The same. Fun to engage via comments, but would rather have a happy Sepinwall weekly than the ability to share some inanity or another. The world probably has enough opinions these days-professional television critics (and Poscasters) excluded of course.
I was fairly non-plussed by FAM this week, it felt more like a chess-pieces episode to me than the first half of the finale. But one thing I found irritating is that Sergei had a whole new life, including a wife, and he just disappears one day and ditches her completely. I just kept thinking how awful that plot twist was considering they went to all the trouble to cast his wife, and now he's dead and she's going to learn her entire marriage was predicated on lies. It annoyed me because they could have written Sergei as single, living alone, and I wouldn't have to think of his poor widow. I realize my brain went on a huge tangent here but they went there.
Also, the CIA and KGB comfortably partnering up on Mars ala Red Heat seems like a huge stretch.
I let Margo's ability to show up at the diner go but that was also convoluted. I did find it darkly humorous that the assassin killed him AFTER he started eating, like maybe the KGB agent thought it would confuse the police if it looked like his Big Mac was so bad he immediately killed himself before finishing it.
Was really impressed with Fargo this week. Jon Hamm has been amazing as the Sheriff, and I appreciate that the show hasn't glamorized or sympathized with this monster in any way. Really chilling work.
As far as commenting goes, I think it's more about how much you, as the author and creator, enjoy the feedback and engaging with the readers. It's fun to join in the conversation, but no one comes here to read what I have to say, and if I'm behind or haven't seen a show (which is often) I won't have anything to contribute anyway. I'm here because I enjoy your commentary and writing, and you reveal a lot of insights about TV shows and episodes that I miss on my own.
I can also imagine that you don't have much time to read and respond to many of the comments. So ultimately I think it's about what your vision is for the newsletter and how much you want to engage in conversation.
as the son of homeowners in Livingston whose house was soclose to being a Sopranos set (they would not use the interiors of a furnished house), I would think a good anniversary piece on the series be about the longterm effects the seriew had on New Jersey.
On the subject of comments: I've always loved that you're interested in people's comments ("What did everybody else think?" has been a signature phrase of yours forever, and somehow it's clear that you really want to know). But it's more important to me that you have a platform that is easy and satisfying for you to use than that the rest of us get the opportunity to weigh in. I like to read your articles in Rolling Stone and your capsule reviews on Letterboxd, and I find it delightful that you are inclined to share your responses in a less formal way in a newsletter like this. So really all this is just a longwinded way of saying: Thanks!
Yeah, figured that Sergei was getting a bullet as soon as they planned the meetup at the house, and it was guaranteed when he started talking about them sailing away to Brazil on the S.S. Live-4-Ever. But you did neglect to mention one important name-drop: Dani is a Columbo fan.
Fargo: all season we were presented with Danish Graves being this slick guy, 'Saul Goodman' type of lawyer and then the writers decided to turn him into an idiot in this last episode: he goes into the lion's den alone, unprotected, right after he pissed off the guy he knew it is extremely violent and volatile while also doing the over-used plot about a character who ignores phone calls which would warn him that he's in danger. Pure stupidity, awful script! Won't even comment about Gator not seeing Ole Munch on the review mirror...this season is way better than the last one, but this is bad Fargo.
As for FAM...these last couple of seasons are soooooo bad that it only serves to remind me how much I miss the Jennings and the beltalowda crew!
I don’t think he’s an idiot, I think he’s a man who thinks the world works a certain way: witness him getting all his forms properly prepared and notarized. He walks in there expecting things to play out a certain way because that’s how they’re supposed to. He doesn’t call Lorraine because she gave him a job to do and in his mind he’s coming FROM the lion’s den. How would any of those calls have warned him of anything ? They just wanted to know whether he was done and on his way back. In his mind the job isn’t done yet.
Agreed. I think Danish thought within the world of the law, and that he was dealing with a fellow law man. I honestly think he thought he had bested Roy and was going there with the full confidence that the feud was over and that he had won.
WE know that Roy has no problem killing people, but I don't think Danish knew that.
