The Sopranos

The Sopranos is a television drama on HBO about a Mafia family in Northern New Jersey. It has enjoyed five very successful seasons, with its sixth season currently in production with 12 new episodes premiering on March 12, 2006. In August 2005, HBO announced it was also producing eight "bonus" episodes that would debut in January, 2007. It is currently believed that those eight bonus episodes will be the last of the series.

Since it first aired in 1999, the show has become a cultural phenomenon — gaining wide popularity and exceptional critical acclaim for its groundbreaking approach to its view into the Mafia lifestyle, the American family, the Italian American community, and the effects of violence on the human soul. Like other HBO programs, The Sopranos is rated for mature audiences only — for its adult issues, depictions of violence, and strong language.

The series stars James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco and Edie Falco and highlights the difficulties faced by Tony Soprano, a Mafia boss in suburban Essex County, New Jersey, as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his wife and family, and his crime "family".

Overview

The series begins with Tony collapsing after suffering an anxiety attack, which prompts him to begin therapy with Dr. Jennifer Melfi. Gradually, it is revealed that Tony's mother is manipulative and possibly psychotic; someone in his organization is talking to the FBI; his children have troubled futures; and even his own superiors are plotting his death.

Title sequence

One of the most recognizable parts of The Sopranos is the program's opening, in which the theme song "Woke Up This Morning", performed by A3, is heard. The show's main character Tony Soprano is seen emerging from the Port Authority's Lincoln Tunnel, and entering the New Jersey Turnpike. Numerous landmarks in Newark, NJ (many of which are now famous due to the show's success) are shown in this opening. The sequence ends with Tony pulling into the driveway of his suburban home in Essex County.

As Tony turns into the New Jersey Turnpike, an image of the World Trade Center towers can be seen in his rear view mirror. Just prior to the start of the fourth season, HBO and Sopranos creator and producer David Chase removed this cut altogether in response to the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 in which the towers were destroyed.

Although there have been complaints regarding the violent nature of the show, it has without a doubt broken a barrier in the history of television programming. The Sopranos has seen appreciation from many other shows and programs in the world of media. The opening sequence was sufficiently recognizable as a parody on an episode of The Simpsons in 2004, with Fat Tony standing in for Tony Soprano. The Simpsons episode also featured Silvio Dante, Paulie Walnuts, and Chris Moltisanti as the "Jersey Muscle." It was also parodied in the Adult Swim show Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, in 2003, in an episode where Fred Flintstone is a mob boss. It was also parodied in 2001 during the Fox NASCAR coverage of the Coca-Cola 600, set in North Carolina where Chris Myers is Tony Soprano, and Jeanne Zelasko is Dr. Melfi. The show has many other references in a wide variety of media resources. The level of popularity the show has reached can be considered that of a cultural phenomenon.

Characters

The following is a partial listing of characters from the series:

Notable plots and timeline

Pre-Season One

• 1959
  
  • Tony Soprano born to Giovanni "Johnny Boy" Soprano and Livia Soprano. He is their second child, following Janice Soprano. The couple would later have a third child, "Big Balls" Barbara.
• 1960s
  • Tony learns of his father's involvement in the Mafia.
  • Christopher Moltisanti is born to Richard "Dickie" Moltisanti and Joanne Moltisanti.
  • "Dickie" Moltisanti, a DiMeo Family soldier, is gunned down outside of his home.
• 1970s
  • Tony Soprano and "Giacomo "Jackie" Aprile, Sr. take down a respectable Saturday night card game run by Michele "Feech" La Manna. Due to Tony being Johnny Boy Soprano's son, the two are given a slap on the wrist. They would soon be acknowledged as rising stars in the DiMeo Crime Family Organization.
  • Tony becomes a made man.
• 1981
  • Tony marries Carmela DeAngelis, his high school sweetheart.
• 1982
  • Meadow Soprano is born to Tony and Carmela.
• 1983.
  • Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero, a small-time cat burglar and family associate stands up for "Johnny Boy" Soprano during the conflict known as "The Unrest of '83" and gains respect within the family. He becomes a made-man shortly thereafter.
• 1984
  
  • 'Feech' La Manna is arrested on a number of charges and is sentenced to twenty years in prison.
• 1986
  
  • Anthony "AJ" Soprano Jr. is born.
  • Giovanni "Johnny Boy" Soprano, Tony's father, dies. Tony is made the captain of his crew.
• 1989
  
  • Tony Blundetto is arrested during a truck hijacking, which Tony was supposed to accompany him on (but couldn't due to a panic attack). Tony B. is sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
• 1995
  
  • Ercoli "Old Man" DiMeo, longtime Boss of the Family, is sentenced to life in prison and Jackie Aprile is made acting boss, much to Junior Soprano's chagrin.
• 1998
  
  • Jackie Aprile, Sr. is diagnosed with cancer and begins chemotherapy treatments. Tensions between Tony and his uncle, Corrado "Junior" Soprano, start to grow.
  • Big Pussy begins working with the federal government after being caught selling heroin.

