Tag: The Sopranos

The Knicks found a way to make The Sopranos uncool in unearthed LeBron James recruiting video

The Sopranos, the Knicks, LeBron James; everyone looks a little dumber thanks to this video.

The year is 2010. The Sopranos has been off the air for more than two years. LeBron James is approaching one of the biggest free agent decisions in NBA history. Somehow, these two things are intertwined.

We know this because Pablo Torre, ESPN scribe and host of Pablo Torre Finds Out, found the pitch video Sopranos stars Edie Falco and James Gandolfini made in the New York Knicks’ futile effort to land James. It is both surprising and awful, an effort that makes everything, from a storied NBA franchise to an all-time great basketball player to one of the greatest television shows ever made, a little dumber from being associated with it.

The video opens with The Sopranos’ iconic logo and a title card suggesting it’s two years after the show’s (initially divisive and currently appreciated) finale. Some extremely clunky dialogue informs us that Tony and Carmela have joined witness protection. The FBI has wisely placed them in New York City, where the mafia has never operated and this high profile informant could in no way be recognized.

Well, fine, whatever, David Chase didn’t write this. And that’s wildly obvious from the script basketball conjunctivitus/nepo baby/barely formed human/Knicks owner James Dolan possibly penned but definitely signed off on.

“Life’s good here, Carm,” Gandolfini says while smiling directly into the camera. “Even if we are in the witness protection program.”

“Now we’ve just gotta find a place for your friend LeBron to live,” replies Carmela, positing a world where the New Jersey gangster who once had a panic attack when he found out his daughter was dating a mixed-race classmate and the world’s most famous basketball player are friends. She eventually pulls up a stock photo of Madison Square Garden on her Macbook as Gandolfini and Falco mug for the camera. Despite being two of the most New Jersey people in the world, they’re now fully invested in the neighboring state with which they once warred because these characters are merely props in a billionaire bidding war and everything is terrible.

Thus, two Jersey icons sell themselves out in the name of New York basketball. Like most things Knicks, this was a high profile failure. James picked the Miami Heat in a televised special nearly as awkward as the video above.

How to get the (real) Sopranos’ gabagool sandwich celebrating the show’s 25th anniversary

Gabagool? Over Here!

If you’ve ever wanted to dine at the fictional Satriale’s Pork Store from The Sopranos, today is (potentially) your lucky day.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show debuting its pilot, HBO announced a partnership with Postmates that allows fans of the show to eat like a made man.

Unfortunately, only fans in New York and Los Angeles (and surprisingly not New Jersey!) can enjoy this deal. But if you live in either of those cities, you can potentially have an iconic meal styled like a Satriale sandwich delivered to your doorsteps.

For fans who live in Los Angeles, they can use the Postmates app to deliver from one of the Ggiata Delicatessen locations. Meanwhile, folks in New York can find the sandwich from Regina’s Grocery.

Both restaurants, for today only, are searchable under Satriale’s.

They will have the sandwich (for $10 before delivery fees) listed as The Gabagool, which is what series lead Tony Soprano calls the Italian cold-cut meat also known as capicola.

Even though it is disappointing that this sandwich is only available in a limited quantity and while supplies last at participating locations, that will make it even more special for the lucky few who get their hands on such a treat.

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The Sopranos’ grasp of football strategy was absolutely baffling

Football games in the Sopranos’ universe, whether pro or college, made absolutely zero sense.

The Sopranos had a lot to say about morality, family and the anti-heroes that have become commonplace in the years since Tony Soprano first showed up in therapy.

HBO’s greatest offering ran across nearly a full decade and gave the world 86 episodes to contemplate how much everyday evil we can live with. It painted awful people in shades of gray. It took seeds planted by The Godfather and Goodfellas and allowed them to blossom into one of the most compelling television shows ever broadcast.

It also had zero awareness about how football worked.

One of the family’s many illicit streams of revenue came from its sports books (sadly, we’ll never get to hear Little Carmine rail against “Fan Kings” or whatever malapropism he’d apply to legalized wagering). In multiple situations, main characters lost money because the writers behind them seemed to have no idea how football teams operate on the field.

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This persisted even after one of the NFL’s most recognizable veterans joined the cast. Tony Siragusa, who passed away Wednesday, played a bit role in The Sopranos as Frankie Cortese, one of Tony’s drivers and bodyguards across a four-episode stint in season five. But even his presence couldn’t convince the folks behind the scenes into writing a football (betting) sequence that made logical sense.

This has been bothering me for years. Now we’re gonna talk about it.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler talks recreating iconic ‘Sopranos’ open for Chevy Silverado commercial

“The Sopranos” star Jamie-Lynn Sigler chats with USA TODAY’s Ralphie Aversa about working with her old colleagues again for a Chevrolet Super Bowl ad.

“The Sopranos” star Jamie-Lynn Sigler chats with USA TODAY’s Ralphie Aversa about working with her old colleagues again for a Chevrolet Super Bowl ad.