I agree with this way of looking at it. Especially since we saw Deputy Farr get into two standoff situations this episode (at the hospital and at the gate to the ranch) and be able to walk away. Danish thought he was untouchable as a lawyer or a law man. But we’re seeing there is a difference between a law man and a man with a badge.
The shot of his phone they cut to showed that this Favorites was all Lorainne - home, cell, office. Given his devotion to her and the way she linked arms with him last episode, I read it as he has feelings for Lorainne and wanted to look like a hero bringing Dot back. That desire plus the overconfidence of coming off a winning Gambit with the standins, and not understanding what type of man Roy is led him to go it alone IMO.
Completely disagree. Exactly because he's the type of guy who get his forms properly prepared and notarized, he should've known better that going into the lion's den, outnumbered, no backup, in the evening, in a remote location, knowing Roy just kidnapped "The Tiger" (for the 2nd, 3rd time?) its the worst move he can do, hubris or not. FFS! he just made the guy look like a pathetic loser in front of the whole community. There is absolutely no way Danish would think they would discuss further steps over a bottle of whiskey, just because he's a law man. Matter of fact, during the whole season Danish knew that he was dealing with a "I am the Law" type of Sheriff. Bad Fargo it is.
I agree that he didn't understand the world he was walking into and I think that fits the character just as you said. The one place I disagree is I don't think he took the call form Lorraine because I think he suspected that she would tell him not to do anything about it (not sure if that's the case). She told him to screw over the election because of the bank situation, but she didn't actually say anything about saving Dot and I think he was trying to do the "right thing" at the time, but didn't realize he was in over his head in this situation.
Thank you for mentioning Funny Woman, which I don't think I would have known about otherwise. I watched all six eps over the past week and absolutely loved it. Characters have the chance to breathe and expand and the actors are all brilliant. A wonderful find!
"The Sopranos fundamentally changed television and has been the most influential scripted TV show since I Love Lucy." I guess it depends how you describe "scripted" but I always say the most influential / impactful / important TV show in the medium's history is SESAME STREET! (And nothing else is even close.)
And for the record, I do like comments, just as it's a place to put asides like this and potentially get replies, especially given that there's no other social media site where everybody is anymore. One question about the Substack alternatives: what's wrong with WordPress? You can subscribe & get posts as email, plus all the bloggy functionality - as long as you don't expect to get paid!
Love this new Chase story and reading about his experiences in the '70s through the early '90s. It reminded me of a question: Alan, have you written about Chase's other TV work where he was the primary creative force? I'm meaning the Off the Minnesota Strip TV movie (for which he won an Emmy!), the pilot for Palms Precinct (don't know if this is viewable), Almost Grown.
It's fascinating to hear him discuss working as a hired hand on commercial successes like Rockford or fostering Falsey/Brand's visions with Northern Exposure and I'll Fly Away. But I'd be curious if he mentioned those works he himself created in that early period when you interviewed him most recently. I'm also curious if, say, Off the Minnesota Strip and Almost Grown show any hints towards the writer/creator Chase would become with The Sopranos. Off the Minnesota Strip is on Youtube, I've been meaning to watch it.
We talked about Almost Grown a fair amount for this story. None of it made the final version because the I'll Fly Away quotes spoke more clearly to the themes I was trying to get at. That was a mostly very positive experience for him, though there was one anecdote about how they tried to dedicate an episode to James Brown, and the CBS censor yelled at them, saying that the only times you should dedicate episodes to anyone is if someone who worked on the show died.
Comments are of secondary concern to me, so if you go somewhere Nazi-free but without comments, in the words of Bono I Will Follow.
This is a TV blog, so in the words of Carole King, "Where you lead, I will follow".
The same. Fun to engage via comments, but would rather have a happy Sepinwall weekly than the ability to share some inanity or another. The world probably has enough opinions these days-professional television critics (and Poscasters) excluded of course.
