Best Sopranos character (aside from the big guy)

LIVIA

Paulie - if only for the comic relief

Paulie vs. Junior

Not gonna get any votes, but I'd like to pour one out for Johnny Sack.

he was really, really good - it's just such a crowded field

I'm thinking Paulie or Junior myself. Though in fairness maybe I should go for Carmella as the most pschycologically rounded character apart from Tony.

xxpost - yeah, I love Johnny Sack.

I'm going with Johnny Sack.

Hooray!

I'm actually giving more credit for Carmela to Edie Falco than to the writers, fwiw.

Paulie all the way motherfucker.

Yeah, Paulie Walnuts for me - but not just for comic relief; they really nailed a complete character for him in the last series.

The episode where they go down to Miami, and Tony's thinking of killing Paulie, is heartbreaking. That shot of Tony looking into the hotel room next to his at Paulie, sitting in his underwear watching a "Three's Company" re-run and laughing to himself: Stone classic.

And the running gag of Paulie insulting someone, then repeating the insult to whoever is nearby - "Sil, did you hear what I told him? Told him "I went over for a blow job. Your mother was working the bon-bon concession at the Eiffel Tower." Fucking genius.

Ralphie Cifaretto

He's got such a good snigger.

xpost - paulie that is

But Jesus Christ, look at that list. Has there ever been such a vividly fleshed-out and colourful ensemble?!

I like people who don't give a fuck for Tony's status (see also Richie Aprile). Shame they all get fucking wasted.

I was so, so ready for Ralphie to go. He's the one part of the show that feels dated in a 1990s nihistic/violent/funny way.

That said, Ralph was absolutely the best dresser on the show, with his cashmere sweaters and ascots and all.

Falco

Treat yourself to a couple of minutes on the imdb Paulie Walnuts "quotes" page:

http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0011342/quotes+paulie+walnuts

You're not gonna believe this. He killed sixteen Czechoslovakians. Guy was an interior decorator.

Huh, his apartment didn't look so great.

Shit, got it wrong.

Chrissy and Melfi are probably the major characters who will be a bit neglected.

Impossible poll, but Ralphie, I think.

feel obligated to choose between christofah and carmela, but my honest affections are for artie bucco and hesh.

and fooorio

Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri: "In the midst of death, we are in life", huh? Or is it the other way around?
Meadow Soprano: I think it's the other way around.
Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri: Either version, you're halfway up the ass.

looking at this i'm reminded of how many amazing characters this show thought up. pretty remarkable. kinda tempted by buscemi but i'm going go with my heart and vote carm.

this thread has led me to some indecision re: whether I should spring for the entire series on DVD

DO IT

this thread should lead you to a decision, not indecision! do it do it.

well I mean I want to but its kinda expensive

I'm actually giving more credit for Carmela to Edie Falco than to the writers, fwiw.

-- G00blar, Thursday, February 28, 2008 9:59 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Link

^this

i voted for her, though. she and tony were the heart of the show, for sure.

PAULIE

That thing he does with his mouth and fingers. Also, out of all the guys on the show, he's the one I can see wearing the same paper bag hat my grandfather (RIP) used to wear. Maybe Junior, too.

Just voted Jun on a whim. Channel 4 showed the episode where he's in the secure unit hanging out with that chinese guy and setting up poker games last night, he's genius in it.

The entire Junior arc is so depressing, but so incredibly well pulled off.

janice pwn all

ooh only http://www.barginvideo.com/The%20Sopranos%20Seasons%201-6%20%20dvd%20box%20set.htm?gclid=CKuW-Jjz6ZECFQkSagodFD3Teg00

"bargin video," huh. ever ordered from them before?

that's gotta be a scam. i mean look at that website. and deep discount, who usually have the best prices, has the set at $424.

I was so, so ready for Ralphie to go. He's the one part of the show that feels dated in a 1990s nihistic/violent/funny way.

^^^^^

that's gotta be a scam. i mean look at that website. and deep discount, who usually have the best prices, has the set at $424.

well I'm gonna find out!

just dl the whole thing gratis homie

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080212075109AAf88rd

I hate watching shit on my computer

voted for Livia, the most terrifying, realistic mom ever.

johnny sack

what i did shakey was get a cable which attaches my computer to my tv then i sit on my couch and feel like a criminal mastermind

my shitty laptop cannot output video/audio to my TV. My household is not high-tech.

:(

:( where is the love for Livia. would've been amazing if she'd been in the entire run of the show.

wow who voted for janice, you deserve a medal for such tolerance. she does bring some lols tho

Surprisingly high turnout for Sil.

FYI - I have not received my complete series DVDs yet, but a package HAS been shipped so I am cautiously optimistic

this is like the end of "seven"!

I seriously cannot wait to find out what the hell shows up at your door!