USA TODAY talks Super Bowl ads with Eli Manning, Serena Williams and Jamie-Lynn Sigler

We talk Super Bowl ads with the stars featured in them: Two-time MVP Eli Manning, “Sopranos” star Jamie-Lynn Sigler and tennis phenom Serena Williams.

We talk Super Bowl ads with the stars featured in them: Two-time MVP Eli Manning, “Sopranos” star Jamie-Lynn Sigler and tennis phenom Serena Williams.

I can’t stop thinking about Chevrolet’s Super Bowl 56 ‘Sopranos’ ad

Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Robert Iler reprised their “Sopranos” roles for a Chevrolet Super Bowl 56 commercial.

What’s the first TV theme song that pops in your head immediately after hearing HBO’s static noise intro? Regardless of what you’re actually about to watch, I’m guessing you have a song you instantly anticipate.

For me, it’s Woke Up This Morning by Alabama 3, the theme song for The Sopranos. So while I was glued to my TV during Super Bowl LVI on Sunday – like just about every other American sports fan — absolutely nothing captured my attention like Chevrolet’s Sopranos-themed ad for the 2024 Silverado EV, its first all-electric pickup.

I’ll admit I was half-heartedly watching the commercials — I’d seen several of this year’s prior to the big game anyway — but within the literal first second of hearing The Sopranos‘ theme song, Chevy had my full, undivided attention for the 60-second spot.

And then for a few more minutes as I rewatched it a handful of times.

Now, I’m not about to go out and buy a Silverado, electric or otherwise. But I can’t stop thinking about the brilliance and near-perfection of this ad.

It features Jamie-Lynn Sigler reprising her role as Meadow Soprano, as she recreates her father Tony’s famous Manhattan-to-New Jersey commute to the theme song during the show’s opening credits. Except, obviously, she’s in Chevy’s new electric truck.

This version of Meadow has notable Carmela vibes, but they’re subtle. She’s wearing multiple gold rings and a tennis bracelet, and she removes her sunglasses and drives with the attitude of a mob boss.

Of course, she’s channeling Tony, played by the late James Gandolfini. Replacing his cigar with a lollypop, she catches a glimpse of One World Trade Center in her side mirror while traversing the industrial path into New Jersey neighborhoods, zooming past Satriale’s Pork Store.

About the ad, Sigler told PEOPLE:

“Whenever we do anything with Sopranos, your first thought is always Jim,” she says. “He was, particularly, Robert and I’s biggest supporters and biggest fans, so there were many mentions of him.”

“His presence was very much felt throughout it all, of course, because anything we ever do having to do with Sopranos, he is there,” she continues. “And just the thought of that opening sequence with him, it’s so iconic. He always drove that Chevy Suburban everywhere. It’s how we close our eyes and picture Tony Soprano.”

In the spot, Meadow pulls up to an electric charging station, getting out of the car exactly like Tony did in his driveway at the end of the opening credits. Enter Robert Iler, who played Tony’s son, A.J.

On the surface, it’s a nice on-screen moment for two fictional characters and who actors who Sigler says are “still best friends.” But diehard Sopranos fans will recall from the end of the series a lost and struggling A.J. who develops concerns for the environment and is particularly in favor of electric cars.

But as Sigler and Iler reprise their roles from the iconic show, the ad raises questions about what happened to Meadow and A.J. in the final and shocking Sopranos moments at Holsten’s before Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’ abruptly cuts and the screen goes dark. The last we see of them, Meadow is struggling to parallel park outside the restaurant, while A.J. joins Tony and Carmela at a table inside.

The controversial ending is still talked about 15 years later, but is there more to their stories in this ad? Does it mean they survived? And they’re fine? They lived?

Last year, Sopranos creator David Chase revealed to The Hollywood Reporter how he imagined Tony death’s, though he doesn’t go as far as to say it happened right there at Holsten’s — though it’s almost implied. And, as the Detroit Free Press noted, Chase helped with the spot.

But maybe I’m reading too far into the ad. Maybe it’s nothing more than that. Maybe, despite actually liking the show’s ending, my subconscious still hopes for a definitive answer on what exactly happened to Tony, Carmela, Meadow and A.J. after following them so intensely for six seasons.

Maybe, it’s simply another reminder that 23 years after The Sopranos‘ premiere, it’s still as iconic as ever. And we’re still thinking about that ending.

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The trailer for ‘The Many Saints of Newark’ finally dropped and fans were amazed

This looks like it could be really good.

The ending of “The Sopranos” is always going to boggle people’s minds (READ: Make people angry). We’ll never know exactly what happens to Tony after that screen goes black.

But we’re about to know everything that happens before! Like, way WAY before. Before the entire Sopranos series even began.

The Sopranos prequel “The Many Saints of Newark” is coming on October 1 on HBO Max and the trailer was finally released on Tuesday.

It featured Michael Gandolfini stepping into the role of a young Tony Soprano in place of his late father, James. It was incredible to watch.

*Warning: There is some NSFW language in this trailer*

Fans absolutely loved it. They were thrilled with the casting.