“The Sopranos” have gotten rebooted — sort of — for the pandemic.
Creator David Chase dusted off his keyboard to write lines envisioning how the Italian mobsters — and the people who love them — will deal with the coronavirus crisis.
Original cast members Michael Imperioli and Steve Schirripa unveiled the scene on their recently launched “Talking Sopranos” podcast, available on Spotify.
“It’s the first time he’s written them since 2007,” Schirripa said of Chase’s lines, “and he was nice enough to let us read that.”
The copy involves some of the Emmy Award-winning show’s famous characters — alive and dead — including Tony Soprano, Carmela Soprano, Christopher Moltisanti, Paulie Walnuts, Meadow Soprano, Adriana La Cerva, Dr. Melfi, Phil Leotardo, Uncle Junior, Bobby Bacala, Johnny Sack, A.J. Soprano and Livia Soprano.
“Things are tough right now with all the bad news and things that are going on, it’s nice to have something to laugh about,” Imperioli, who portrayed Moltisanti, said. “David thought it was important to bring some levity to the world, and he wrote these lines about the Soprano characters relating to the coronavirus.”
He and Schirripa — who played the role of Bobby Baccalieri — read each line during the near 83-minute podcast.
Chase brought his characters into the new normal, with each referring to the pandemic in their own special way.
“We’re not doing well with the quarantine in our house,” the long-suffering wife played by Edie Falco says. “It’s making me face the music that this is a dysfunctional family. But it’s keeping my husband in, which is good.”
Speaking of her husband, the leader of the pack portrayed by the late James Gandolfini, well … he definitely knows how to keep things in perspective. His perspective.
“Bing f—in’ shut down, my income stream was already compromised,” Tony Soprano says. “We can keep the pork store open, though, essential critical infrastructure. Pork!”
On each episode of “Talking Sopranos,” which began on April 6, the two actors provide insight as they break down “The Sopranos” series episode by episode.
The New Jersey-set, mob-themed series premiered Jan. 10, 1999 and ran for six seasons on HBO, winning 21 Primetime Emmy Awards and becoming a television touchstone of the new millennium.
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