Friday, January 21, 2000
'Sopranos' shrink hints at season
BY JOHN KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
PASADENA, Calif. — Actress Lorraine Bracco looked like she feared for her life when TV critics asked her about plot developments for The Sopranos second season.
“I can get in so much trouble, and I'm the one with the big mouth,” Ms. Bracco told members of the Television Critics Association here while glancing over her shoulder at creator and executive producer David Chase.
“I have no comment, on the grounds I could be fired,” said the actress who co-stars as therapist Dr. Jennifer Melfi on the popular HBO crime-family saga.
Critics were clamoring for story lines when The Sopranos stars met with writers to promote their new season of shows about New Jersey crime boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and his “family.”
The second episode airs 9 p.m. Sunday on HBO, while most of the cast will be attending the 57th annual Golden Globe Awards (8-11 p.m. Sunday, Channels 5, 22).
Ms. Bracco did confirm that her character begins to patch up her troubled relationship with Tony Soprano later this month. She told him to “get out of my life” in the Saturday season premiere in response to Mr. Soprano burning down her office last season. She's now conducting sessions at a seedy New Jersey motel.
“Keep watching shows four, five and six,” she said. “It gets good. She takes him back.”
Mr. Gandolfini, a shy bear of a man who seemed hesitant to answer many questions, says he missed having counseling scenes with Dr. Melfi, a staple from last season's shows.
“I felt out of sorts in this part because I couldn't talk to her,” he said.
HBO press materials offer this cryptic peek at new shows, invoking doctor-patient confidentiality. (You really didn't want to know too much, did you?)
• Sunday: Tony intervenes to fix a labor dispute when black protesters picket a construction company; sister Janice (Aida Turturro) schemes to get her mom's house.
• Jan. 30: Tony catches his daughter Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) partying at his mom's vacant house.
• Feb. 6: Tony travels to Italy to check on family business.
• Feb. 13: Dr. Melfi feels guilty about dumping Tony, while he learns that his dad had emotional secrets, too.
• Feb. 20: Frank Sinatra Jr. and Paul Mazursky guest star as card sharks in a high-stakes poker game.
• Feb. 27: On a movie set, nephew Christopher (Michael Imperioli) meets two actresses (Janeane Garofalo, Sandra Bernhard).
NEVER MIND: The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy has announced it will no longer demand prior approval of TV scripts before broadcast for stations to reduce their schedule of anti-drug public service announcements.
In the third statement issued to TV critics in the past week, the White House also said it “will keep separate the process of providing scientific and technical assistance from the process of providing post-broadcast valuation decisions.”
An ABC executive told TV critics here on Saturday that an agency representing the White House program had asked networks to submit scripts before shows aired.
X-FILES UPDATE: Fox executives will know by the end of February if The X-Files will return this fall for an eighth season. Fox wants the show back, but admits “it's no better than 50-50,” says Sandy Grushow, Fox Television Entertainment Group chairman.
The contracts of creator Chris Carter and star David Duchovny expire this spring. Co-star Gillian Anderson is committed for another season, though she reportedly wants out of her contract. Fox is talking to representatives of Mr. Carter and Mr. Duchovny.
If Mr. Duchovny remains adamant, it would be Mr. Carter's call as to whether an eighth season could be made without the sultry star, Mr. Grushow says. “If Chris Carter decides to do The X-Files next season, we would have every expectation that Gillian would be there,” he says.
“Obviously if there is no eighth season, we want to send this show out in an appropriate way,” Mr. Grushow says.
GOOD RATINGS: The Good Morning America team of Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson have reversed the audience erosion at GMA. They mark their one-year anniversary this week with ratings up 31 percent, says Pat Fili-Krushel, ABC Television Network president.
Ratings for Saturday night, the networks' least viewed night, also have rebounded for ABC's movies, up 30 percent from last year. ABC now wins the night, something that hasn't happened since Love Boat and T.J. Hooker 15 years ago, says Stu Bloomberg, ABC Entertainment co-chairman.
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