Season 1 (1999)

Season 1 premiered on January 10, 1999 with the Pilot episode, The Sopranos

• 1999
  
  • Introduction to the Soprano blood and crime families.
  • New Jersey mob capo, Tony Soprano begins seeing a psychiatrist after suffering a series of panic attacks. He soon falls in love with her, but Melfi tells him that his feelings are a byproduct of his therapy. He assigns a crooked cop, Detective Vin Makazian, to tail Melfi.
  • When Tony finds out that his Uncle Junior plans to kill a rival in a restaurant belonging to Artie Bucco, a childhood friend of Tony's, he sends Silvio Dante to torch the restaurant for the insurance money (which would go to Artie Bucco). Tony believes this is preferable to the bad publicity (and subsequent loss of business) that would be generated by a murder on the premises.
  • Christopher kills Emil Kolar to settle the business dispute between the Family and Kolar Sanitation over the Triboro Towers contract. He hopes to be made for this and is disappointed when his deed is ignored.
  • Tony starts an HMO scam with advisor Hesh Rabkin after a degenerate gambler involved with the HMO cannot pay what he owes to Hesh.
  • Tony moves his mother Livia to a nursing home after she accidentally sets her kitchen on fire, hits her best friend in the driveway with her car, and quickly drives away a newly hired Trinidadian nurse.
  • Christopher and his friend, Brendan Filone, begin hijacking trucks owned by Comley Trucking, a company which Uncle Junior has a percentage of.
  • Uncle Junior warns Tony about the truck hijacking shenanigans and Tony relays the message to Chris and Brendan, though Brendan pulls off another hijacking nonetheless, resulting in the accidental death of the truck driver.
  • Meadow and Hunter try to score Crystal Meth from Brendan and Chris in order to stay up late and study for their exams.
  • Uncle Junior, who is enraged by Christopher and Brendan's loose cannon behavior, gets leadership advice from Livia to stage a mock execution for Christopher and a real one for Brendan. Brendan Filone is shot in his bathtub, clean through the eye by Mikey Palmice as Junior watches.
  • Chris and Adriana go to Brendan's home and find him dead in his bathtub. Chris is extremely furious, and he wants to confront Mikey for the death of Brendan.
  • Jackie Aprile, the acting mob boss for the DiMeo Crime family succumbs to cancer. Tony then nominates Uncle Junior as the official new boss, whilst conspiring to run the family from behind the scenes.
  • Anthony Jr. finds out that his father is involved with organized crime.
  • Tony accompanies Meadow on a trip to a series of colleges in Maine (Bates, Bowdoin, and Colby). When they arrive, Tony sees an old Soprano associate who turned out to be an informant and went into the Witness Protection Program. Tony murders him the following day.
  • Junior becomes power hungry due to his new title, and begins taxing all the capos and Tony's old friend, Hesh. Tony conspires with Johnny Sack to relieve Hesh of the debt while making Junior feel like he's in control.
  • A.J. is suspended from school for stealing wine from the church and showing up to gym class drunk. The school reveals that A.J. has borderline ADD, although Tony doesn't buy that diagonsis.
  • Livia finds out from A.J. that Tony is going to a therapist, and immediately assumes that Tony is complaining about her. She begins to manipulate Uncle Junior.
  • The Family finds out that the F.B.I. is going to be conducting raids. Pussy is arrested for running away from the police after guns are found inside Jimmy's social club.
  • Tony learns that one of his associates is an FBI informant. Tony is told by Detective Makazian that Pussy is the rat. The family later finds out that Jimmy Altieri is an FBI informant. Altieri is soon murdered and is found dead in an alley with a rat in his mouth.
  • Detective Makazian commits suicide after being found in a brothel and his mafia connections are revealed.
  • Because of concerns about what Tony will tell his psychiatrist, Livia and Uncle Junior arrange for Tony's murder. The assassination attempt ultimately fails.
  • The F.B.I. informs Tony that his mother and uncle were behind the hit against him, and offer to put his family into witness protection. Tony refuses and vows revenge.
  • Chucky Signore and Mikey Palmice are shot to death to prevent Junior from launching another assassination attempt on Tony.
  • Uncle Junior is arrested, sparing him from an assault from Tony, who goes to his mother's retirement home to suffocate her with a pillow, only to find out that she has suffered from a stroke.
  • Tony becomes the permanent boss of the Soprano mob family and seizes Junior's territory and income.

