The Sopranos Marathon on HBO

Oops. Uncle Joon is still alive. Sorry

One of the side characters became a heroin addict and went to prison. Matt Belavequa or Delevaca or whatever last name that was

I think both of the actors who played Carmela's parents died.

Frank Vincent, aka Phil Leotardo (Billy Batts in Goodfellas died

Lillo Brancato went to jail IRL and so did Tony Darrow who played Larry Boy Barese & was the restaurant owner Sonny Bunz in Goodfellas

R3 The actress who played Carmela's mom is still alive I think. She was just in a movie with Michelle Pfeiffer, "Where is Kyra?"

Tony Darrow was convicted of extortion. He only spent a small amount of time in jail & then was under house arrest for 6 months.

Lillo Brancato was involved in a robbery during which an off duty police officer was killed. I think he got ten years

John Heard, who played the crooked cop who jumped if the bridge died last year

Just watched the first season. Gandolfini was good, as was Falco. But it’s really writing and storyline.

Livia is a more murderous version of my mother - a depressing insight.

Michael Imperioli was so hot in the first few seasons of this show.

[quote]And Johnny Sac is a deplorable now IRL, so he’s dead to me.

Never heard this. What's the story, r9?

Uncle Junior is alive and looking very well for 87 years old.

R10, a Deplorable is somebody who supports Donald Trump.

Johnny Sac (Vincent Curatola) is on Twitter bashing dems & praising Trump all the time

Whoever didn't let Cream finish "I Feel Free" at the end of S1 Ep 12 should be whacked a

Vincent Curatola's (who played Johnny Sack) Twitter account is full of Trump-related stuff:

I was watching Goodfellas and looked on IMDb and the girl who played Henry Hill's girlfriend Janice ("Janice Rossi! You have a whore named JANICE ROSSI living here") and the guy who played Tuddy are dead. I liked Tuddy

Off topic but what's this #KAG hashtag all about?

I loved this show, especially the first few seasons. Thanks for the heads up. I'm off to IMBD to read up on the cast.

I don't get it. How is there a marathon? Isn't The Sopranos always available on HBO?

It always has been when I've subscribed, on and off.

What am I missing?

The episodes are airing live right now on HBO, in order, R17. Currently episode 13 of season one.

Kind of incredible that Bracco didn't get an Emmy for this show.

The actress who played Carmela's mother played Lorraine Bracco's mother in Goodfellas ("The man hasn't digested a decent meal in 6 weeks!")

R18 Bracco should've won for season 3. Falco didn't need to win that year. Then again if Bracco went supporting from the beginning like she should've, she probably would've won a couple Emmys.

Thanks, R18. I guess it looks different on my system because I don't have cable and just subscribe to HBO Now.

Robert Loggia, who played Feech LaManna, died a few years back. I remember when he was T.H.E. Cat

Joe Santos died. He played Angelo Garepe and was the cop on The Rockford Files

It's been a long time since I heard "All due respect" said so frequently as on the show

I am about to stop following Sepinwall on Twitter, all he talks about is that damn Sopranos book he worked on. I love the show but he is milking it to death.

What is Jackie Jr. up to these days?

Season 2 tomorrow

Who do you think you are, OP? Sir Walter Raleigh?

What a great show. Those first four seasons are the best television ever created. Other than the Golden Girls, of course.

Am I alone in not liking season 2 all that much? It's not bad, but it's the one that I'm probably least interested in re-watching (again).

Yes. Season 2 is amazing. It’s when Gandolfini really found his footing as Tony Soprano. And how can you not love the introduction of Richie Aprile?

That's enough of you and your stupid fucking remarks, R28! ! Go back to Miami and play volleyball, or whatever the fuck it is you do down there, while we clean your messes. Maybe keep your ass alive

This marathon goes right from episode to episode leaving no room for bathroom breaks. And it’s not like you can hit the pause button.

Season 2 also gave us the young hottie Chris Tardio.

Suzanne Shepherd who played Carmela’s mom played the main receptionist at Trask Industries.

IMO, The Sopranos became really good beginning with Season 3. Seasons 1 and 2 were OK.

As much as I like Lorraine Bracco, I never bought her as a psychiatrist. Also, the psychiatrist-patient thing was too much of an obvious tool for exposition of Tony's character. I also didn't like any of the dream sequences.

