cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/television/t/761868
David Chase says 25-year golden period was a ‘blip’ and he is being told to ‘dumb down’ productions.
To be honest, Sopranos wasn’t anything complex.
For the time it told a relatively interesting story
it was really well written though, and the characters were deep and complex and resembled actual people. At least in the first seasons… Most series (in the past and nowadays) are written like garbage to appeal to the most common denominator as quick and cheap as possible
I absolutely hated the ending.
I think it’s who you know and who you are in Hollywood that matters most, but especially who you know. I consider Barry to be a masterpiece in terms of directing and acting. Perfect popular media can exist, it’s just extremely rare under capitalism, everything needs to work like clockwork for a show like Sopranos to exist again, but that takes a lot of time and effort and the right people for it to be a possibility. Streaming fucked everything over too so that’s an issue. Can you really recall any decent shows that existed around sopranos era? There’s only as many as you can count on your hand and the same applies today, it’s not like every show during that period was great and the same stays true today - but it’s probably a lot harder today since the algorithm is mostly in charge of what shows are getting more seasons. Enshitification is true but it’s always been shit it’s not like much has changed.
Gonna have to disagree. We’re in the era of massive story arcs that can be binged. You need to be riveting to get an audience.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The creator of The Sopranos has decried what he views as the death of quality TV, blaming risk-averse executives and distracted audiences.
David Chase, who wrote the HBO series about the New Jersey mafia that many credit with starting a golden age of television, said that era was now over.
Talking to the Times 25 years after The Sopranos first aired, Chase said the last quarter-century of ambitious and complex drama was “a blip”.
He believes the type of show that was synonymous with The Sopranos – such as The Wire, Breaking Bad and Mad Men – would not be commissioned now.
He told the Times about a show he has been trying to make with the young screenwriter Hannah Fidell, about a high-end sex worker forced into witness protection.
Chase recalled the climate in the late 1990s, when The Sopranos was commissioned by HBO, having first been turned down by many other networks, including Fox.
The original article contains 472 words, the summary contains 156 words. Saved 67%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Fargo sorta negates that argument.
I love Fargo but it’s ten years old now.
Legion wasn’t perfect but it was certainly complex and ambitious. Made by the same guy too.
That was released seven years ago. Point I’m making is Noah Hawley was able to make a name for himself writing these complex series before the current crunch caused a situation where a first time showrunner wouldn’t be allowed to.
You might see a parallel to the New Hollywood movement that started in the late sixties and ended in the late seventies.
Noah Hawley is creating an Alien show. I’m cautiously excited.
I didn’t know that. I’ll definitely watch it.
