The Sopranos (page 2)
Plot synopsis and episode list
Season 1
The series begins with Tony Soprano collapsing after suffering a panic attack. This prompts him to begin therapy with Dr. Jennifer Melfi. Gradually, the storyline reveals details of Tony's upbringing, with his father's influence looming large on his development as a gangster, but more so that Tony's mother, Livia, was vengeful and possibly personality-disordered. His complicated relationship with his wife Carmela is also explored, as well as her feelings regarding her husband's cosa nostra ties. Meadow and Anthony Jr.—Tony's children—gain increasing knowledge of their father's mob dealings. Later, federal indictments are brought as a result of someone in his organization talking to the FBI.
After ordering the execution of Brendan Filone and the mock execution of Chris Moltisanti, Tony's uncle Corrado "Junior" Soprano is installed as boss of the family (following the death of previous boss Jackie Aprile, Sr. from cancer), even though Tony actually controls most things from behind the scenes. Furious at Corrado's plan to have him killed, Tony responds to the attempt on his life with a violent reprisal, and confronts his mother for her role in plotting his downfall; she appears to have a psychologically-triggered stroke. "Junior" is arrested by the FBI on non-related charges.
Season 2
At the beginning of the second season, Jackie's brother Richie Aprile is released from prison and proves to be uncontrollable in the business arena; he also starts a relationship with Tony's sister Janice, who has arrived from Seattle. Tony's friend "Big Pussy" returns to New Jersey after a conspicuous absence.
Christopher Moltisanti becomes engaged to his girlfriend Adriana La Cerva. Matthew Bevilaqua and Sean Gismonte, two low-level associates dissatisfied with their perceived lack of success in the Soprano crew, try to make a name for themselves by attempting to kill Christopher. Their plan backfires; Christopher kills Sean and though critically wounded, survives their attack. Tony and Big Pussy locate Matthew and assassinate him. However, a witness goes to the FBI and identifies Tony.
Junior is placed under house arrest as he awaits trial. Richie, frustrated with Tony's authority over him, entreats Junior to have Tony killed. Junior feigns interest, then informs Tony of Richie's intentions, leaving Tony with another problem to address. However, the situation is defused unexpectedly when Janice kills Richie in a violent argument; Tony and his men conceal all evidence of the murder, and Janice returns to Seattle.
Tony, realizing Big Pussy is an FBI informant, murders him on board a boat (with assistance from Silvio Dante and Paulie Gualtieri), then wraps his corpse in chains and throws it overboard.
Season 3
The third season marks the return of the ambitious Ralph Cifaretto following the "disappearance" of Aprile Crew capo Richie Aprile after spending an extended period of leisure time in Miami, Florida. He renews a relationship with Rosalie Aprile, the widow of the deceased mobster Jackie Aprile, Sr., and former capo of the Aprile Crew, which bears his name. With Richie assumed to have joined the Witness Protection Program, Ralph unofficially usurps control over the Aprile Crew, proving to be an exceptionally dexterous earner for the crew. While Ralph's competitive merit would seemingly have him next in line to ascend to capo, his insubordination inclines Tony not to promote him and instead gives the promotion to the unqualified, but complacent, Gigi Cestone, causing much resentment and tension between him and Ralph. Livia dies of a stroke.
Jackie Aprile, Jr. becomes involved with Meadow and then descends into a downward spiral of recklessness, drugs and crime. Tony initially attempts to act as a mentor to Jackie but becomes increasingly impatient with his escalating misbehavior, particularly as Jackie's relationship with Meadow begins to become serious. Inspired by a story from Ralph about how Tony, Jackie Sr., and Silvio Dante got made, Jackie and his friends Dino Zerilli and Carlo Renzi make a similar move and attempt to rob Eugene Pontecorvo's Saturday night card game, so they can gain recognition from the family, possibly getting them respected and made as well. The plan takes a turn for the worse when Jackie panics due to the heckling of the card dealer "Sunshine" and shoots him to death. Dino and Carlo are killed during the robbery, but Jackie manages to escape. Tony decides to give Ralph the decision regarding Jackie Jr.'s punishment. Despite his role as a surrogate father, Ralph decides to have Jackie Jr. killed.