Season 2 (2000)

Season 2 premiered on January 16, 2000 with the episode Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office

• 2000
  
  • Tony refuses to speak to his mother Livia after she planned to kill him the year before.
  • Big Pussy Bonpensiero returns to New Jersey after claiming to have been rehabilitating in Puerto Rico. In reality, Pussy has been reporting secretly to FBI agent Skip Lipari.
  • Jackie Aprile's brother and Adriana La Cerva's uncle, Richie Aprile is released from prison on parole.
  • Beansie Gaeta, a well known owner of a local pizzeria is attacked and paralyzed by Aprile when he refuses to pay Richie protection money.
  • Tony's sister, Parvati Wasatch (otherwise known as Janice Soprano) arrives in New Jersey from Seattle.
  • Tony reconciles with Uncle Junior.
  • Janice reunites with Richie after they meet at a yoga class.
  • Meadow throws a party at Livia's empty house which gets out of hand.
  • In order to reconnect family ties between the mob in Naples: Tony, Christopher and Paulie travel to Naples to meet with the boss. However the acting boss turns out to be a woman named Ana Lisa to whom Tony is immediately attracted.
  • Furio Giunta, a capable Neapolitan soldier is sent to New Jersey to work for the Soprano family.
  • Tony and Silvio reinitiate the "high-rollers" poker night (called the Executive Game) which had previously been run by Tony's father.
  • David Scatino, a degenerate gambler looks to Tony for help. However, when he makes risky investments and foolishly enters Tony and Silvio's Executive Game, where he ends up losing all the money that Tony had loaned him. Tony takes his son's car and a percentage of his business.
  • Janice decides to renovate Livia's home and invites her back home after she has recuperated.
  • Christopher proposes to Adriana La Cerva, his long time girlfriend.
  • Christopher is shot badly near the Skyways Diner in Kearny by Matthew Bevilaqua and Sean Gismonte. Bevilaqua escapes and Gismonte is killed by Christopher in the shootout.
  • Christopher is briefly pronounced clinically dead and makes a surprising revelation to Paulie and Tony, saying that he went to hell and saw Brendan Filone and Mikey Palmice.
  • Matthew Bevilaqua is captured, beaten, and murdered by Tony and Pussy. A witness goes to the police, but retracts his statement when he learns that the murderer may have been Tony Soprano.
  • Carmela tries to seduce David Scatino's brother-in-law who leaves after finding out who Carmela's husband is.
  • Tony ends his relationship with his longtime girlfriend, Irina.
  • Richie Aprile is murdered by Janice after he punches her in the mouth.
  • Pussy becomes further involved with the FBI but gets into even deeper water when he runs over a pedestrian and hides his involvement with the Bevilaqua murder.
  • Tony gets food poisoning (from eating in an Indian restaurant) the day prior to Meadow's graduation.
  • Tony is arrested after the feds discover he had given Livia stolen airline tickets.
  • Pussy is murdered while on a boat with Tony, Paulie and Silvio where he confesses to being an informant.
  • Meadow graduates from high school and decides to attend Columbia University.

Season 3 (2001)

Season 3 premiered on March 4, 2001 with two episodes, Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood and Proshai, Livushka

• 2000
  
  • After hearing of Big Pussy Bonpensiero's murder, the FBI plants a bug in the Soprano residence where several of Tony's private meetings occur.
  • Tony re-establishes contact with his mother in hopes of convincing her not to testify against him. His fears are alleviated when Livia Soprano dies in her sleep of a massive stroke.
  • Janice returns to New Jersey and plans her mother's funeral (which Livia did not want to happen). The funeral and subsequent afterparty becomes uncomfortable as no one has anything nice to say about Livia.
  • Meadow begins dating Noah Tannenbaum, a Jewish-African-American whom Tony immediately takes a (racially motivated) dislike to.
  • In the wake of Richie Aprile's disappearance, Ralph Cifaretto unofficially takes over the Aprile crew even though Tony is reluctant to make him a captain due to his bad attitude.
  • After he takes Jackie Jr. on a collection against Tony's wishes, Ralph is passed over and Gigi Cestone is made captain of the Aprile crew.
  • Janice moves back into Livia's house, and immediately causes trouble by stealing the prosthetic leg of Svetlana, Irina's cousin and Livia's caretaker. Svetlana gets two Russian friends to come and beat up Janice and retrieve the leg.
  • Christopher is officially made in a special ceremony involving Tony and other family associates. He finds that life as a made man isn't easy as he thought it would be, and is haunted by a black bird that he saw in his initiation ceremony.
  • A rivalry between Paulie and Christopher begins due to Paulie breaking Chris's balls as a way of initiation into the family.
  • During football practice, Anthony Jr. suffers a panic attack.
  • Jackie Aprile, Jr. becomes a love interest of Meadow, as well as a thorn in the side of Tony, who unsuccessfully tries to keep him out of the family business.
  • Dr. Melfi is brutally raped while walking to her car one evening. Her rapist is let free on a technicality. Melfi considers telling Tony about it, but does not because of her ethics.
  • Bobby Baccalieri's cancer-stricken father comes out of retirement to carry out a hit on Mustang Sally for Uncle Junior. He dies in a car accident after leaving the scene.
  • Tony befriends a Bada Bing stripper who becomes pregnant by Ralph Cifaretto. After insulting Ralph in front of other crew members, Tracy is brutally beaten and murdered by Ralph outside of the Bada Bing. Tony is furious and hits Ralph, a made guy.
  • Noah dumps Meadow, who then begins seeing Jackie Aprile, Jr. soon afterwards.
  • Tony retracts Ralph's invitation to Thanksgiving dinner due to the bad blood that's developed between the two. Due to Johnny Sack's manipulations Ralph eventually apologizes to Tony, and becomes the New Jersey pointman on the Esplanade project.
  • Gigi Cestone dies of a heart attack and Tony reluctantly makes Ralph captain of the Aprile crew.
  • Tony meets Gloria Trillo, a Mercedes salesperson at an appointment with Dr. Melfi. The two start an affair.
  • Carmela's birthday is celebrated. On the same day, A.J. vandalizes the school and eventually gets caught. Tony and Carmela think the school does not punish A.J. enough.
  • The Soprano family celebrates Christmas at a dinner held by Janice. Tony makes sure that everyone gets exactly what they want which include: Janice's attacker being beaten up and publicly humiliated, each of the kids gifts and Carmela's gift. Tony then witnesses Jackie, Jr. (who is still seeing Meadow) receiving a lap dance from another woman at the Bing. Tony beats him up in the bathroom.

