The Sopranos (TV Series) Watching Too Much Television (2002) User Reviews

Whattaya hear? Whattaya say?

[snoozejonc · 9/10 · 3 September 2022]

Tony gets involved in a scam to defraud the government whilst Adriana thinks marriage is the answer to her problems.

This is a vicious episode with some memorable character moments.

In season 4 the writers did a great job of showing us the ugly side of characters in more detail than ever. This story is perfectly timed after Tony's guilt ridden personal crisis in 'Everybody Hurts' as we see some quite ruthless and toxic aspects of his personality.

The plot involving the HUD scam contains a number of interesting moments for numerous characters. Some of the hypocrisy on display from the likes of Tony, Zellman and others is pretty shocking, particularly when hearing Tony airing his hardworking, conservative values, romanticising the good old days and criticising others. Again the references to racial politics and disparities are shown to mean nothing when it comes down to the almighty dollar.

Other characters like Christopher, Paulie, Johnny Sac appear in scenes that are very well made but remind you of how selfish and destructive individuals can be when interacting with others. Christopher's scenes in particular contain some very nasty turns of phrase, but somehow Michael Imperioli in his 'blundering Christopher' persona makes them darkly humorous.

Adriana's storyline continues to slow burn with impending doom ever on the horizon. The scenes with a 'Law and Order' inspired lightbulb moment and another involving a bridal shower are particularly well done.

The final scene is for me the most memorable and shows Tony in one his worst moments. As always with The Sopranos it is these seemingly spontaneous, random moments that have a huge impact on events to come.

Imperioli and Drea de Matteo stand out for me, but all performances are great as ever.

A succinct snapshot of the entire series

[diek-666-365022 · 8/10 · 7 July 2020]

This episode takes you up, then snaps you back to reality. In the ongoing story that Adrianna has fallen into an FBI trap, she falls for a 'law and order' moment and believes a wife cannot be forced to testify against her husband. Adrianna drops a bombshell on Christopher while going down the path to marriage, and true to form, he explodes. Adrianna unknowingly misses that the only true way out of the FBI trap is thwarted by Tony and Silvio convincing Christopher that she is the best thing in his life, and Christopher agreeing to stay with Adrianna. We see Christopher's love shines through, but this love seals Adrianna's fate.

Tony makes a great deal that makes him and his partners a lot of money at the expense of others, and outwardly he seems very pleased with his ill gained success at the expense of the taxpayer. With every reason to be happy, it still eludes him and his underlying sadness returns manifesting itself into easily one of the most brutal beatings of the entire series.

Watching Too Much Television (#4.7)

[ComedyFan2010 · 8/10 · 16 March 2014]

Adriana decides to get married faster so that she can't testify against Chris. But it is not as simple as she thought. They also have a fight about her reproduction issues but Chris realizes that he loves her anyways. And Tony has issues with a business partner who now dates his ex mistress Irina.

The episode had good moments. I especially felt bad for Adriana, but am very glad Chris ended up loving her instead of just looking at her as a reproduction machine.

Also interesting to see Tony deal with his anger here. This is sure one of the issues he has to deal with psychologically.

Old friends return

[MaxBorg89 · 10/10 · 8 May 2008]

Before the fourth season of The Sopranos went into production, actor Tony Sirico underwent back surgery. In order for him to recover, David Chase decided to place his character, Paulie Walnuts, in jail, where he spent all of the first six episodes of Series Four. Now he finally returns, and is happily welcomed back by everyone. The happiness won't last long, though, for two reasons.

Firstly, Paulie still tells stuff to Johnny Sack, but that's a minor preoccupation; the real problem is another person from the past who has returned. That person is Irina, Tony's former mistress, who is now dating his business partner Zellman (Peter Riegert, aka Boon from Animal House). Unexpectedly, Tony responds in a quite brutal manner to the news, shamelessly kicking the sh*t out of Zellman.

But hey, that's a small matter compared to Adriana's complicated status: urged by the feds to gather evidence, she sees on a TV show that a wife can't testify against her husband, and vice versa, and starts pressuring Chris to marry her as soon as possible. However, she is soon informed of the fact that real life isn't a TV program, considering there are at least three loopholes in her plan the FBI can exploit.

TV serials making fun of TV serials is nothing new: the fourth season of Seinfeld was almost entirely about Jerry and George coming up with a fictitious version of the show itself, with hilarious results, while the likes of The Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park have made it their trademark to lampoon major networks and programs (mostly Fox-related). And yet having an episode of the best show ever being titled Watching Too Much Television is an intuition so clever it immediately gets past the point of self-parody: there is real emotional power in Drea de Matteo's performance as her character comes closer to a stage from which there will be no return.

Once again, the intelligence sets it apart from anything else. Well, that and Tony Soprano beating a cast member from Animal House.

Meh

[jdjc001 · 6/10 · 25 May 2020]

I'm on my first viewing (late to the party, I know) and although none of the episodes so far this season have verged on plain bad, it certainly feels like a there's been a drop in quality since last season with there being such a long string of mediocre episodes. There are too many uninteresting storylines at play and the pacing of the ones that are actually interesting seems slower than ever. Nevertheless, I've thoroughly enjoyed the first three seasons and am still loving the characters.

How Christopher ever got a girlfriend is beyond me. Dude called her "damaged goods"

[Neptune165 · 7/10 · 15 July 2022]

This was a very depressing episode in many ways. Seeing how programmers designed to help poor and marginalized people are exploited by criminals is upsetting but, of course, these are professional criminals and this is what they do - would we expect them to do any different? This isn't to excuse them by any means though and what they do is disgusting. What makes me more angry, however, is that the assemblyman and the black community outreach worker get involved. Personally, I would like to see a series about Johnny Sack and the New York side of things. We know they were pretty much manipulating things to their advantage through John a lot of the time, and John through Paulie and Ralph, but it would be cool to see it played out on the small screen. Naturally, it would take place during the same time (roughly) as The Sopranos, but possibly start "a season or two" before The Sopranos started. Maybe around the time Jackie Sr. Takes over would work. It would give us a little more about Carmine Sr. And Jr. As well. I think Johnny Sack was the most inherently "cool" character in the series, so I would like to see more of him. I suppose the big drawback is that you pretty much know how things will turn out.

Margetis Review: The Sopranos Episode 46 "Watching Too Much Television"

[MichaelMargetis · 11 February 2006]

The most exciting part of this episode is watching Tony beat Boon from Animal House with a belt. Boon from Animal House, is Peter Riegert, who expertly plays Assemblyman Ron Zellman, who periodically works "illegally" with Tony. In this episode they both work together on a H.U.D. scam. The reason Tony beats him with a belt, is because Zellman is seeing Tony's ex – Irina. But that really isn't the main importance of this episode (although it will precede on to the rest of the episodes this season). The real importance of this episode, is Paulie getting out of prison (where he was since before season four started.) He continues airing family business to Johnny Sack, behind Tony's back. However, the episode gets a little sappy towards the end when Tony is driving home in his car and crying in the car because of a song on the radio. The reason this episode gets such a high rating is because it is such a step up from last week's piece of sh*t. Teleplay by Nick Santora and Terence Winter ; Story by David Chase, Robin Green & Mitchell Burgess and Terence Winter ; Directed by John Patterson. My Rating: 8/10