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An Overview of the
Sopranos TV Show
 The
Sopranos television show is an American television drama
series created and produced by David Chase. The Sopranos
television series premiered on HBO in the United States on
January 10, 1999 and ended its original run of six seasons
and 86 episodes on June 10, 2007. The Sopranos television
show has also been broadcast on the A&E network in the United States and
internationally. The HBO show was set in New Jersey, where it also was
produced. The Sopranos Television series revolves around
mobster Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and the difficulties
he faces while trying to balance the often conflicting
requirements of his home life and the criminal mob organization
he heads.
The Sopranos TV show was a major commercial and critical
success, The Sopranos is the most financially successful
cable series in the history of television and is
acknowledged as one of the greatest television series of all
time and a seminal work of fiction. The Sopranos
television series is noted for its high level of quality in
every aspect of production and is particularly recognized
for its writing and the performances of its lead actors.
The Sopranos television show is credited with bringing a
greater level of artistry to the television medium and
paving the way for many successful drama series that
followed. The Sopranos also won numerous awards,
including twenty-one Emmys and five Golden Globes.
The Sopranos Television Show Season Episodes on DVD
 Sopranos DVD Review - For six
seasons, fans have devotedly watched Tony Soprano
deal with the difficulties of balancing his home
life with the criminal organization he leads.
Audiences everywhere tuned in to see the mob, the
food, the family, and who was next to be whacked.
Celebrate the show that Vanity Fair called, "the
greatest show in TV history", in the ultimate
Sopranos keepsake. Bonus DVD video features (over 3.5 hours
never before seen) include David Chase's reaction to
fan outcry over the series finale; secrets from the
writers' room; props stolen from the set; auditions
of some of the cast; the Sopranos music selected and the
meaning behind it; and lost scenes saved from the
editing room. 30 discs (28 discs of episodes, 2
bonus discs) and detailed 16-page episode guide.
 Soprano's on DVD Review - The Sopranos, writer-producer-director
David Chase's extraordinary television series, is
nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true
impact strikes closer to home: Like 1999's other
screen touchstone, American Beauty, the HBO series
chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family
in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano,
there's the added complexity posed by heading twin
families, his collegial mob clan and his own,
nouveau riche brood. The series' brilliant first
season is built around what Tony learns when,
whipsawed between those two worlds, he finds himself
plunged into depression and seeks psychotherapy--a
gesture at odds with his midlevel capo's machismo,
yet instantly recognizable as a modern emotional
test. With analysis built into the very spine of the
show's elaborate episodic structure, creator Chase
and his formidable corps of directors, writers, and
actors weave an unpredictable series of parallel and
intersecting plot arcs that twist from tragedy to
farce to social realism. While creating for a
smaller screen, they enjoy a far larger canvas than
a single movie would afford, and the results, like
the very best episodic television, attain a richness
and scope far closer to a novel than movies normally
get.
Unlike Francis Coppola's operatic dramatization of
Mario Puzo's Godfather epic, The Sopranos sustains a
poignant, even mundane intimacy in its focus on
Tony, brought to vivid life by James Gandolfini's
mercurial performance. Alternately seductive,
exasperated, fearful, and murderous, Gandolfini is
utterly convincing even when executing brutal shifts
between domestic comedy and dramatic violence. Both
he and the superb team of Italian-American actors
recruited as his loyal (and, sometimes,
not-so-loyal) henchmen and their various
"associates" make this mob as credible as the
evocative Bronx and New Jersey locations where the
episodes were filmed.
The Sopranos first season's other life force is Livia
Soprano, Tony's monstrous, meddlesome mother. As
Livia, the late Nancy Marchand eclipses her long
career of patrician performances to create an
indelibly earthy, calculating matriarch who shakes
up both families; Livia also serves as foil and
rival to Tony's loyal, usually level-headed wife,
Carmela (Edie Falco). Lorraine Bracco makes Tony's
therapist, Dr. Melfi, a convincing confidante, by
turns "professional," perceptive, and sexy; the
duo's therapeutic relationship is also depicted with
uncommon accuracy. Such grace notes only enrich
what's not merely an aesthetic high point for
commercial television, but an absorbing film
masterwork that deepens with subsequent screenings.
