Tony Soprano and those other tough guys are muscled out

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Somewhere, in a prop warehouse owned by HBO, there is a big pile of guns. Dusty, unused, bewildered perhaps by their strange and sudden obsolescence, they can only wait and wonder why premium subscriber television, a business they created, built by God out of nothing, has simply abandoned them.

Where once Tony Soprano, ‘Deadwood’s’ Al Swearengen and ‘ The Wire’s’ Jimmy McNulty ruled their hellish fiefdoms with a righteous love of the f-word and a fistful of bullets, now a sweet-voiced Botswanan lady detective solves crimes without a cellphone much less a weapon, a sassy Southern gal explores the nature of love with a very sad and sensitive vampire and the once-rough-and-tumble hunk Gabriel Byrne sits around listening to a bunch of neurotic New Yorkers talk about their feelings.

The only characters in recent months who seemed to appreciate the importance of violence in the culture was a group of off-the-grid polygamists, and most of their show is dedicated to exploring topics like love and faith and the meaning of family.

These are shows that redefine the concept of adult television. Somehow, over the years, ‘mature’ has become synonymous with profanity, sexual explicitness and graphic violence. None of which, by the way, are necessarily a bad thing. But ‘mature themes’ don’t begin and end with adultery and murder. While the networks are still trawling for the elusive youth vote with shows like ‘90210’ and ‘ Harper’s Island,’ HBO is unapologetically making television for grown-ups.

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(Photo courtesy HBO)