"Sopranos" ends in crescendo of ... nothing

By Mark Egan

MONTCLAIR, New Jersey (Reuters) - Whaddya gonna do? After building tension for six seasons over 8-1/2 years, "The Sopranos," one of America's most critically acclaimed television shows, ended on Sunday with nothing more than a black screen.

And there was no clear answer to the big question -- would mob boss Tony Soprano sleep with the fishes?

Instead the mobster, who suffers the same worries as the rest of us, even if he gets relief from the occasional murder, finished the show munching onion rings in a New Jersey diner surrounded by a smiling wife and two content kids.

Sure a guy looking like a hit man had entered the restroom behind Tony and might be expected to come back out and kill the entire family, but then the screen went black for about five seconds and that was that. Some fans were disappointed.

"David Chase (the show's creator and writer ) should have put some bite into it. He left us hanging," said Johnny Salami, 43, of Rutherford, New Jersey.

"Maybe if you're from Oklahoma or California you don't care, but if you're from New Jersey, you want some closure."

Salami was in Lodi, New Jersey, at the Satin Dolls go-go lounge -- which since 1999 has doubled as the show's notorious, mob-run strip joint, the Bada Bing. About 200 fans gathered there to watch the final episode.

The strippers wore G-strings with the legend "Bada Bing." And out of respect, they stopped dancing for the show.

"This show is just short of being a caricature of Northern New Jersey, but we all love it," said patron Eileen Schley, 36. "I don't know now what I'm going to do on Sunday nights."

The series from Time Warner cable channel HBO has been around since 1999 -- longer than the Bush administration -- and broke new ground for television: portraying a thoroughly evil hero who corrupts everyone he comes into contact with while appearing perfectly ordinary to his neighbors.

STOPPING DEAD
James Gandolfini's performance as Tony Soprano has been hailed as a tour de force, as has the acting of other cast members. Despite the evil, brutality and violence that have become hallmarks of the weekly show, much of the channel's audience has formed a bond of affection for the Sopranos.

The penultimate show had left Tony's pompadoured henchman, Silvio Dante, barely breathing and full of holes; his brother-in-law Bobby dead and Soprano huddled in a darkened bedroom, clutching a machine-gun -- like a frightened child holding a teddy bear.

Even his long-conflicted therapist has dumped him and he is in all-out war with his New York gang rival Phil Leotardo.

But in the end, it was Leotardo who got snuffed out -- shot while waving farewell to his baby grandchildren, and then his head run over by an SUV for emphasis.

But for many fans, it wasn't enough and they just couldn't get past that black screen ending.

"Of all the things that could have happened, the worst thing that could have happened is it just end it like that; just stopping dead," said Tripp Reynolds, who watched at his home in Montclair. "But maybe it was inevitable given all the plot lines that were going."

The show won almost uniform critical praise. The New Yorker likened Chase's writing and character development to Charles Dickens, John Updike and Philip Roth and has called the show "the richest achievement in the history of television."

The final episode was peppered with classic one-liners from Tony. When Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri turns down an offer from Soprano to run a crew, Tony says, "I'm a little miffled." He tells a shrink, "My mother was a borderline personality." And when he hears his own son is learning Arabic, he says, "Come on, shish kebab! What else do you need to know?"

And the comedy which has come hand in hand with the violence since the beginning was in evidence too.

"One time, at the Bing ... I saw the Virgin Mary," Gualtieri confides in Tony.

"Why didn't you say anything," Tony replies. "F--- strippers, we coulda had a shrine, sold holy water in gallon jugs, coulda made millions."

What happened to Donna Pescow?

Donna Pescow - Then (1977)
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Back then she was described as an affable, petite actress (she's 5'1") who got her big break with a role as the rejected partner of dancer Tony Manero (John Travolta) in "Saturday Night Fever". Donna gained 40 pounds for her role as Annette in the movie.

