BADA-BING BUMMER: 'SOPRANOS' SUSPENDED

NY Post ^ | March 13, 2003 | By ADAM BUCKMAN

[discostu]

No producers and consumers are supposed to influence the final price. That's the most important function of the free market, consumers decide what they're willing to pay for a product, and those companies that can provide the product at that price flourish and those that can't go under. Then a new producer shows up that can make it even cheaper than what the consumers have dictated (or with cool new features) and that changes consumer desires change and the companies have to scramble to meet the new demand. That's an oversimplification of what Smith was refering to when he discussed the invisible hand of the market. When consumers and producers aren't effecting the final price is when you have a captured/ unfree market, aka a monopoly or oligarchy, that means innovation has croaked and there aren't enough competitors for the consumers to pick and chose.

Often times though that's a market ripe for a shake-up. Hartz-Mountain is a great example of that, they owned the pet industry, everything other than dog and cat food and kitty litter they were either the only producer or were the leading producer in a field of 4 or less (with the marked exception of Habitrail rodent tubes). Because of this they dictated almost everything, price, shelf space, and pace of innovation. One problem, they didn't see the big pet stores coming. They owned the market when the market was one aisle in the grocery store and some stripmall stores smaller than most 1 bedroom apartments. Then along came PetsMart and the others, making pet supply stores that were bigger than many grocery stores, they wouldn't knuckle under to Hartz-Mountain because you can't have a 10,000 sq foot store with only one supplier. So H-M locked themselves out of an emerging market and killed themselves with hubris (pretty sure they're actually out of business now, haven't seen any of their stuff in years).

[plusone]

funny you mention HM. We tried to sell buckwheat seed to them once (they use it for bird seed) but they weren,t interested. We weren't a big enough producer to interest them.

[NittanyLion]

I stand by my example, that a free market is made of thousands of producers and consumers, each one unable to influence the final price.

That simply isn't a free market.

[NittanyLion]

That's the most important function of the free market, consumers decide what they're willing to pay for a product, and those companies that can provide the product at that price flourish and those that can't go under.

Exactly. Some of those that go under may include those whose costs are driven up due to foolish advertising.

[Wolfie]

As long as the Larry David show comes back, who cares?

[DCPatriot]

Good for Tony.

The Sopranos is a dud without Tony.

If the goombahs in Friends can get $1M per.....so should Gandolfini.

[discostu]

And bad CBAs, and overvalued management, and poor practices, and loosing focus on their core (McD's I'm talking to you). It's the natural eb and flow. No matter how successful a company is they're only a few bad decisions away from the Where are They Now? column of business mags. That part of why I love free markets, not only do they provide the stuff I want at prices I'm willing to pay, they're also a spectator sport.

[dead]

"The Shield" has made me not miss the Sopranos.

Much faster paced. More action. No whiney kids.

[FreeTally]

As long as the Larry David show comes back, who cares?

Exactly!

[Space Wrangler]

The show airs on HBO. No commercials. The only one's it could possibly effect are HBO subscribers. And, I'll have to admit, while I don't have HBO right now, I always have it turned on during The Sopranos, and then have it turned off at the season finale. I wonder if HBO sees this trend, or if others even do that.

[giotto]

Sopranos has been going downhill for the last two seasons anyway. Good riddance. I haven't even bothered to tape it--the violence is outrageous and the plots are unremarkable. I lost patience with Carmella when she ignored the advice of the old psychiatrist who told her to take the kids and leave Tony and his filthy lucre. But she couldn't imagine life without her "great room" and her weekly eyebrow waxing. There isn't one admirable character on the entire show.

For a great Sopranos substitute, there's The Agency. My husband never misses an episode--probably the only thing he watches on TV.

[sheik yerbouty]

Ray Liotta.

[sheik yerbouty]

The actual breach of contract had to do with the 3/24 starting date. Gandolfini is still working on some picture, and HBO "pulled the clock" on him.

[sheik yerbouty]

Even the Mob has more integrity..

[oyez]

No whiney kids.

What? No freekin' zitti?

If I was Tony I would have bashed their bratty heads together.

[wireman]

Last season the show stunk on ice.

If Gandolfini can squeeze more money out of HBO, more power to him! That is what it's all about.

[oust the louse]

that is such a great show.I laugh my A$$ off watching that show.Funny,funny stuff.

[Heyworth]

Gandolfini also has to be thinking about the future. For the first season or so, he made diddly. He was a no-name in an unproven show. Then he re-negotiated to his current deal. Now, they're looking at maybe one more year of the show, if producer David Chase is speaking the truth. And after that, where's Gandolfini gonna go? He's gonna be typecast as a suburban mob boss for the rest of his life. Anytime someone is in a hit show like "The Sopranos," their career is pretty much over, unless they're very lucky. Other than Shatner, did you ever see anyone from "Star Trek" again, except in "Star Trek" movies? Alan Alda was the biggest star on TV in "MASH", and now he occasionally turns up as a guest villain on shows. All those people from "Seinfeld" can't get their calls returned, much less a TV series. (Except Jerry, who owned a piece of the show and is set for life.) The examples go on and on. No, Gandolfini has to make all the money he can right now, to make hay while the sun shines, as they say. And right now, he's got the power.