Quote, Unquote

It's the 20th anniversary of The Sopranos. How time flies before you cut to black.  Deadline Hollywood has offered a four-part oral history of the show.  Interesting stuff, but here's my favorite moment.  They're talking to David Chase, who created and produced the show.

Deadline: Were you open to ad libbing?

Chase: There was no line changing on that show.  There was no improvisation at all.  You just can't do a TV show that way, where show after show actors can say whatever they want.

He admits the writers made changes along the way when necessary, but generally the actors knew it was their job to stick to the words in the script.

It's refreshing to hear in a world where movie actors so often claim they created their lines on set.  (And, considering how movie dialogue sounds these days, they're probably telling the truth.)

The Sopranos had a great cast.  The show wouldn't have worked without them.  But it's nice to be reminded that the best TV shows still rely on writers, and actors performing the lines as written.