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Salon.com has posted two essays which attempt to answer the age old question, “What is the greatest television program of all time, The Sopranos or The Wire?” The question isn’t exactly answered – nor should it be, I suppose — though both writers do a great job of presenting their case.

I tend to side with The Wire, but the more I think about it, the shows are two sides of the same coin. One focuses on the chase for the American dream and how that chase ultimately corrupts. The other suggests there is no American dream because the systems we have constructed around us are so powerful no man can escape. it might be heady stuff, but it makes for perfect television.

First of all, I’m pretty stunned the response to The Sopranos finale has been so hotly divided (from what I can tell, divided unevenly) and so endlessly debated. This is, after all, a PAY cable television show. Even if more than 10 million people watched the finale (I think it was something like 11.9 million) the number will pale in comparison to the amount of people who watched Idol or even the last episode of The King of Queens, and yet the press coverage seems endless. It’s surprising any time a culture story that affects so few people garners so much attention — though I suspect that not too many culture stories involve fans calling for the murder of a television show creator (of course, the source is The Post, and calling for people’s murder seems to be their primary business).

Since yesterday’s flood of Sopranos-hatred and/or theorizing some interesting articles have started to circulate. The first being “the theory,” presented in its entirety by the New York Times TV-Blogger/Critic/Other Virginia Heffernan. Since its circulation my man Alan Sepinwall (the go-to guy for all Sopranos related queries) has debunked this particular theory. Though it’s still fun to read (thanks to Matty for the link).

Speaking of Mr. Sepinwall, he was able to score the lone post-series interview with creator David Chase. He obviously doesn’t talk much about “what it all meant” but he certainly doesn’t come off like someone intetionally trying to screw over a fanbase.

Also interesting was an article written by Times guru Bill Carter about the reaction to the finale by other TV writers. Most interesting in the piece was the difference of opinion held between the creators of Lost (Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof) and Tim Kring creator of Heroes….

For the producers of “Lost,” who have declared an official finale in three more seasons, the conclusion of “The Sopranos” carried special weight. “There was immediate blowback for me,” said Carlton Cuse, Mr. Lindelof’s creative partner on the show. “A sense of fear ran through my veins, thinking that we are going to be in this position,” he said, adding, “we know the end is coming in 48 short episodes.”

and…

Tim Kring, the creator of this year’s NBC hit “Heroes,” said, “I have to admit that as soon as it ended, I immediately went there. I don’t have an ending for the series yet. I put myself years in the future thinking about what you do when you have viewers with these sorts of expectations. And I think you just have to be true to what you were originally trying to say.”

If anything, Mr. Chase seemed to have scared the entire television development community into getting a head start on the ending — even if when all is said and done there isn’t one.

Head-crushing spoilers and thoughts on the end of a landmark piece of television right after the jump…

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Oh God, the horror!

The Sopranos has a history of letting the big action from a season happen on the next to last episode. Because of this I wholly expected some craziness to go down last night, and what do you know, it totally did. The full, gory details after the break…

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Before we get to the details, I have to say that I’m frustrated that we have to wait two weeks until the next episode airs due to the Memorial Day weekend. I mean, I get why they’re doing this, but those weeks off are huge momentum killers. Oh well. I’m sure we’ll survive.

That, however, can’t be said for most of the cast members on our favorite “mob as metaphor” dramatic series, which I’ll talk about right after the jump…

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Picture via HBO.com

Wow. Where do I even begin? I guess we can both find out after the jump (major spoilers included)…

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Pic via HBO.com

Of the five episodes we’ve seen this season, last week’s was easily the worst. Still, I felt last week’s episode was still pretty great television. In other words, it’s been a fabulous season as we slowly march to the sea. Last night’s episode was par for the course in its awesomeness.

I love that grimacey-face Pauly makes. It’s like his brain is saying, “I can’t express my feelings and so I’m just going to contort my face in this way.” Add that face to the image of him shredding Christopher’s lawn in a late-model Caddy and you have yourself a magical recipe of Soprano-bliss.

Of course, the above scene leads right to the episode’s climax where Christopher does everything in his power NOT to boil over, NOT to rock the boat, NOT to bring down everyone around him, but HAS to take out someone (who better than a guy whose big gig is writing a Law and Order, right?). Speculation after the break…

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You always, ALWAYS, double-down on 11.

As the episodes move closer to the finale the members of Tony’s inner circle become more and more estranged. This time around it was Hesh. Apparently Tony had received a loan from him two episodes ago that I totally didn’t remember, and blah blah blah blah blah…

Look, what happened doesn’t really matter so much as the way in which it happened. In previous seasons Tony has always had enough positive attributes to counter his more murderous instincts. This season, he’s become a complete degenerate. In every scene seems likes he’s plotting the demise of someone around him, and yet all the while almost certainly sealing his own fate. Last night brought out some of the always present, but frequently hidden, ugliness between himself and Carmella. In short, I’m ready for the man to go down — or for whatever inevitably happens to happen.

That got me thinking: what are the odds “the big finale” comes before the last episode? Given the way David Chase tells his stories, I’d probably give it even money. I feel like we almost need one or two “after-the-fact” episodes just to decompress, which means whatever is suppose to happen could very well take place within the next three weeks. Of course, nothing could happen as well, a fate I’m not entirely convinced would be all that horrible.

