Woke Up This Morning...

...got yourself some baaaaaaaad acting.

Some Spoilers If You Didn't Catch The Opening Season Of The Sopranos

Now, the last thing that The Sopranos needed was yet another bad actor. And after the last season, things were looking up, too. Lorraine Bracco can sometimes pronounce two syllable words now without too much trouble, both of the horrid child stars that have been posing as Tony's children had, thankfully little to do with this seasons opener, the crew is, well, the crew. Former real-life wiseguys for the most part, who can't act but lend some authenticity to the terrible writing, implausible plots, and clueless directing.

So they begin the season with yet another awful actor, portraying one of Tony's soldiers who wants to take leave of the mob and move to Florida. His wife was, of course, yet another amateur pulled from an open casting call, and I was beginning to simmer with rage as I thought...we waited two years for this crap?

If you caught the show, then you probably let go a sigh of release as well when that particular dilemma righted itself rather quickly. A total non-sequitor, having nothing to do with last season or ANY season, just some filler using inexpensive stand-ins posing as actors so that the producers can save the money for some heavy-hitters due to appear later in the year.

Uncle June goes bananas;the character of one of the semi-regulars has a heart attack and dies; and Tony drops like a sack of shit after being stung by a little snub-nosed .38. C'mon, really now. You take that shot, sit yourself down and call for an ambulance. Yet another case of Hollywood believing that puny handguns are death rays, and lord but this show sucked.

And oh yeah, wanna bet that it was Tony who put the building inspector up to nixing the house Carmella wants to build?

Please. The knot in the narrative thread is so big you can spot a twist a mile away.

Me, I'm still waiting to see what happened to that crazy Russian at the end of season 3, and gone are the days when we could expect something craftworthy and different.

No more Theme From Peter Gunn duel with Every Step You Take. Chase and company had one or two decent ideas and I wouldn't expect any more.

One thing you CAN expect is that the final show will feature every last actor who had a speaking part. Their ghosts hover around Tony as he...well, you'll see.

PS: Please try and keep this to yourselves; I've an insider working on the set. Well, not working for me, but working for Chase Productions. Took long enough, but with all of the connections I still have back in the Apple as well as North Jersey, it was only a matter of time before I found someone with some decent scoop. Word is that Uncle June is pissed at the deterioration of his character, and has been making rumblings that he doesn't want to finish the season out if it continues this way. If he keeps bitching, look for a sudden whack or stroke to befall the old man.

More to come as I get 'em.