2001

• • After Silvio catches the flu, Tony asks Paulie and Christopher to collect some money from a Russian mob associate, Valery. The meeting turns sour when Paulie starts a fight with the comrade. They beat Valery and plan to kill him and dispose of his body in the Pine Barrens woods. When they arrive, Valery makes quick work of Paulie and Chris by slamming a shovel into Chris' face and busting Paulie in the gut with his knee. Since Chris and Paulie have guns, Valery takes the opportunity to escape. Paulie is able to shoot Valery in the head, apparently killing him. However, despite finding a trail of blood in the snow, no body is discovered. Paulie and Christopher get lost in the woods and spend the night in a van they find. Paulie also loses his shoe and Chris accidentally shoots a deer thinking it could have been Valery. Eventually, Tony and Bobby Bacala come to find them. No mention is made of whether Valery was in fact killed, but this seems to be the case, as he has not surfaced or been mentioned in the past three seasons of the show.
  • Tony breaks it off with Gloria after she engineered a meeting with Carmela.
  • Jackie, Jr. and his friends, Dino Zerilli and Carlo Renzi, rob Eugene Pontecorvo's poker game in the hopes of impressing Tony and the rest of his crew. However the robbery goes totally wrong and a number of people are shot. Dino and Carlo get killed along with Sunshine, the dealer. Jackie, Jr. manages to escape and goes into hiding in the Boonton projects. Because, Eugene is a member of Ralphie's crew, the game is officially Ralphie's.
  • Paulie becomes frustrated with Tony's siding with Ralph over business issues. Johnny Sack reaches out to him.
  • The F.B.I. assigns an undercover officer to pose as Adriana's friend.
  • A.J. is kicked out of Verbum Dei High School for stealing test papers. Tony and Carmela consider sending him to military school, only to learn that A.J. also suffers from panic attacks and cannot attend the school.
  • Jackie, Jr. is murdered by Vito Spatafore after hiding out in the Boonton projects.

Season 4 (2002)

Season 4 premiered on September 15, 2002 with the episode For All Debts Public and Private

• 2002
  
  • Christopher murders the policeman who murdered his father when he was a child.
  • Tony buys a property from Uncle Junior on Frelinghuysen Avenue in Newark knowing it to be worth far more than he is paying.
  • The New York and New Jersey mobs invest in a riverfront property called the Esplanade to be shared between the two families.
  • Silvio and Ralph plot to interrupt a Columbus Day parade protest by local Native Americans.
  • Ralph invests in a race horse nicknamed Pie-O-My. Tony gives tips on racing that turn Pie-O-My into a winner and starts to become involved in her care.
  • Paulie is in prison in Youngstown after being caught in possession of a firearm used in a murder in the town eight years earlier. He has an impromptu meeting with Johnny Sack, who strokes Paulie's ego by telling him how highly Carmine thinks of him. Paulie tells Johnny about a fat joke that Ralph told about John's wife, Ginny.
  • Johnny asks Carmine to sanction a hit on Ralph. Carmine refuses, and goes to Tony with the suggestion that Johnny should be whacked instead for his insubordination. John comes to his senses when he realizes Ginny has not been keeping herself healthy.
  • Uncle Junior faces a RICO trial.
  • Adriana learns that her friend Danielle is an undercover FBI agent named Deborah Ciccerone who wants information about Christopher's involvement in the mob.
  • Tony learns that Gloria Trillo committed suicide shortly after their breakup.
  • Artie tries to commit suicide after entering a flawed business deal with Tony. Tony wipes the debts, but threatens Artie and tells him not to tell anyone what happened.
  • Tony enters a housing and urban development (HUD) project with Ralph, Assemblyman Zellman, and Maurice Tiffen, buying property in rundown neighborhoods in Newark. The group sends young black men to clear out a crack house in the neighborhood.
  • Zellman tells Tony he has started a relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Irina. Tony acts fine, but it turns out that he is not and whips Zellman with a belt.
  • Paulie is released from prison and continues meeting with Johnny Sack, telling him about the housing project.
  • Tony meets Ralph's girlfriend, Valentina and begins seeing her secretly.
  • Ralph's son is hospitalized following a serious injury.
  • Pie-O-My dies in a stable fire which Tony believes Ralph is responsible for. Ralph is strangled and killed by Tony after refusing to confess, yet defending the act of setting a fire to collect the insurance money on the horse, suggesting that he may have been responsible. His body is dismembered and disposed of by Tony and Christopher.
  • Tony has a brief fling with Svetlana after the two share drinks at Uncle Junior's house.
  • After Christopher's heroin addiction worsens he is confronted in an Intervention which leads to his agreeing to attend rehab.
  • Adriana begins reporting to Agent Sanseverino after she is reassigned from Agent Ciccerone for her protection.
  • Tony quits therapy with Dr. Melfi.
  • Furio leaves America after developing a mutual attraction with Carmela.
  • Paulie discovers that Johnny has been using him as a double agent after meeting Carmine, who doesn't know who Paulie is.
  • The Lupertazzi and Soprano families come close to a war after Tony refuses to share his HUD project with Carmine. Johnny Sack suggests that he would give Tony a better deal, and that Carmine should be bumped off. Tony agrees. Carmine and Tony have a sitdown and the two familes reach a deal. Johnny tells Tony that the hit on Carmine should still go forward. Tony thinks the problems with New York have been solved and pulls out, angering Johnny who was set on becoming the boss of the New York family.
  • Tony buys a beach house for the family, named Whitecaps.
  • The case against Junior is declared a hung jury after a juror gets threatened and refuses to cooperate with the other jurors.
  • Carmela learns of Tony's infidelity with Svetlana after Irina calls the house, causing her to throw out his belongings and demand a divorce. Tony refuses to leave and stays in the guest house. Carmela tells Tony about her feelings for Furio, and the two nearly come to blows.
  • Tony tries to back out of the Whitecaps deal, but the dealer refuses to bargain with him. Tony sends the Stugotz to the beach house and blasts Dean Martin music to get his money back.
  • Tony decides that it would be best for the family if he moved out.