I did like Season 4, with all the hilarious interaction between Carmela and Furio. YMMV.

Some favorite episodes: Pine Barrens (Season 3) and Soprano Home Movies (Lake House, Season 6) with the epic fight between Tony and Bobby Baccala.

The Poo Ass! Ha ha ha. Good old Jackie Jr!

I changed the channel when the episode came on where ralphie kills the dancer. No way I was going to sit through that again.

Back when I first watched the series (when it aired) I never used CC. Now I have CC on all the time because of the love UK actors have for their local accents. I never realized the opening song lyrics were “woke up this morning, you got a blue moon in your eyes.” I thought it was something like “woke up...with a boom boom in your eye.”

Butchie is the Don Killer. Had Tony clipped for how Phil was handled.

I was really high last night watching the Pine Barrens episode and woke everyone in the house with my laughter.

"You're not gonna believe this. He killed 16 Czechoslovakians. Guy was an interior decorator."

"His house looked like shit!"

———

“Russians aren’t all bad.”

“What about the Cuban Missile crisis? Those cocksuckers moved nuclear warheads into Cuba and pointed them right at us”

‘That was real? I saw that movie. I thought it was bullshit.”

———-

“We should’ve stopped at Roy Rogers!”

“Yean, and I should’ve fucked Dale Evans but I didn’t.”

——-

“Fuck you, Paulie. Captain or no captain, right now were just two assholes lost in the woods.”

“Universal remote—you probably wiped your ass bare-handed before you came to this country.”

So many memorable characters in this series. But Gloria Trilllo is the one that does it for me. Just a bad ass, sexy, independent woman. Bonkers but she doesn't back down.

Loved Gloria as well. They even used Van Morrison's "Gloria" for her during an episode. Annabella Sciorra was offered the role of Dr. Melfi but turned it down.

She had bigger fish to fry.

One of my favourite scenes from the show. Livia Soprano goes for the jugular in this scene and tries to have her son clipped.

Finally a movie:

Tony Soprano lives! Well, kind of.

No, Chase isn’t going to reveal the true ending of “The Sopranos,” saying what happened after the infamous cut to black. No, what he revealed is that Tony Soprano is going to be featured quite heavily in the upcoming prequel, albeit a much younger version of the future crime boss.

Gloria Trillo was lame. A real loser. She thought she was tough, but she sure did get the piss scared out of her once Tony knew she was bothering Carmela. Suicide. Choice of the weak. Adriana La Cerva. Now there was a strong woman.

I’m not watching the eps where Ralphie plays a large part. Had enough of him the first time around.

But I did watch long enough to hear Father Phil quote “Sympathy for the Devil” to Ralphie. Pretty apt.

Yeah Gloria sucked. And Ralphie was a good character.

Gloria is also unlike anyone we’ve known. Her independence sets her apart from the others. She comes to depend on Tony physically and emotionally, but she doesn’t need him to empty his wallet for her.

Tony is used to being paired with “gold diggers”; women who are perceived as slightly beneath him socially and economically, who crave the attention and excitement of a relationship with an older man with means. Even Carmela has been accused of being a gold digger, something she muses over when she tells Melfi that he lavished gifts upon her family on the second date: “The minute I met Tony, I knew who that guy was. … I don’t know if I loved him in spite of it, or because of it.”

We may be able to accuse Carmela of being naive or sheltered, at least at one point, but these terms definitely do not apply to Gloria. Gloria is fairly equal in wealth and status. She’s only about five years younger, narrowing the usual age gap significantly. She probably doesn’t have a secret money stash in her backyard bird-feeder, but she does work at a Mercedes dealership, and can afford some luxuries. Her home is a small, modest fit for a sometimes-single woman. She already has the means to wear leather head-to-toe, and vacation solo in Morocco. She has her own ambition. She doesn’t need Tony’s money. In fact, she buys him a gift first… the one that he throws out the window in “Amour Fou.” Slighted by his no-show at dinner in “Pine Barrens”, she tells him he can’t just treat her the way that she does because he bought her a “fucking gaudy ring.” Her affection cannot be bought.

This is not to say Gloria doesn’t love the chase. She knows she’s in a relationship with a married man who has children. I will always love her reaction when Tony storms into the dealership after finding out she gave a ride to Carmela. He drags her into the office, grabs her by the throat, and pushes her against the wall. She licks her lips with a gleam in her eye, turned on by his aggression. I think she is at first expecting a quickie like they had in the zoo. Once she sees that he’s angry, she realizes why he is there, and you realize that was what she wanted all along.