Ralph ultimately crosses the line when, in a cocaine-induced rage, he gets into a confrontation with girlfriend, Tracee and beats her to death. She may have been pregnant with his child at the time. This infuriates Tony to the point where he violates traditional Mafia code by striking him repeatedly in front of the entire family. Bad blood temporarily surfaces between the two but is shortly resolved after Gigi Cestone dies of an aneurysm, thereby forcing Tony to reluctantly promote Ralph to capo.
Tony begins an affair with Gloria Trillo, who is also a patient of Dr. Melfi. Their relationship is brief and tumultuous. Meanwhile, Dr. Melfi is raped. Junior is diagnosed with stomach cancer; following chemotherapy, it goes into remission. A.J. continues to get in trouble at school, despite success on the football team. This culminates in his expulsion.
Season 4
In the fourth season, Tony and Christopher stake out the retirement party of Detective Lieutenant Barry Haydu, the man who murdered Christopher's father. Tony gives Christopher Haydu's address. When Christopher asks why he had been allowed to live all these years, Tony says that he had been valuable, but that he has outlived his worth. Christopher waits inside Haydu's home and ambushes him as he returns from his party. Haydu vehemently denies murdering Christopher's father, but struggles to get away, yelling "I'm sorry!" when Christopher goes to shoot him.
New York underboss Johnny Sack becomes enraged after learning Ralph Cifaretto made an inappropriate joke about his wife's weight. He seeks permission from boss Carmine Lupertazzi to have Ralph clipped, but is denied. Johnny orders the hit anyway. Tony receives the okay from Carmine to hit Johnny Sack for insubordination. Junior Soprano tips Tony to use an old outfit in Providence for the work. After catching his wife eating sweets secretly, instead of following the diet plan, Johnny Sack gives in, and bloodshed is averted.
Tony and Ralph invest in a race horse named Pie-O-My, who wins several races and makes them both a great deal of money. However, when Ralph's 12-year old son Justin is severely injured when an arrow plunges into his chest, Tony comes to believe Ralph burned Pie-O-My in a stable fire to collect $200,000 in insurance money. Tony confronts Ralph the following morning and Ralph denies setting the fire. The two engage in a violent brawl, culminating in Tony strangling Ralph to death. Tony and Christopher dispose of the body; they bury his head and hands at Mikey Palmice's father's farm and throw his body into a quarry.
While he is leaving court, Uncle Junior is hit in the head with a boom mic and falls down several steps. Tony advises him to take advantage of the opportunity, act mentally incompetent, and employ it as a ruse for not continuing the trial. Later, Eugene Pontecorvo intimidates a juror, resulting in a deadlocked jury, forcing the judge to declare a mistrial.
Following the death of Bobby Baccalieri's wife, Janice pursues a romantic relationship with him. Christopher's addiction to heroin deepens, prompting his associates and family to organize an intervention, after which he enters a drug rehabilitation center. Adriana befriends a woman who is an undercover FBI agent. When the friendship ends, the woman reveals herself as an FBI agent and tells Adriana the only way to stay out of prison is to become an informant. Adriana agrees and starts sharing information with the FBI.
Carmela, whose relationship with Tony is tense due to financial worries and Tony's infidelities, develops a mutual infatuation with Furio Giunta. Furio, incapable of breaking his own moral codes and that of the Sicilian mafia, clandestinely returns home to Italy. After Tony's former mistress calls their home, Carmela throws Tony out. Tony is approached by Johnny Sack with a proposal to murder Carmine, which Tony turns down.