Also: if you’re looking for a little added meaning to Sunday’s episode, I encourage you to check out Alan Sepinwall’s weekly Sopranos column, as he fills us in on what exactly that episode of the The Twilight Zone that Carlo referenced was actually about.

May sweeps, the period in which network television tries to pull out all the stops in an attempt to skewer their ratings higher so they can charge more for advertising, started last Thursday, April 26th. Why Thursday? I’m not entirely sure, but would imagine it is due to the desire to keep the four week period clear of Memorial Day weekend, where the only people watching televsion are fans of mid-round NBA playoffs and losers like me. Sweeps concludes on Wednesday, May 23rd.

The good news is that all of your favorite shows (and even more of your least favorite shows) will be brand spankin’ new, complete with didn’t-see-that-coming twists and turns as well as celebrity cameos, shocking allegations, animals, trick photography and CG talking appliances. In other words, all the reasons in the world to avoid enjoying the outdoors for these few weeks when the weather isn’t suppose to be rainy or so hot you’re convinced you just might take home the pot in your Apocalypse is Nigh pool at work.

Here’s what I’m looking forward to watching:

• Seeing whether those crazy S.O.B.s over there at Lost can actually pull off the unimaginable: making some sense of this sometimes maddening season.
• Enjoying Heroes a few more times before it joins Lost in the category of shows that fell victim to second season frustrations.
• Jordin or Melinda?
• There are still more episodes of How I Met Your Mother, right? Seriously, that show has been especially MIA these past few months.
• Tony Soprano gets wacked or joins the witness protection program or retires to Vermont or god-forbid just goes on with his life as we’re left holding the cable bill

What are you anxious for? Or perhaps the better question would be, are you just anxious for the season to be over all ready?

Mark your calendars!

Pic via HBO.com

Can we get a show of hands? Who thought Pauly wasn’t going to make it back to shore? I, for one, had absolutely no idea on what to think. The whole sequence was nerve-racking. The horizon line kept jumping up and down as the yacht rode the waves. Tony sat there eating his pasta and turning the screws. Brilliant.
After the episode I was glad Pauly made it out alive, not because I’m a huge fan of the character (though I am), but because his “test” was far more emotionally violent than any kind of physical measures would have been. I actually felt horrible for the man. He clearly loves Tony like a son brother. His only crime was the frequent and relentless reminding of Tony about how things used to be, and thus indirectly reminding him that things will end.

Again, three episode in and the finality that every scene dabbles with is wholly fascinating to watch.

Another wonderful Sopranos technique in storytelling is taking some completely minor, utterly forgettable element and making it the most important thing in the series. Who would have imagined that Ralphie’s joke about Jeanie’s fat ass would have these kinds of legs (the joke, not the ass). That was a comment made off-the-cuff sometime during the first half of season four, and it was still being recalled (for the worse) in last night’s episode.

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Pic via HBO.com

The Sopranos has always been cloaked in a veil of death, but this season the death elements seem to permeate everything. The show has become about The End, whatever that means. The end of the series, the end of characters lives, the end of an era — all of it. Anytime anyone speaks, they seem to be setting up how Tony will die (and we don’t even know if Tony will die… but he certainly could). Phil, Christopher, everyone.

Elsewhere in the episode you had to love Sydney Pollack as the orderly who was giving medical advice and who happened to kill about five people. It was odd.

Speaking of guest stars, maybe it was just me but in that scene with Christopher at the diner after the movie premiere, he’s sitting with Christopher McDonald (the actor) and I honestly wasn’t sure if Mr. McDonald was suppose to be playing himself or playing a character. This is what happens when reality and fiction start to tango. Three minutes earlier in the episode Danny Baldwin was playing himself. For all I knew Christopher McDonald was in Cleaver (as it turns out, he wasn’t, and was indeed playing a character… still).

On the subject of Cleaver… awesomely bad. Also awesome was how the director of the film was totally brushed under the rug during the premiere.

Oh, and Geraldo was in the episode. Ha! ‘Stache.

via HBO.com

So this is it, kids. This is what we’ve all been waiting for! Right?

First and foremost, Sunday’s Sopranos was great. As a single episode of television the narrative was artfully constructed. Every moment seemed to foreshadow scenes coming up later in the episode or possibilities for the series down the road.

What’s interesting about watching a group of episodes that have an absolute end point is how every little thing impacts your preconceived notions on “the big picture.” At the front of this week’s episode we were led to think that Tony, unhappy with Christopher’s trajectory, was considering Bobby to be his number two. By the end of the episode Bobby had lost a little of his innocence, but it’s hard to say if it will ultimately help or hurt him in the family.

What’s brilliant about The Sopranos is its a show that happily embraces loose ends. In a way its the polar opposite of Lost. In The Sopranos we’re left wondering about the Russian in the woods, the fabric torn from Bobby’s shirt in the laundromat, the buried head of a mob captain in an area set for urban development and will never be told about their fate because the series, like life, isn’t tidy. Though that isn’t to say things don’t come back to haunt us — like the hand gun thrown in the snow three years ago. What’s fun is you never know what might suddenly mean something (my favorite throw-away moment from the entire series came in the otherwise unliked season four in which Ralphy makes an off-hand comment about Johnny Sacks wife, only to have that comment propel the next eight episodes worth of action).

The Sopranos is back, and it’ll be an absolute thrill to try and guess over the next eight weeks which ends finally get tied.