Livia was so friggin awesome! God - there has never been a better character in any show that perfectly represents the bitch-mother prototype who plays the victim. Such a great character - played to perfection by Marchand. Rest In Peace. I love every scene she is in. Brilliantly written and acted.

I have original release of the series' box set.

Jealous, Bitches?

Their goomars were all ridiculously hot. Which is so not realistic.

That episode "Whoever did This" has a lot of Sympathy for the Devil references. Ralphiie says to his son's surgeon, "Please allow me to introduce myself." Ralphie also says, "Pleased to meet you" to Father Phil. At one point Tony says about Ralphie "A little fucking sympathy, huh?"

Here's a mash up of the Sopranos singing Sympathy for the Devil

Seeing Ralph die never gets old. A piece of shit among pieces of shit.

Interesting Jan. 7th interview with David Chase.

Cunnilingus and psychiatry brought us to this.

I have not watched it since it originally aired but I remember what shocked me back then was Janice using a gun during sex with Richie Aprile and then she ends up shooting him. I loved to hate Janice, she was a total bitch but was interesting. Like when she terrifies Bobby's kids with the Ouija board.

Once again I get to marvel at how many young hot women want to fuck that fat, sweaty slob

They know money and power when they see it. That gold Rolex President alone can get you all the pussy you want.

No, you get skanks. Mafia girlfriend's are like the groupies who blow the roadies to a cover band. The Bada Bing strippers were unrealistically pretty and fresh too.

The saddest scene of the series for me. She should have won that Emmy

I stumbled on the marathon on Saturday but missed the initial episode.

Loving the long nails on the women and extra flared trousers on the men. Watching Tony make calls from pay phones on Rt 3 or 17 is cracking me up. And everyone has a flip phone. Not an iPhone to be seen.

Isn’t it funny that life on earth existed before 2007, R63?

I had all the old Motorola flip phones Tony did. StarTac, V60, T720, Razr. I’m sure they were the work of product placement. Nokia sold the most phones but Motorola had all the style and pizzazz. They were going at it like two heavyweight boxers, and the Razr was a sharp blow that caught Nokia flat footed but the fight went on as the Razr wasn’t too radical of a deviation from the norm. Motorola was selling hundreds of millions of the things all around the world however; they couldn’t make ‘em fast enough. They even had market share in South Korea all of a sudden and nobody could crack South Korea. Then Steve Jobs walked onto that Macworld stage in January 2007 and knocked ‘em both out. They never saw it coming. Overnight Motorola went from the hottest phone company to losing billions and getting bought by the friggin Chinese.

R62, she DID win that Emmy. Both she and Christopher deservedly won that year.

Christophuh.

Just bought the whole series on iTunes for $48.99. The box set and individual seasons are all on sale.

Exactly R67. After watching the marathon, that phrase and the way she says it has been stuck in a loop in my mind. As well as her terror when she realizes she’s about to be killed (which I kinda thought she had expected already which is why she was crying the whole ride)

Cast reunited for an hour. Sad.

Why is Lorraine Bracco in the second row of R70's video? She was billed ahead of all of the people in the first row!

Where’s Aida?

Thanks for the link, R70. Yes, it is sad. Man, I still can't believe Gandolfini is dead. He was a truly great actor.

Who is the woman in the purple jacket?

Tony Sirico looks like he’s embalmed in that video. Did he have a stroke or something?

R74 Steven van zandts real wife who had a role on the show.

R45, what's the point of a prequel? Any prequel in fact; we know how the story ends.

Gandolfini gained a lot of weight and lost a lot of hair in the first two seasons.

But he was a very sexy man.

I found the actor who plays the priest to be attractive.

Father Phil and his story line were truly brilliant.

I don't think the actor who played Father Phil ever married.

I think the same is true with the guy who played Furio.

I wonder if Gandolfini would have had a me too moment if he was still alive.

Holy shit, look at Tony Sirico in 1989.

Artie Buco is gay r81

R64, I was born in '62 so I know "life existed before 2007."

I was commenting on how times of changed. No different than when DL'rs comment on phone calls being placed in the '30s and 40s' in old movies. "Murray Hill 5-7721, please." We don't do that anymore, either.