Season 5
In the fifth season, a string of brand new characters are introduced to the show, including Tony's cousin Tony Blundetto, who along with other mafiosos are released from prison simultaneously. Among the others released are former DiMeo Crime Family capo Michele "Feech" La Manna, Lupertazzi family capo Phil Leotardo, and semi-retired Lupertazzi consigliere Angelo Garepe. Tony offers Tony B. a job, but he respectfully declines, as he is determined to lead a straight life. He initially begins to take courses to earn a degree in massage therapy and aspires to open up his own massage parlor. After Carmine Lupertazzi dies of a stroke, his death leaves a vacancy for boss of the Lupertazzi Family, which will soon be fought over by underboss Johnny Sack and Carmine's son Carmine Lupertazzi, Jr.. After Feech proves to be an insubordinate presence, Tony arranges for him to be sent back to prison by setting him up with stolen property, violating his parole.
The war between Johnny Sack and Carmine, Jr. begins when Johnny has Phil kill "lady shylock" Lorraine Calluzzo. Tony B.'s attempt to stay straight comes to a head when he gets into a brawl with his employer Sungyon Kim. Tony informs Tony B. that "it's hard working with strangers." Angelo, who was a good friend to Tony B. in prison, and Lupertazzi capo Rusty Millio offer Tony B. the job of taking out Joey Peeps in retaliation for Lorraine's death. Tony B. initially declines but, desperate to earn, accepts the job. He catches Joey outside a bordello, shoots him, and quickly flees the scene. Johnny believes Tony B. is involved, and retaliates by having Phil and his brother Billy Leotardo kill Angelo. Tony B. finds the Leotardo brothers and opens fire, killing Billy and wounding Phil.
Still separated from Carmela, Tony is living at his parents' house. Carmela, now the sole authority figure in the home, becomes frustrated as her rules lead A.J. to resent her; eventually she allows him to live with his father. She has a brief relationship with Robert Wegler, A.J.'s guidance counselor; he breaks it off abruptly when he suspects that she is manipulating him to improve A.J.'s grades. Tony and Carmela reconcile; Tony promises to be more loyal and agrees to pay for a piece of real estate Carmela wishes to develop.
Tony gets Meadow's boyfriend Finn De Trolio a summer job at a construction site, which is run by Aprile Crew capo Vito Spatafore. Finn comes in early one morning and catches Vito performing fellatio on a security guard. Vito tries to buddy up to Finn so that he does not say anything to anybody else. He even asks Finn to a Yankees game, which Finn does not attend. Finn soon quits the job out of fear.
After covering up a murder that occurred at The Crazy Horse, Adriana is arrested and pressured by the F.B.I. to wear a wire to avoid being charged as an accomplice. She refuses to wear a wire and informs the F.B.I. that she may be able to persuade her fiancé Christopher to co-operate and become an informant against Tony. She confesses to Christopher that she has been informing and that the F.B.I. would give them new identities if they would testify. Christopher is grief-stricken and nearly kills her. He leaves the apartment, saying he needs time to think. Tony has Silvio pick up Adriana under the pretense of taking her to see Christopher, but instead drives her out to the woods and executes her. Adriana’s betrayal and subsequent execution is too much for Christopher to handle and he briefly returns to drug abuse to deal with the pain.
Phil Leotardo and his henchmen beat Benny Fazio while trying to acquire the whereabouts of Tony B.; Phil also threatens to have Christopher taken out if Tony B.'s whereabouts are not disclosed soon. To avoid any more of his guys getting hurt and to pacify New York, Tony tracks Tony B. to their Uncle Pat's farm and shoots him. Phil, however, is furious that he did not get the opportunity to do it himself. Tony and Johnny meet at Johnny's house in a reconciliatory manner, but Johnny is arrested by Federal agents, while Tony escapes.
Season 6
At the beginning of the sixth season, Tony is shot by the now senile and confused Uncle Junior. Rendered comatose, Tony dreams he is a salesman on a business trip, where he mistakenly exchanges his briefcase and identification with a man named Kevin Finnerty. Tony's recovery from the shooting changes his outlook, and he tries to mend his ways. However, he is faced with more problems in his business life.
