Fox and NBC declined.
CBS tooLes Moonves didnt mind that the guy was a murderer, but did he have to take Prozac?
In the end, Brad Grey convinced David they should circle back to an interested party, HBO.
Credit: Everett Collection
David signed on and by midsummer had directed, edited, and mixed the pilot.
It took us about a nanosecond to say yes.
Not a word from HBO, zip.
Little, Brown
They had until the end of the year before the actors contracts would expire.
The show was wonderfulbeautifully shot and acted.
And, like the scripts, sharp and funny.
But still, nothing from HBO.
David advised us to move on and we took a job at the popular Fox hourParty of Five.
It was not a happy few months.
Im sorry to interrupt, she said, but theres a Tommy Soprano on the phone for you.
You know somebody like that?
one of our bosses said, figuring just from the name it was some kind of gangster.
Tell Tommy well call back, we said, and our notes session resumed.
Party of Fivelet us go with no troublewe had been a bad match there, so good riddance.
We were heading, after all, into the then-Nowheresville of cable TV.
Our agent thought we were nuts, but we didnt care.
We lovedThe Sopranosand it wasand remained, for a very long timea labor of love.
Especially in that first year.
And boy, did Frank talk.
And David let him talk.
For hours that day, until finally hed talked himself out.
Something more than the delicious irony of a gangster driving around visiting ivy-covered campuses had to happen.
The back of the story for the fourth episode, College, had been broken.
Once David saw a story, he was a master.
Was it a craftsy/girly way of doing it?
After all, Id learned it from a former ballerina.
**
Finally, it was June 1998 and time to go to New York to start filming.
The production spent half its time filming there and the other half on location in New Jersey.
We didnt shoot closer to home in New York because David rightly felt it would look inauthentic.
Before each episode, we had a table-read, all the actors reading their lines in the new script.
Look at us, Lorraine Bracco exclaimed in her lusty, growly voice at the first one.
Look at all these Italians!
All of uswriters, producers, cast, and crewwere working for the sheer creative joy of it.
Thats what it felt like that first season.
The scene was added.
But that was it for notes.
And, also unlike the networks, there was no questioning of costs.
HBO never said no.
So, what do you think?
You think this things got a chance?
I think, I said, that it will either change television forever or sink like a stone.
David rolled his eyes.
Robin… he said, trailing off with a world-weary shake of his head.
In that way, television is a crapshoot, dependent on the zeitgeist.
But there was no such pall over the premiere ofThe Sopranos.
The energy was high.
Even my highbrow friends were smiling ear to ear.
We all headed into the night to the afterparty around the corner at Johns Pizza.
After the very first episode aired, the show exploded.
Scholars likened us to Balzac.
We got nominated and won every award there was.
And just as Id said we might, we ushered in a new golden age, changing television forever.