Season 5 (2004)

Season 5 premiered on March 7, 2004 with the episode Two Tonys

• 2004
  
  • A flood of parolees begin to reinitiate contact within the Soprano and Lupertazzi families. They include Tony Blundetto, Tony's cousin who was jailed 15 years after a failed hijacking. Phil Leotardo, a longtime Lupertazzi soldier. Angelo Garepe, Carmine's former consigliere and Feech La Manna, a Soprano capo prior to his arrest.
  • Tony and Carmela have been separated for some time and Tony attempts to woo Dr. Melfi. She rebuffs his advances but Tony has difficulty taking no for an answer.
  • Tony B. tells Tony that he wants to remain a civilian but thanks him for his job offer.
  • Carmine Lupertazzi dies after suffering a stroke. A power struggle ensues thereafter involving Johnny Sack and Little Carmine.
  • Lorraine Calluzzo, a loan shark, and her boyfriend bodyguard, Jason Evanina, are murdered by Billy Leotardo and Joe Peeps because they remained loyal to Little Carmine.
  • Tony returns to Dr. Melfi for therapy.
  • Feech is set up by Tony due to his insubordination and gets sent back to prison for violating parole.
  • Adriana and Tony are involved in a serious car accident causing much chatter between the family that the two are having an affair. Christopher, enraged at the rumors, beats Adriana and shoots up Tony's red Suburban. Tony nearly shoots Christopher for his actions, but Tony B. talks him out of it and proves that there is no truth to the rumors.
  • Carmela begins an affair with A.J.'s guidance counselor, Mr. Wegler. The relationship ends badly when Carmela uses him to get A.J. a better grade on a paper.