Once out of the hospital, Johnny Sack's daughter gets married and the Soprano family attends. There, Tony is shown very exhausted and through security must take off his shoes. In the process he collapses to the ground, but is not hurt. Before the wedding Johnny Sack is approved to leave prison for six hours to see his daughter get married and that he has to pay for the metal detectors and the presence of the U.S. marshals at the event. As his daughter is about to drive away the SUV that was escorting Johnny to the wedding blocks the car from leaving and an altercation begins in the driveway. In a moment of weakness and despair Johnny Sack cries as he is put back into handcuffs and driven back to prison, greatly diminishing the respect his crew and Tony's crew have for him.
Vito Spatafore is outed as homosexual after running into a friend at a New York night club. The rumor spreads quickly, and once word gets to Meadow that everyone else knows, she tells Tony and Carmela about the incident between Finn and Vito with the security guard. Finn then has to sit in front of Tony's entire crew and tell them what happened with the guard, solidifying their thoughts on Vito's sexuality. Tony is urged to deal with the problem by Phil Leotardo, now acting boss of New York with Johnny Sack in prison. Once Vito is outed, he runs away from the city and hides out in a New Hampshire town where he claims to be writing a book and meets with the locals. Vito also starts a romantic relationship with a male cook at a local diner. Eventually, Vito returns to New Jersey and asks Tony to allow him to return to work, albeit in Atlantic City. He continues to maintain that he is not a homosexual. Tony mulls over the decision to let him work, as well as whether to let him live. When Tony fails to act, Phil intervenes and kills Spatafore. When one of the members of the New York family, Fat Dom Gamiello, pays a visit to the Jersey office and won't stop making jokes about Vito and his death, the two members of Tony's crime family who are present kill Fat Dom out of anger at the disrespect he has shown. Once more, it appears that the families are on the verge of all-out war.
During the first half of the season Chris and Carmine head to Los Angeles to try to sign Ben Kingsley for a film they are trying to make called Cleaver, which is basically a mix of The Godfather and Saw. But Kingsley passes on the picture. While in Los Angeles Chris goes back to using cocaine for a short period of time.
Tony considers killing several of his associates for relatively minor infractions. Christopher is unable to leave the mob, deflecting his problems by relapsing into drug addiction and kills his friend from Narcotics Anonymous, J. T. Dolan. He is then seriously injured in a car accident while driving under the influence of narcotics. Tony, the sole passenger, is not badly hurt, and suffocates Christopher to death. A.J. is dumped by his fiancée and slips into depression, culminating in a failed suicide attempt in the backyard pool. Dr. Melfi is convinced by friends that Tony is making no progress and may even be using talking therapy for his own sociopathic benefit. She drops him as a patient.
Johnny Sack dies from lung cancer while imprisoned, and Leotardo then consolidates his position in the Lupertazzi family by having his rivals for the leadership killed. Phil then officially takes over, igniting a resumption of the past feud with Tony and refusing to compromise with Tony on a garbage deal. When Tony assaults a Lupertazzi soldier for harassing Meadow while she is on a date, Phil decides it's time to decapitate the Soprano crew. He orders the executions of Bobby Baccalieri, who is shot to death; Silvio, who ends up comatose; and Tony, who goes into hiding. A deal is brokered whereby the rest of the Lupertazzi family agrees to ignore the order to kill Tony, giving Tony an opportunity to go after Phil. An FBI agent informs Tony of Phil's location, allowing Tony to have him killed. Tony suspects that Carlo, a capo from New Jersey, has become an informant in an attempt to help out his son, who has recently been caught for dealing ecstasy. Tony meets with his lawyer, who informs him that subpoenas are being given to New Jersey and New York crews alike. Sometime after Phil's death and a meeting with everyone, Tony, Carmela, and AJ meet for dinner, while the Journey song "Don't Stop Believin'" plays in the background. At this time, several individuals become apparent that seem out of place for the venue. Three individuals enter and are specifically focused upon during entry. Meadow is shown coming to the dinner late and crossing the street as the rest of the family starts to eat an appetizer. An individual that had been previously shown at the counter specifically taking notice of Tony, is shown entering the restroom, the door of which is directly facing, (and approximately 90 degrees to), the table at which Tony and his family are sitting. As Meadow walks up to the door, the screen goes to Tony. The diner door opens with a bell ringing, Tony looks up and the show smash cuts to black and after a few seconds the credits roll in silence.