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Donna Pescow - Now

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I was watching the last episode of The Sopranos last night, and I couldn't stop thinking about the actress who plays the role of Donna Parisi (wife of Patsy Parisi). I knew I had seen her before. I never forget a face. I recognized the familiar facial expressions and the way she raised her eyebrows when speaking. Other than that, she's almost unrecognizable. She used to be this tiny, cute girl. Now she's playing the role of a mobster's wife on the Sopranos and she's much heavier. On The Sopranos they had her hair done in a big black hairdo, which made it even more difficult to place where I had seen her before. Wow...what a drastic change.

Sopranos ends without a bang

Uwe and I hunkered down and watched the last episode of "The Sopranos" tonight. Would Tony Soprano get whacked? Commit suicide? Take out Phil Leotardo? Would there be an all out mob war?

Since it was on at 6 PM, we were entertaining our 2 year old daughter all the while, so we could watch the last episode live. There was a lot of youtube muted cat video playing, the baby crawling all over Uwe, and we had the TV closed captioned so we wouldn't miss anything.

With just 15 minutes left we were left scratching our heads going, "There's only 15 minutes left." and wondering "How the heck are they going to end the show?"

Anticipation was building as we watched Tony seated in the diner waiting for his family, and then each family member arriving. First Carmela, then AJ, and then Meadow. As Meadow walks through the door, the bell jingles and Tony looks up - then the screen goes black. At first we thought our cable went out. Uwe was shouting, "Wtf!" And then after awhile (which felt like an eternity) the credits started to roll. Nice to know our TV and cable are fine.

Uwe thought the ending was way lame and I was just plain disappointed. We never find out what happens to Tony and his family. But then it's sad all around when a show like this ends. After a hit show like this airs for 8 years, it's hard to see it end. No matter what, we would have been disappointed with the ending. It's always a let down, and there's no great way to end a series like this. You want the show to stay true to itself without a tidy ending, but you still long for more episodes to see how the characters are doing.

The ending felt like just another episode, building up to a crescendo, with more questions. Was Tony's favorite FBI agent sleeping with a fellow FBI agent from New York? And is that how he got his information about Phil Leotardo? Why did the FBI agent shout, "Yes, we're going to win!"? (This was the first time we got a peek into the life of the FBI agent.) Were we all just being paranoid about Paulie turning on Tony? Where have I seen the actress who plays Donna Parisi (Anna Mancini?), Patsy Parisi's wife before? I'm thinking of an old TV sitcom, but if I recall correctly she's gained a lot of weight and is almost unrecognizable. Imdb and the Internet are no help here!

So the ending just leaves it up to the viewer's own interpretation of what happens next. Some people are calling it brilliant, while others are calling it a cop out. I say, no matter what - it was a let down. Phil Leotardo's ending was the highlight, and at least Tony didn't pinch Sal's nose in the hospital like a de ja vu of Christopher's demise. (Christopher's murder still haunts me.) So I walk away saying, "Thank you for all the great episodes and memories. The Sopranos will be missed." If there's ever a movie, I will be there.

I Can't Believe "The Sopranos" Is Coming To An End

I have fond memories of "The Sopranos". Uwe and I started watching the series one summer after Uwe had shoulder surgery, about 7 years ago. We holed up inside and watched the first two seasons on tape. I remember our viewing saga even inspired us to make a trip out to the West Side that summer, to an Italian bakery, where we had Italian ice cream and cannoli (tube-shaped shells of fried pastry dough, filled with a sweet, creamy filling). After watching the characters on the show eating cannoli all the time, we suddenly developed a craving for it, even though we had never tried it before. That was a beautiful, memorable summer for us, and in the years following we always looked forward to getting together on Sunday to watch the show together, as a way to end the weekend and gear up for the week.

The cast and writing have been superb and it feels unreal that the show is ending. This Sunday will be the season finale and final episode.

So while I'm sad to see the series end, reading about other Sopranos fans and their love for the show made me smile. Enjoy!

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"Sopranos" filming locations draw mobs of fans

By Christian Wiessner

LODI, New Jersey (Reuters) - Every Saturday afternoon, the staff at the Satin Dolls go-go lounge clears the bar of matchbooks, coasters, napkins and anything else not nailed down because a sold-out tour bus is on the way from New York.

