A compelling and innovative television writer, David Chase has created distinctive programs since the 1970s, each reflecting his edgy humor and psychological realism. These critical essays examine Chase’s television writings, placing particular emphasis on how his past works have shaped and influenced the cultural phenomenon of HBO’s The Sopranos, and studying Chase’s use of identity, community, and place in defining his on-screen characters. Topics explored include Chase’s constructs of the urban L.A. environment in The Rockford Files, the portrayal of hybridized American archetypes in Northern Exposure, and the interpretation of sexual identity/masculinity in The Sopranos. An appendix containing complete episode guides for The Rockford Files, Northern Exposure, and The Sopranos is also included.

Thomas Fahy, also the author of several books and editor of Considering Alan Ball: Essays on Sexuality, Death and America in the Television and Film Writings (2006) and Considering Aaron Sorkin: Essays on the Politics, Poetics and Sleight of Hand in the Films and Television Series (2005) is an assistant professor of English and director of American Studies at Long Island University.

Edited by Thomas Fahy
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 248
Bibliographic Info: appendices, notes, bibliographies, index
Copyright Date: 2008
pISBN: 978-0-7864-3284-4
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8050-0
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction      1
From Paradise Cove to the Precinct: Mapping The Rockford Files’ Urban (Tele)Visions      11
Driving in Circles: The Rockford Files       29
Going Native in Cicely, Alaska: American Archetypes and Hybridized Identity on Northern Exposure      46

“You Don’t Have to Eat Every Dish of Rigatoni”: Food, Music, and Identity in the Works of David Chase      74

“This Art’s Kind of a Girly Thing”: Art, Status, and Gender on The Sopranos and Northern Exposure      93

Narrative Ergonomics and the Functions of Feminine Space in The Sopranos      107

Crooked Reading: Postmodernism and The Sopranos      131

Wackos in the Wilderness vs. Getting Whacked in Newark: Dueling Family Models in Northern Exposure and The Sopranos      140

Defense-of-Family Acts: Queering Famiglia in The Sopranos      166

Until the Fat Man Sings: Body Image, Masculinity, and Sexuality in The Sopranos      180

From Troy to 95 Lincoln Place, Irvington, N.J.: A Virgilian Reading of The Sopranos Underworld      196

Episode Listing for The Rockford Files      213

Episode Listing for Northern Exposure      220

Episode Listing for The Sopranos      226

About the Contributors      231

Index      233