Chase's decision to end the last episode abruptly with just a black screen was controversial. While Chase has insisted that it was not his intention to stir controversy, the ambiguity over the ending and question of whether Tony was murdered has continued for years after the finale's original broadcast and has spawned numerous websites devoted to finding out his true intention.[109][110][111]
Reception and impact
Ratings
The Sopranos was a major ratings success. Despite being aired on premium cable network HBO, which is available in significantly fewer American homes than regular networks, the show frequently attracted equal or larger audiences than most popular network shows of the time.[112] Nielsen ratings for the show's first four seasons are not entirely accurate, however, as prior to January 2004 Nielsen reported aggregate numbers for cable networks, meaning people watching other HBO channels than the main one, on which The Sopranos aired, would be included in the ratings estimates.[113]
| Season |
Originally aired |
Nielsen ratings (in millions) |
Time |
| Season premiere |
Season finale |
Season average |
| 1 |
January 10, 1999 – April 4, 1999 |
3.45[114] |
5.22[114] |
3.46[115] |
9:00 PM |
| 2 |
January 16, 2000 – April 9, 2000 |
7.64[114] |
8.97[114] |
6.62[115] |
9:00 PM |
| 3 |
March 4, 2001 – May 20, 2001 |
11.26[114] |
9.46[114] |
8.87[115] |
9:00 PM |
| 4 |
September 15, 2002 – December 8, 2002 |
13.43[114] |
12.48[114] |
10.99[115] |
9:00 PM |
| 5 |
March 7, 2004 – June 6, 2004 |
12.14[114] |
10.98[114] |
9.80[115] |
9:00 PM |
| 6 (Part 1) |
March 12, 2006 – June 4, 2006 |
9.47[114] |
8.90[116] |
8.60[116] |
9:00 PM |
| 6 (Part 2) |
April 8, 2007 – June 10, 2007 |
7.66[117] |
11.90[118] |
8.23[115] |
9:00 PM |
Critical response
Many critics have asserted that The Sopranos is the greatest and most groundbreaking television series of all time.[2][3][4][30][119][120][121][122] The writing, acting, and directing have often been singled out for praise. The show has also received considerable attention from critics and journalists for its mature and artistic content, technical merit, music selections, cinematography, and willingness to deal with difficult and controversial subjects including crime, gender roles, family, and American and Italian American culture.[62][121][122] The Sopranos is credited for creating a new era in the mafia genre deviating from the traditional dramatized image of the gangster in favor of a simpler, more accurate reflection of mob life.[123] The series sheds light on Italian family dynamics through the depiction of Tony’s tumultuous relationship with his mother.[124] Edie Falco’s character Carmela Soprano is praised in Kristyn Gorton's essay "Why I Love Carmela Soprano" for challenging Italian-American gender roles.[125] The New Yorker writer, David Remnick, stated in his 2006 article "Family Guy", The Sopranos mirror the "mindless commerce and consumption" of modern America.[126]
The Sopranos has been called "perhaps the greatest pop-culture masterpiece of its day" by Vanity Fair contributor Peter Biskind.[14] The New Yorker editor David Remnick called the show "the richest achievement in the history of television."[127] In 2002, TV Guide ranked The Sopranos fifth on their list of the "Top 50 TV Shows of All Time,"[128] while the series was only in its fourth season. In 2007, Channel 4 (UK) named The Sopranos the greatest television series of all time.[129]
The first season of the series received overwhelmingly positive reviews.[130] Following its initial airing in 1999, The New York Times stated, "[The Sopranos] just may be the greatest work of American popular culture of the last quarter century."[19] In 2007, Roger Holland of PopMatters wrote, "the debut season of The Sopranos remains the crowning achievement of American television."[131]