• • Tony somewhat blames himself for Tony B. going to jail, because he was supposed to be at the robbery where Tony B. was caught. The excuse Tony uses is that he was jumped by a gang of black men.
  • Tony B. finds a bag full of money that reminds him about the mafia lifestyle. He returns to the mob after his frustration with his boss ends in a fist-fight.
  • Tony meets his father's mistress, Fran Felstein, and learns that she was not given her equal share of a racetrack owned by Hesh at the time of his father's death. Spending time with Fran causes him to reminisce about how his father was with his mistress the night Livia lost their fourth child due to a miscarriage, and that he covered for his father by lying to his mother. Dr. Melfi encourages him to forgive Livia.
  • Phil Leotardo is forced into a car accident by Tony, who is annoyed at not receiving his payment in a timely fashion. Tony arranges for Phil's car to be fixed in Big Pussy's Auto Shop, now run by Angie Bonpensario. Phil abuses Tony's connection to the Auto Body.
  • Despite being separated, Tony and Carmela throw a 75th birthday party for Carmela's father Hugh. The two reconnect during the party, but Carmela decides to go through with divorce proceedings anyway.
  • To avenge the deaths of Lorraine Calluzzo and Jason Evanina, Tony B. gets an offer by his friend, Angelo Garape, and Little Carmine's soldier, Rusty Millio, to kill Joe Peeps. Tony B. ponders on the offer and later accepts. He kills Joe Peeps outside of a brothel in his car along with a female witness, Heather, and Blundetto's foot is run over by the car when he pulls off the execution.
  • Johnny Sack suspects Tony B. for the Joey Peeps hit after finding out about his foot injury. Tony covers for him, saying that the two were looking for Tony B.'s long lost daughter.
  • Tony reveals to Dr. Melfi that he was not attacked by black men the night Tony B. was caught in an armed robbery, that he actually suffered a panic attack that night after getting into a fight with his mother.
  • Meadow manages to get her boyfriend, Finn, a job at the Esplenade construction site. However, when Finn witnesses a brutal fight between two of Tony's crew and later sees Vito Spatafore fellating a security guard, he quits.
  • Meadow and Finn become engaged.
  • Tony B. and Christopher are sent to Uncle Pat's farm to dig up the remains of Emil Kolar after Pat decides to sell his farm, moving to Florida instead. Christopher is reminded of his bad childhood and how he was bullied by Tony B. and Tony when the two Tony's make fun of him at dinner.
  • Johnny Sack makes business hard for Tony at the docks, where Albert Barese's crew is supposed to steal a load of scooters for a deal, but Johnny's crew gets there first. Johnny denies stealing the scooters, blaming increased port security for the deal falling through. Tony sees a news report that contradicts Johnny's claims.
  • Janice attends anger management classes after violently beating a soccer mom. Tony, annoyed with her brighter outlook on life, baits her into losing her cool by bringing up her estranged son, Hal.
  • Angelo Garepe is ambushed and murdered by Phil Leotardo for the death of Joe Peeps.
  • Tony B. learns of Angelo's death and attempts to murder Phil but instead hurts Phil and kills his younger brother, Billy Leotardo.
  • Tony has a dream involving many of the deceased people who had an impact on his life (this includes: Mikey Palmice, Richie Aprile, Big Pussy Bonpensiero, Ralphie Cifaretto, Gigi Cestone, Vin Makazian, and various others). The dream persuades him to get back together with Carmela.
  • Carmela, realizing that she cannot get a good lawyer for divorce proceedings, decides to let Tony move back into the house if he puts up the money for her real estate project.
  • After Adriana covers up a murder at her club, the FBI orders her to wear a wire. Matush and Kamal had murdered Gilbert Nieves and Adriana was charged as being an accessory to murder. She then confesses everything to Christopher and tries to persuade him to turn informant and enter the Witness Protection Program. Christopher nearly kills her in his anger, but relents. Eventually, he tells Tony who has Silvio kill Adriana the following day.
  • Johnny is officially named the boss of New York after Little Carmine retreats back to Florida. Johnny demands that Tony give up Tony B. Tony refuses after Johnny insinuates that Tony B. will be tortured.
  • Phil Leotardo threatens Christopher and sends Benny to the hospital, driving the two families on the brink of mob war.
  • After much hesitation, and being confronted about his problems with authority by Silvio, Tony delivers a single barrel twelve-gauge shotgun cartridge to his cousin's forehead to spare him torture, ease things over with Brooklyn, and regain the loyalty of his own crime family.
  • Johnny tells Tony that Phil still isn't happy with what has happened. Tony tells Johnny to tell Phil that he better accept it and suggests that Johnny give Phil an interest in Johnny's sports book operation. Johnny tells Tony that he already had thought of that himself and that he thinks he could sell it to Phil. Tony and Johnny appear to reconcile, following this, and discuss the difficult decisions involved in being the boss of a family. Johnny invites Tony into the house for coffee before the meeting is interrupted by an F.B.I. sting that takes down Johnny. Tony, who was not a subject of the sting, escaped through the woods and walked home.

Season 6 (2006-2007)

Season 6 will premiere on March 12, 2006 with the episode Members Only

• 2006
  • A major focus of the new season is Johnny Sack's RICO trial and the ripple effect it has created.[1]

