TV wisegay ('Sopranos' fella hits the other way)

NY Daily News ^ | May 3, 2004 | MICHELE McPHEE

[presidio9]

It's a first for "The Sopranos" - a gay mobster. On last night's episode, capo Vito Spatafore was caught in a compromising position with a male security guard - definitely not the kind of behavior that would go over well with the oglers at the Bada-Bing.

"It adds a lot of depth to the character," actor Joseph Gannascoli, who plays the newly outed mobster, told the Daily News.

In the real mob, being gay can add real depth - about 6 feet underground.

Vincent (Vinny Ocean) Palermo, former boss of New Jersey's DeCalvacante family, said to be the model for "The Sopranos," testified last week there is one way to handle gay gangsters: Kill them.

"What's the rule ... about this?" federal prosecutor John Hillebrecht asked the mob turncoat on Wednesday.

"You die," Palermo replied.

That was the punishment meted out to DeCalvacante wiseguy John D'Amato in 1992, whom Palermo ordered whacked after being told his underling had rendezvoused with another man at a swingers club.

Over lunch at a Brooklyn restaurant, Gannascoli took pains to point out he is not gay - adding just as quickly, "Not that there is anything wrong with it."

"My problem is, I love women," he said.

Gannascoli did say he relished the challenge of playing a homosexual. "It was my idea many years ago to have my character be gay, having read and known about gay wiseguys," he said. "I want to be effeminate but knockaround."

Still, Tony Sirico, who plays Paulie Walnuts on the show, grabbed Gannascoli by the arm last week and asked: "You okay with this? You want me to have a talk with [the show's creator] David Chase?"

Gannascoli knows he's in for a little ribbing or worse.

"I'm going to have to deal with a lot of grief in the neighborhood. I'm a little worried about how my family is going to react," Gannascoli said, just as his elderly father walked by a window of Paneantico, a bistro on Bay Ridge's bustling Third Ave.

"But I wanted to really act," he added. "I don't want to just play mob guys for the rest of my career."

Gannascoli refused to reveal whether Vito will face repercussions, saying only, "In the mob, it's about money."

[CollegeRepublican]

Season six will have ten episodes. They will probably start filming in late 2004/early 2005 and have a Fall/Winter 2005 airing, if we are lucky. Then there is always the possibility of a movie.

The bear is a metaphor for Tony and Carms inability to control either the bear or Tony's comings and goings.

Ade does not have to get whacked this season. Raymond Curto has been taking to the Feds for several seasons and he is a capo and nothing has come of it yet. At this point in the series I could see Chris going before Ade and then her talking to the Feds would be a moot point.

[spiffy]

Ya know, I searched everywhere on the net, and I can't find any evidence of Dominic Chianese being gay -- in fact, he's got two marriages and three kids. I screwed up. Sorry. Who was I thinking of?

I think you were thinking of the actor Nathan Lane.

[Heyworth]

Ade does not have to get whacked this season.

Except that Drea De Matteo is signed to co-star in a spin-off of "Friends" with Matt Leblanc next season.

[justshutupandtakeit]

It is hypnotic. I can watch them over and over unlike the vast majority of tv.

[CollegeRepublican]

I would not read anything into that. You never know when the next season of the Sopranos will be filmed. There has been alot of discussion of this on the HBO boards.

[justshutupandtakeit]

The name is supposed to be ironic and challenging. So feel free to do what you want. Some don't get the irony and believe I really want them to shut up. But they tend to be rather dumb.

[discostu]

Something HBO is very good at, every time somebody in charge of a hit show talks about quiting the next thing they'll here is the "beep beep beep" of a dump truck full of money backing into their front yard. I wonder just how many dead presidents they threw at Chase.

[CollegeRepublican]

I am not saying that Ade will not be sleeping with the fish in the next 4 episodes, but Chase often leads us down a particular chain of thought to make us think he will do one thing and then he does another. Every episode people think the Russian will come back and pop Chris and Paulie Walnuts, but it has not happened yet.

[CoolPapaBoze]

The thing that I don't get is wasn't Vito the guy that was calling up Adrianna when Chris was in the rehab center?

First, I don't remember if he actually did call her, or if he just told the story that she was calling him. Nevertheless, I think he did that precisely because he is gay and as with many things in life, behaved that way to overcompensate for his latent tendencies.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Dr. Malfi just cannot let go of Tony. He fascinates her and just her seeing him has created many problems for her but she can't drop him. Remember HER analyst has told her to drop him since it fuels her alcohol problem.

[justshutupandtakeit]

We agree on the bear.

However, Ade was calling the FBI lady which I had never seen her do before thus, indicating something is up there. I suspect she will get whacked and Chris will be the one who is ordered to do it.

[justshutupandtakeit]

That was what I thought but I have forgotten so much of my mafia history I wasn't sure I hadn't mixed it up with the Cleveland mob.

[CollegeRepublican]

Ade told the FBI lady that Vito Spatifore was calling her everyday that Chris was in rehab. The FBI lady asked if Chris knew and Ade said that if Chris knew he would kill Vito....just joking of course. Then during the Tony and Ade BJ episode Vito was telling the guys over a game of poker that Ade called him everyday.

While I will admit that the Vito doing the Lewinsky was pretty shocking, it really is not that much different than Janice and Ralfie in bed doing some deviant things.

[CoolPapaBoze]

And Meadow was beyond annoying last night.

The best thing about Tivo is the ability to fast forward through the Meadow parts of the show. She is not an even remotely likeable or believable character.

[CollegeRepublican]

Chase makes us think that Ade was calling the FBI lady to tell her about Tony Uncle Al working the casino above the hardware store and that they may be opening the books for him. She would be doing this to help Christopher, but we are not really sure what she was telling the FBI agent. Ade has in the past used the FBI for her own gain; she turned in her friend who was hitting on Chris by telling the FBI about some scam that her girlfriend was pulling.

My guess is that Tony runs into the original FBI agent that Ade said drowned at a picnic when Tony asked her about "that friends that you brought to the house that time". That is how he will find out about Ade. This is complete speculation and in the past I have been 100% wrong in my Sopranos predictions.

[CollegeRepublican]

Sure, Meadow is liberal, and a whiney mafia princess beatch, but she is the most like Tony out of his real family. She has the brains and plus I think that she is very attractive. So I don't mind seeing her on screen as long as she is pretty and done not have any lines.

Next season Finn and Meadow take over the Family business. Haha. That would piss everybody off.

[Daus]

However, Ade was calling the FBI lady which I had never seen her do before

On the contrary. Didn't Ade use the FBI to get rid of the slutty friend of hers (who was skimming off the top at her dads store) who was hitting on Chris?

Look for Ade to be dropping a dime on Tony B, because Chris wants him out.

[justshutupandtakeit]

She did but that was during a meeting the FBI iniated. This call appeared to be on her own.

[CoolPapaBoze]

We have very different views on Meadow's asthetic appeal. I don't find her attractive in the least.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

This will allow an expanded role for him otherwise Vito would whack him.

All the stupid kid had to do was go to the ball game with Vito and tell him there was no problem whatsoever...which is all Vito wanted to hear anyway. What was he gonna do? Kill him at Yankee stadium?

Besides, I pity the fool that marries that Soprano brat.