May 19, 2006

The Sopranos Getting Lightweight Scrubbing for Cable TV

I have to say I'm pretty disappointed with this season of "The Sopranos". The writing just isn't as crisp as previous seasons and feels really disjointed. Still, I can't help but watch each week and see what happens. If you've missed the previous seasons of Tony and the gang, you'll be able to catch up on A&E real soon. According to the PostChronicle.com:

A&E paid HBO a whopping $2.5 million each for 85 episodes of "The Sopranos," according to a UPI report. As far as the changes go, most will be minor -- like voicing over vulgarity and digitally putting bikinis on the strippers at the Ba Da Bing! club.

If you're worried about "The Sopranos" being over-edited:

A&E Executive Vice President and General Manager Bob DeBitetto is quoted as saying that "so far, an average of only 30 seconds has been trimmed from each episode." It should be noted that the original "Sopranos" episodes ran anywhere from 45 to 60 minutes.

What amazes me is how little A&E had to cut. A while back I read an interview with David Chase, the creator of "The Sopranos" in which he said he was torn about offering the show to syndication. He felt that the show would lose it's edge. But since many media outlets are reporting that many of the Sopranos scenes were shot with both HBO and Cable markets in mind, I have to wonder if David Chase was really worried about his "art".

At PostChronicle.com

Image Copyright HBO