--Sam Sutherland
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 Amazon.com Video Review - In its second season, The Sopranos
sustains the edgy intelligence and unpredictable,
genre-warping narrative momentum that made this
modern mob saga the most critically acclaimed series
of the late 1990s. Creator-producer David Chase
repeatedly defies formula to let the narrative turn
as a direct consequence of the characters' behavior,
letting everyone in this rogue's gallery of Mafiosi,
friends, and family evolve and deepen.
That gamble is most apparent in the rupture of the
relationship that formed the spine of the first
season, the tangled ties between capo Tony Soprano
(James Gandolfini) and monstrous matriarch Livia
(Nancy Marchand), whose betrayal makes Tony's
estrangement a logical response. Filling that
vacuum, however, is prodigal sister Janice (Aida
Turturro), whose New Age flakiness never
successfully conceals her underlying calculation and
opportunism. Soprano's relationship with therapist
Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) also frays during
early episodes, as she struggles with escalating
doubts about her mobbed-up patient. At home, Tony
contends with wife Carmela's ruthless ambitions on
behalf of college-bound Meadow, as well as son
Anthony Jr.'s sullen adolescent flirtation with
existentialism--the sort of touch that the show
handles with a smart mix of sympathy and amusement.
Without spoiling the surprise of the season's
climactic last episode, it's worth noting that only
on The Sopranos could we expect a scene that sets up
a mob hit with a perversely funny touch of magic
realism--a talking fish, lying on a fishmonger's
iced display, speaking with the voice of the victim.
It's a touch at once morbid and goofy, and
consistent with the show's undimmed brilliance.
--Sam Sutherland
 Amazon.com - "So," Tony Soprano asks analyst Dr. Melfi in the wake of not-so-dearly-departed Livia's
death, "we're probably done here, right?" Sorry,
Tone, not by a long shot. Unresolved mother issues
are the least of the Family man's troubles in the
brutal and controversial third season of The
Sopranos. Ranked by TV Guide among the top five
greatest series ever, The Sopranos justified its
eleven-month hiatus with some of its best, and most
hotly debated, episodes that continue the saga of
the New Jersey mob boss juggling the pressures of
his often intersecting personal and professional
lives. The third season garnered 22 Emmy
nominations, earning Lead Actor and Actress honors
for James Gandolfini and Edie Falco for their
now-signature roles as Tony and his increasingly
conflicted wife, Carmela.
The Sopranos HBO television series continued to upend convention and defy
audience expectations with a deliberately paced,
calm-before-the-storm season opener that revolves
around the FBI's attempts to bug the Soprano
household, and a season finale that (for some)
frustratingly leaves several plot lines unresolved.
The second episode, "Proshai, Livushka," confronts
the death of the venerable Nancy Marchand, who
capped her career with perhaps her greatest role as
malignant matriarch Livia. A jarring scene between
Tony and Livia that uses pre-existing footage is a
distraction, but Carmela's unsparing smackdown of
Livia at the wake redeems the episode. "Employee of
the Month," in which Dr. Melfi is raped and
considers whether to exact revenge by telling Tony
of her attack, earned Emmys for its writers, and is
perhaps Emmy nominee Lorraine Bracco's finest hour.
The darkly comic "Pine Barrens"--another memorable
episode, directed by Steve Buscemi--strands Paulie
(Tony Sirico) and Christopher (Michael Imperioli) in
the forest with a runaway corpse. Other story arcs
concern the rise of the seriously unstable Ralph
Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano) and Tony's affair with
"full-blown loop-de-loo" Gloria (Emmy nominee
Annabella Sciorra). Plus, there is Tony's
estrangement from daughter Meadow (Jamie Lynn
Sigler), his wayward delinquent son Anthony, Jr.
(Robert Iler), Carmela's crisis of conscience, bad
seed Jackie Jr., and the FBI--which, as the season
ends, assigns an undercover agent to befriend an
unwitting figure in the Soprano family's orbit. Stay
tuned for season four. - Review by Donald Liebenson
 Carmela to Tony: "Everything comes to
an end." True enough, Mrs. Sope, but on The
Sopranos, the end comes sooner for some than others.
