Sunday, March 12, 2006

A friend of ours

Who uses it: Mafiosi
What it means: A fully-sworn member of an Italian crime family.
How you can use it: To identify your own inner circle.

Forming emotional attachments to fictional characters is one hazard of living alone... but I am not ashamed to say I can't wait for tonight's premiere of "The Sopranos." It is the only reason I subscribe to premium cable. I even considered cancelling my dinner plans (with live human beings) for this evening -- until I remembered that I can catch the West Coast feed at midnight, if I'm not home before 9:00 p.m.

HBO has been rerunning the series from the beginning over the past few months, and I've managed to watch a lot of the episodes again -- particularly Season 4, which seemed kind of dull when it first aired, but now seems brilliant in its careful construction of characters and plots that paid off in Season 5.

I can think of only two other TV series that have managed to sustain such a high level of quality over such an extended period of time: "Homicide" and "The Simpsons." (And it's a new episode of "The Simpsons" tonight, too. Maybe I should rethink my dinner plans after all...)

Last night's dinner cabaret at Maple Hill was just swell, in the best tradition of "let's put on a show!" community theater. Anna said on Friday night that it was like watching a Hallowell talent show, and that's the fun of it; who knew the spokeswoman for the Maine Emergency Management Agency had such a fantastic voice?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

From all I've read tonight's Sopranos is well worth the agonizing wait. I'm excited too! Being the TV nerd I am, I can't help but give a shout out to my other favorite dramas - The Shield, Rescue Me and the best TV show ever made, also from the geniuses at HBO - The Wire. Can't wait for that to come back either. Do yourself a favor and rent the previous seasons - you won't be sorry.
Susan

Tom Ehrenfeld said...

Yes yes yes. I can't believe the show returns, and while I have occasionally felt that the momentum lagged, on reruns I've caught amazing stuff. And I must agree with you on Homicide. One of the greatest episodic shows ever made. Have you read the book by David Simon? (Have I asked you this many times before?)

I'll be watching.

Ellen Clair Lamb said...

I did read the book, which was great -- years ago, when my friend Gary directed "The Subway," one of the all-time great episodes of that show.