Livia Soprano Is One Of The Greatest Heels In Television History
I saw Livia Soprano was a first round pick for worst character by NAME REDACTED FOR VOTING PURPOSES, which I completely understand as she it a constant black cloud her entire time on the show and literally approves her own son getting whacked. You can #embracedebate about how some of the worst characters on that list are only there because they are great at the role they played, which would be "Piece Of Shit" if IMDB allowed it. People celebrated Richie Aprile's death like their team won a championship because he was written and acted as the perfect scumbag. Janice may be my least favorite character in the history of fiction, which is pretty long. I can even admit that AJ Soprano being an absolute dud of a kid was brutal to watch but also kinda the perfect kid to haunt a guy like Tony, which is what I'm sure exactly what David Chase wanted.
That being said, I just wanted to politely disagree with Livia's worst character label and instead nominate her for potential best character in a show full of them. I admittedly hated her my first time watching, grew to enjoy her during my second time watching, and outright got excited for her scenes during my third time watching. David Chase may have written Livia after his own mother that haunted his life, but all of Liv Soprano's scenes from the constant pleas of death to the constant spinzones of Green Grove being a retirement community to her turning her Mafia son boss into a rambling lunatic talking about someone smiling like he was Frank The Tabk watching Mickey Callaway and so much more was the perfect type of dark comedy that fueled The Sopranos to becoming a legendary show.
I could go on and on about Livia being the perfect heel for Tony like Vince McMahon was for Stone Cold once upon a time, how she could manipulate people with just her voice cadence, and how her testifying against Tony for the stolen airplane tickets in Season 3 would've been elite television if Nancy Marchand hadn't passed away before the filmed the scenes. However I think this video with her greatest hits does more justice than anything my idiot brain could type on a blog.
I can actually not only hear that gif but also feel it, which is the mark of any great character while the mere thought of Livia saying "A PSYCHIATRIST" or "OH POOOOOR YOU" has me cracking up alone in my house right now. I cannot WAIT to see how the shrink from The Departed plays her miserable ass in The Many Saints Of Newark.
Anyway I said my peace Chrissy, now go watch The Dog Walk Sopranos draft in its entirety or listen to it in podcast form.
P.S. It was said by everyone during the draft but the "Oh Girl" song draft pick was absolutely perfect. I remember putting it as Song Of The Day in my AIM profile immediately after seeing it on Sopranos before downloading it on Limewire and playing it on Winamp more times than any young man should on a Sunday night. Yes, I just outed myself as being ancient but I don't care. That song and show fucking rule.