I was lucky enough, by chance, to catch The Sopranos from its first episode (by chance=we stole HBO and X-Files was a repeat so we checked out this new show) and ive watched every subsequent season (which included the sort of "monday morning quarterbacking" that has, quite honestly, been both a blessing and a curse to the popularity of the show) in succession.

What I havent done, is rent or watch replays of the show AT ALL until recently. Strange to watch them again and remember the context in which I first watched them. And quite honestly, to see just how great a television show that this is/was without the distractions of the media (or the illiterate douchebag TV critics of places like obner.org) to cloud one's jusgement, is pretty staggering.

Just finished Season 3 BTW. Either this or Season 2 are probably my faves.

Now go put on a shirt, I got a half a chubby over here.

This winter I just watched seasons 1-5 on dvd. I'd never really seen it before (some episodes of season 1 on dvd a year or two ago) because I never had HBO. I remember being tired of all the hype about the show, all the Emmys, etc. But goddamn if this isn't a great fucking show. It's got to be one of the best shows ever.

It's a different experience watching a show on dvd since you've got the whole season or seasons right there. It's nice because it lets you remember things that happen early on, even if you're watching season five. Well, this worked in my case anyway. I like that you get to watch the story's construction, how things work, when they don't, etc.

And I also love how its full of all these great character actors from Scorsese movies. Tony from Mean Streets was Richie Aprile, fuckin' "Spidah" has a major role, Frank Vincent is in season 5. And of course Lorraine Bracco and even Paulie and Big Pussy were in Goodfellas too.

And how awesome is that old guy who plays Junior Soprano? Oh, and fucking Vinnie from Doogie Howzer is in it.

Yeah, I remember this becoming a sunday night ritual with me and bort (FUCK WAS THIS THAT LONG AGO!!??!) I still think one of the funniest moments in TV history is Tony's mom getting plowed by her friend's car.

And the original show was like getting a Goodfellas TV show almost. And the vulnerable mob boss conceit was really fucking cool.

You know how I feel about subsequent seasons. I guess that's mainly who this was aimed at

I got in on the ground floor too. I just happened to have HBO on one night, and I think it was the scene where Tony was chasing this guy through the park with a baseball bat that hooked me. I told my mom about it, and she was instantly crazy about this show. She would watch the original broadcast on Sunday, then watch every single replay of it throughout the week.

It's going to be really sad for me watching this next season without her around.

You should reconsider your position there Dr. Too Cool For School.

One of those thing where while I'm glad I was in on the ground floor, Its not a bad thing to reconsider a few years later.

And remember the "quiet room" philosophy I ran at Chase and Pluma houses were nobody could answer the phone or talk and all the lights had to be out.

It was an extension of watching the X-Files (when that was good, and the Sopranos completely, in one week obliterated that from our consciousness); it just got ratcheted up.

the first episode i ever saw was "pine barrens" in season three. i never had hbo before then. and then i didn't have it again for season 5. i have seasons 1-3 on dvd and now 4-5 are on ondemand, so i'm plowing through them now. i can't wait for the next season in march. oh yes.

i'm finally getting around to watching season 5

Season 6 is much anticipated over here! I expect nothing less than excellence.

I have yet to see a single episode, despite numerous friends swearing it is a great show. I don't doubt that it is, I just don't have the time - I know I would get hooked, and have to watch every episode back-to-back.

I have all 5 seasons and, with few exceptions, I think all are brilliant. The relative standard set by S1 is almost impossible to keep going all the way through to S5. I find it difficult to believe that people could actively dislike S4-5, but I know they're out there. I remember watching on Sunday night, going into work and have people doing the "meh, it fucking sucks now" dance, which always got a headshake from me. What more did you want, mate? Granted they're somewhat slower paced, but they're fucking better than most of what airs on television. And the acting never dropped at all. The bar gets set too high for Tony et al, I guess.

My vote for the one of the all time funniest scene: "....Uncle Ben..."

Just got done watching seasons 1-5 as well just last weekend and I still and have always stood by this show.

For a split second I thought about selling them all and getting some movies or soemthing and then thought better of it. I know in like two or three years I'll be ready to watch the entire thing over again, cause it's just that fucking good.

I'm not gonna go out and get HBO in March or anything (we ain't got no cable), but don't think for a second that we don't already have someone in line to tape the new episodes for us. 8)

I didn't get in on the ground floor, but caught up when I moved back out here through off season re-runs. I'm not even big on Mafia movies [before you leap, Godfathers & Goodfellas are awesome], but this show was really well done and continually compelling.

At some point though, you really start to run out of ideas. The last season was not up to par, and it really hit a low with the stupid dream sequence episode, which was damn near as bad but not as funny as the musical episode of "Oz" (which was an incredible show until it ran out of actors and storylines).

I plan on watching the new season, but I really hope they took the extra time to really think out and develop an interesting end. I don't care about loose threads being wrapped up--in fact, I prefer that they remain, just like in real life.

I still prefer "The Wire", partly because of the insane amount of Baltimore/Maryland specific detail they put in that is probably lost on 98% of the shows audience. Given enough time, however, I do believe that "The Wire" would likely suffer the same fate as "The Sopranos", "Oz" and "Homicide".

