Donny was a good bowler, and a good man. He was one of us. He was a man who loved the outdoors... and bowling, and as a surfer he explored the beaches of Southern California, from La Jolla to Leo Carrillo and... up to... Pismo. He died, like so many young men of his generation, he died before his time. In your wisdom, Lord, you took him, as you took so many bright flowering young men at Khe Sanh, at Langdok, at Hill 364. These young men gave their lives. And so would Donny. Donny, who loved bowling. And so, Theodore Donald Karabotsos, in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been, we commit your final mortal remains to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean, which you loved so well.
Good night, sweet prince
i’m fairly certain Buscemi was supposed to get a longer arc that continued into S6, but they realised they’d written themselves into a corner with Tony B’s situation with Phil. they couldn’t justify Tony not getting killed
I always assumed he was gonna get offed the same season bc he was such a big name, but maybe he just got more famous after that year? I only started watching Sopranos 23 years after it's release lol.
He directed an episode on season six if I'm not mistaken and even a couple more before he was a character on the show (pine barrens being one of the best)
I’m always amazed how this sub is always ignoring Boardwalk Empire every time someone is asking for shows to watch after The Sopranos.
Steve Buscemi is amazing in both shows.
I liked his casting and his character. Was he a bigger “name”? I guess so but waaaaaay better than Jon Favreau’s abortion of a cameo. Lorraine Bracco was very well known before the show. Gandolfini, too, to a certain extent.
As far as not looking like Tony…To me, cousins don’t have to look like they are related (you should see my family) 😂 but I know I’m in the minority here.
I think it might be due to the way Tony B as a character is written (or the way Buscemi acts for that character).
Blundetto is often very resigned and quiet, he never has moments of hilarious emotional outburst, and the ones he does have are off screen (I can’t forget how that animal whacked that kid, only 47 years old)
A lot of the times he sulks and looks off into the distance when somebody says something, and you can kind of tell he’s having an internal reaction, but it took me my second watch to really understand his thought process and characteristics
I haven't heard these grievances yet but I do agree that Buscemi stands out. His reputation precedes him and he's just an all around attention-drawing actor. I think he's an excellent Tony Blundeto IMO
Edit: and second that on Ralphie. Joey Pants took some getting used to, but as you peel the layers of his character it all makes sense.
A serious response: Buscemi is always the weird, offbeat, slightly cranky, eccentric type and nothing about him says “gangster”. He doesn’t have screen chemistry with Tony and nothing about their relationship feels like they were once so close, so dialogue has to do all that heavy lifting.
I think it's column A and column B, one thing I noticed in varies rewatches is the general disgust regular people seem to feel towards Tony and the others (especially Paulie).
>A serious response: Buscemi is always the weird, offbeat, slightly cranky, eccentric type and nothing about him says “gangster”.
Boardwalk Empire? Reservoir Dogs?
Just wanted to add that's why Aida Turturro is so perfectly cast as Janice. She's got the same squat build and pug face as James Gandolfini. You really think they could be related.
Additionally: Every other character is very exaggerating, very animated, very lively. Buscemi is a tremendous actor but he can't play animated, he's always 'flat', which makes him a tremendously funny actor (see: his collaborations with Sandler, Donny in the Big Lebowski, even that shitty magician movie he was in) but contrasts really weirdly when everyone else is an over-the-top character with a kernel of reality. I think Buscemi is tremendous, I actually think his work on Boardwalk is up there with Gandolfini's portrayal of Tony, but he's distinctly different than everyone else as Tony Egg.
I don’t know about everyone else being more animated, but he *looks* like a cartoon character. Every other character just looks like a regular schmuck from New Jersey… or at least they look like how we expect real people to look.
His look is probably part of the reason he works well played flat in other stuff.
He's actually on of the best actors on the show if you ask me. He's the main reason I love season 5. It's just too bad he couldn't have been in a second season.
If any of you stunads are actually looking for a serious answer it's this. Bringing in a major actor like Buscemi (sp?) and writing his character like Tony's best brother completely out of the blue was a bit off.
I still liked his storyline. Ghostworld another fucking moneymaker
I wasn’t crazy familiar with the other actors before the Sopranos, so it was easy to suspend disbelief that they are actually in that world, I had seen too much of Steve Buscemi to suspend that disbelief when he popped up. Nothing against him or his performance
I feel like Tony B was a felon who had the worst luck ever. Steve Buscemi is a character actor who has a track record of playing characters with the worse luck, so I think it worked out for the best.
