Sorry to post here, but it was at the top and this didn't seem like something worthy of its own thread.

I just watched The Sopranos for the first time ever this past weekend for a couple minutes in a hotel room. What I'm wondering is how in god's name anyone can take Tony seriously with the completely stupid way he talks. Is this how Gandolfini talks in real life or is it merely an act for the show? I've been hearing about this show for years, finally try to watch an episode, and find myself having to turn it off because the star character sounds like the biggest dipshit alive! I've seen Gandolfini's image in Sopranos promotions over and over again, so I've always had this idea of what his voice would sound like, a big, tough, Italian guy from New York. Imagine the Godfather if Vito or Michael sounded like a retarded mouse who just inhaled a whole truckload of helium! Perhaps its just because I was pretty excited when I happened to be flipping through the channels and saw it was on, but doesn't anyone else find this to be completely annoying? Is it something you were all able to get used to? Was it different if you started watching at the beginning so you never had any assumptions about what Tony would sound like? Considering the show's enormous popularity, I'm aware I'm in the minority here, but it still just shocks the hell out of me that I've never heard anything about Tony's voice in all the discussion I hear about the Sopranos.