James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano in The Sopranos (1999) is the greatest performance in tv history. He brought raw vulnerability and volcanic rage to the role, shaping the modern antihero. David Chase said Gandolfini didn’t just play Tony….he was Tony.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan had two days.
He flew in, met the cast, and was told: "You're Negan. Get on set and make these people afraid of you." A group of actors who'd worked together for six years, built real friendships, survived 80+ episodes together. Morgan had 48 hours to walk in and make them believe he could end any of them.
He filmed the monologue over two nights. By the end, several cast members refused to make eye contact with him. Not as a bit. They couldn't look at him.
Andrew Lincoln said he woke up in the middle of the night after reading this script and couldn't fall back asleep. He was late to set for the first time in six years. Lauren Cohan called it the hardest day on set she'd ever had in her life. "I never even imagined that as an actor you could have that experience."
The producers filmed 11 different death versions so nobody could leak who actually died. Every cast member on their knees took a bat swing to the head on camera. Morgan went through and "smacked everybody with Lucille." Each actor had to perform their own murder. He said he was emotionally destroyed by the end.
14.19 million people watched this scene air live. The Season 7 premiere where the kill was revealed drew 17 million. For context, that beat Sunday Night Football in the 18-49 demo by 58%.
This is the last time a cable drama commanded that kind of audience. Ten years ago today.
I’m just gonna say it because everyone is thinking it.
FUCK this BULLSHIT of 2.5 years between 8-episode seasons.
We used to get 50 episodes of shows a year that are still watched decades later.
“Modern” shows are completely unmemorable, and too short. Not even worth watching.
There’s no such thing as “getting into” a show anymore. It’s gone after like a week’s worth of binging. Then wait 2 years. Fuck that.
using david bowie's name as clickbait when the only times he shows up in the files are mentions of his music, automated spotify advertisements and a downloaded file of his wikipedia page is the most desperate & disgusting excuse for journalism i've ever seen.