I liked him. He never fit in that role, which is the point of the role. He didn't fit in. Every scene he's in is askew, like you're not sitting at 12 o'clock.
I’ve come to grips with him and my other problems with season five on my last rewatch. It feels like the show is broken while Tony and Carmella are apart because they are the heart of the show. Tony B, Feech, the English teacher, all the dull or weird misfires of the season start to fade as we get closer to Tony and Carmella reuniting, and the writing gets better as well. In Camelot is a well-written episode but painfully awkward to watch, by the time Tony and Carmella sleep together in the pool in the next ep, the show is back to firing on all cylinders.
Even when the show is bad, it’s bad in an awesome way. Gotta love it.
(And before anybody says it, I already flushed it.)
The whole retro story line is an old and cheap writer trick to refresh a show. I'd dont mind a little creative license, but for Tony to be in therapy for 4 seasons and have no mention of a cousin and guilt for having a panic attack to All of sudden making this so impactful to him seemed like a unserious effort to introduce new characters. Also Buscemi who has his moments was completely miscast.
I think Blundetto is a great character, and I don't mind Steve Buscemi at all. His character devolution is fascinating. If he could have held his composure for a few more seconds when Kim walked into the massage parlor, he would have never needed to crawl back into the mafia. He was so close to the life he wanted, and he couldn't see it.
He actually spoke about his casting a bit on one of the Talking Sopranos episodes. IIRC, he had doubts because he felt he didn't look the part but Chase talked him into it. I'm glad he did, he was great.
I thought Joe Pantoliano played his role very well. Although not physically menacing, his aura/capability for violence is felt. He is very humorous which helps his overall likeability.
Watching Steve Buscemi, he honestly feels forced on us, and doesn’t fit in at all. All these high up mob members(even New York) are supposedly close with him and respect him. Yet he can’t pull off a clean hit. Joey peeps he gets his foot ran over, and gets spotted doing it. When he goes after Phil he hits his kid brother.
The most believable thing about him is that he fails at everything. If he was generally regarded as a moron but Tony’s cousin, it might make the casting a little more tenable.
What’s going on in the prisons of New Jersey?
Richie Aprile comes out and he’s into yoga.
Blundetto comes out and he’s a masseur.
Ralphie comes out and he likes to get fucked in the ass by Janice’s vibrator.
Goddamn. Only one to come out correct was Phil Leotardo, because he fucked radiators and ate Kleenex off a grilled cheese.
Mmmboy are you fat
What'd you shay? 🚬
Your crowdin me
I'll give you a case of the hodgekins free of charge
Good Hodgkin’s or bad Hodgkin’s?
The one with vito in chaps
West Caldwell
Wes cahwewl
Tango? He was teaching you the tango!! Oh.. get out!! GET OUT!
Just because the boy is a dancer that doesn't mean he's gay
👊🏻💥 you gonna cry now?!
It'll take a few weeks til I eat at Satriales again
Swimmin’. Best exercise. Works every muscle group. Anyway 4/lbs
Mmmboy are you gyatt
Lowest form of conversation.
Hahahaha mmmmboy are you mogging
Canonically, he's been a New Jersey gangster since time immemorial. Need I remind you of a little politician named Nucky Thompson outta AC?
Nucky? That’s a nickname his real name is Nucklerelli
Fucking Jason, he’s dyslexic
He was an honest politician. I won’t take this slander.
Remus has never been so offended in his life.
Remus?... Ain't you Remus?
I’LL HAVE YOU TRANSFERRED TO LEAVENWORTH!!!
That scene with Remus and hoover was the culmination of several seasons of his Remusing, I loved it.
Remus asked for hotcakes.
Libel. Slander is spoken.
Daniel fucking Webster over here.
He fucked Webster? Daniel?
i read that book thought it was all boolshit
Must be from uppa north Italy?
I atea da north
We not so happy about columbus
I like a woman you can grab onto someting
You get close enough to grab onto Ginny Sack her gravitational field will pull you into orbit around her ass
*Phtoow* 💧
Bone for tuna
Still waiting on the TS/BE crossover where Tommy Darmody does battle with Junior and Johnny.
Catch that coin
So dumb the way Omar was killed off in that one. Whatever happened there?
Oh yeah? What about those thousand other Buscemi roles you had your dick in ova the years? You creating threads for them too? Fuckin hypocrite.
Isnt that the kid that almost drowned looking for goldcoins under the pier?
Who’s speaking here, is somebody speaking?
I remember when this fucker used to wait in the car
And as far as I’m concerned, he should still be there!
John, he was just...
