Democracy in Media

Who Killed Tony

The Sopranos was not my favorite HBO series, but it was certainly a great series. I must admit I was with everyone else in thinking that my satellite connection dropped when the screen went black at the end before the credits rolled. I was a little disappointed, but certainly not pissed off like a bunch of other folks. The season felt like they could have continued on for 6 or 7 more episodes, but I felt that there were so many loose ends to tie up, that Chase must have been willing to leave a bunch on the ground at the end.

Anyway, when I heard the theory that Tony was killed at the end and that’s why the screen went black it just seemed so obvious I can’t believe it didn’t occur to me. Having heard that theory and watched the last episode again, I think it was certianly what happened. As a matter of fact, it was probably frustrating to Chase that he designed such a smart ending and then had to have the studio leak clues as to what actually transpired (which is what I think they must have done given the overwhelmingly negative press the finale was getting. I think if people weren’t so pissed, Chase just would have left it and let people figure it out over time). The point is, that it seems obvious that this is what Chase intended. What I haven’t seen is any perfect theories as to who actually did the killing.

The best one I’ve seen involves Nikki Leotardo, the guy sitting at the bar and Phil’s nephew. He’s wearing a Member’s Only jacket (the title of the first episode of the last series) and the camera focuses on him a few times apparently waiting to make sure the whole family was there or the timing was right or whatever. The only thing that seems weird about this is why Tony wouldn’t have recognized Nikki. Either way, it would seem to make sense that Phil’s nephew would take out the entire Soprano family in revenge for the death of Phil and his brother. Not sure if this is actually what happened, but seems like a theory that makes a bunch of sense.

Either way, the general point I want to make is that what HBO has been doing recently, designing series that have a beginning, middle, and end is fantastic. I hate losing shows like Rome and Deadwood, but I’ve got to appreciate their courage and vision in keeping to storylines and not dragging out success purely for financial reasons (‘Lost’ being a case in point). I think it shows a lot of discipline and the guys producing content at HBO should be emulated. They simply produce some of the best stories around.

UPDATE: Bob Harris has a brilliant blow-by-blow of the final scene.  I think he puts a nail in the coffin to any theory that assumes that Tony didn't die.  Not much attention to the shooter, although the Member's Only guys seems the clear and obvious candidate.  He might also not be Nikki...

Broadcast TV is Still Important

With the proliferation of video publishing services over the past year (YouTube, Google Video, Brightcove, etc.), a lot of attention is being paid to online video. Yahoo’s recent announcement has only increased the buzz. Online is clearly where the future of video distribution lies.

However, online video today is still in its infancy and has a long way to go before becoming the predominant delivery mechanism for video (ie, when most people have canceled their cable service and get all of their video over the Internet). The reason for this is:

• Online video is still a pain to watch on a TV. Most people still refer to watch video on their TV. To do this, you either have to have a good understanding of relatively complex technology to set up a home media network, or you have to be willing to live with a PC next to your TV. Neither of these are really mainstream solutions, yet.

• Online Video is Still Poor Quality. Most online video sites stream their video into a small player roughly 4 or 5 inches in diameter. This is pretty unsatisfactory for anything more than a preview or a short clip of two Chinese kids lip-syncing the Backstreet Boys. Watching a movie or TV show like this is pretty excruciating.

• Online Isn’t Good at Live Broadcasts. For live high quality news and sports feeds, broadcast still kicks ass. This will become even more evident as we start to see HD video move into high gear over the next 24 months. The Internet wasn’t really designed for broadcasting a single file to millions at the same time. Until the Internet goes through one or even two more evolutions, the infrastructure will be woefully inadequate at handling enormous files.

It’s also true that most of the stuff that people currently find highly valuable (Sopranos, Desperate Housewives, American Idol, etc.) are broadcast over cable and satellite. Now these are available via Bittorrent trackers, but they still suffer from all of the problems outlined above. They’re not really a mainstream solution. 

So, the device that people are going to want for the near term is one that provides broadcast access from your cable/satellite provider, on-demand access for quality long- and mid-form content, and open Internet access for everything else.

The problem that all the existing solutions have is that they only cover one or two of these networks and not all three. Cable set-top boxes provide broadcast and on-demand, but not Internet. IPTV devices carry broadcast and on-demand, but no Internet. TiVo and MCE handles broadcast and Internet, but no on-demand. iPod and PSP handles Internet only.  Nobody provides the whole package.

People are going to demand all three soon enough, but I think carriers will be slow to respond. After all, the only real network that can currently handle all three is the cable network and those guys aren’t about to let Internet content make it directly to their set-top box. IPTV may be different, but I’m not holding my breath.

Either way, broadcast will remain a critical component of any mainstream video service for many years to come. This is actually a driving principal of CozmoTV.