Sopranos to be syndicated on A&E - why even bother? (1 Viewer)

[Linda Thompson]

I just read this item:

http://tinyurl.com/3u6we

The two most head-scratching points, to me:


I mean, really...why even bother? With the ratings the show draws on HBO, plus the lucrative DVD sales, it seems that the audience for this show is already pretty well saturated. I know there are some basic-cable or non-cable viewers who'll check it out just to see what all the hoopla is about, but I still have to wonder if A&E will ever be able to recoup that kind of pay-out with the butchered, watered-down version they'll have to offer? (We all know A&E's record on editing... Even FX is more lenient.)

But, I guess they know that people will tune into just about anything...even such a butchered offering...if it's free...

 

[Morgan Jolley]

There was a sketch on MadTV a few years ago about the Sopranos being brought to PAX. The showed an episode and it ran for about 30 seconds, with the scene cutting every time someone was about to say something profane or someone was about to get shot. It was pretty funny, but it's sad that it's coming true.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

You guys are looking at this the wrong way here, to me this represents the potential for some of the funniest shit i've seen on television in quite awhile!

New title is n order though, how about The Sopranos...Lite or The Sopranos: The Family Version, you can watch this one with the kids!

Na, this should make for comedy gold, folks!

 

[Sean Moon]

To take a page from the old Sopranos ad campaign...

The Sopranos. Family. Redefined.

 

[John McM]

you never know, TBS didn't really kill Sex And The City like people feared, I am sure A&E can get away with a not-too-edited Sopranos at 1 am

 

[TravisR]

It bothers me more that they may cut out as much as 15 minutes from an episode. They "have" to cut the cursing/violence (lest they offend some old lady in Idaho) but they do have control of if they cut the episode to fit into a timeslot.

 

[Sean Moon]

And what of the sometimes longer shows? Season 4 ended with a 75 minute episode.

 

[John McM]

considering Comedy Central can air uncensored movies and stand-up concerts on Saturday nights, why couldn't A&E air uncensored Sopranos late at night?

 

[Linda Thompson]

More details on how this will likely be implimented:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/01/ar...tml?oref=login

Possible scenarios mentioned in the article:

The use of alternate dialogue which is already being done on eps-in-progress

"Sanitized" eps run early, with raunchier versions shown late-night

And, one interesting little "24" tidbit which I hadn't previously heard anything about:

 

[TravisR]

Yeah, A+E starts airing 24 in the fall.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Technically, cable stations can air whatever they want, whenever they want. The reality is that advertisers don't want people to see their ads running on a show that could offend them, so they're not going to break a certain level of decency. Comedy Central usually has beer commercials playing with their uncensored 1 AM Saturday night stuff.

 

[CharlesD]

These guys are business men. Audience saturation or no, someone thinks they can make a profit from doing this.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Wait a minute. . .they're paying $2.5 million per episode for something that's going to air at 1 am?!?!?! Good grief; how are they going to sell that much advertising?

 

[Linda Thompson]

Exactly! That's part of my point...

Whether they do prime-time or late-night (or both, as one of the proposed plans in the NYT writeup suggests), just think how much advertising they're gonna have to sell to recoup their money! Depending upon how much (or how little) they edit for actual content, and then add the trims for all the commercials they're gonna have to cram in to make back the money...I just can't see this being any sort of a "win" situation for either A&E OR any potential viewers...

If nothing else, though, maybe the diluted taste that viewers will get will translate into more DVD sales...

 

[Sean Moon]

or (crosses fingers) LOWER dvd prices for this show.