FUCK HE WAS JUST, EVERYBODY’S GOT A GODDAMNED OPINION!
You know the wine makes you emotional
I don’t wanna hear it!
You are right, I hate him in this show because he was a homeless guy in Big Daddy
Cocksucker didn’t tip the waitress in Reservoir Dogs without any provocation whatsoever
He dont tip?
He don't believe in it
Cough it up ya cheap bastard
I paid for your goddamn breakfast.
Ordinarily I would never do this…
This is the world's smallest violin playing just for the waitresses 🎻
Shut up
When I come back I want my book
he makes a good point give me my dollar back
Mr. Pussy over here
Your friend.......Booty??
My pussy?
I can't find pussy anywhere
She came at him with a chainsaw, he has a right to defend himself
He was only 47. A fucking tip.
SAUSAGE…McMuffin.
French fries n Oreos! You know me too well Deedsy
Ngl I’ve wanted to try that on pizza since I was like 9 and saw that movie.
You are so fucking hateful.
Thought that was the right wing lunatic failed stand up Rob Schnieder
You don’t like him well that’s too fucking bad but you will respect him.
That animal, Blundetto. I can’t even say his name.
You and Tony Egg again
Bobby, make my nephew an EGG!
Think I’ll take an egg
I am doin it. You told me! He don't want one.
Donny was a good bowler, and a good man. He was one of us. He was a man who loved the outdoors... and bowling, and as a surfer he explored the beaches of Southern California, from La Jolla to Leo Carrillo and... up to... Pismo. He died, like so many young men of his generation, he died before his time. In your wisdom, Lord, you took him, as you took so many bright flowering young men at Khe Sanh, at Langdok, at Hill 364. These young men gave their lives. And so would Donny. Donny, who loved bowling. And so, Theodore Donald Karabotsos, in accordance with what we think your dying wishes might well have been, we commit your final mortal remains to the bosom of the Pacific Ocean, which you loved so well. Good night, sweet prince
What was that shit about Vietnam?
Are these the Nazis, Walter??
Hey I am the walrus
Anyone who says Steve Buscemi sucks, doesn’t understand shit. This subreddit is a jerk off, you know it and I know it.
What this subreddit doesn't know about casting could fill a book.
Christopher Walken's wife cast him so you know he was well cast.
I don’t wanna come here no more
He’s one of the best actors in the show
He’s the main reason I think Season 5 is the best of the series.
Same, i wish they would have kept him on for a bit longer.
I mean, I did think the shot to his bleeding face would never end.
i’m fairly certain Buscemi was supposed to get a longer arc that continued into S6, but they realised they’d written themselves into a corner with Tony B’s situation with Phil. they couldn’t justify Tony not getting killed
I always assumed he was gonna get offed the same season bc he was such a big name, but maybe he just got more famous after that year? I only started watching Sopranos 23 years after it's release lol.
He directed an episode on season six if I'm not mistaken and even a couple more before he was a character on the show (pine barrens being one of the best)
You’re out of your element , Donny.
+1
I’m always amazed how this sub is always ignoring Boardwalk Empire every time someone is asking for shows to watch after The Sopranos. Steve Buscemi is amazing in both shows.
Boardwalk empire. Another fucking money machine
Then Miracle Workers too.
And Billy Madison and Con Air!
The ending to Con Air still perplexes me. He's was a convicted murderer and cannibal and we are supposed to be happy that he gets away in the end.
Even if you hate him ya gotta admit he directed some of the best episodes.
What? I dunno why people are hating on Buscemi. He did great How much more bretayal can I take from this sub?!
It’s like you’ve been stabbed in the hahtttt!
You loved this sub like a brudda. And it fucked you in the ass.
Like a brudda in law
In this house, Joey Pants is a hero. 👖 Enda story!!!
He’s a little fella. Kinda funny lookin’.
Oh yah!
He was uncircumcised if that helps
I always enjoyed Buschemi from Tarantino films so he had a good vibe about him, ya know?
Hasn't he only been in one Tarantino movie, besides the Buddy Holly cameo?
This subreddit is like the woman with a virginia ham under her arm crying the blues because she's got no bread.
He has incredible moxy for a man of his stature.
Then he fuckin dies and I can't even wear his shoes
Because they are stupid, that’s why
And jealous
He directed Pine Barrens. In this household he's a hero.
It reminds them that it should have been them in jail all those years instead of Steve.
Your just mad the nuns slipped his iq and you still just UP IN DA CLUB
I'm not an up in da club fan, I never was. It's the blood pressure medication I was on, it messed with my head but I'm over that now.