I wonder if Tony Sirico might have Parkinson’s. He’s got that mask face & has difficulty speaking

I’d completely forgotten the final season AJ-a-thon. AJ is a jerk trying to cash in on his dad’s rep. AJ is being taken advantage of by richer kids with better connections. AJ is too dumb and lazy to go to college. Now AJ is depressed and having panic attacks, just like Tony.

Now AJ is an SJW. Now AJ is joining the army so he can learn to be a helicopter pilot & get a job piloting Donald Trump’s helicopter when his tour is up. Now AJ is suicidal. Or homicidal, trying to kill Uncle Joon. Now AJ has a hot model girlfriend.

Somehow....AJ gets a BMW and overnight he leaves behind sadness, depression, suicide, homicide, social justice, the environment, the military. But he keeps the hot model gf.

PS, yes I know his pre-BMW car was destroyed in a fire

I miss Tony!

Tony lives forever.

The show had a lot of problems writing for the women. The psychiatrist's story arc got silly for awhile (being on the lam) and the idea that someone as fuckedup as Peter Bogdanovich could play her mentor was just ridiculous. there also were periods where they didn't seem to know what to do with Carmela, although Edie Falco made the best of it. Thanks heavens that Nancy Marchand died, because they probably would have had endless pointless storylines with her terrorizing Tony. I'm also glad they shipped Janice off to whereever, but they never should have brought her back.

Adriana La Cerva was a well written character. And Drea de Matteo did a great job with it.

The women's roles were interesting in The Sopranos. Janice was a grifting, flakey, murderer. Carmela was a warm-hearted golddigger. I loved Rosie Aprile. Livia, of course, was a backstabbing bitch of a mother.

The problem came with the Meadow and AJ stories. David Chase was scared to make Tony a real bad guy, i.e., someone who did shitty stuff to his kids. Tony always had to be a teddy bear vis-a-vis his kids. I don't think you can compartmentalize behavior as much as what happened in The Sopranos with Tony.

I thought the Meadow and AJ characters were boring and whiney.

I agree, I think that something is going on with Tony Sirico. I hope he's okay.

He'll be dead soon, I'm sure.

R93 - don't forget Johnny Sack's wife

fyi

Thanks, R97. I think Vera Farmiga is a good choice. She was good in Bates Motel. She's also from NJ.

[QUOTE]“The Many Saints of Newark” is set in the 1960s, during the Newark riots and Tony Soprano’s childhood.

There’ll be more N-words in that movie than a Tarantino flick.

[quote] [R93] - don't forget Johnny Sack's wife

I loved the depiction of the relationship between Johnny and Ginny Sack. What WAS the joke Ralph told about Ginny, again?

While watching the original series, I always wished they would show more flashbacks - they did show young Tony and Janice and their parents, "Johnnyboy" and Livia, in that one episode where young Tony faints over the meat. But I always wanted to see how Tony and Carmela met/dated, and how they decided to marry. Hopefully the film will cover all that.

Many Mafia princes and princesses describe such loving and kind relationships with their fathers that they later found it hard to believe they did the things they discovered they did as mob bosses. Not all of them, of course, but many.

[QUOTE]I loved the depiction of the relationship between Johnny and Ginny Sack. What WAS the joke Ralph told about Ginny, again?

He said she had a 90 pound mole removed from her ass.

I think when Johnny Sac confronted Tony (about Ralph's Ginny comment), Tony said, "That's deplorable."

Oh, right, Thanks, r103.

The truth of the storyline lies in the fact that most guys feel like what they do is like Tony Soprano - cruel, emotionless, sociopathic behavior to make a living for their family. Aka, life in corporate America, especially as a CEO.

I watched the entire series three times, including when it first aired. There is such a moody sense of melancholy to the piece as a whole, which probably what is attractive to me.

There is an early episode - perhaps season one? - about that, R106; Tony tries to socialize with Cusamano and his friends.

more fyi

Not to mention all the characters that died IN the show. I was binge watching and it was annoying having to turn the sound up whenever they were just talking, then running in to turn it back down when the bang-bang and swearing started.

Any Sopranos gossip? Here's what I know (I know people who know people):

Gandolfini was a drinking, drugging mess. He went on a few near-death binges, one that shut down filming for a few days. That's common knowledge I guess.

