Considering David Chase: Essays on The Rockford Files, Northern Exposure, and The Sopranos

The Rockford Files: novelizations and non-fiction

by Thomas Fahy (Editor)

A compelling and innovative television writer, David Chase has created distinctive programs since the 1970s, each reflecting his edgy humor and psychological realism. These critical essays examine Chase's television writings, placing particular emphasis on how his past works have shaped and influenced the cultural phenomenon of HBO's The Sopranos , and studying Chase's use of identity, community, and place in defining his on-screen characters. Topics explored include Chase's constructs of the urban L.A. environment in The Rockford Files , the portrayal of hybridized American archetypes in Northern Exposure , and the interpretation of sexual identity/masculinity in The Sopranos. An appendix containing complete episode guides for The Rockford Files, Northern Exposure , and The Sopranos is also included.

248 pages, Paperback

First published October 10, 2007

About the author

Thomas Fahy is a nonfiction writer, novelist, and professor of literature and creative writing. His most recent book, The Life of the Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald, is being released in the fall of 2025. He has also published essays on everything from Paris Hilton and 1980s vampire films to contemporary television and theater. His works have been translated into several languages, and he has been interviewed by the Associated Press, Salon, and other publications, as well as radio hosts in the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and Malaysia. He was recently featured in a documentary about Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood for Arte Television and on the BBC radio program “Literary Pursuits.”

When he is not writing, Dr. Fahy performs regularly as a classical pianist with the New York Piano Society and has appeared in recent concerts at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall, and other venues in New York City.