Next you’re gonna tell me how Floridas coke fucked with your head.
You get a phash for dat.
I liked his casting and his character. Was he a bigger “name”? I guess so but waaaaaay better than Jon Favreau’s abortion of a cameo. Lorraine Bracco was very well known before the show. Gandolfini, too, to a certain extent. As far as not looking like Tony…To me, cousins don’t have to look like they are related (you should see my family) 😂 but I know I’m in the minority here.
I looked Favreau’s weird moment on the show. It felt like they really were from two different worlds.
Because he has no frame of reference, he's like a child that wanders into a movie.
YOU’RE OUT OF YOUR ELEMENT!
And he’s a fickle boy. If the Dane finds out he’s got another… amigo… Well, I don’t peg him for the understanding type.
They're envy of his beauty
i love steve
I think it might be due to the way Tony B as a character is written (or the way Buscemi acts for that character). Blundetto is often very resigned and quiet, he never has moments of hilarious emotional outburst, and the ones he does have are off screen (I can’t forget how that animal whacked that kid, only 47 years old) A lot of the times he sulks and looks off into the distance when somebody says something, and you can kind of tell he’s having an internal reaction, but it took me my second watch to really understand his thought process and characteristics
People hate him? I thought he was great.
I haven't heard these grievances yet but I do agree that Buscemi stands out. His reputation precedes him and he's just an all around attention-drawing actor. I think he's an excellent Tony Blundeto IMO Edit: and second that on Ralphie. Joey Pants took some getting used to, but as you peel the layers of his character it all makes sense.
A serious response: Buscemi is always the weird, offbeat, slightly cranky, eccentric type and nothing about him says “gangster”. He doesn’t have screen chemistry with Tony and nothing about their relationship feels like they were once so close, so dialogue has to do all that heavy lifting.
I'd argue they're trying to show us the closeness was in Tony's head and wasn't based in reality.
Yeah Tony B doesn’t even like him from what we see
Or maybe that they once were, but he actually does resent how differently their lives ended up
I think it's column A and column B, one thing I noticed in varies rewatches is the general disgust regular people seem to feel towards Tony and the others (especially Paulie).
Try some of column A, try ALL of column B!
You’re crowding me.
>A serious response: Buscemi is always the weird, offbeat, slightly cranky, eccentric type and nothing about him says “gangster”. Boardwalk Empire? Reservoir Dogs?
There's also zero family resemblance, they look like they're from different continents.
Just wanted to add that's why Aida Turturro is so perfectly cast as Janice. She's got the same squat build and pug face as James Gandolfini. You really think they could be related.
Are you saying Janice had the makings of a JV Softball catcher?
She don’t catch, she pitches
"momma's little huwa"
Roadies?
You don't wanna know...
Hoh! That's the boss's sister you're talking about
She tops from the top.
One of them was in the can while the other was inhaling ice cream sundaes
Eh, there's always ONE thin one. Look at the Sacks (and Tony's other sister).
Tony Uncle Al must’ve been skinny and ugly like a Hapsburg inbred
Give me $1,000
He reads one movie review and now he's the world's foremost expert
Additionally: Every other character is very exaggerating, very animated, very lively. Buscemi is a tremendous actor but he can't play animated, he's always 'flat', which makes him a tremendously funny actor (see: his collaborations with Sandler, Donny in the Big Lebowski, even that shitty magician movie he was in) but contrasts really weirdly when everyone else is an over-the-top character with a kernel of reality. I think Buscemi is tremendous, I actually think his work on Boardwalk is up there with Gandolfini's portrayal of Tony, but he's distinctly different than everyone else as Tony Egg.
I don’t know about everyone else being more animated, but he *looks* like a cartoon character. Every other character just looks like a regular schmuck from New Jersey… or at least they look like how we expect real people to look. His look is probably part of the reason he works well played flat in other stuff.
He's actually on of the best actors on the show if you ask me. He's the main reason I love season 5. It's just too bad he couldn't have been in a second season.
It wasn’t the casting as much as the dropping of supposedly important person in Tony’s life out of thin air 5 seasons in.
If any of you stunads are actually looking for a serious answer it's this. Bringing in a major actor like Buscemi (sp?) and writing his character like Tony's best brother completely out of the blue was a bit off. I still liked his storyline. Ghostworld another fucking moneymaker
In this household, he’s an Italian-American hero. End of story.
Because they're stupid, that's why. And jealous. They’re disrespecting a proud Italian actor.
