Starting Five

1. Yo, T! Rest In Peace.

Ursine. Volcanic. Ruthless. Sweet. Charismatic. Autocratic. Family-oriented. That was the character, Tony Soprano, that James Gandolfini, who died yesterday in Rome at age 51, brought to life. Before The Sopranos, there was only one real drama of note (and it was more of a comedy at best) on HBO, and that was Sex and The City.

In the winter of 1999 Creator David Chase, with a writing staff that would include the future creator of Mad Men, Matt Weiner, foisted upon us one of the truly inimitable and unforgettable characters in television history. The genre, Mafia movies/TV, was not at all new. But we’d never seen a godfather quite like this one.

If you are from New Jersey originally (raises hand), and Italian-American (hand raised even higher), you are both proud of and appalled at the character. But, this show changed television. In its wake came The Wire, Breaking Bad, Entourage, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, etc. Most of the best, if not all of the best, dramatic series ever to air on TV were spawned after this. The Sopranos was the model.

A few more thoughts…

–Here’s Gandolfini, who would win three Emmys, on “Inside The Actors’ Studio.”

–Here he is, with the rest of the cast, doing a “Top Ten List” on The Late Show

–Here’s a vintage scene with Dr. Melfi, the “Jimmy Smash story” from Season 1. Comic, wistful, empathetic. All in two minutes.

–Right now Gandolfini knows what Chase does not: whether the final scene of this series, the final moment, is actually accurate. Whether everything truly fades to black.

2. Exposed

Comedian, erstwhile husband of Katy Perry and smoldering ball of sexual fire Russell Brand stopped by the MSNBC set of “Morning Joe” yesterday and in eight-plus captivating minutes, simply laid waste to the junior varsity trio of on-air “talent” (I’m using that word oh so loosely) seated around the desk.

Brand absolutely schooled host Mika Brzezinski and quasi-co-hosts Brian Schachtman (oh, you poor boy) and fellow Brit Katty Kay (who was at least smart enough to keep her mouth shut most of the time) on their superficial comments and rude behavior. It began badly when Morning Mika introduced him by saying, “Joining us now, he’s a really big deal…I know, I’m told this…I’m not very pop-cultured, I’m sorry.”

Well, Mika, considering you’re on air three hours every morning, perhaps you oughta be. And how rude was that? Fortunately, that was just the sort of insult that got Brand’s juices running and he can more than retaliate.

At one point, when one of them obsessed about his clothes and British accent, Brand quipped, “Thanks for your casual objectification.”

I’ve seen Brand on talk shows before. And seemingly so have you. What becomes very apparent very quickly is that he is brilliant. And not just because of his prolix vocabulary. There is a tendency to simply think of him a Aldous Snow or some type of clown because of his unique features and mode of dress, but what Brzezkinski & Co. discovered the hard way is this: He’s out-thinking you every moment.

At one point Brand, so exasperated at the “Morning Joe” crew’s utter lack of professionalism and intellect, bursts out, “Is this what you all do for a living?”

It was an outstanding performance. Hey, I’m straight and while watching this “it went from six to midnight.” Russell Brand is one of those performers who actually deserves to be famous.

3. Moms Are The Best

 

 

Last week Stephen Colbert, who is one of 11 children, lost his mother, Lorna Colbert. She was 92 years old. The host of “The Colbert Report” broke character and gave a simple, sincere tribute to the woman who shaped his life more than anyone else (“If you also like me, that’s because of my mom.”). My mom is, fortunately, still around and will be for a long time–and reads this daily –and has had the same effect on me.

4. Taking Care of Business — and Working Overtime

For the third time in four games, the Stanley Cup finals went beyond the designated 60 minutes. The Blackhawks won 6-5 on Brent Seabrook’s goal midway through the first overtime. The series is now knotted up 2-2 as both Original Six squads return to Chicago for Game 5 and I desperately hope that I got through this item without exposing my Brzezinski-esque ignorance of hockey. I hear it’s a really big deal.

5. A Tight End, And Some Loose Ends

Why was the New England Patriot tight end out with homicide victim Odin Llloyd, who dated the sister of Hernandez’s girlfriend, on the night that Lloyd was murdered? Did Hernandez, Lloyd and two other men leave the bar together? If so, when and why did they separate? Doesn’t Hernandez have a beautiful home? Will Tim Tebow, who played with Hernandez at Florida, move to tight end? When is Rob Gronkowski’s next surgery? Is Kelli Naqi now sentenced to a summer of staking out Hernandez’ North Attleborough home the way she once had to stalk Michael Vick (it’s cool; she’s a Boston College alum so she won’t mind)? Do you think Bill Belichick wouldn’t mind now fielding more Tebow questions? Do the Savage brothers have an alibi?

Reserves

 

The home of University of Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops is burgled on the eve of the 24th anniversary of Barry Switzer’s resignation. Probably just a coincidence. Stoops was traveling in Kansas when the break-in occurred, some time after 3:30 a.m., but his family was home. In the wake of this incident Stoops has fired his defensive coordinator.

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Day of Puig’s

Dodger rookie phenom Yasiel Puig etches his name alongside hundreds –thousands? — of other Major Leaguers by striking out against Mariano Rivera. Puig, who was at Yankee Stadium yesterday for a mid-week day-night doubleheader against The Pinstripes, had quite the memorable afternoon. He had both a bunt single and a home run, a stolen base, and an attempted 9-3 put-out at first base that went awry. Still, you cannot take your eyes off him. And there he was, in the opener, whiffing against the greatest closer of all time to end the game. A crossing of two epochs.

Speaking of which, the Dodgers’ visit to Yankee Stadium inspired Vin Scully, who has only been calling Dodger games for 64 years, to take to Twitter yesterday.

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The Washington Post’s Melinda Henneberger, who is rapidly running out of college football teams for whom to root, tweets, “Naval Academy required woman to attend football games even after she reported being raped by 3 players charged today.” I have not seen this actually reported in a story yet, so take Henneberger’s tweet for what it is. Still, that’s SEC-level misappropriation of values taking place at Annapolis. Also, why should anyone be compelled to watch Navy play?

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Hey, kids, The Backstreet Boys have a new song out! Which I doubt will threaten Kanye West’s “Yeezus.”  I completely recused myself from the Boy Band era, but if I had to pick just one group to follow, it would certainly be Dudez A-Plenti.

Remote Patrol

Game 7, NBA Finals

Spurs-Heat

ABC 9 p.m.

No predictions. I had Spurs in six and I was one defensive rebound away from being correct. Thank goodness Disney has Jeff Van Gundy as its color analyst. He’s the most candid on-air talent at ESPN.