I never said it was bad or not entertaining. I do say, and I bet that a full repeat viewing would bare this even more...the plot for every season after the first is the exact same. Guy gets out of jail, guy fucks Janice, Tony has to kill him....

The great little things that make a show or genre entertaining are all there, I am not sure what else they could do, but I know that there's something.

(maybe a full on In the Old Days, back home sequence ala Godfather?)

Paulie and Michael lost in the Pine Barrens.

I see your point, but would the fact that some guys were paroled in S2 (Richie) and S5 (Tony B and others) be a complete rehash of ideas every season? In S2, Richie got out of the jail and caused trouble, but Janice fucked him and killed him. Nothing like that happened in S3, Janice was fucking Ralphie and Tony killed him in S4 but that was about a horse and in S5, Tony killed his cousin because if he didn't Johnny Sac was going to eventually kill Christopher or someone else. As this is a crime drama, I think there are certain themes like people getting out of jail, attempts at assasination and attempts to thwart Tony's power that are bound to be repeated, or at least touched upon over the course of 5 seasons.

<--Needs to see The Wire, haven't seen an episode yet.

I've wanted this for a long time. Would be phenomenal.

SO, the particulars were different, but all 3 plots are essentially the same.

E-Fu -- yeah, i wanna see Daddy Soprano and Momo Giancana feeding THEM to sharks.

Nah, I just don't agree that they're all essentially the same because in two of five seasons people got out of jail and a sociopathic mob boss killed a few people. That's a pretty conservative metric by which to judge a show. One could say the same about music though. The Stones have been touching on the same themes and musical archetype forever but it's still fucking great, right? We still tune in to hear Keith play and Mick yowl about whatever the fuck, but it is still the Stones.

Also, Paulie Walnuts has the best hair on television, period.

How can ya not love Uncle Joon...
You may or may not remember Junior Soprano playing the part of Johnny Olla in Godfather Part II. He worked with Hyman Roth (Lee Strasberg) and was influential in turning Fredo into a trader....unbeknownst to him the poor silly bastard.

Sopranos = great show

Favorite episodes -

- While taking Meadow on a tour of prospective schools Tony spots a RAT and decides to take matters into his own hands.

- The Pine Barrens episode

- The killing of Ralphie Cifaretto

- Christopher's killing of the man that 'supposedly' killed his father.

How odd that this topic popped up, as my husband and I were talking about the show last night. Can't wait for the new season to start. I'm interested to see how Chris is going to behave this season (you folks who have seen season 5 hopefully know what I'm referring to).

But it IS the same. Someone gets out of jail, makes trouble for Tony, in the end he dies...and then another guy comes in. Yeah, one of the story arcs is a bit longer, but I think it was kinda like...they want more shows..what do we do? Oh yeah, his COUSIN can get out of JAIL. Oh, Ralph can be the new trouble maker.

I'm not saying I don't love the show, but I think this is legitimate criticism.

I think this is really just due to the fact that it's television. The commentary by David Chase on the first episode..or maybe it was an interview that was included, i don't know--but he was talking about how they didn't even know if they'd be picked up for a season two. They didn't plan on having Tony's mom around for season two, but it worked so they kept her. Obviously they didn't plot out 6 seasons of characters and plot structures. George Lucas can't pull this kind of thing off either. As you know, you can't go back and change things to make later seasons (or movies) make more sense or seem less unconvincing.

Tony B is a case in point here, as you said. If the two Tonys were so close growing up, chances are he would have been mentioned sometime before season 5, as family is a major part of the show. Really, it is THE theme of the show--Tony's traditional family and his mob "family". If I remember correctly, weren't there contract issues, etc and so towards the end it was never a given that there would be a next season?

The substory that I have the biggest problem with is Bobby's wife getting killed. Who knew that fat motherfucker was married? His wife is introduced for the first time the episode before she gets killed. And it's all so they can have more storyline with Janice.

Oh man, you just reminded me of another show I need to get on DVD. Oz has always been my favorite of the HBO series.

Speaking of The Sopranos , local paper ran this article today.


Husband murdered Hoffa in Detroit, says Boca 'Mafia wife'
By Curt Anderson
The Associated Press
Posted February 14 2006


FORT LAUDERDALE · A self-proclaimed "Mafia wife" said Monday that her family history was improperly used as the model for the HBO series The Sopranos and that her late husband once told her he had murdered former Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa.

Lynda Milito, 59, said her husband Louie Milito told her in 1988 during an argument in New York that he had killed Hoffa in Detroit and dumped his remains near the Verrazano-Narrows bridge.

Louie Milito, a high-ranking member of the Gambino crime family, disappeared two weeks after that conversation and is presumed dead.

Lynda Milito has written a book about her life titled Mafia Wife and is writing another that includes the Hoffa claims.

Milito, a Boca Raton resident, made her claims at a news conference where she also threatened to sue HBO, Tribeca Productions and a screenwriter for allegedly taking her family's story without compensating her.

Milito contends that The Sopranos contains numerous parallels to her life that were somehow taken from information she shared with a writer for a TV movie called Witness to the Mob that first aired in May 1998.

"The Sopranos is wholly the creation of David Chase and his team of writers," said HBO spokeswoman Tobe Becker, who said there was no merit to Militos claims.