Trivia

• The show was originally slated to air on the FOX network and a pilot had already been made. However, FOX rejected the show and HBO picked up the series.
• Tony Sirico signed on to play Paulie Walnuts as long as his character was not to be a "rat".
• In "The Test Dream" (episode 63, 5.11) when Tony states he's done his homework he reveals the book The Valachi Papers written by Peter Maas. The book is the story of the first ever FBI informant to confim the existence of La Cosa Nostra
• Whenever major characters are to be murdered, David Chase tells the actors far in advance to prepare them for the scene.
• James Gandolfini was initially opposed to the murder of Richie Aprile; however, the writers and HBO disagreed and he was killed in Episode 25, "The Knight in White Satin Armor".
• HBO was concerned about the show's title The Sopranos because they did not want viewers to think it was about music. Therefore, there is a gun where the "r" should be in the logo.
• When the show was a FOX project, it was known as Made in Jersey. Other titles that were considered included Family Guy and Red Sauce.
• Drea de Matteo confirmed in her 2005 audio commentary for the episode "Long Term Parking" that the death of Adriana La Cerva was for real.
• James Gandolfini is the only actor to appear in every episode of the series.
• David Chase loved Drea de Matteo's acting and enthusiasm as a Maitre'D (at a restaurant Tony and Dr. Melfi dined at) in the pilot so much that he made her a series regular in Episode 3.
• In the pilot, Satriale's Pork Store was known as Centanni's Meat Market a real butcher shop in Elizabeth, New Jersey. However, because the shop had a steady business, HBO acquired an abandoned location in Kearny, New Jersey and renamed the pork store: Satriale's.
• The tumultuous relationship between Tony Soprano and his mother, Livia Soprano, is based partially on David Chase's relationship with his own mother, also named Livia.
• A majority of the television sets on the show are made by Philips with several by Zenith and Sony.
• The Sopranos live at 633 Stag Trail Road in North Caldwell, New Jersey.
• The character of Tony Soprano was originally named Tommy.
• Though filmed on location in New Jersey, a majority of the interior filming is done at Silvercup Studios in Queens, New York.
• When Nancy Marchand died in 2000, David Chase resurrected the character of Livia for one final episode in 2001 using state of the art computer-generated imagery, which cost approximately $250,000.
• Joe Pantoliano knew in 2001 when he signed on to play the role of Ralph Cifaretto that he would only last two seasons and that his demise would not be a pretty one.
• The college locations and the Maine scenes in "College" were actually filmed in rural New Jersey. The college exteriors are located at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey.
• All "Bada Bing" interior and exteriors are filmed on location at Satin Dolls, an actual go-go bar in Lodi, New Jersey.
• Adriana's club, "The Crazy Horse", was once known as The Lollipop Club, once owned by Vincent Pastore, who played Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero from 1999–2000.
• The season finale of Season 4, "Whitecaps", is the longest Sopranos episode to date, clocking in at 75 minutes.
• The only character allowed to wear sunglasses on the series is Christopher Moltisanti, according to David Chase; however, Tony has been seen wearing sunglasses on at least two occasions.
• The series converted to HDTV (16:9 widescreen) during the fourth season (2002).
• In episode 37 (3.11), "Pine Barrens", director Steve Buscemi has said that he was the one who threw the steak at Tony's head.
• A parody of The Sopranos was targeted during the FOX pre-race show in 2001, leading to the Coca-Cola 600 called "The Pit Reporters". It was inspired by an incident where FOX NASCAR studio host Chris Myers and analyst Jeff Hammond were attacked by Super Soaker water gun-wielding pit reporters Dick Berggren and Matt Yocum during a rain delay at the The Winston. Myers commented, "They should appear at The Sopranos." For the 600, Tony Soprano (Myers) makes an appearance at Dr. Melfi's (Jeanne Zelasko) office previewing the 600.
• In a postmodern metatextual twist, many of the characters are interested in The Godfather and The Godfather Part II (the latter in which Dominic Chianese portrays Johnny Ola), and Christopher Moltisanti is practically obsessed with the films' depictions of the Mafia. They have all watched the films so often that Paulie, for example, refers to The Godfather star Al Pacino in conversation simply as "Al." Tony and his compatriots sometimes discuss favorite aspects of the films: e.g. Tony's favorite scene in the saga is when Vito Corleone returns to Sicily. The mobsters compare themselves to the cinematic images of organized crime in The Godfather trilogy, as well as other well known films about the Mafia, such as Goodfellas. In addition, Ralph Cifaretto has a fascination with gladiator movies. Ridley Scott's Gladiator, in particular, seems to stimulate Ralph's bravado the most, and he can be heard quoting several lines from the film during the third season.
• HBO has thrown a premiere party at Radio City Music Hall for every season premiere. In an interview, Lorraine Bracco said that the network will forgo the premiere party of the sixth season (and all advance screenings) to preserve a surprise plot twist that occurs in the first episode of the new season.
• The first episode of every season begins with a closeup shot of the newspaper laying on the driveway of the Sopranos residence. The first four seasons had Tony coming outside to pick up the newspaper. The fifth season, due to Tony moving out of the house in the season 4 finale, had Meadow running over the newspaper with her car.
• Animals are often used as symbolism in the show. Most famously, ducks are used in the first season to represent Tony's family and a black bear is used in season five to represent Tony himself.
• There are many references to different styles of murder. The most obvious is the death of Brendan Filone when he is shot clean through the eye. This manner of killing is called the "Moe Greene Special" after the character Moe Greene from The Godfather. Moe Greene himself was based on a real-life gangster, Bugsy Siegel, the man who literally started Las Vegas. Bugsy himself was killed with a bullet through the eye. This style of murder has become a trend in mafia related movies and shows and Brendan Filone's death is the best representation in The Sopranos.
• The characters most commonly speculated to be "whacked" in the near future (i.e. are the favorites in mid-season speculation from year-to-year) are Christopher and Paulie.
• Nods to the Martin Scorsese gangster film, Goodfellas, include Christopher shooting a bakery store cashier in the foot (Imperioli's character, Spider, was shot in the foot in Goodfellas) and Phil Leotardo shooting Angelo Garape in the trunk of a car (Frank Vincent's character in Goodfellas was shot and stabbed in the trunk of a car).
• Lorraine Bracco, who had previously played the role of a mob wife in Goodfellas, was originally asked to play the role of Carmela. She took the role as Dr. Melfi because she felt that would be more of a challenge for her.
• Steve Van Zandt (Silvio Dante) and David Proval (Richie Aprile) auditioned to play Tony Soprano.
• Every season finale (up to the fifth season) which include I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano, Funhouse, Army of One, Whitecaps and All Due Respect have been directed by John Patterson. Patterson died in 2005 but was expected to return to direct several episodes of Season 6.
• At one point there were talks of a Sopranos feature film that was to be released after the series had ended. This idea was scrapped in favor of "The Final Eight" episodes that are set to debut in January 2007.

