NPR: We Have, In Fact, Stopped Believin'

We Have, In Fact, Stopped Believin'

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"Morning Meeting" is a recap of our daily editorial meeting. If we had a show today, these are some of the stories you would probably hear.

If you were to write a radio show on a wall, this is what it would look like. Counterclockwise: Alison Stewart, Win Rosenfeld (video producer), Luke Burbank.

Listen, I love Journey as much as the next guy. I mean, I've got two ears and a heart, don't I? But now one of my favorite Steve Perry rock ballads, "Don't Stop Believin'," has been sullied by what I -- and a majority of the BPP staff -- consider one of the worst finales ever. Even worse than the Seinfeld finale. Yeah. That. Bad.

While we discussed many important topics in our morning meeting, we kept coming back to last night's series finale of The Sopranos. We also decided that today we would design one hour of the show, just to see how it would shake out. (Picture above.)

After the jump: Bush in Albania, Federer and Nadal, and "While You Were Out (Possibly Drinking)."

NEWSCAST -- Gordon Brown, Britain's next prime minister, is in Baghdad on a "fact-finding" mission, Colin Powell says he would close Guantanamo, Democrats push for a no confidence vote on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, a prisoner who is accused of threatening to kidnap David Letterman's son has escaped from prison, the musical "Spring Awakening" won big at the Tony Awards ceremony, the crusading district attorney in the Duke Lacrosse rape case is heading to trial on ethics charges and the end of The Sopranos has left a black space in the world -- and we literally mean that, an actual black space. (Spoiler if you click the link.)

SOPRANOS -- No doubt that we would talk Sopranos right off the bat this morning -- it's what everyone is talking about. The water cooler convos happening all over America this morning must have been fierce. People either thought it was the most genius way to end the show, or the most redunkulous letdown of all time. One of the guys who thought it was a brilliant ending is Tom Shales of The Washington Post, we thought it would be great to have him on the show to chat about it. We might turn to someone else, later in the show, who hated the end. What did you all think? As for what we thought...don't get us started, don't even get us started.

GONZALES NO CONFIDENCE -- The Dems are set to vote on a resolution of "no-confidence" in A-G Alberto Gonzales. This might be a great opportunity to call in someone like our very own justice reporter Ari Shapiro -- or to give a call to someone outside, like The Washington Post's Dana Milbank. Will this vote matter? Will the president care about this symbolic vote?

WHILE YOU WERE OUT (POSSIBLY DRINKING) -- We'd recap
some of the stories you might have missed this weekend: President Bush felt the love during his trip to Albania, the space shuttle Atlantis blasted off this weekend and we'd follow up on the escaped prisoner who is accused of kidnapping David Letterman's kid.

FEDERER'S FOE -- Win Rosenfeld (who attended his first BPP editorial meeting today, welcome Win!) wanted to hear a conversation about what is shaping up to be a potentially historic rivalry between tennis players Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Federer has been at the top of his game for a while now -- slaying everyone in his path -- but he can't seem to win against Nadal. Nadal is like kryptonite to Federer. Talking sports with a tennis watcher today.

PARIS' PICTURE -- So, did you all see the pictures of Paris Hilton sobbing as she was being driven in a police car? Turns out that one of them was taken by Nick Ut, an Associated Press photographer. Mr. Ut also happens to be the man who took this iconic picture of children running from napalm during the Vietnam War.

The pictures were taken exactly 35 years apart. One is a horrifying image...the other is, well, a horrifying image. We'd like to talk to Mr. Ut. The mind boggles at the superficial similarities and the stark, profound differences.

TEEN SEX CASE -- Luke brought up the story of Genarlow Wilson. When he was seventeen he was convicted of aggravated child molestation for having oral sex with a 15-year-old. He's twenty-one now, and has been in jail for over two years. Today a Georgia court voided his sentence. Luke wants to talk with a reporter about this case as well as the law that convicted him in the first place. We're going to try to bring you the story later today on the podcast. Stay tuned.

Matt Martinez

11:21 AM ET | 06-11-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

First of all, I can't say I'm surprised that critics seem to love the ending while everyone else hates it. Since the beginning, critics have treated David Chase as infallible, so why should that end now?

I forget which blog said it, but somewhere I read today, "Why is it that Seinfeld ends with everyone in jail while the Sopranos ends with _no one_ in jail?" Seems like Chase and Larry David got their scripts mixed up at the country club.

As for the ending itself, I had a bad feeling that it would end in some way that would be unsatisfying. Apart from the fact that many Sopranos seasons have ended with an anti-climax, there's also what David Chase said last month in Entertainment Weekly. The article was an oral history of the famous "Pine Barrens" episode, and people kept asking Chase if he'd ever bring that Russian guy back. Here are some quotes from Chase:

They shot a guy.Who knows where he went? Who cares about some Russian? This is what Hollywood has done to America. Do you have to have closure on every little thing? Isn't there any mystery in the world? It's a murky world out there. It's a murky life these guys lead. And by the way, I do know where the Russian is. But I'll never say because so many people got so pissy about it.

and this:

In life, you don't get an ending to every story. You can't tie a little ribbon on everything and say it's over. And yeah, I know...'The Sopranos isn't life.' But it's based on it!'

and this:

If you're raised on a steady diet of Hollywood movies and network television, you start to think, Obviously there's going to be some moral accounting here. That's not the way the world works.

