I should give it another try.

As far as the awards go, that's something I hadn't thought about. I'm sure the cast & crew on The West Wing would LOVE it if The Sopranos sat it out for a year. They'd clean up (although they did last year anyway, confirming what idiots those voters are).

das Monkey

It's gotten steadily better each week. If you can, try to catch this week's episode.

On the topic at hand, as long as HBO is showing something new every Sunday night, I can survive. Sure, I want The Sopranos to return, but if Sex and the City, or Six Feet Under, or Oz is holding the fort in the meantime, I can definitely live with that as well.

das

Patman

I don't get it! Six Feet Under has a death each week, lots of boinking, lots of cruel, cogent revelations, and every now and then, some really intense showdowns. Do we really need The Sopranos anymore?

grunter

You forgot to mention what Six Feet Under doesn't have - ie. rich characterizations, inspired acting, serpentine symbolic plot arcs, "a consistent sense of time and place," a deep bench of entertaining and sympathetic secondary performers (see Janice (!!) or Paulie Walnuts), Edie Falco or James Gandolfini.

While I'd rather not wait 14 months for a new episode of the Sopranos, I'll soldier through, realizing that once "T" and the gang are back on the streets, the best darn show on television is once again lighting up screens.

Six Feet Under is - at best - a place holder filling in the slot after the comic masterpiece that is Sex and the City. I say fill out Sex and the City to an hour and scale back the tepid formulaic Six Feet Under. Angst ridden doctors and lawyers have given way to angst ridden funeral directors. My - what progress.

Deftones

how can you criticize 6 feet under when you said yourself you haven't given it a chance?

The writing and acting, IMHO, is better than the Soprano's. I actually look forward to the next episode of 6 feet under, whereas, with the Soprano's, I watch them when I can. I don't set aside time every week to watch it. It's just not as interesting, and in fact, it often bores me.

Decker

Actually, it was me, not grunter, who said that I haven't really given it a chance. I will try to catch another episode or two before I totally dismiss it. Still, I couldn't expect it to reach the level of The Sopranos, that's unfairly high expectations. While the second season was merely very good, the first was, IMHO, the finest season of any series ever on TV. It was really a masterpiece, more like a 13 hour movie than a TV show. I'm so glad I got the DVD set.
Six Feet Under doesn't have to be that good, it just has to hold my interest better than the first two episodes did. Will it be hard to catch up with what's going on now?

Pikul

As much as I love The Sopranos, and unfair as it is to compare it to a different show like Six Feet Under, I'd have to give the edge to Six Feet Under as the preferred of the two. I'm speaking in terms of my personal taste -- as to which is the better artistically or whatever, that's a bit more subjective and out of my range.

I have never seen another TV show or movie based on a family who owns a funeral parlor. You could say, "Well, big deal -- if you just want something different, why not have a show about a family who runs a summer badminton camp?" But the family's involvement with their occupation/business is so integral to the show, a major factor. A common scene in The Sopranos is the guys sitting around the strip bar chewing the fat, whereas the equivalent in Six Feet Under is Federico and David talking business in front of a dead body. Which of the two had you seen more often? I could go on for a long time about this.

I have seen tons of movies revolving around a gangster-type with a heart of gold. And most of them are great. But I have never seen anything with such a dark, biting sense of humor (save for the movie Happiness and snatches of the Twin Peaks series). For me, the Sopranos delay is nothing worth fretting over -- especially since there's Six Feet Under.