Who do you feel are some interesting characters who were underused?
For me,
Gigi - stone cold, old school gangster, isn't seen much.
Patsy Parisi - same thing as Gigi, old school type guy, very much underutilized.
Jackie Aprile, the original boss, Benny Fazio even Tony's dad was a bad ass lots of great acting on that show, I always hoped the show would go on but after James Gandolfini passed, the sopranos died with him
shareThe bear that wandered into Tony's backyard. They should've had The Italian Strong Man wrestle it.
Massive Genius
shareWalden - For a character who commits such an iconic act on the show, he was pretty much a non-entity. The writers should have given the assignment of whacking Phil to someone else (Benny, maybe), or introduce the character a lot sooner.
Big Pussy - His story in season 2 was great, but prior to Tony suspecting him of being a rat, I never got the impression that Tony had any strong feelings of friendship towards him.
Tony B - I would have liked to have seen his story line dragged out longer.
Furio - I really liked this guy. He added a bit of culture to the group, had a couple of funny scenes ("You got a bee on you'at!") and had a couple of brief moments that showcased how brutal he could be. The latter being a great contrast to his "relationship" with Carmella in Season 4, which I didn't mind at all. The only downside to that story line in my opinion is that it led to him being written off of the show (although supposedly he was written off because he spoiled parts of the story).
Albert Barese. He sometimes sounded like a dumbass but most wiseguys did. But he was respected but I don't think he is isn't in any episodes after Larry started talking to the feds.
Jerry Gordian, he kinda comes outta nowhere and became a candidate for Boss just like that, I felt like he was on the endangered species list because of this.
Eugene, however I didn't realize how many episodes he was in until I re watched the show. It was his card that Jackie Jr robbed and he did juror intimidation for Junior. I also didn't realize he was the guy who was made with Chris.
I fully agree about Walden.
I wish Patsy had more time to show how tough he was. He is pretty scary in the Gloria scene but that's it pretty much.
Meadow was under used later on, kinda. More like misused.Her arc with Finn received too much screentime and ended all of a sudden.then she was demoted to a background character who mostly had "sucks to be you" lines directed at AJ. At least she stopped being a brat like in the first half of season 1.
Artie Gucci's daughter disappeared but wasn't really important anyway. I think it was cool how they brought back Hunter as a take that to Meadow and Carm with her becoming a doctor. I think she was well used for a minor character who had like 4 appearances.
Embrace Debate.
Ally Boy Barese was definitely underutilized.
We saw plenty of him, but I loved Johnny Sac and wish he and Tony had more time as heads of their respective families.
The weight lifter and pre-school teacher that Tony banged.
KR
Feech was talked about quite a bit, but underused in the series. Robert Loggia is one of my favorite movie badasses.
I've heard many people express their disappointment about Furio being written off the show, and concur. Anytime I need a quick laugh, I pull up the Tanning salon scene on YouTube.
I could have used a lot less Janice and AJ, but they would have been pretty hard to lose.
I agree, it was sad to see Loggia's character get so little screen time, but I did like his character's arc. A little like Richie Aprile but without turning into an outright psycho who forgets his place in the pecking order.
RIP, Mr. Loggia.