Stop It People. It was more of a comedy.

You won't believe how many times I stood up for David Chase. I belong to an Italian club in the town I live in. People in the club are always bashing the Soprano's. They say things like "The Sopranos don't show a positive image of Italians in America, and that they make us look like all a bunch of evil people." I always stand up and say "I disagree and that the show is very entertaining." It is also more of a comedy than any thing else. Especially looking at Silvio and Paulie you could tell it was a funny television show. What do you think?

For sure. Especially those scenes where Ralphie beat a girl to death and Christopher and Paulie murdered the waiter in the alley. Oh, oh, I almost forgot. The scene after Silvio gets shot in the final season and he's lying in the hospital bed with all those tubes sticking out of him. I laughed my butt off.

So you never found any scene funny at all? It's just an evil show right? My point was It's more of a comedy. There's scenes where you're gonna laugh 4 sure.

If you thought it was so bad why did you watch it??????

I watched it because I expected to view the machinations and intrigue of a Mafia family and I continued to watch it because those machinations and intrigue met my expectations, and were portrayed realistically and through the medium of great acting.

"It is also more of a comedy than any thing else" is absurd.

i think it's very childish to laugh at such things even if they were just fictional characters...
sorry but it's just immature.

You're right!! At times there were some pretty bloody scenes, but to say the whole show was all blood and guts is crazy. If you noticed on my first post I said that's entertainment for you. Unfortunately that's the kind of stuff that sells these days. The Italian culture is also there if you took the time to notice it. Like when Tony takes his crew back to Italy, and Artie Bucco with his Italian cooking. About the charecters, there were people that had funny nicknames like Paulie Walnuts, Bobby Bacala etc. There were also some really funny lines in the show, like when Bobby asked Tony if he ever wondered about the backs of Notre Dame, he said "you got the hunchback, halfback, quarterback and fullback of Notre Dame." Then he said "what you never pondered that?" There were thousands of other lines that made me jump out of my living room chair with laughter. Even my friends told me they agreed with me on this. What is immature to me is bashing somebody elses opinions, and saying that they're childish. You have your opinions and I've got mine. I myself do respect other peoples opinions as long as they don't slam the things that I write.

The comedy plays for sure a big part, but it's not pure comedy. Perhaps a better description would be "A crime family drama with a funny angle" or something like that...

But yeah, the funny moments are big part of the show's nature. It's no surprise that the most loved episode is "Pine Barrens" - which so happens to be the funniest as well.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. There's a good portion of drama and a good portion of comedy. It's that fine mix which makes the series so memorable.

That is so true..

Another really funny scene was where Uncle Junior gets his hand caught in the sink and can't get it out. It was a very great show indeed. I just can't wait until they make the movie. They have to make up for that last scene.

Part of the tension, drama and balance of "Sopranos" was to intersperse almost slapstick comedy with pure, unadulterated evil, including lots of violence. It's probably what made a lot of people think the show was "real." As one of my friends put it, "Never get to liking these guys too much." He said that following the episode where Paulie and Chris have their blow-up at the AC dinner, kiss and make up, then kill the waiter in the alley.

And it undoubtedly contributed to the series' fanatical following, including many Italian-Americans. There are almost 20 million Italian-Americans. If enough of them found "Sopranos" offensive and wanted it off the air, it would have been off the air.

The Sopranos might be very violent but a lot of it is funny, Paulie just makes me laugh every time I see because of his jokes and facial expressions. The only violence that I don't like in The Sopranos is the violence that shows women being beaten, I greatly respect women so I don't enjoy watching those scenes, but other than that the violence can have humor to it, the scene where Paulie hit that guy in the back of the head with the shovel made me laugh for days. My point is The Sopranos is an entertaining TV show, it's not meant to stereotype Italians and to give them a bad image, it's meant for people's entertainment and enjoyment. I'm very proud of my Italian heritage, and honestly the Italians protesting against Mafia-related entertainment really piss me off, now if there was something like a movie who's main idea was that Italians are bad people than I would understand, but the Mafia portrayals show nothing more than entertainment, there are a lot worse scum out there than the Mafia, I don't believe that the Mafia gives Italians a bad image.

It's very self-conscious and -exploratory regarding Italian ethnicity, to the point where it asks what it means to be Italian-American, culturally speaking.

