I think you may be lumping David Chase (original family name: DeCesare) in with the typical Hollywood product, which has become formulaic and aimed solely at commercial success. The Sopranos was not so much a product to provide a payday to investors as it was a fictionalized autobiography of David Chase's early life in a working-class Italian-American neighborhood, his own struggles with panic attacks and depression, and a form of therapy for him. He had already had two successful serialized shows on television (not movies), and this was the medium of expression he alreadly knew.
I get the feeling it succeeded longer and more than he ever dreamed, and became its own thing with its own momentum; but it started deep in his psyche, and speaks to the immigrant subculture experience of many transplanted Americans. To me, it is literature, not just a way to make money, and certainly not a mean-spirited way to portray his roots. It is a tragicomedy, in which he displays the ridiculousness and fantasy bravado of those who identify with organized crime, and how badly it almost always ends for them.
I answered your previous question incorrectly.
I really don’t care about the Soprano’s. I really don’t care it stereotypes italian Americans- i don’t consider myself an “Italian American,” I am an American of Italian heritage.
That said its the double standard I will be protesting- no eskimo pie, no aunt jemimiah, etc, etc but the Soprano’s is okay.
Aaahhh...... there we have it. A message is delivered from the TV to those at home on their couches.
Unremembered or perhaps unknown is the fact that William Shakespeare was a playwright. We must wonder what he could have accomplished with tens of one hour weekly episodes