Thursday, March 23, 2006
Sopranos: Trash TV:These are NOT MY People. This is NOT who WE are !!!
The ANNOTICO Report
Sal Paolantonio, a highly respected Sports reporter, appeared in a bit part as an ESPN Newscaster on one of "The Soprano" episodes in Tony's living room, reporting on the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV, while Tony was having an argument with his son.
Here he was on one of the most popular shows in the history of television. No standing in a long line. Not even an audition required.
And, over the next two days, his phone never stopped ringing.
Sal's reaction? This is as good as it gets?
NO!!! He was outraged.His appearance happened against his will, presumably a decision by ESPN who thought it would be great "brand" insertion, and thinking that Sal was the most popular and photogenic required his appearance.
Sal's REAL opinion about "The Sopranos": "The worst kind of harmful stereotyping of Italian-Americans imaginable"
He is particularly offended when he tells people he does Not watch The Sopranos, and their response is:
"How
could you not watch 'The Sopranos'? You have a vowel on the end of your name.
You live in
Sal in the following column gives a heartfelt, cogent, persuasive argument as to why: "The Sopranos" is Not who we are!!!"
Thanks Sal. I like to think I'm well spoken, BUT, I couldn't have said it better!!
Trash TV:
WHY " THE SOPRANOS" IS GARBAGE
By
Sal Paolantonio
ESPN
Monday, March 20, 2006
A couple of years ago,
a producer from a radio station here in Philadelphia called my house at a
ridiculously early hour of the morning to tell me that a talk show host wanted
to interview me about my appearance on "The Sopranos."
I thought it was my brother playing a practical joke on me. But this was no joke. Yes, I had been on the show -- I was on TV in Tony's living room during one episode, reporting on the New York Giants in Super Bowl XXXV, while Tony was having an argument with his son.
I didn't
have to stand in one of those long lines in
And I was outraged.
Over the next two days, my phone never stopped ringing. Radio stations, friends, relatives all called, looking for a reaction, a story, anything that could connect them to "The Sopranos."
Once I told them that I had nothing to do with my appearance on "The Sopranos," that it happened against my will, and that I thought the show was the worst kind of harmful stereotyping of Italian-Americans imaginable, the interviews quickly turned sour, then became a shrill and often pointless debate.
"The
Sopranos" has been on the air now for seven years. Two Sundays ago, all
over the
On his Monday morning radio program, Don Imus said, "It's like the Super Bowl."
The
reaction I always get is: "How could you not watch 'The Sopranos'? You
have a vowel on the end of your name. You live in
No,
they're not. And this is precisely the problem that the show has caused for
many, many Italian-Americans. For seven years now on television, which night in
and night out provides the unavoidably relentless reflection of our behavior
and values, "The Sopranos" has given the country a horribly skewed
version of what Italian-Americans look and act like in modern
Let me give you one tiny, but potent, example. In several of the clips of the show I have seen, Tony's son routinely curses out his father -- and his mother, in front of his father. I have spent countless hours in dozens upon dozens of Italian-American households, including my own. I find it hard to believe that behavior would be tolerated in any Italian family, be it working class, super-rich, or anywhere in between. Ever.
I know the
argument. It's just a TV show. As former
I'm not insulted by "The Sopranos." I just want people to know that this show is not universally embraced, as some in the mainstream media would suggest.
And, lost in the all the media slobbering over "The Sopranos," the show is losing some of its audience. The season opener was down nearly a quarter from last season's finale -- from 12.1 million viewers to 9.5 million.
Often, critics praise the show for being well made. Well, Leni Riefenstahl's movies for Hitler were well made. So was "The Birth of a Nation." "The Sopranos" is just another form of propaganda -- which can be defined as anything that confirms what we already think we know. It does not challenge us. And in that way, it is not art. It is comfort food for the brain, feeding a century-old stereotype of a great people.
Art is the act of taking the impossible and transforming it into something we all care about. "The Sopranos" is just garbage. It appeals to the worst in all of us -- whether you are Italian-American or not. And we should not care about that.