Is it not telling that the starting point - the first scene - and a continuing element of the show is between the positive career and professional achievement made by Melfi, on the one hand, and a "waste management consultant" gangster stereotype on the other?

Many characters show concerns regarding their ethnic image; Melfi's ex-husband Richard is a good example. He's aghast that one of her clients is a notorious gangster, not because it puts Melfi at risk necessarily, but because his name ends in a vowel - that's superficial inverse snobbery, and Chase is right to expose it. Remember Richard's desperate confusion when he is told that Melfi's rapist's surname is "Rossi" in season three.

Italian-American activists protesting against the show remind me of the new surge of right-wing feminists who are "all for women" despite never really interrogating the issue at hand with any real depth. Is Chase inaccurately depicting the Mafia? Perhaps the murder rate in the show is exaggerated, but even if we took this away, I doubt any of these activists would stop protesting - to them, it's a great collective burden that they belong to an ethnicity to which "the Mafia" also belongs. All sorts of irrelevant, misguided issues arise from such a burden. As with the blind militant feminists of which I speak, the protests made against this show in the name of "Italian-American defence" say more about the vacuousness of those protesting than they do about the show.

Why can't they see the rich intelligence of the show when it explores Tony as a product of social circumstance; when it shows the great difficulty Meadow and AJ have in escaping this same social circumstance; when it depicts organized crime as an encouraged by-product of unbridled capitalism (and the failure of the American Dream); when it shows a great respect and nostalgia toward Tony's stonemason grandfather who made something of their lives in this new world?

Also, I ought to add that because of said richness, and the seriousness with which it goes about these issues, The Sopranos is a drama.

Which is not to say it's not incredibly funny.

Turnball,

That's right!!

Hmmm...the richness and seriousness you mention are not exactly the reason for defining a certain series or movie as drama or comedy, I think. There are quite a few intelligent comedies out there which deal with very serious issues and do so with great style and richness.

What I'm trying to say is that the issues alone, or their depth, are no indication to whether the show is a drama or comedy. What does define it is the WAY you convey these issues and their richness. Some comedies may have the most serious and complicated issues, and they will still make you laugh if the WAY, the actual delivery of content, is done humorously.

While I do think The Sopranos is more drama than comedy, must we make the distinction?

Can't it be both? how about two genres that overlap each other? can you say that "it's a drama and a comedy"?

I think some of Shakespeare's comedies are very serious and rich. Yet they are defined as comedies even before we learn their titles. Then we open the play and we are met with funny or witty lines inside that merit its definition of a comedy.

I think that when a series or a movie repeatedly makes you laugh in its approach, then it's a comedy as well. If we're only talking about certain characters that are funny, then it's not necessarily a comedy. Take "Lost" for example, another excellent series. There are times when I laugh so hard but it is almost ALWAYS the same characters that make me laugh in that show. Jack Shephard, the lead character of the show, for example, never makes me laugh. I will never call "Lost" a comedy. I think the Sopranos is different, in that at any given moment, any one of the characters of the show could make you laugh, even if it's not Paulie or Silvio. That's because humor is one of the defining characteristics of the show. It wont be The Sopranos without it.

Oh sure, all genres necessarily overlap. And genre's a problematic term anyway; most discussion of it isn't very useful at all.

The Sopranos is a drama. And, to repeat myself, that "is not to say it's not incredibly funny."

I realise, culturally, that the concept of 'comedy' isn't taken as seriously as 'drama'; though this is wrong, I think calling The Sopranos a 'comedy' (or 'more of a comedy than a drama') is doing it an injustice. It's dramatic, a dramatic series; and crucially, its comedy is to dramatic effect.

Anyway, this isn't half as interesting as the Italian-American issue.

This is one of the silliest threads ever on this Board. But, alas, the moth to the flame.

The Sopranos is a drama that, from time to time, contains comedic scenes. Thus, it is not a comedy or mostly a comedy. If it's a comedy, then the GF is a comedy also. To wit: in the GF who did not laugh their butt off when an intoxicated Fredo came over to Mike's and Kay's table at the wedding? How many of you fell out of your seat laughing at Luca's formal, stuttering pledge of fidelity to Vito? And how about the football sandwiches being thrown across the wedding garden? Then there's Moe Green's "... the dancers will kick your tongue out". I thought my sides would burst laughing. And the crowning jewel that nails the GF as a timeless comedy: Vito's hilarious mocking of Johnny Fontane. You do the math!