The guy who played Furio was a pain in the ass. He made demands and was supposedly leaking storylines. That's why his storyline with Carmela ended with a whimper rather than a bang-bang-bang. One day, he just went back to Italy, had a small scene where he discussed her and he was done).

Lorraine Bracco is the exact opposite of Dr. Melfi (whereas Tony Sirico basically is Paulie Walnuts). She'd occasionally forget her panties and flash her beave at Gandolfini and crew.

The chick who played Tony's first Russian girlfriend didn't like doing love scenes with him because she thought he smelled.

Michael Imperioli hung out with Gandolfini a lot. Started partying and doing a fair amount of blow. Seems like he's settled back down now.

Joe Gannascoli, the guy who played Vito rubbed a lot of people the wrong way (wasn't a trained actor and was behaved kinda bush league) but other than that, it seemed like a fairly happy set (although occasionally tense as David Chase could be awfully grim). Most everybody genuinely liked each other and got along well.

I have a real soft spot for THE SOPRANOS because my VERY Catholic parents wanted to watch it and they didn't have HBO at the time. They both loved Mob stories, especially my mother. So I'd tape it for them (on a VCR at the time) and drop the tape off at the house on Monday mornings on my way to work.

After watching the first few episodes, my mother said to me that she could barely bring herself to watch the episodes with my father in the room because she was so HORRIFIED and EMBARRASSED by the language and nudity. "Who TALKS like that?" she'd say - (um, gangsters in New Jersey?) So I said, "So you don't want me to tape it any more?" to which she hurriedly replied, "Oh NO!" They were loyal viewers till the end.

Thanks r111, great gossip.

Oh, and some more Datalounge nuggets about he set of The Sopranos

Jamie Lyn Sigler was pregnant but got an abortion at 4 months so she wouldn’t lose her spot in the show

The guy who played Hesh used to pick his nose & eat it

Frankie Valli was found banging Rosalie Aprile in a catering truck. Everyone was so glad they skipped the fettuccine Alfredo!

Charmaine Bucco has an artificial thigh

Bobby Baccala wouldn’t give back the dildo David Chase gave him for the camouflage scene. Said he “lost it.”;

The actor who played Richie Aprile donned a bear costume one day on a lark so they wrote a Bear into the show

James Gandofini insisted on having a bowl of white Good & Plenty candies in his trailer every day. He thought the pink Good & Plentys were too feminine, so he banned them

R111, thank you for the gossip. Now that you mention it, that was kind of odd (boring) how Furio was written out of the show.

The actor who played Irina (Tony's first Russian girlfriend) was not a great actor, IMO.

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I think the actor who played Big Pussy was not a great actor, either.

I've had a huge crush on JG since I first saw him in a Sopranos promo....

Some JG gossip I've come across over the years.

He managed a club in NYC called Private Eyes that had gay and trans nights.

National Enquirer: The show was filming at a diner and on a break he fucked one of the (real) waitresses.

== You've seen him on TV. You think he's not your type--a tad this size of Sleazeville--and then suddenly you get swept up in that simply studly gaze. Well, this bud booted to Vegas for the weekend, camping in a posh Hard Rock Hotel room. Entered the swank casino solo, met two tasty ladies downstairs and invited them to join him for a more private meeting in his space. While one femme received the full boudoir treatment (pity the inn's housekeepers), her friend just watched the aggressive ac-shun. Good thing the guy's not shy. And confirmation from both babes is that there's little free footage in his shorts. He would've asked the doll duo to hang for the whole night, but--whoops--his devoted lady love was a mere two hours away. Interestingly, he described said amour as "Mexican," which she isn't by any account. Tricky devil, that one. And in case you're reading something into that Mexican comment, no, he's not Benjamin Bratt. Far from it. James Gandolfini

=== Which foppish British actor once watched a connected HBO star shaft his actress girlfriend? Apparently the weighty American actor has an extremely hairy arse-crack.

WHICH newly humiliated actress is not so innocent herself? We hear that while visiting her cheating man on a movie set, she hooked up with his married co-star during an all-night cocaine binge. Jude Law/Sienna Miller

=== This New York based actor blew into town for an awards show and he celebrated in more ways that one. When he wasn't party hopping to toast the success of his show, he spent his time in the company of Hollywood's highest priced hookers. Over the course of a few days he dropped over $20,000 fulfilling his wildest fantasies, such as sharing his bed with three women and being tickled and spanked for being a bad boy! James Gandolfini

=== One of my dearest friends has known him for years (plays, Actors Studio, etc) so I used to see him at all her parties, he'd join us for brunch, etc. One night I was at Rudy's with friends and ran into him. He got all flirty and handsy and come hither to my cave but having heard he was a bit of a dog, I turned him down. Stupid morals.

