Sopranos: Season 4 on 10/28 (1 Viewer)

[Seth--L]

I don't know where you shop, but I never paid more than $65 for any of the seasons.

Anyway, while I thought that season 4 was the least of the series, it was still pretty darn good. I look forward to seeing it on DVD since I've found that the show works the best when watching a season in a 2-3 day time span or episodes back-to-back since each season is essentially a long film.

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

I loved the X Files, but even I stopped after Season 5. I have no trouble admitting when a show goes sour, especially at the cost of $90 (Canadian) per box set. To me, the Sopranos S4 was a colossal let down, because it didn't seem like the Sopranos at all, it was very poorly planned. IMO, anyways.

 

[EdwardKarlinski]

Well, Paul, I can understand your position. Some of us are obsessive collectors, however. But, I must say that does sound like a steep price. I typically pay $79.99 to $64.99. Of course, those are American dollars. Canadians seem to pay more based on my purchases from Canadian sites.

 

[FrankHW]

For my $0.02, I thought Season 4 started out masterfully, with a couple of fantastic performances by Drea de Matteo (why wasn't she nominated for an Emmy?), then sort of fell apart with the Sopranos-vs-Natives episode. After 4-5 "hiccups", it picked up towards the end.

What DID disappoint, though, was just how poorly Tony's character was written. Part of what's so addictive about the Sopranos is that Tony is/was the most 3-dimensional character on TV...one minute you love the guy for being a protective parent, the next minute he treats his wife like crap (or commits a brutal murder) and you can't stand him. In Season 4, he just wasn't a sympathetic character at all.

 

[Lloyd White]

Just get Season 4, you know you want it! Anyways, another vote for Season 4 being brilliant. Yeah, it's not full of the type of "gangsta sh*t" that a lot of people want, but it really is a character family drama using the mafia for edgy stories. I love well done character drama, as long as it's not too mundane, which Sopranos is far from being.

If you really want that gangsta stuff, watch Kingpin, which really blew my mind that a show of that quality only lasted 6 episodes. That's a series that knew it wasn't going to last long, so it pulled no punches. It had that spontaneous chaos feel to it that anything can happen at any moment.

I'd like to add that I do look at TV Shows with a glass is half full attitude, because there is almost nothing on tv worth watching. I'm just glad to watch a good tv show, and more often than not, that tv show is cancelled early. What I look for is for a TV show to maintain a high level of quality and seriousness. If a show goes from great to just good, I'm still happy, because good is better than 99% of all the other crap on TV. As long as I know that the creators are putting in considerable effort to make a quality show, then I stick around. I still think Sopranos is a great show, there's moments in Season 4 where I was just blown away by how good it was.

 

[Shaun Guidolin]

One thing that does bother me about the Sopranos is the length of the season, and the length of the break between seasons. What this does is simply build extremely high expectations, and it's not hard to disappoint people.

 

[Scott_F_S]

One thing that does bother me about the Sopranos is the length of the season, and the length of the break between seasons. What this does is simply build extremely high expectations, and it's not hard to disappoint people.

It's left me fairly ambivalent about the series. Used to love the show, but I have moved on to other things and have found myself now bored with it -- and I will be much less willing to pony up the premium price for the set now that I've gotten used to 22-episode sets of other great shows for about half the price.

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

What this does is simply build extremely high expectations, and it's not hard to disappoint people.

I agree. However, I would also add that Chase and Co are spending way too much time on the style of the show, rather them the substance. Sure, Season 4 may look better then Season 1, but I honestly could care less about the lighting with the Sopranos. It's the characters who drew me into the show, not the camera angles.

 

[EdwardKarlinski]

Yes, the short seasons and lengthy time lag between seasons does indeed raise expectations, and Chase failed to deliver in season four. Lloyd, the "gangsta sh*t", as you call it, is what made the Sopranos a hit series. If the show was about a waste management consultant from North Jersey, nobody would have watched it. So, when Chase removes this from the mix, he is destroying his show. I know that there is no longer a buzz about the Sopranos. It is just another show now. That is a shame because it was great for two seasons.

 

[Brook K]

I'll rent it like the others. I'm interested to see it despite all the neg talk, unfortunately this season I wasn't able to avoid spoilers and accidentally found out the two major developments.

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

I wasn't able to avoid spoilers and accidentally found out the two major developments.

... so that was effectively ruined for me. And to be honest, that was the only interesting scene in this last season.

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

Found this at DavisDVD.com today...



...enjoy.

 

[MikeHAP]

There was a promo image similar to this cover before season 4 started that I liked quite a bit. As box art though, it looks too crowded, with the whole cast jammed in there, so only a partial I for one am also really looking forward to seeing these episodes again--particularly the season finale. That last episode was just a marvelous display of acting between Gandolfini and Edie Falco. October is going to be so expensive...

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

HBO really took to Annie Lebowitz last year. See did the photos for both Six Feet Under and the Sopranos, and I agree with the poster above, as promo art its good. But as cover art, too crowded. Also, I don't think Grey is the best color.

However, a dull color for a dull season makes sense.

 

[Tino]

However, a dull cover for a dull seaon makes sense.

Only to those who found it dull. I think the coverart looks fine, colorful and full of great actors, just like the excellent, exciting, far from dull, fourth season is.

 

[Everlasting Gobstopper]

HBO really took to Annie Lebowitz last year. See did the photos for both Six Feet Under and the Sopranos

Gregory Crewdson did the Six Feet Under photo. If you're a fan of SFU, you owe it to yourself to check out Crewdson's work, since there are many thematic and stylistic similarities.

 

[EdwardKarlinski]

Only to those who found it dull. I think the coverart looks fine, colorful and full of great actors, just like the excellent, exciting, far from dull, fourth season is.

You think a grey box looks colorful?

 

[Paul_Stachniak]

You think a grey box looks colorful?

Lol. Exactly.

 

[Tino]

lol. Exactly.

Right back at ya!

 

[Everlasting Gobstopper]

Sorry about the mistake. However, I will check out his work. And while I did like the SFU poster art, I don't know how it will translate to a DVD cover, as it was a horizontal poster.

On the vertical bus shelters that dot my fair city, the posters added more flowers to the bottom of the frame, making it about a third of the entire frame. Or, if they go with another unconventional box like they did for the first season, it may well be horizontal.