“In that pilot, there were no murders,” Chase told THR. In a recent interview, Chase even admits his original pilot paved the way for a bloodless show. Chase is on record, quite often, insisting he saw the mob series as a comedy, a live-action gangland sitcom in the style of The Simpsons. But creator David Chase didn’t imagine his characters breaking people’s shoes, a street euphemism for the ultimate payoff. HBO’s groundbreaking series The Sopranos pushed envelopes on violence, sex, and respect for the gangster genre.