Sometimes that does seem like a better alternative...
> Can anyone explain to me the appeal of the THE SOPRANOS?
In order to raise the ire of my Sopranos fanboy/girl friends (that's you Joanna), I propose its a form of lefty intellectual slumming! In the anti-intellectual climate that is the U.S.A, pointy nosed intellectuals (perpetually under the psychological effects of early relentless bullying for such traits) talking about Ray, Goethe and Aristophanes look not just, well "intellectual", but also like way uncool. The fix? Adopt a "cool" or plebeian hobby. And what is more prole high-brow than the American gangster show (most of the U.S male thespian -- and related -- perennials owe their greatness to the genre: DeNiro, Pacino, Scorcese, etc), especially with the producers providing well-sprinkled about hooks for the literati to theorise about, post-viewing, and also the excessive violence, blood and gore that further mollifies the muscular inadequacies? The important question is: with the Sopranos out, what next? Post-existentialist fourth wave feminist readings of The Desperate Housewives?
;-)
--ravi