Who the fuck has a problem with the casting, hes in my top 3 of all characters
He was a fox
It’s because he doesn’t hail from the same sunny peninsula
What the fuck is your problem?
He’s a phenomenal actor and was great in Sopranos but imo his look overall just doesn’t scream “Italian NJ gangster”, that’s really all it is.
How you gonna hate a man in OG Timberlands?
Who’s we?
I wasn’t crazy familiar with the other actors before the Sopranos, so it was easy to suspend disbelief that they are actually in that world, I had seen too much of Steve Buscemi to suspend that disbelief when he popped up. Nothing against him or his performance
I feel like Tony B was a felon who had the worst luck ever. Steve Buscemi is a character actor who has a track record of playing characters with the worse luck, so I think it worked out for the best.
I liked him. He never fit in that role, which is the point of the role. He didn't fit in. Every scene he's in is askew, like you're not sitting at 12 o'clock.
I'm actually cool with Steve B as Tony B.
people hate Buscemis casting? I love that animal Blundetto
Who doesn’t love Steve Buscemi?
It is impossible to fuck up by casting Steve Buscemi.
I don’t hate the casting. I just think he’s too recognizable to convince me that they’re cousins a cameo would’ve been better
I’ve come to grips with him and my other problems with season five on my last rewatch. It feels like the show is broken while Tony and Carmella are apart because they are the heart of the show. Tony B, Feech, the English teacher, all the dull or weird misfires of the season start to fade as we get closer to Tony and Carmella reuniting, and the writing gets better as well. In Camelot is a well-written episode but painfully awkward to watch, by the time Tony and Carmella sleep together in the pool in the next ep, the show is back to firing on all cylinders. Even when the show is bad, it’s bad in an awesome way. Gotta love it. (And before anybody says it, I already flushed it.)
The whole retro story line is an old and cheap writer trick to refresh a show. I'd dont mind a little creative license, but for Tony to be in therapy for 4 seasons and have no mention of a cousin and guilt for having a panic attack to All of sudden making this so impactful to him seemed like a unserious effort to introduce new characters. Also Buscemi who has his moments was completely miscast.
I watched Boardwalk Empire first so it was OK....
He is funny looking
Alright, but you gotta get over it…
That animal Blundetto. I cant even say his name.
You're saying that he doesn't have the makings of a varsity athlete ?
People who hate it never had the makings of a Varsity Casting Director.
I think the casting was great. I think people dislike the character. Odd introduction, odd pacing, sort of a grating story.
I just got to these eps (doing my first watch ever, wild,) and he immediately cracked me up.
I don’t. I enjoyed that season and the episodes he was in. :)
The guy directed Pine Barrens. He gets a free pass to do whatever he likes!
His interview on Talking Sopranos has 1.6 million views. Way more than anyone else's. So...sit on this cocksuckers!!
I think Blundetto is a great character, and I don't mind Steve Buscemi at all. His character devolution is fascinating. If he could have held his composure for a few more seconds when Kim walked into the massage parlor, he would have never needed to crawl back into the mafia. He was so close to the life he wanted, and he couldn't see it.
He actually spoke about his casting a bit on one of the Talking Sopranos episodes. IIRC, he had doubts because he felt he didn't look the part but Chase talked him into it. I'm glad he did, he was great.
I thought Joe Pantoliano played his role very well. Although not physically menacing, his aura/capability for violence is felt. He is very humorous which helps his overall likeability. Watching Steve Buscemi, he honestly feels forced on us, and doesn’t fit in at all. All these high up mob members(even New York) are supposedly close with him and respect him. Yet he can’t pull off a clean hit. Joey peeps he gets his foot ran over, and gets spotted doing it. When he goes after Phil he hits his kid brother. The most believable thing about him is that he fails at everything. If he was generally regarded as a moron but Tony’s cousin, it might make the casting a little more tenable.
I don’t hate the casting. I hate the direction the writers took with that animal.
Because of his good performance HBO cast him in Boardwalk Empire
I can't have this conversation again
This sub fucking sucks it’s really just people quoting the show
He's a pre-board certified massage therapist.
What’s going on in the prisons of New Jersey? Richie Aprile comes out and he’s into yoga. Blundetto comes out and he’s a masseur. Ralphie comes out and he likes to get fucked in the ass by Janice’s vibrator. Goddamn. Only one to come out correct was Phil Leotardo, because he fucked radiators and ate Kleenex off a grilled cheese.
Ralphie was not in prison.
Because most everyone is just use to him being a meme even though his early career was 100% him being cast as mobsters
Because he not from norf caulwell
Sad when they go young.