City girls can’t beat “˜Sopranos’ gang
By Jake Tracer
March 3, 2004 9:00 p.m.
At this point, I think it’s fair to say sororities
everywhere have had time enough to cry over the sugary-sweet finale
of “Sex and the City.” The girls from New York are
finally giving up their HBO spotlight to the boys from New
Jersey.
HBO will premiere the fifth season of “The Sopranos”
on Sunday, March 7. And for anyone who still swoons when thinking
about Carrie and her new cell phone named John, here are the top
five reasons (one for each season) to be infinitely more excited
for the final season of “The Sopranos” than “Sex
and the City.”
5. Openings: What does the theme song of “Sex and the
City” tell you about the show, other than that Carrie and
company apparently like the vibraphone and trumpet flairs? The
jazz-based undertones of the song suggest a style of music the
girls would never embrace.
Samantha is as likely to go to Birdland as Tony Soprano is, and
whereas “Sex and the City” uses its theme song simply
to start the show, the opening sequence of “The
Sopranos” creates a mood the episode then carries on.
It’s almost impossible to watch the opening sequence, with
Tony driving down the New Jersey Turnpike smoking a cigar, and not
get excited for the upcoming episode. The dark, catchy theme song
adds to the feel of the show ““ the gritty funk only
establishing how hip the show is.
4. Location: “The Sopranos” makes New Jersey look
cool, and that’s a difficult thing to do. Since the series
became wildly popular, tour groups have sprung up that will take
you to the Garden State and show you all the places Tony and his
gang hang out. Similar location tours exist for “Sex and the
City,” but there’s a real difference in getting people
to walk around Manhattan and getting them to sit on a bus and go to
New Jersey. There’s a reason Urban Outfitters makes a t-shirt
labeling New Jersey as a place where “only the strong
survive.”
Constantly in the shadow of New York, New Jersey is the only
place the character of Tony Soprano could possibly live. He’s
always in the shadow of the larger New York families. “The
Sopranos” puts an upper-class Mafioso in a place he
shouldn’t belong and makes him fit; conversely, “Sex
and the City” puts an upper-class cosmopolitan in a place she
belongs and lets her live. That’s just not as interesting,
dramatic or original.
3. Guest Stars: “Sex and the City” had ballet dancer
Mikhail Baryshnikov act in its closing season. “The
Sopranos” has Steve Buscemi. Enough said.
2. Writing: A few weeks ago, “Saturday Night Live”
did a skit satirizing “Sex and the City.” Carrie made
pun after pun after pun, Samantha made lewd comment after lewd
comment after lewd comment, Charlotte explained again and again and
again how happy she was for Carrie, and Miranda just sat there,
practically silent.
Moments of the final season of the real “Sex and the
City” felt that way. At its best, the series was cleverly
amusing, and its strength was always in the wit of its writing. But
after enough episodes, puns can get boring, and without any sort of
overarching themes or immediate storylines, those puns suddenly
felt self-aware and fell flat.
The writing on “The Sopranos” uses devices like wit
and irony to enforce plot and character. Without plot to fall back
on in its final season, “Sex and the City” stumbled to
the finish line, which leads me to the biggest difference between
the two shows “¦
1. Story: Above all else, “The Sopranos” relies on
its storyline to create feeling, whether comedic or dramatic. It
consistently has the best plots on television, both for single
episodes and continuing storylines. In the first season,
Tony’s mother tried to have him killed for putting her in a
nursing home. In the fourth season, Tony’s mafia crew holds
an intervention for Tony’s nephew, who has a drug problem.
Throughout the series, Tony goes to serious therapy sessions.
By putting its characters in darkly comic situations,
considering their professions, “The Sopranos” allows
its emotion to stem from the world of the show instead of from
consciously artificial witticisms.
That, and unlike “Sex and the City,” I don’t
know how “The Sopranos” will end.
Tracer knows where he will be Sunday at 9 p.m.
E-mail him at [email protected] to tell him what
you’ll be doing.