I was fairly non-plussed by FAM this week, it felt more like a chess-pieces episode to me than the first half of the finale. But one thing I found irritating is that Sergei had a whole new life, including a wife, and he just disappears one day and ditches her completely. I just kept thinking how awful that plot twist was considering they went to all the trouble to cast his wife, and now he's dead and she's going to learn her entire marriage was predicated on lies. It annoyed me because they could have written Sergei as single, living alone, and I wouldn't have to think of his poor widow. I realize my brain went on a huge tangent here but they went there.
Also, the CIA and KGB comfortably partnering up on Mars ala Red Heat seems like a huge stretch.
I was thinking about his teaching and how he just left his job, too.
If Margo was being watched at all times then how did she leave the hotel to meet Sergei in the parking lot of the diner?
I let Margo's ability to show up at the diner go but that was also convoluted. I did find it darkly humorous that the assassin killed him AFTER he started eating, like maybe the KGB agent thought it would confuse the police if it looked like his Big Mac was so bad he immediately killed himself before finishing it.
Was really impressed with Fargo this week. Jon Hamm has been amazing as the Sheriff, and I appreciate that the show hasn't glamorized or sympathized with this monster in any way. Really chilling work.
As far as commenting goes, I think it's more about how much you, as the author and creator, enjoy the feedback and engaging with the readers. It's fun to join in the conversation, but no one comes here to read what I have to say, and if I'm behind or haven't seen a show (which is often) I won't have anything to contribute anyway. I'm here because I enjoy your commentary and writing, and you reveal a lot of insights about TV shows and episodes that I miss on my own.
I can also imagine that you don't have much time to read and respond to many of the comments. So ultimately I think it's about what your vision is for the newsletter and how much you want to engage in conversation.
as the son of homeowners in Livingston whose house was soclose to being a Sopranos set (they would not use the interiors of a furnished house), I would think a good anniversary piece on the series be about the longterm effects the seriew had on New Jersey.
On the subject of comments: I've always loved that you're interested in people's comments ("What did everybody else think?" has been a signature phrase of yours forever, and somehow it's clear that you really want to know). But it's more important to me that you have a platform that is easy and satisfying for you to use than that the rest of us get the opportunity to weigh in. I like to read your articles in Rolling Stone and your capsule reviews on Letterboxd, and I find it delightful that you are inclined to share your responses in a less formal way in a newsletter like this. So really all this is just a longwinded way of saying: Thanks!
Yeah, figured that Sergei was getting a bullet as soon as they planned the meetup at the house, and it was guaranteed when he started talking about them sailing away to Brazil on the S.S. Live-4-Ever. But you did neglect to mention one important name-drop: Dani is a Columbo fan.
Fargo: all season we were presented with Danish Graves being this slick guy, 'Saul Goodman' type of lawyer and then the writers decided to turn him into an idiot in this last episode: he goes into the lion's den alone, unprotected, right after he pissed off the guy he knew it is extremely violent and volatile while also doing the over-used plot about a character who ignores phone calls which would warn him that he's in danger. Pure stupidity, awful script! Won't even comment about Gator not seeing Ole Munch on the review mirror...this season is way better than the last one, but this is bad Fargo.
As for FAM...these last couple of seasons are soooooo bad that it only serves to remind me how much I miss the Jennings and the beltalowda crew!
I don’t think he’s an idiot, I think he’s a man who thinks the world works a certain way: witness him getting all his forms properly prepared and notarized. He walks in there expecting things to play out a certain way because that’s how they’re supposed to. He doesn’t call Lorraine because she gave him a job to do and in his mind he’s coming FROM the lion’s den. How would any of those calls have warned him of anything ? They just wanted to know whether he was done and on his way back. In his mind the job isn’t done yet.
Agreed. I think Danish thought within the world of the law, and that he was dealing with a fellow law man. I honestly think he thought he had bested Roy and was going there with the full confidence that the feud was over and that he had won.
WE know that Roy has no problem killing people, but I don't think Danish knew that.
I agree with this way of looking at it. Especially since we saw Deputy Farr get into two standoff situations this episode (at the hospital and at the gate to the ranch) and be able to walk away. Danish thought he was untouchable as a lawyer or a law man. But we’re seeing there is a difference between a law man and a man with a badge.
