Networks Scramble To Copy `The Sopranos'  April 05, 1999|By Bill
Carter, New York Times News Service.  `The Sopranos" is such a
white-hot favorite in the television industry that network
executives are trying to figure out how they can copy the
breakthrough style of the HBO mini-series and perhaps make up
for the mistake several of them made in passing up the show in
the first place.  Interest in the cable show has reached such a
fever pitch that two networks have even approached its
production company to inquire about the possibility of running
episodes of "The Sopranos" after they have appeared on HBO.
That seems unlikely, given the show's cable-standard content,
which includes nudity, violence and enough florid street
language to curl a network censor's toes.  But Brad Grey, the
executive in charge of Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, which owns
"The Sopranos," said, "The networks are calling now to ask if
they can air the shows we've done already."  He would not
identify the two networks that made the offer