Time Out New York 's Andrew Johnston had high praise for the series, stating: "Together, Chase and his fellow writers (including Terence Winter and Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner) produced the legendary Great American Novel, and it’s 86 episodes long."[132] Johnston asserted the preeminence of The Sopranos as opposed to Deadwood and The Wire in a debate with critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz.[133][134]
In November and December 2009, a large number of television critics named The Sopranos the best series of the decade and all time in articles summarizing the decade in television. In numbered lists over the best television programs, The Sopranos frequently ranked first or second, almost always competing with The Wire.[122] In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Sopranos No. 2 in its list of The 60 Greatest Dramas of All Time,[135] In the same year, the Writers Guild of America named it the best-written television series of all time.[136]
Certain episodes have frequently been singled out by critics as the show's best. These include the pilot, titled "The Sopranos", "College" and "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano" of the first season; "The Knight in White Satin Armor" and "Funhouse" of the second; "Employee of the Month", "Pine Barrens" and "Amour Fou" of the third; "Whoever Did This" and "Whitecaps" of the fourth; "Irregular Around the Margins" and "Long Term Parking" of the fifth and "Members Only", "Join the Club", "Kennedy and Heidi", "The Second Coming" and "The Blue Comet" of the sixth season.[137][138][139][140][141][142]
The program has not been without a critic, however. Humanities professor Camille Paglia, herself Italian-American, has spoken negatively about The Sopranos, arguing that its depiction of Italian-Americans was inaccurate, inauthentic and dated.[143]
Awards
The Sopranos won and was nominated for a large number of awards over the course of its original broadcast. It was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series in every year it was eligible, and is the first cable TV series to receive a nomination for the award. After being nominated for and losing the award in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2003 (losing the first time to The Practice, and the last three to The West Wing), The Sopranos won the award in 2004, and again in 2007. Its 2004 win made The Sopranos the first series on a cable network to win the award,[144] while its 2007 win made the show the first drama series since Upstairs, Downstairs in 1977 to win the award after it had finished airing.[145] The show earned 21 nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and won the award six times, with creator David Chase receiving three awards.[146]
The Sopranos won at least one Emmy Award for acting in every eligible year except 2006 and 2007. James Gandolfini and Edie Falco were each nominated six times for Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress, respectively, both winning a total of three awards. Joe Pantoliano won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 2003, and Michael Imperioli and Drea de Matteo also won Emmys in 2004 for their supporting roles on the show. Other actors who have received Emmy nominations for the series include Lorraine Bracco (in the Lead Actress and Supporting Actress categories), Dominic Chianese, Nancy Marchand, Aida Turturro, Steve Buscemi (who was also nominated for directing the episode "Pine Barrens"), Tim Daly, John Heard and Annabella Sciorra.[146]
In 2000 and 2001, The Sopranos earned two consecutive George Foster Peabody Awards. Only two other series have won the award in consecutive years: Northern Exposure and The West Wing.[147][148] The show also received numerous nominations at the Golden Globe Awards (winning the award for Best Drama Series in 2000)[149] and the major guild awards (Directors,[150] Producers,[151] Writers,[152] and Actors[153]).
