Imagine a Sopranos without Dr. Melfi and Meadow! Wait, you don’t have to imagine: That was season 6. Okay, imagine a Sopranos without Melfi, Meadow, A.J., Paulie Walnuts, Silvio, and Bobby Bacala. You might be imagining season 7 (season 6.5?), if a salary dispute among the actors and HBO isn’t resolved. The aforementioned posse feel left out of the series’ spoils, and this is their last chance to cash in. Thus: hardball. So far, neither side seems willing to give.
Golly, this might mean beginning the eight-ep finale season-ette with awkward lines about "poor Bobby, eaten by Janice, f—in’ tragic," or "poor Paulie, turns out there was an unresolved storyline lodged in his prostate, f—in’ tragic," or "poor Silvio, turns out he was really Stevie van Zandt from the E Street band, f—in’ tragic."
Or perhaps: "Tony, you remember Cousin Coy and Cousin Vance, don’t you?"
Oh, who are we kidding? It’ll come down to the wire, a settlement will be worked out, the usual. There are too many storylines at stake. Unless, of course, HBO makes separate deals with separate players and union-busts ‘em.
Just in case this gets really ugly, we’ve drawn up a storyline that ought to resolve HBO’s problem.
FADE IN
EXT. NEW JERSEY
Melfi, Meadow, A.J., Paulie Walnuts, Silvio, and Bobby Bacala all go into a store. Pan up to name of store: DYNAMITE STORE
CLERK: Hey, you there! Yeah, you, the Italian stereotype! There’s no smoking in he—
[Note: HBO, if you want to use this, just gimme a call, I'll tighten up the dialogue a bit, and we're golden.]
But this all raises the question: Which of the above characters could you live without?
Meadow and AJ could go and I might not even notice they’re gone
Oh Dear God—ANYTHING but Cousins Coy and Vance !!!!!!!
HILARIOUS.
I agree w/Todd. These 2 are useless characters and not terribly talented. Leave Meadow in CA. with Finn (let HIM deal with her sense of entitlement), have AJ run off with the girlfriend & her kid (she’s ripped people off, so they move to Florida for a fresh start).
If they’d DO something with Meadow & AJ, I’d be sad to see them go, but as of late they’ve been ho-hum since Tony’s recovery, especially Meadow. I think she should find out that Tony whacked Jackie Jr & Ariana, forcing her to either hardening her heart to dad or warming up her fate as a mob princess. AJ seems to stupid to take over a pillowfight, let alone the family business. Send him off to amsterdam with loads of cash and have him die of an overdose.
Side note: I could live without Carmela… ugh! that voice… worse than Janice from Friends.
I wouldn’t miss Dr.Melfi at all, her character has been irrelevant since about season 3.
I’m surprised by how much I would miss Silvio. As for Bobby, if he takes Janice with him, it would be worth it. AJ actually interests me as a character, Meadow less so. Paulie… love the actor, get impatient with the character.
Guess we’ll find out. In any event, spare us Coy and Vance, regardless of what you have to do!
I say come on HBO give them the money, after season 6.5, most of them will dissapear into unemployability… or in late night infomercials… or behind the music type documentaries about their drug use… let them have a final paycheck in the sun.
I for one, can’t wait for the endless final season to be over.
Give Bracco the money, cause I have a feeling Chase will give her a great storyline for the final episodes (well, he better or I’d be pretty disappointed since Melfi was part of the original concept of the show: mobster goes to shrink).
And come on, throw the other cast members some cash cause let’s be honest, none of them are getting any work after “The Sopranos” is over save Bracco. The rest will be limited to mafia-type roles if any. HBO, you are gonna make a ton of cash for years to come on this show, give the supporting players some cash.
I agree as well, Meadow has been persona non grata this season, she just complains as usual. I love Jamie Lynn Sigler but Meadow can stay in CA. AJ is just getting interesting.
All but Sil can go Aj is annoying Melfie has run her course Paulie should have already been killed off a and Bobby should leave and take his wife with him. Sil is the only interesting one.
There are only 8 eps so I’m sure all those characters won’t be needed. I would love to have a scene with Tonya and Melfi hooking up…just a little? Would love to see more of AJ and Meadow. I can’t really pick any of those in question. I’d hate to see any of them go…unless they are going to be totally in the background without any plotlines like Meadow was this past season.
Kill Bobby Backala, and send Arty Bucco with him.
AJ is miserable. Every time he gets into a tight situation on the show I find myself hoping that he’ll just get killed. Totally agree on Artie, too. No AJ, Meadow, and Bobby? Who cares!
Meadow drives me a little crazy. More than AJ. Also, in defense of A.J.’s storyline, I think it is so true to his character to be such a pain in the *&%. I know so many boys like that that have been so pampered and babied that they don’t know how to be a man. I think he will be growing up and I would be interested in seeing how that changes Tony and his relationship. Okay, begin the flogging.