Kevin Spacey's head

Aha - that site is probably semi-legit... however:

"These are foreign manufactured sets and may have foreign writing on boxes and/or DVD's."

I don't really give a shit about that as long as they work and the actual episodes are in English

I mean $95 is INSANE given what these sets retail for

Yeah, I'm waiting on the verdict here with my cursor poised over "PROCEED TO CHECKOUT".

No, I have PLENTY of foreign DVDs that work fine, I was just posting it because I think that explains the low prices. With this grey market stuff, I doubt HBO is seeing a dime, but the products should be fine...

I would have voted for Caitlin, Meadow's freshman roommate who pulls out pieces of her hair when she's anxious, which is all the time. Seriously, she's hilarious

Oh yeah, she freaked out once after seing some newspaper stuck in a homeless woman's arse.

guess what arrived today!

looks totally legit - nice packaging, everything's in English, altho there's some asian writing on the discs

Just ordered mine. "BLOWOUT SALE - NOW ONLY $82.99"

Don't understand why anyone would vote for Artie over any of the others.

A fan of the Nuevo Vesuvio menu selection?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517MCGF9JEL.jpg

if i remember right, it was me that voted for him.

i liked ventimiglia's performances, i liked the situations they put his character in (out of his depth but clearly with an actual moral sense, for all the good it does him). and i felt like giving him some love.

Artie's kinda like AJ, spends the whole series being humiliated/humiliating himself

That's kind of true for all of the characters.

That's why this was the toughest poll ever. I love Artie, love the guy who plays him, and he's had some brilliant scenes and stories. But to vote for him over, say, Christopher, seems insane to me.

if i had voted i still would have gone with richie aprile, he was the best of the one-season troublemakers imo

I put a comment about shipping charges on my order, and they've already emailed me back regarding that. They can't spell worth a damn on the website or in email, but otherwise everything seems smooth.

anyone know if that cheap ass box set will play in European dvd players?

Not unhacked, I don't think.

happy to report DVDs work perfectly - just watched the Sopranos Home Movies episode

squeee

Just got mine. 28 DVDs, no waiting.

paulie cameo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbW16rCMN14

The soprano repertoire is among the richest in all of opera. I can't believe you left out Carmen!

been cherrypicking episodes - the Fleshy Part of the Thigh in particular stands out. Lord Jammar/Treach/Bobby subplot, Paulie finding out about his ma/crying, Tony in recovery at the hospital, Vito in gay leather outfit, some really great editing, second usage of "Jimmie Brown" in the sdtk (this really stuck out to me, two episodes in a row they use the same song just before some violence goes down)

Net cost for the whole series = $50, after selling S2 and S3 boxes on Amazon.

* Steven Van Zandt — Silvio "Sil" Dante

^my vote - the tilted head walk fuckin kills me

btw i want to read this thread but im only through season 1 - should i read it or is there too many spoilers wrt deaths and what not

There are a few spoilers up there, if you really don't know anything about what happens after Season 1.

I'm kind of amazed you guys thought the Joseph Gordon-Levitt movie was fulla Eyetalian stereotypes when you LOVE all these characters. (leave 'quality' whatever that is aside for a minute)

i mean, Little Steven is fine on this show, but it's like he stepped outta the pages of MAD magazine.

* Jerry Adler — Herman "Hesh" Rabkin 0

>:(

Has anyone accused David Chase of making his grand theme Blame It All On Mom? He has broadcast that Livia is quite directly based on his mother, which is a pretty cold move. It could be an Achilles heel he shares with Ingmar Bergman (they both do better with dream sequences).

i'd be curious if he had another plan in mind for livia that was altered due to nancy marchand's passing.

that theme recedes somewhat in the post-Marchand seasons but it's always there. and dealt with pretty explicitly imo

the plot arc that was planned for season 3 was for Livia to testify against Tony on racketeering charges related to the airline/bus tickets iirc

(that all went out the window, obviously)

also i really find Steve Van Zandt's always-screwed-up-face caricature as Silvio distracting. He's almost always in sketch comedy realm even compared to the other frequently funny goombahs.

DC says on one of the DVDs that when he thought he was going to have to make Sopranos as a single movie, it was all about the capo and whether his mom would betray him.

it's a bit of a caricature but also i think SVZ looks like that irl a lot of the time.

Silvio's probably the most one-dimensional of Tony's inner crew, apart from some stuff that happens later ("University" for ex.) that I won't go into for Morbz sake

that being said, he never really gets as fully fleshed out as Paulie or Bobby or Junior or Hesh. there's no "day in the life of silvio dante" episodes.

I'm on the fourth season; my favourites thus far have been Bobby, Junior, Hersh, and Johnny. Richie's been the scariest--and until I looked at the list above, I never realized he was Tony from Mean Streets.