==== In the wake of the breakup of "Sopranos" star James Gandolfini's marriage, The ENQUIRER has learned that beautiful blonde actress Cynthia DeMoss has told friends she carried on a torrid affair with the actor before he filed for divorce!

..."Cynthia told me she and James Gandolfini met at a neighborhood bar called the Gaslight and he took her to a 'love nest' near the trendy loft in New York City where he lived with his wife and young child," revealed a friend of DeMoss. "She called me the next day to say that they had spent the night together. She said it was sweet, and they cuddled after having sex. Cynthia said it was 'real physical.'" "She described Gandolfini as 'kinky.'"

=== The National Enquirer cites court papers filed in the bitter divorce of Gandolfini and his wife, Marcy, in which she lists "more than two dozen names of those she believes James did drugs with, including a number of 'Sopranos' buddies."

Sheresky didn't dispute the Enquirer's account of what is contained in the court papers. Among Marcy's claims, James: * Would disappear every 10 to 14 days and go on a drug-and-drinking binge during which he would have kinky sex with other women. * Went into rehab at the New Directions clinic upstate in April 2000, but checked out before completing the 28-day program. * Has taken such antidepressants as Wellbutrin and Prozac. * Was arrested Sept. 26, 1997, in Beverly Hills on charges of drunk driving, for which he was fined $2,358 and served three years of probation.

Whoa!

...continued....

His first wife was his assistant who he started banging. "My husband basically wants to be free and have no responsibilities to anyone," she said. "One day, he'll cuddle my face, next he'll tell me I look terrible and I'm fat; a third day, he'll say, 'I know I'm a problem. Don't give up on me.' "He's a man with problems. Through the years, he's wandered away and come back. It's like a love-hate relationship. On a hot day, he loves you; on a cold day, he doesn't. He makes you feel so loved, and then he abuses you psychologically. He tells the audience at the Emmys if not for his wife and child, he'd be nothing. Then he tells me, 'If I stay with you one more day, I'll die of unhappiness.' She also said in her diary that "James would get drunk and make a fist and punch himself repeatedly in the head to see if he could get a reaction from [Marcy] during a quarrel." Marcy said her husband bought a gun for protection while traveling to Harlem to buy drugs.

=== I saw James Gandolfini shopping at the Pleasure Chest in West Hollywood with some bimbo a few years ago.

=== Saw Gandolfini's cock in a men's room at an upscale beef house in NYC. Pissed next to him. Nice, nice guy. Cute too. But his cock couldn't hold a candle to Roberto's. Sorry guys! Followed him in and stood next to him, he was holding it at first so I didn't get that good of a glimpse, but someone walked in and said something to him and he let it go and turned his head to reply. It was a bit darker in color than his skin tone, looked pretty hefty, in girth but not that long. Cut. Looked like the shaft was thicker than the head.

==== Which two household-name actors both bedded students from the same university during the Southern premiere of their disappointing new movie? Jude Law and James

=== Which TV legend likes to play dirty in the bedroom? The larger-than-life fella ties up his conquests with bathrobes - and takes breaks from "satisfying" the girls only to snort piles of coke. James Gandolfini

==== Last, but not least...I was chatting on an Italian webcam site before he died (2011-2'ish) because I love Italian men and I got a message from someone with the screen name TransDomina (which mean dominant tranny). I was on cam showing my face, she wasn't. "She" said she thought I was so hot and asked what kind of guys I like and I said "do you know who James Gandolfini is?" and her reply was "hahahaha." She proceeded to reluctantly tell me over 3 different chats (she didn't want to give details but she really liked me and I pressed her) - she said she met him a party in Rome (I think when Sopranos filmed the Italian episode). She got a call the next day from JG because he told her friend that he thought she was hot and at first he didn't realize she wasn't a real woman. She took him for a tour of Rome (he said "so you have much more than what I knew"), dinner, and then went back to her place where he tried to suck her big dick but she said he was so out of breath that it didn't last long, but she did fuck him and he revealed he was into wearing women's clothes. He tried on her high heels but they didn't fit so she gave him a pair his size as a joke the next day. She revealed other details (non-sexual) to me that made me believe her.