Influence on television industry
The Sopranos had a significant impact on the shape of the American television industry. It has been characterized by critics as one of the most influential artistic works of the 2000s (decade) and is credited with allowing other drama series with similarly mature content to achieve mainstream recognition. It has also often been cited as one of the television series that helped turn serial television into a legitimate art form on the same level as feature films, literature and theater.[61][121][154] TIME editor James Poniewozik wrote in 2007, "This mafia saga showed just how complex and involving TV storytelling could be, inspiring an explosion of ambitious dramas on cable and off."[121] Also in 2007, Maureen Ryan of PopMatters described The Sopranos as "the most influential television drama ever" and wrote "No one-hour drama series has had a bigger impact on how stories are told on the small screen, or more influence on what kind of fare we’ve been offered by an ever-growing array of television networks."[61] Hal Boedeker, also writing for PopMatters in 2007, stated that the series was "widely influential for revealing that cable would accommodate complex series about dark characters. The Sopranos ushered in Six Feet Under, The Shield, Rescue Me and Big Love."[154]
The series helped establish HBO as producers of critically acclaimed and commercially successful original television series. Michael Flaherty of The Hollywood Reporter has stated that The Sopranos "helped launch [HBO's] reputation as a destination for talent looking for cutting-edge original series work."[30]
Depiction of stereotypes
The show has been frequently criticized for allegedly perpetuating negative stereotypes about Italian Americans. In 2000, Essex County officials denied producers permission to film on county-owned property, arguing that the show depicts Italian Americans in a "less than favorable light."[155] Despite the controversy, Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind found, in an August 2001 national survey, that 65% of Americans disagreed with the notion that the show was "portraying Italian Americans in a negative way."[156] The PublicMind's "New Jersey and The Sopranos: Perfect Together?" survey was referenced in a 2002 episode entitled "Christopher" that addressed the topic of Italian American identity in the context of Newark's annual Columbus Day parade.[157] Later that year, Sopranos cast members were barred by parade organizers from participating in the real-life event.[158] At the end of the series the PublicMind again asked the American public about their opinions on the series. Similar to the 2001 results, 61% of Americans disagreed with the idea that The Sopranos portrayed Italian Americans in a negative light.[159] The PublicMind also found, in their 2001 poll, that viewers of The Sopranos were more likely to see New Jersey in a more negative light than people who did not watch the show.[160]
Chase has defended his show, saying that it is not meant to stereotype all Italian Americans, only to depict a small criminal subculture.[161]
DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases
All six seasons were released as DVD box sets, with the final season released in two parts; two different versions of the complete series were also released.
In addition, the first season and the sixth season (both parts 1 and 2) were also released on Blu-ray Disc.[162]
| Season |
Release dates |
Episodes |
Special features |
Discs |
| Region 1 |
Region 2 |
Region 4 |
| 1 |
December 12, 2000 |
November 24, 2003 |
November 24, 2003 |
13 |
- A 77-minute interview with series creator David Chase, conducted by film historian and director Peter Bogdanovich.
- "Family Life" featurette.
- "Meet Tony Soprano" featurette.
- One audio commentary by David Chase and Peter Bogdanovich for the pilot episode, "The Sopranos".[163]
|
4 |
| 2 |
November 6, 2001 |
November 24, 2003 |
November 24, 2003 |
13 |
|
| 3 |
August 27, 2002 |
November 24, 2003 |
November 24, 2003 |
13 |
|
| 4 |
October 28, 2003 |
November 3, 2003 |
November 3, 2003 |
13 |
|
| 5 |
June 7, 2005 |
June 20, 2005 |
August 17, 2005 |
13 |
|
6
(Part 1) |
November 7, 2006 |
November 27, 2006 |
March 7, 2007 |
12 |
|
6
(Part 2) |
October 23, 2007 |
November 19, 2007 |
January 31, 2008 |
9 |
|
Complete HBO
Seasons 1–6
Box set |
N/A |
November 19, 2007 |
|
86 |
- Collects the previously released box-sets.
|
28 |
Complete Series –
Deluxe Edition |
November 11, 2008 |
November 24, 2008 |
|
86 |
- Includes all special features from the previously released box-sets.
- Never before seen scenes from all six seasons.
- Exclusive interviews with David Chase conducted by actor Alec Baldwin.
- Supper with The Sopranos: Two sit-down dinners with the cast and crew of the show as they discuss the series finale.
- Lost scenes from all six seasons of The Sopranos.
- Panel Center Seminar: Discussions featuring "whacked" characters.
- Extra Gravy: Spoofs and Parodies, including The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live.
|
30 |
| Author: | Bling King |
| Published: | Aug 13th 2013 |
| Modified: | Aug 13th 2013 |