Awards

After being nominated for and losing the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2003 (losing to The Practice once and The West Wing three times), The Sopranos finally won the award in 2004, becoming the first and only cable series to win the award. The Sopranos has also won at least one Emmy Award for Acting in every season, and has dominated the writing categories, picking up 17 nominations over five seasons and winning the award four times. It is also a perennial nominee at the Golden Globes and the major guild awards (Directors, Producers, Writers, and Actors).

Major awards

Acting awards

Real life basis

Several main characters' personalities are based on real life mobsters. For the article, go to this website: Court TV's Crime Library

Criticism

The Sopranos has been consistently hailed as one of the best shows on television, being named the top drama series of All-Time by TV Guide, #5 on their Top 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time list. The show topped virtually every "Best TV Show" list in its debut season in 1999, with the New York Times calling it "the greatest work of American popular culture in the last 25 years" and Newsweek saying that it was "far and away the best show on television."

However, the series has been increasingly criticized for an uneven quality, particularly in light of the significant time between seasons. It has been called anti-Italian throughout its entire run, leading to a bizarre moment where the cast was banned from participating in the Columbus Day Parade mere weeks after "Christopher", an episode about Columbus Day, had aired[2]. Many have claimed that its content is too vulgar and violent, yet on the other side many fans criticized the 4th season for lacking the violence that the other seasons had (for this, many consider season four to be the weakest of the five seasons that have aired thus far). Other criticisms (Pointed out by journalist Eli Evans) include that the show has become formulaic with characters placed as foils for Tony Soprano, following the formula of the character being introduced at the beginning of the season, disobeying Tony repeatedly throughout their run on the show, then eventually getting whacked (or targeted) for their insubordination, usually towards the end of the season. The major examples of this are Mikey Palmice in season 1, Richie Aprile in season 2, Jackie Aprile Jr. in Season 3, Ralph Cifaretto in seasons 3 and 4, and Tony Blundetto in season 5. Fans have also been frustrated by the dropping of important storylines and characters, the most frequent examples being the Missing Russian from the "Pine Barrens" episode and Dr. Melfi's rapist, both from Season 3. David Chase has insisted that both storylines were self-contained episodes not meant to be long-running arcs. It should be noted however that the writers of the show are known for building certain storylines very slowly and seemingly forgetting certain plot points for months and even years, then bringing them up briefly in certain episodes, the best example being the Raymond Curto/FBI informant storyline.

Broadcasting

The Sopranos is broadcast on the following channels around the world.

• USA: January 10, 1999 on HBO
• UK: July 15, 1999 on E4 (first run) Channel 4 (second run), and More4 (repeats). More4 will start being the first run station for Season 6.
• France: September 5, 1999 on Jimmy and France 2
• Switzerland: October 27, 1999
• Hungary: February 9, 2000 on HBO Central-Europe
• Germany: March 12, 2000 on ZDF (Season 1-3), 2004 on pay-TV channel Premiere (Seasons 1-5) and 2005 on Kabel 1
• Spain: May 7, 2000 on FOX
• Canada: September 17, 2000 on The Movie Network/Movie Central and CTV. CTV airs the program uncut, but with commercials.
• Finland: October 2, 2000 on Nelonen
• Iceland: October 2, 2000
• Sweden: October 6, 2000 on SVT
• Belgium: November 20, 2000
• Turkey: December 7, 2000 on CNBC-e
• Italy: May 23, 2001 on FOX
• Austria: July 3, 2002 on ORF
• Russia: October 27, 2002 on NTV
• Serbia and Montenegro:
  • Kosovo: on RTK
• Denmark: on TV2
• Ireland: on RTE
• Bosnia and Herzegovina: on Mreza Plus
• Australia: on the Nine Network and Foxtel
• Macedonia: on A1 TV
• New Zealand: on TVNZ
• Norway: on NRK
• Pakistan: on TV ONE
• Arab World: on One TV
• Albania: 2001 on Top Channel
• Israel: on HOT 3, Channel 2 and Channel 10

HBO broadcasting history

• Season 1 - Sunday January 10, 1999 – Sunday April 4, 1999 at 9:00 pm
• Season 2 - Sunday January 16, 2000 – Sunday April 9, 2000 at 9:00 pm
• Season 3 - Sunday March 4, 2001 – Sunday May 20, 2001 at 9:00 pm
• Season 4 - Sunday September 15, 2002 – Sunday December 8, 2002 at 9:00 pm
• Season 5 - Sunday March 7, 2004 – Sunday June 6, 2004 at 9:00 pm

Future airings

• Season 6 - Sunday March 12, 2006 – TBD at 9:00 pm