Though for some the widely debated fourth season
contained too much yakking instead of whacking, and
an emphasis on domestic family over business Family,
what critic James Agee once said of the Marx
Brothers applies to The Sopranos: "The worst thing
they might ever make would be better worth seeing
than most other things I can think of." And in most
respects, The Sopranos remains television's gold
standard. The fourth season garnered 13 Emmy
nominations, and subsequent best actor and actress
wins for James Gandolfini and Edie Falco as Tony and
Carmela, whose estrangement provides the season with
its most powerful drama, as well as a win for Joe
Pantoliano's psychopath Ralph. The season finale,
"Whitecaps," was a long-time-coming episode, in
which Carmela at last stands up to "toxic" Tony, and
"Whoever Did This" was the season's--and one of the
series'--most shocking episodes. Other
narrative threads include Christopher's (Emmy
nominee Michael Imperioli) descent into heroin
addiction, Uncle Junior's (Dominic Chianese) trial,
an unrequited and potentially fatal attraction
between Carmela and Tony's driver Furio, and a rude
joke about Johnny Sack's wife that has potentially
fatal implications. Other indelible moments include
Christopher's girlfriend Adriana's projectile
reaction to discovering that her new best friend is
an undercover FBI agent in the episode "No Show,"
Janice giving Ralph a shove out of their
relationship in "Christopher," and the classic
"Quasimodo/Nostradamus" exchange in the
season-opener, which garnered HBO's highest ratings
to date. Freed from the understandably high
expectations for the fourth season, heightened by
the 16-month hiatus, these episodes can be better
appreciated on their own considerable merits. They
are pivotal chapters in television's most novel
saga. - Donald Liebenson
 Amazon.com
DVD Review - Facing an indeterminate sentence
of weeks/months/years until new episodes, fans of
The Sopranos are advised to take the fifth; season,
that is. At this point, superlatives don't do The
Sopranos justice, but justice was at last served to
this benchmark series. For the first time, The
Sopranos rubbed out The West Wing to take home its
first Emmy® for Outstanding Dramatic Series. Michael Imperioli and Drea de Matteo also earned Best
Supporting Actor and Actress honors for some of
their finest hours as Christopher and Adriana. From
the moment a wayward bear lumbers into the Sopranos'
yard in the season opener, it is clear that The
Sopranos is in anything but a "stagmire." The series
benefits from an infusion of new blood, the
so-called "Class of 2004," imprisoned "family"
members freshly released from jail. Most notable
among these is Tony's cousin, Tony Blundetto (Steve
Buscemi, who directed the pivotal season three
episode "Pine Barrens"! ), who initially wants to go
straight, but proves himself to be something of a
"free agent," setting up a climactic stand-off
between Tony and New York boss Johnny Sack.
These 13 mostly riveting episodes unfold with a
page-turning intensity with many rich subplots.
Estranged couple Tony and Carmela (the incomparable
James Gandolfini and Edie Falco) work toward a
reconciliation (greased by Tony's purchase of a
$600,000 piece of property for Carmela to develop).
The Feds lean harder on an increasingly stressed-out
and distraught Adriana to "snitch" with inevitable
results. This season's hot-button episode is "The
Test Dream," in which Tony is visited by some of the
series' dear, and not-so-dearly, departed in a
harrowing nightmare. With this set, fans can enjoy
marathon viewings of an especially satisfying
season, but considering the long wait ahead for
season six, best to take Tony's advice to his son,
who, at one point, gulps down a champagne toast.
"Slow down," Tony says. "You're supposed to savor
it." - Donald Liebenson
 Amazon.com
DVD Review - The Sopranos, Season 6, Part 1 is the
most contentious release yet in the acclaimed
series' history. While many fans think it jumped the
shark at the exact moment Vito said "I love you,
Johnny Cakes" , this season also contains some of
the series finest moments and plumbs new depths of
character, while continuing to add to the body
count. Things get started with a bang, literally,
that unexpectedly sends Tony (James Gandolfini) to
the hospital and into a coma where he experiences an
alternate reality while in limbo. At one point he
awakes and asks "Who am I? Where am I going?"
encapsulating this season's central theme in a
moment of desperation wrapped in a fever dream. But
it's not all existentialism. With Tony and Uncle
Junior both of the picture, the capos in the Soprano
crew try to take advantage of the situation and
begin jockeying for position while a reluctant
Silvio (Steve Van Zandt), acting in Tony’s place,
struggles to keep everyone in check. Things aren’t
going much better for Tony’s family, as A.J. (Robert
Iler) confesses to Carmela (Edie Falco) that he
flunked out of school, and while at Tony’s bedside,
swears revenge for his injury. The stress of the
situation finally gets to Carmela, who takes up Dr.