But the luxury coach heading for the nondescript, windowless building on a busy stretch of New Jersey highway isn't carrying rowdy bachelors with Bacchanalia in mind.

Soon, about four dozens fans of the hit television series "The Sopranos" file into the club, which since 1999 has doubled as the show's notorious, mob-run strip joint, the Bada Bing.

"Everything gets stolen off the bar, even if it doesn't say 'Satin Dolls' or 'Bada Bing' on it," said club manager Rouz, who, like the scantily-clad young women working the brass poles behind the bar, prefers to be known by just his first name.

HBO broadcasts the series finale of "The Sopranos" on June 10, and locations made famous by the saga of a northern New Jersey mob boss struggling to keep both his "families" in line attract flocks of fans.

"The 'Bada Bing' brings extra attention from people who wouldn't normally go to a go-go bar," Rouz said. "Most of them come in and have a look, then buy some merchandise and leave. And they don't know about the state laws."

Rouz was referring to the poetic license taken by the show's producers regarding New Jersey's policy on topless dancing and establishments that serve alcohol: you can have one or the other, but not both.

So while Tony Soprano and his crew sit in "the Bing" and plot their latest crimes amid a gaggle of topless dancers, Satin Dolls patrons are entertained by girls wearing bikinis and lingerie, albeit of the skimpiest variety.

One of the tour bus visitors is Paul Rickard of Inverness, Scotland, who says his rabid devotion to the show has little to do with the mob-related plot lines.

"It's about family, food and togetherness," he said between sips from a beer. "The mob is just a job, a distraction. Despite scenes of extreme violence, the show is about love."

Swiss tourist Antony Simone, sitting just down the bar from Rickard, says he's dreading a world in which he won't have fresh episodes to look forward to.

"I would like no end, because the Mafia has no end," he says.

PIZZA WITH MOB TIES

While "the Bing" has played a central role throughout the show's run and understandably attracts a fan following, any association with "The Sopranos" can prove a boon for business.
Pizzaland, a few miles south of Satin Dolls in North Arlington, appears for about one second during the show's opening credits. Despite never actually being in an episode, the already-thriving neighborhood favorite saw pizza sales spike once the show gained popularity.
The surprise to owner Paul Pawlowicz was how big a slice of his revenues now comes from shipping pizzas nationwide.

"They get shrink-wrapped, put on dry ice, and shipped overnight," Pawlowicz said as he pulled a steaming pie from the oven. "This week alone I've shipped pizzas to Texas, Louisiana and California, and I've sent 58 pies to a guy in Safety Harbor (Florida) this season alone."

"Hey, it's good pizza," he says, then adds a line that would be right at home in an episode of the show: "Once I get a customer, I got 'em for good."

THE HOUSE ON THE HILL Interior scenes of the Soprano family home are actually shot on a soundstage in the New York City borough of Queens. But exterior shots, often showing Tony in an open bathrobe shuffling down his steep driveway to pick up the newspaper, are set at a "real home" in the affluent town of North Caldwell.

No federal agents taking pictures or waiting to have a "talk" with Tony were seen parked in front of the house on a recent drive-by. But the code of omerta was in effect for two carloads of fans circling the cul-de-sac to have a look at the house: both sped off quickly when approached for a comment.

PORK STORE? WHAT PORK STORE? While most of the well-known locations on the show are actual commercial establishments, Satriale's pork store in Kearny has never existed.

Signage and the large pig that sits atop the brick-faced building were put up only for filming, and the site that saw its share of sit-downs and dismemberments will soon be whacked itself: Kearny officials say the town's planning board has approved an application from the owner to turn the property into condominiums.

Whether sight-seeing fans will continue to seek out "Sopranos" locations after the show's finale remains to be seen. But tour bus guide Marc Baron of On Location Tours (http://www.screentours.com), who has been an extra in several episodes, is optimistic.

"There is such an interest from overseas fans and the popularity of the show has only grown since it began showing on A&E," Baron said, noting the cleaned-up reruns now showing on another cable station. "I think we've got a good five years left."