An excerpt from the book
An Offer We Can't Refuse: The Mafia in the Mind of America -
"It's only fair to admit that with rare exceptions - The Godfather, The Sopranos, and a handful of others - I have no interest in mob stories," wrote Robert Bianco of USA Today. "It is certainly possible to shape a great drama out of the inner workings of a crime syndicate, as The Sopranos proves.
If a well-written and well-acted film or TV series, of similar quality to The Sopranos, indeed is possible, the question remains, what would it be about? David Chase recognized that no one wanted to see yet another story about a mob crew from Brooklyn, so the only place left to go was into the character's domestic and interior lives. Now that he's brilliantly done that, what's left to say?
I think it brings up a good question. Is there anything relevant left to say about the Mafia, through a movie or TV show, that the general public would find interesting? That could be on the same epic, quality level of
The Godfather movies,
Goodfellas, or
The Sopranos? Us mob aficionados will be interested in most anything mob-related. And it's easy for Hollywood to churn out any run-of-the mill mob story. But something high-quality? Something relevant today? I think going retro with
Boardwalk Empire was smart but it's not on the same level as the others mentioned above. I'm talking about a worthy "successor" to
The Sopranos, the way
The Sopranos was a successor to
Goodfellas, and
Goodfellas was a successor to
The Godfather.