Melfi’s (Lorraine Bracco) offer to help and finds
herself in the strange position of confiding in her
husband’s therapist, revealing for once that she
feels some guilt over making the kids complicit in
how Tony makes his living—plus there’s the issue of
whether she really loves him. Christopher (Michael
Imperioli) continues to provide much of the comic
relief for the series, culminating in one of this
season’s best episodes when he flies out to L.A. in
a bumbling attempt to get Ben Kingsley to sign on
for his fledgling movie (Saw meets The Godfather),
and ends up mugging Lauren Bacall for her goodie
basket at an awards ceremony. Sowing further discord
in the ranks, Vito (Joseph Gannoscoli) finally gets
outed as homosexual, and is forced to flee for his
life up to New Hampshire where he meets "Johnny
Cakes." Finally, even with New York boss Johnny
"Sack" Sacramoni (Vince Curatola) in prison, Phil
Leotardo (Frank Vincent) makes plays against Tony
and eventually sets in motion a hit against someone
on Tony’s crew, and now a larger war with Johnny
Sack's crew seems to be looming.
Series creator David Chase seems to be saying with
this season that character is destiny. If so, then
Season Six, Part 1 is taking the necessary time to
flesh out who these people really are, and is
leaving the destiny part up for Part 2. The fact
that the series’ writers have been able to maintain
such a strong show with so many interweaving
storylines for so long is a feat not to be taken
lightly. That said, this season of The Sopranos does
deserve some of the criticism it's received: the
Vito storyline would have been better served by
resolving it in fewer episodes, and the season
ending is the most unsatisfying one yet, leaving
many fans wanting more. But the bottom line is that
this season deserves more praise than criticism,
proving that even at its weakest, The Sopranos is
still the strongest show on TV.- Daniel Vancini
 Amazon.com
Video
Review - Completing the run of one of the most
acclaimed television shows in broadcast history,
season 6, part II of The Sopranos will be remembered
mostly not for what happened during the season, but
for what didn't happen at the very end. Creator
David Chase pulled off a series ending that was as
controversial as it was surprising and
unforgettable, leaving countless fans to look away
from the show and to blogs and articles for answers
to the biggest mystery since "who shot J.R.?": what
happened to Tony Soprano? But before we get to that
point, there are nine episodes in Season 6 of the
Sopranos series to digest, and they
are some of the best in the run of the show since
season 3. As Tony's (James Gandolfini) paranoia and
suspicions grow, his family makes choices that are
threatening to bring big changes to his personal
life, and his other "family" is crashing headlong
towards an inevitable showdown with Phil Leotardo
and the New York crew. Episode 1, "Soprano Home
Movies," starts off peacefully enough with Tony and
Carmela (Edie Falco) enjoying a relaxing summer
weekend at Bobby and Janice's (Steve Schirripa and
Aida Turturro) bucolic lake house, and by the end of
the episode Tony has effectively taken Bobby's soul,
proving Tony's ruthlessness and ending any doubt
about his will to maintain dominance over those
around him. In "Kennedy and Heidi," one of the
season's signature episodes, Christopher's (Michael
Imperioli) drug use continues to spiral out of
control, forcing Tony to take matters into his own
hands and resolve things with his nephew once and
for all.
Inevitably it's all leading up to that big finale,
and it's deftly handled over the last two episodes,
"The Blue Comet" and "Made in America" (an episode
replete with subtle references to The Godfather).
Things finally start to get resolved with Phil's
crew, Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), Uncle Junior
(Dominic Chianese), A.J. (Robert Iler), and Meadow
(Jamie-Lynn Sigler), and as for Tony… Cut to black.
To quote from another hit HBO show of the same era,
"everything ends," even The Sopranos, and while the
way Chase chose to end The Sopranos may not be to
the liking of fans hoping for a definitive
resolution, give the man credit for not stooping to
clichés or tired old scenarios. As A.J. says in one
of the last lines of the entire series, quoting his
father, "Try to remember the times that were good."
That's good advice. - Daniel Vancini |
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