I have been rewatching the Sopranos reruns on A&E from the first episode in the past few weeks. I always loved The Sopranos but thought the quality dropped the last few seasons, IMO, and I think the show was never the same after Nancy Marchant(Tony's mom) died in real life.

Livia played a huge role in all of Tony's sessions with Dr. Melfi, and his power struggle with Uncle Junior was another great battle that was lost later on when he started going senile. I just don't think the show was ever the same starting in Season 3 when she died in real life.

I would be interested to hear people thoughts a few years after the show ended, as we can all look back now with a slightly different perspective.

Thanks.

I was recently thinking about how large of an effect the death of Marchant had on the overall direction of the series. Has Chase ever mentioned this in an interview?

I remember him talking about his arc for Season 3, and how she was going to testify against Tony. The whole season would have been about how Tony or if Tony could get back in her good graces before the Feds put her on trial.

I think it just goes to show that the real nemesis of Tony was his mom, and once she died, part of the show did too.

She (Nancy Marchand) was actually a relative of mine.

what this thread title says is the truth

which was the episode where they digitally enhanced or digitally did something to a scene she was in right after she died in real life?

Considering that the concept of the series was to be centered around the relationship between Livia and Tony and consequently Tony and Melfi, I'd say hell yeah. You may also notice that Melfi's character gets much less screen time after they killed off Livia too.

It was the 2nd episode of Season 3 ("Proshai, Livushka"). They put shots of her head on a stand-in's body and put in lines from past seasons to show her having a conversation with Tony. It was really weird looking and kinda creepy - the neck just looked...wrong.

I don't know, I don't think the show itself changed that much in Season 3; obviously not having Livia changed the plot, but it still felt the same as the prior 2 seasons. To me Season 4 is when the entire pacing and tone shifted and it just felt like a different show.

I always thought that scene was done in poor taste, as it just came off creepy to me too. They could have just said that she died, and everyone would have gotten the point that Tony was still at odds with his mom.

That whole episode was just weird, and it started a trend of certain episodes that just lagged and didn't keep you enthralled. I remember the first two seasons of every episode ending and you wonder where the time went, and as the show got into its 4th, 5th and then final season, some episodes you would look at the clock wondering when is this going to get interesting!

While Marchand's death was a blow, I don't think the show ever recaptured the quality of the first season, even the second season when she was still there.

I thought the second season was where things really started to get interesting. I mean, Season 1 was fantastic, but there was just so much more going on with Janice, Richie, and Big Pussy.

As far as Livia having to be written out of the show for obvious reasons, seeing how Tony reacted to her death, or how everyone else reacted for that matter, was able to show us another side of Tony and how he deals, and not focusing so much around his mother ultimately lead the show to places I don't think we would have reached otherwise.

And her hairstyle kept changing as they used different footage they had lying around of her. That scene was horribly done and didn't really add much to the episode - it could've been left out entirely and the rest of the episode still stands up fine.

And I completely agree with this thread's title - which is why I only own the 1st two seasons on DVD.
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Quality dropped as the cast size increased. Too many characters to keep up with or even remember there names.

I modified the thread title in case anyone hasn't watched the series yet.

Rosebud was a sled.

Vader is Luke's father.

The Planet of the Apes is post apocalyptic Earth.

Sorry, I just had to get it out of my system.

Funny how The Wire thrived with probably even more characters to keep up with - I blame the writing on the Sopranos.

Plus it was a given that most "new" characters would just be killed off by the end of the season.

When she died, Chase's brain cut violently to black.

When they went to Italy and brought back Furio it was like when the Transformers would come up with some ridiculous premise to introduce a new kind of toy, if that premise had them strung out on smack.

Bruce Willis has been dead since pretty much the beginning of the movie too.

Spoiler alert! I haven't seen Die Hard yet. Way to ruin it for me!

Anyway, I agree that the series changed direction following the death of Livia as a character. I don't know that I agree this was a downhill change, necessarily, though. By the time she dies, I was invested enough in Tony that it was kind of liberating to see him let off the leash some and be who he really was, rather than bouncing from one conflict to another and trying to hold it all together. Once Livia isn't there, Tony becomes a different man--one who takes charge at work and...largely finds other places to be than at home.

I'm glad she died (the character, not the actress) - she was so annoying (sure, that was intentional, but still...), that she made me want to fast-forward her scenes. When she was gone, I was able to enjoy the show a lot more.

But Furio was a really cool toy. I thought his character added a lot to the show.