He seemed so determined to give us an ending without closure that I warned my wife not to read the EW article, fearing she'd get the same sense of existential dread I was harboring because of it.

No wonder Chase is spending the week in France. He didn't want to be lynched.

Sent by andy carvin | 5:10 PM ET | 06-11-2007

Nice connection between the two Nick Ut photos, Ms. Hilton in tears and the other, astronomically more horrifying image.

In the celebrity news and pop culture realm, it is a great example of what the Bryant Park Project audience wants: at least a little bit of brain behind the flashy gossip we hate to love. (If not, I would have renewed my US Weekly subscription . . . which admittedly I miss, alas.) Your newscast's even mentioning the David Letterman story by itself without some extra significance ought to be relegated to the bumped "Make Me Care" segments.

I'm not the only
BPP reader who wants to steer clear of pure celebrity gossip.

That Harry Potter v. Sopranos Death Poll is another good example of adding just enough thought to otherwise straight pop culture to charm your discerning, intelligent (and modest) audience, which the volume of responses confirms.

Keep me reading, and Happy Monday's over.

Sent by Helen Ivor-Smith | 9:17 PM ET | 06-11-2007

Andy -- People seem to have forgotten (including me) that there is precedent for anti-climax on this show -- why would the finale be any different? Argh. Still upset over the whole thing.

And Helen -- thanks for your thoughts. I think pure celebrity gossip will always have a hard time finding its way on the show, but sometimes it just pops through and it's hard to ignore.

Sent by Matt Martinez | 10:22 PM ET | 06-11-2007

This teen sex case, as many of them do, annoys the hell out of me.

Four years ago, I attended public high school in Southern California. Did my peers have basic math skills? No. An understanding of world religions? Nope. Any semblance of knowledge whatsoever of current events? Not even close.

But practically everyone was able to describe statutory rape laws.

If you were running a story, I'd like to see some type of spin on it. Marginal Revolution just had a post linking an interview with Robert Epstein, who just wrote "The Case Against Adolescence," on how the fabricated level of maturity is actually damaging to a teenager's growth.

The interview on PsychologyToday.com that they posted is really interesting (http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2007/06/sentences_of_wi.html).

That kind of perspective on a situation like that would be really fascinating.

Sent by Shawn Shahani | 1:42 AM ET | 06-12-2007

I know the older generation, raised by their television sets, is used to handing the recreation of thinking over to writers and others. Of course you all hated that ending. The rest of us, more used to interacting with our entertainment and using our brains for fun, enjoyed the "mad libs" style of ending we were given.

The best horror movies never show the monster, they suggest it, and your own imagination provides the terror. That is good cinema. I hope this lays the foundation for more interesting television in the future. If so, perhaps I would turn mine back on from time to time. Otherwise, we're going to go back to being told the same tired story over and over again.

Sent by erickveil.com | 12:16 PM ET | 06-12-2007

David Chase owes me $234.16 cents for the beer, pinot grigio and Moretti Birra I bought for a Sopranos get together. He ruined our party. Members of the BPP assembled with friends of mine from other alphabetical news organizations to watch and cheer or cry or analyze the ending. We were having a great time until the end. I gave eight years to this show including waiting months and months between seasons. How could he do this to me?

Sent by Alison Stewart | 2:18 PM ET | 06-12-2007

I was tempted to send Chase an invoice for the baked ziti extravaganza I put together for the evening, but I concluded that it made such delicious leftovers I couldn't do it with a clear conscience.

Meanwhile, over at CNN, they've got an article in which Gandolfini admits he doesn't know what happened to Tony, but the article makes the case for him getting whacked. I'm still of the mind that he didn't get whacked, and that the audience got whacked instead, but if he did, I'm left to believe that Paulie did it. Yes, Paulie.

The NYC family wasn't going to go after Tony any more, since they tacitly approved the hit on Phil Leotardo. The Russian interior decorator isn't coming back, and neither is Furio. But Paulie clearly felt his life was in danger at least once this season. And the look on his face after he turned down the promotion could have meant that he'd decided to make his move. The situation was perfect: Silvio was out of the picture; Bobby was dead. Paulie could now take over. He didn't do the hit himself, of course; he would have used a freelancer he could have popped himself after the fact. But among the Soprano crew, he'd benefit the most from Tony's death, wouldn't he?

Sent by andy carvin | 2:10 PM ET | 06-15-2007

I think it was Paulie, too. His parting glance at Tony was one of disgust, disdain, or hatred. Paulie was apon old-line guy, the crew from NY would believe he was a traditional guy, one they could work with.

Sent by Bruce Johnson | 11:05 PM ET | 06-15-2007

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