The shot of his phone they cut to showed that this Favorites was all Lorainne - home, cell, office. Given his devotion to her and the way she linked arms with him last episode, I read it as he has feelings for Lorainne and wanted to look like a hero bringing Dot back. That desire plus the overconfidence of coming off a winning Gambit with the standins, and not understanding what type of man Roy is led him to go it alone IMO.
I like this take! Initially I thought Danish was trying to cut a side deal but you're right, he was too devoted to Lorraine.
Completely disagree. Exactly because he's the type of guy who get his forms properly prepared and notarized, he should've known better that going into the lion's den, outnumbered, no backup, in the evening, in a remote location, knowing Roy just kidnapped "The Tiger" (for the 2nd, 3rd time?) its the worst move he can do, hubris or not. FFS! he just made the guy look like a pathetic loser in front of the whole community. There is absolutely no way Danish would think they would discuss further steps over a bottle of whiskey, just because he's a law man. Matter of fact, during the whole season Danish knew that he was dealing with a "I am the Law" type of Sheriff. Bad Fargo it is.
I agree that he didn't understand the world he was walking into and I think that fits the character just as you said. The one place I disagree is I don't think he took the call form Lorraine because I think he suspected that she would tell him not to do anything about it (not sure if that's the case). She told him to screw over the election because of the bank situation, but she didn't actually say anything about saving Dot and I think he was trying to do the "right thing" at the time, but didn't realize he was in over his head in this situation.
Thank you for mentioning Funny Woman, which I don't think I would have known about otherwise. I watched all six eps over the past week and absolutely loved it. Characters have the chance to breathe and expand and the actors are all brilliant. A wonderful find!
Alan did you see this? Might change some decisions on your end:
https://www.platformer.news/p/substack-says-it-will-remove-nazi
Not sure if this changes your calculations on where to house your newsletter:
https://open.substack.com/pub/platformer/p/substack-says-it-will-remove-nazi?r=biv1&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
Hi. I would like to email you but don't know how. It's probably obvious, sorry. I would like to reach out.
"The Sopranos fundamentally changed television and has been the most influential scripted TV show since I Love Lucy." I guess it depends how you describe "scripted" but I always say the most influential / impactful / important TV show in the medium's history is SESAME STREET! (And nothing else is even close.)
And for the record, I do like comments, just as it's a place to put asides like this and potentially get replies, especially given that there's no other social media site where everybody is anymore. One question about the Substack alternatives: what's wrong with WordPress? You can subscribe & get posts as email, plus all the bloggy functionality - as long as you don't expect to get paid!
I can't stop thinking about "If you're so smart, why are you so dead?" Anyone else think that's just a laughably bad line? 😂
Button down.email! All the newslettering you need and no Nazis!!
Love this new Chase story and reading about his experiences in the '70s through the early '90s. It reminded me of a question: Alan, have you written about Chase's other TV work where he was the primary creative force? I'm meaning the Off the Minnesota Strip TV movie (for which he won an Emmy!), the pilot for Palms Precinct (don't know if this is viewable), Almost Grown.
It's fascinating to hear him discuss working as a hired hand on commercial successes like Rockford or fostering Falsey/Brand's visions with Northern Exposure and I'll Fly Away. But I'd be curious if he mentioned those works he himself created in that early period when you interviewed him most recently. I'm also curious if, say, Off the Minnesota Strip and Almost Grown show any hints towards the writer/creator Chase would become with The Sopranos. Off the Minnesota Strip is on Youtube, I've been meaning to watch it.
We talked about Almost Grown a fair amount for this story. None of it made the final version because the I'll Fly Away quotes spoke more clearly to the themes I was trying to get at. That was a mostly very positive experience for him, though there was one anecdote about how they tried to dedicate an episode to James Brown, and the CBS censor yelled at them, saying that the only times you should dedicate episodes to anyone is if someone who worked on the show died.
I enjoy commenting, but honestly, I'll follow you where ever you go!