David Chase, the creator of the show, has provided us with cartoon characters who steal, cheat, murder and treat each other like crap. The show is about sex, profanity, gambling and violence -- and you don't have to get up from your couch. Oh man, start printing the money. (See the No. 1 thing the Internet is used for: porn.)
Here's the kicker: Chase should know better. His original name is DeCesare. That means that somewhere down the line, his surname was Anglicized -- perhaps because he was being victimized by the kind of stereotyping that he now exploits.
And the mainstream media should know better, too. For weeks prior to this season's opening episode, the giddiness over the arrival of the final season was nauseating. The praise for the show almost universally ignores the harm it has done.
Just imagine this for a moment: HBO, or any other television network, decides to put a series on the air that depicts Latino-Americans -- the nation's fastest-growing minority group -- as uneducated drug dealers whose lives revolve around gang warfare, a seven-year run of bad behavior that reinforces America's fears about the influx of illegal immigrants into the country.
A show like that would be, and should be, excoriated. And it probably would never make it out of the pilot stage, no less have a run of seven years of great reviews.
How about, for example, a TV series about athletes who engage in all kinds of illicit behavior, including adultery and illegal drugs? Wait a second. There was a show like that: "Playmakers." Critics loved it. It had a solid following on ESPN.
When the show was on the air, I remember having a long discussion with Tampa Bay Bucs linebacker Derrick Brooks, who found "Playmakers" to be an offensive and outrageous depiction of who he is. Brooks is a philanthropist. Every year, he takes disadvantaged children on a trip abroad. He is overwhelmingly generous with his time and money.
Brooks was one of a number of players who complained to NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who put pressure on then-Disney chairman Michael Eisner to pull the show. Few doubt that that pressure helped end the show's short run.
Of course, no one is going to watch a show about NFL players taking kids on a safari.
And unlike many groups who claim to speak for Italian-Americans, I've never thought that "The Sopranos" should be pulled off the air.
And unlike many Italian-American critics of the show, I'm not going to rattle off a bunch of numbers trying to convince you that the mob is a minuscule percentage of the Italian-American community. To justify our objection to the show, it doesn't matter how many of us are doctors and lawyers and judges and teachers and sportscasters.
But just remember this when you tune in on Sunday nights: "The Sopranos" is not who we are.
Sal Paolantonio covers the NFL for ESPN.
Not be confused with Joe Pantoliano who played Ralph Cifaretto on The Sopranos.
Unfortunately, The names have the SAME Letters, arranged differently, and Sal has one more "o" in his name.
Sal Paolantonio
joined ESPN as a SportsCenter correspondent in August 1995, primarily
reporting on the National Football League. Beginning with the 2004
season, he also serves as host of NFL Match-Up, a weekly ?Xs and Os? football
show produced by NFL Films. Prior to joining ESPN, Paolantonio was a
political reporter (1985-93) and beat reporter for the Philadelphia Eagles
(1993-95) for the Philadelphia Inquirer. In 1994, he won the Associated
Press Sports Editors Award for Reporting.
Paolantonio also served as a reporter for Philadelphia?s WPHL-TV nightly newscast -- Inquirer News Tonight
(1994-95), and hosted Saturday Morning Sports Page, a weekly call-in
show on Philadelphia?s WIP-AM all-sports radio
(1993-95).
Previously, Paolantonio was a reporter for the Albany Times Union,
where he received the Associated Press Managing Editor?s Aw! ard for Enterprise
Reporting (1985).
Paolantonio?s biography of former Philadelphia Mayor Frank L. Rizzo, ?The Last
Big Man in Big City America,? was published in 1993.
Paolantonio, a native of Queens, N.Y., was graduated from the State University of New York at
Oneonta in 1977 with a bachelor of arts degree in history. He also
attended New York University, where he received a master?s degree in journalism in
1978.
After receiving his Master?s degree, Paolantonio served in the U.S. Navy
(1979-83), where he was awarded the United Nations Meritorious Service Medal in
1983. Born June
13, 1956, Paolantonio
is married with three children.
Send your Supportive Comments to Sal at post@espnmag.com
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