TV Twofer

I meant to review the new "Sopranos" right after it aired last night, but I got caught up in other highly important tasks. Okay, okay...I was watching some 70's Italian erotic thrillers. But they were highly important 70's Italian erotic thrillers.

But I digress. On to last night's "Sopranos," the first episode of the last full season, Season 6. (Creator David Chase has said that, following this full season, there will probably be 5 or 6 final, wrap-up episodes in 2007).

Naturally, it was brilliant. Chase's show rarely misses a step. There have only been about 4 or 5 episodes of the show ever that left me less than pleased. (One was that Columbus Day Parade episode that was kind of funny at first but grew increasingly wan and silly).

Loved the opening 10 minute montage with William Burroughs on the soundtrack. A very creepy, unsettling way to "catch up" with some of the characters after more than a year away, and it clues you in immediately that this season will deal with paranoia, decay and death. Last season's emphasis on Tony's feelings of guilt and isolation (agonizing about his cousin Tony B. or Gloria's suicide, for example) frustrated some viewers, and admittedly made the series feel like it might be stalling out. Those themes just aren't quite as fun or violent to explore as Tony's impending sense of doom.

As for the episode itself...Aside from a secret desire I've had since about Season 3 that they'd just abandon Lorraine Bracco as Dr. Melfi - by far the least interesting major character in the show's history - it was pretty much flawless. Johnny Sack in jail, Junior aggressively going out of his mind, Carmela having visions of Adrianna, the informant taking a coronary, Christopher once again coming apart. This has all the makings of a classic season. (Also, Meadow continues showing off her smoking hotness).

Not to toot my own horn, but I have long predicted that this season would revolve around the selection of a successor to Tonly, and it seems that in some way this will inform the action this year. It's just how mob stories work - the transfer of power from one generation to the next. The show almost seems to beg the question these days...Who else but Tony could step in and keep this organization running? Paulie? Silvio? Christopher? Vito? None really seem to have what it takes, and yet all of them seem to yearn for the chance to take over.

Anyway, "The Sopranos" continues to be a fascinating show, one of the few that really uses the medium of episodic television to tell nuanced, complex stories that grow over time. While most series (including series I really like, such as Alan Ball's "Six Feet Under") grow repetitive over time, adhering to a formula and telling repetitive, cyclical stories, Chase and his writers have really found a way to continually move the Sopranos' story forward. We never feel like we're revisiting old territory for Tony, but instead constantly move towards ever-more-complicated and more high-pressure scenarios.

Our next TV item concerns the departure of Isaac Hayes, the voice of the legendary Chef character, from the cast of "South Park." Hayes hasn't been in the show much at all recently, but apparently his departure has something to do with the episode last season bashing Scientology. (Hayes has been a Scientologist for 14 years.)

"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry toward religious beliefs and others begins."

Now, I know I've had my criticisms of Matt and Trey on this blog over the years, but I continue to find "South Park" one of television's more daring, amusing and worthwhile half-hours. And Hayes' statement is completely bogus. He had no problem with the show mocking various celebrities in highly personal, offensive terms, with mocking Christianity and Judaism and Buddhism and Islam, with mocking the disabled and retarded and transgendered and those with conjoined fetuses attached to their faces.

In fact, the whole point of the show is that it's unafraid to make fun of anybody. So exclusding Scientologists wouldn't even make any sense.

And that's basically what Matt and Trey called Hayes on in their statements to the press.

Here's their spokesman:

"Obviously, Matt and Trey are disappointed that he's not going to be part of the show, but they're not going to make him do something he doesn't want to do … (however they) feel that it's a bit disingenuous to cite religious intolerance as a reason for him pulling out of the show … Their premise is as long as you can make fun of everybody, then everybody is a potential target. The minute you start pulling punches, than the show's reason for being sort of gets compromised."

And here's what Matt Stone told the Associated Press:

"South Park" co-creator Matt Stone responded sharply in an interview with The Associated Press Monday, saying, "This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology... He has no problem — and he's cashed plenty of checks — with our show making fun of Christians."

Ba-zing.

The Scientologists are famously sensitive about criticism. And I guess that makes sense, really. When you believe in nothing but nonsensical children's stories pulled from arcane science-fiction literature, and you sincerely mean to recruit thousands of new members, I guess you have to try and supress dissent. Why would anyone join your church if they know you're eventually going to try and foist this ludicrous Xenu bullshit on them?

Still, it sucks there won't be any more Chef. One of my favorite episodes is the one where the kids go to visit Chef's parents, and his Mom keeps talking about giving the Loch Ness Monster "tree-fiddy." Hilarious.