Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Truth About the Rumors Concerning the Sopranos Finale
If you've been anywhere on the Internet since Sunday night's series finale of The Sopranos, you're probably aware that the opaque ending has everyone talking. And some of those talkers are just plain full of it. I've been forwarded one particular analysis of the final scene a number of times, and since I was both fascinated and kinda confused, I asked a Home Box Officer to help solve the mystery…
Chances are, you may have received this same email in your inbox. But if not, I reproduce it here for your sleuthing pleasure:
So here is what I found out. The guy at the bar is also credited as Nikki Leotardo. The same actor played him in the first part of season 6 during a brief sit down concerning the future of Vito. That wasn't that long ago. Apparently, he is the nephew of Phil. Phil's brother Nikki Senior was killed in 1976 in a car accident. Absolutely Genius!!!! David Chase is truly rewarding the true fans who pay attention to detail.
So the point would have been that life continues and we may never know the end of the Sopranos. But if you pay attention to the history, you will find that all the answers lie in the characters in the restaurant. The trucker was the brother of the guy who was robbed by Christopher in Season 2. Remember the DVD players? The trucker had to identify the body. The boy scouts were in the train store and the brothas at the end were the ones who tried to kill Tony and only clipped him in the ear (was that season 2 or 3?). Absolutely incredible!!!! There were three people in the restaurant who had reason to kill Tony and then it just ends. This was Chase's way of proving that he will not escape his past.
Yeesh, right? We haven't read anything that convoluted and all-encompassing since we spent an afternoon cruising conspiracy-theory Websites.
Well, not so fast. It's all lies and misinformation, according to Tobe Becker, an official licensed-and-bonded rep for the show, who tells us:
I honestly think this e-mail is some sort of a prank because it has spread so far and wide and is absolutely not founded on any factual information. There is no character named Nikki Leotardo in the finale episode–that is a fact–I do not understand why the person who wrote that e-mail states otherwise. The other "facts" are also incorrect–the trucker, the boy scouts, the two African-Americans who came into the diner (we KNOW that is false, because when the attempt was made on Tony Soprano’s life, one of those guys was killed in the shootout) So you can dismiss the entire e-mail…
There you have it, folks. The first proof ever that there are factual inaccuracies on the Web and/or crazy people talking out of their butts. (Okay, maybe not the first proof, since I have been implicated in at least half of the first 2,323 factual inaccuracies on the Internet, but hey, I've never been convicted. At least according to Wikipedia.)
And now that you can put your minds to rest about Nikki Leotardo, you may carry on with your carryin' on! And remember, don't stop believin'…
Rank the Top 24, and see if others agree
The fine folks over at AOL have put together a fun module where you can rank the Top 12 boys and Top 12 girls. Then after you make your selections you can see how online fans voted. That said, I can’t say that I agree with America’s pick for the top boy. Of course, I’m not ready to rank the boys honestly because I’ve never seen a third of them sing.
On the girls side there were some pretty interesting choices, though the top pick doesn’t surprise me, if not necessarily for the right reasons. It’ll be interesting to see if real voting syncs at all with this page. After all, it is reaching a cross-section of Americans. And I fully expect those results to get even smarter when TV readers wander over there.
For the most part, though, the top vote-getters are the people who got a lot of screen time (save for one), which speaks to that “conspiracy theory” bubbling around. Let’s give ’em a final four of Garrett, Luke, Jason and Jason just to show ’em who’s who!
What are the motives of the AMPTP?
Author and television writer Peter David offered his own take on the DGA deal with the AMPTP (see his January 18th post) and what it means tor the WGA. Fundamentally, Mr. David believes the the hesitancy of the AMPTP to give Internet residuals was a smokescreen to prevent the WGA from unionizing reality and animation shows.
The proof of this lies with the rapidity of the DGA agreement with regards to similar terms. Now there is pressure on the WGA to ratify the agreement as-is. I suppose if the WGA agreement is done soon,
It is a conspiracy theory worthy of a writer and has some merit. Such a misdirection would certainly be of benefit to the producers in terms of limiting the power of the writers until the next contract negotiation.
So, what do you think? Does the concept have some merit or is it just a conspiracy theory?
Venture Brothers 3.x cast photo made public
Jackson Publick (a pseudonym for Christopher McCulloch) has released the cast photo for The Venture Brothers Season 3 on his LiveJournal blog. You have to scroll down a little to see it. It has many old characters in it along with many new ones.
A few characters, such as J.J. Venture and Jonas Venture, Sr., appear twice. I don’t know what that means, but it does come across as foreshadowing. Clones, perhaps? The Venture Brothers has a history with cloning.
Most suspicious is the absence of Dean Venture from picture, one-half of the two Venture Brothers for whom the series is named. Another case of foreshadowing, or just an error on the part of the creator? I wonder.
(Update: On Publick’s blog, he mentions in a comment that Dean wasn’t included because there were no real character design changes for him. So much for my conspiracy theory.)
On the same page are a few screen shots from the coming season. I just caught up on season 2 a week or so ago, so I’m really looking forward to season 3.
[via Ain’t It Cool News]