The creator of The Sopranos has decried what he views as the death of quality TV, blaming risk-averse executives and distracted audiences.
David Chase, who wrote the HBO series about the New Jersey mafia that many credit with starting a golden age of television, said that era was now over.
The 78-year-old said he was being told to “dumb down” his productions, and had been warned against making television that “requires an audience to focus”.
Talking to the Times 25 years after The Sopranos first aired, Chase said the last quarter-century of ambitious and complex drama was “a blip”.
He said he now viewed it as: “A 25-year blip. And to be clear, I’m not talking only about The Sopranos, but a lot of other hugely talented people out there who I feel increasingly bad for.”
He added: “This is the 25th anniversary, so of course it’s a celebration. But perhaps we shouldn’t look at it like that. Maybe we should look at it like a funeral.”
He believes the type of show that was synonymous with The Sopranos – such as The Wire, Breaking Bad and Mad Men – would not be commissioned now.
“We’re going back to where I was,” said Chase. “They’re going to have commercials … and I’ve already been told to dumb it down.”
He told the Times about a show he has been trying to make with the young screenwriter Hannah Fidell, about a high-end sex worker forced into witness protection. They are on their third draft and fifth meeting and have been told “the unfortunate truth” that it is too complex. “Who is this all really for?” he said. “I guess the stockholders?”
It is harder than ever to gain a viewer’s undivided attention, he said. “As the human race goes on, we are more into multitasking. Your phone is just one symptom, but who can really focus? Your mother could be dying and you are by her hospital bed taking calls.
“We seem to be confused and audiences can’t keep their minds on things, so we can’t make anything that makes too much sense, takes our attention and requires an audience to focus. And as for streaming executives? It is getting worse. We’re going back to where we were.”
Chase recalled the climate in the late 1990s, when The Sopranos was commissioned by HBO, having first been turned down by many other networks, including Fox.
“Back then the networks were in an artistic pit. A shithole. The process was repulsive. In meetings these people would always ask to take out the one thing that made an episode worth doing. I should have quit,” he said.
“I should have known that a real mafia wiseguy show would not happen on US TV. If you think your grandmother is risk adverse, you should meet network people.”
