Nikki Finke Is Insane

I started reading her recently because I get off on the Hollywood insider minutiae she's obsessed with. But almost immediately upon reading her it became apparent that she's a relentless self-booster, oozes with Schadenfreude, and overall just has a very nasty, unlikable tone.

So I shouldn't be surprised that this award-winning (as she'll constantly remind you) journalist’s Sopranos finale rant today sounds like a TWOP forum post from one of the site's less stable readers:

"The line to cancel HBO starts here. What a ridiculously disappointing end lacking in creativity to The Sopranos saga. But if you're one of those who found it perversely interesting, then don't bother to read on. Even if David Chase, who wrote and directed the final episode, was demonstrating the existential and endless loop of Tony's life or the moments before the hit that causes his death, it still robbed the audience of visual closure. And if it were done to segue into a motion picture sequel, then that kind of crass commercialism shouldn't be tolerated..."

Which is silly enough. (“Visual closure”? Is that like a money shot?) But then she continues:

"Chase clearly didn't give a damn about his fans. Instead, he crapped in their faces. This is why America hates Hollywood."

Wow. Cohesive argument. I used to wonder if Nikki Finke is so dialed in, why exactly is it that she writes for a free paper funded mostly by ads for medical marijuana and call girls. But I wonder no longer.

Then it's almost as if she gives up, ending with the just bizarre:

"The Nielsen reality is that people don't watch TV closely anymore, much less remember what went on from week to week, to give such a subtle ending its proper due. Besides, The Sopranos was not a show that went on inside your head. It was a richly visual series whose most memorable moments were graphic and in your face and damn proud of it."

I'm not even sure I can trace her logic here. People don't watch TV closely anymore? (Unlike the subtle olden days when viewers were trained to pick apart the nuanced moments of Bonanza and Murder She Wrote?) And The Sopranos was never a subtle show anyway? Really? When was that? Therefore David Chase is being an elitist by ending the show with nuance, rather than a Heat-style bloodbath?

Wow. Don't stop believing, crazy lady.