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COPYRIGHT 2003 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.
The word for "soprano" is the same in Spanish as it is in Italian, but on TV "The Sopranos" translates as "Kingpin," which is the title of the new NBC miniseries about an affluent Mexican-American family whose illegal and murderous business--trafficking drugs between Mexico and the United States--finances their apparently respectable public life and aspirations. It may be unfair to take the comparisons with HBO's "The Sopranos" too far, but "Kingpin," which starts this week and ends on February 18th, wouldn't exist without that show, which left all the networks kicking themselves for passing on it and scratching their heads as they tried to figure out how to create the kind of show that would generate as much buzz, loyalty, and admiration for its grit, humor, and psychological brilliance without going to extremes that would alienate advertisers.
It's hard to tell from the first two episodes whether "Kingpin" is going to go deep or go camp; whether it will depict the family's tensions in an artful way or in a "Dynasty"-like way. In any case, NBC has put a lot of faith in "Kingpin," which was created by David Mills, the writer and executive producer of HBO's "The Corner," a drama about drug addicts in Baltimore: if the response is good, the network may turn the miniseries into a regular series; a different version of "Kingpin" will air on Bravo next month, with stronger language and more graphic scenes; and it is also being dubbed in Spanish for broadcast on Telemundo, the country's second-largest...
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