Didn't realize this thread would become this phat. I have to agree with the few individuals that said the best show to ever be on television was a mixture of comedy and drama.

Olivant, you forgot the carpet scene in GFII.

By far, IMO, the funniest GF scene.

"comeonin. Hey Vito, comeonin"

Thanks for reminding me fame. But I was laughing so hard remembering the comedic scenes I wrote about in GFI that I just didn't have the strength to analyze its comedic sequel, GFII.

The Godfather was more serious than any thing else. It really didn't have a ton of jokes that were hilariously funny like the Soprano's did. However, the Godfather did have situations and/or scenes that were funny.

Sopranos, a blend of drama and dark comedy, follows more in the footsteps, style and approach of Goodfellas, rather than the Godfather.

Olivant, I cant wait for your GF2 analysis. In the meantime, allow me to offer my GF3 transcript, which I posted here in the past. I'm pretty sure it will convince you that GF3 is the greatest comedy since Duck Soup:

As usual, it starts with a big ceremony... but to cut things short, heres the full transcript of gf3 in 15 lines:

- Michael has some Tony Bennett records in the kitchen as well as a nice sausage sandwich waiting for him.

- Meucci is an Italian-American who invented the telephone one year before Alexander Graham Bell did.

- Zasa has a stone in his shoe.

- bite,bite (In the heat of the argument Vincent suddenly remembered he forgot to eat dinner, so he tries a piece of Zasa's ear.

- Archbishop Gilday smokes a cigarette.

- Michael meets with a bunch of Sailors...they all agree that their ships must all sail in the same direction.

oh yeah and Gilday smokes another cigarette during the meeting.

- a couple of old ladies order a contract on Saza's life.

- cuz,cuz,kiss,kiss (mary and the bastard)

-Joey Saza is big time: His picture is on the cover of the New York Times magazine AND he gets the Esquire magazine award, for the best-dressed gangster.

- Gilday...cigarette # 3 (or 4,kinda lost count)

- cuz,cuz,cook,cook,kiss,kiss

- Al Neri got demoted to bellboy (helps Michael to get in and out of the car and carry his briefcase)

- Gilday....yeah thats right, another one.

- A pair of glasses are the most lethal weapon in the world.

- Gilday...guess what?

- dad?dad?

- screeeeeaaaaaammmmmm

- Michael's carpenter is not so good with chairs.

Fame, I'll get to GFII one of these days. In the meantime, the scenes that you identified in III are exquisite examples of FFC's comedic genius which has escaped the notice of most movie critics. What emphasizes that genius even more is how FFC subtly played on the audiences expectations of a drama when, in fact, he had prepared a comdedy for them.

Who mentioned The Wire?

Then you're contradicting yourself, because the thread title states that The Sopranos is/was "more of a comedy".

Yeah, it's a "mix of comedy and drama", but so are soap operas. In production terms, and thus in genre terms, it's approached as a drama. It's dramatic. You would look for the DVDs in the "drama" section of a video store; you would not expect to find it alongside Seinfeld or The Office.

So if "genre" is to be anything useful to us, then The Sopranos is a drama. Which is not to say it isn't funny.

Crucially, of course, what makes the comedy/drama debate irrelevant and uninteresting in this thread, was that The Sopranos being a "comedy" was used somehow in defence against a would-be negative portrayal of Italian-Americans.

Since when has comedy been a legitimate excuse for casual racial or ethnic stereotyping in art?

As I argued earlier in this thread, I don't think The Sopranos portrays Italian-Americans in a way that merits such protests against it; but I don't think the argument for this should rest on the fact that The Sopranos is a "comedy". That's doing both the show itself and comedy in general an injustice.

And it reveals a lack of thought and a moral irresponsibility on DiMaggio's part.

I think you read in way too much of what i write.....

That, or you put too little thought into what you write...

As it is, there's very little substance to read too much of anything in your posts.

Somebody needs a bag of fruit.....

Having so many funny characters made the show great. It displayed that despite them being in or connected to LCN, they’re just as fucked up as civilians. lol