I am revisiting this show now- I really love the 3rd season. Janice was probably the most underrated character on the show- What a MESS. Love Annabella Sciorra as Gloria Trillo- My memory was that she had a much bigger presence than she did! She only appeared in 5-6 episodes!!! She had such an impact in my opinion, I thought she was on for a season and a half! I loved the guy who played Johnny Sac- I thought he was one of the best and (most under appreciated) actors. I was so sad to learn that he is a fucking Trumpster- and a hardcore one.

With the exception of a Law & Order episode, Robert Iler hasn't been in front of a camera in ten years.

Good! He was horrible. As was the girl who played Meadow. Horrible actors. And I will say, Robert did a decent job when the character started suffering from depression late in the series. But neither he or Jamie Lyn or whatever her name is had one iota of charisma. Thats why they do not work. And my god, the guy who played Rosalie's son- Jason Cerbone was a block of wood. A gorgeous block of wood.

I am very surprised that the casting director couldn't do better with the younger actors.

Paulie-

"He killed 16 Czechoslovakians!!"

"He was an interior decorator!!"

Christopher: "Really?, His house looked like shit!!!"

Christopher: "He could be stalking us out here!"

Paulie: "With what! His cock??"

The Pine Barrens has to be one of the most memorable episodes of any series ever aired at lease IMHO.

I grew up with a bitchy whiney matyr mother just like Livia *spits on the bitch’s memory*

Being from an Italian family, I could identify with 90% of the cast. Until the Sopranos came along, I thought we were the only family that called a 60 plus year old man “Junior”

Adrianna’s “Christofuh” is one for the ages.

It is so strange, I am watching Pine Barrens now and I remembered it as a stand alone- like the entire episode was Pine Barrens (similar to David's episode when he was carjacked on SFU) Instead it has some great stuff, including the best scene between Tony and Gloria in the series when he is late for dinner.

It is so hard to believe that this aired BEFORE 9/11. It is amazing to me.

Pine Barrens is one of my favorite episodes. However, one of its subplots involved Meadow (suffering from a cold) and Jackie Aprile, two boring characters. Meadow in full whiney mode. That subplot really detracted from the episode. I fast forward through the Meadow/Jackie scenes when watching.

Another subplot involves the Gloria character, who I like. Tony had to leave Gloria's house because of Christopher and Paulie getting stuck in the woods. That's when Gloria threw the piece of meat at Tony.

Agreed R125, and my opinion on Meadow is a few posts above. Zero talent.

This season really MOVES without feeling rushed.

The action that happens in "Amour Fou" and the finale is like a season's worth-

Yes, R126, I saw your post at R121 and it reminded me about the Jackie Junior character, that he was part of a very weak subplot to a great episode.

So yeah whaddya think I get free fuckin' tye-is????

Forgot this part!!!

This thread is the answer to the question "why would HBO run a marathon when the entire series is available on demand."

R63, R85 Do you type in the tub like Waldo Lydecker? Asking for a friend.

No doubt that Vera will portray Livia- BRILLIANT CHOICE. I love her!!!!

The only time I felt the series FUCKED UP- was when Tony terrorized Angie- Big Pussy's wife-

In my opinion, Tony would never terrorize a woman, unless she was his goomar misbehaving,

HATED THAT SCENE of him taking a crowbar to her car. It did not ring true to me.

He took a baseball bat to her car, and I don’t think it was out of Tony’s character. He was a mercurial, psychopathic killer, afterall.

Actually, I thought that Tony taking a baseball bat to Angie's car was in character. He also started touching or interacting with Angie's dog, which really shook up Angie. (The inference was that Tony would go so low as to kill Angie's dog.)

Season 4 is interesting to me. I remember not loving it when I originally saw it. But it really is the bridge between the 1st and 2nd half of the series.

It has tons of good stuff in it, and Valentina was one of my favorite characters and definitely my favorite goomars tied with Gloria. She was sarcastic, funny, and NORMAL.

Janice and Richie are hilarious. She picked one psychotic loser after another!

+And I meant Janice and Ralph are hilarious+++

Janice fucking Ralph in the ass with a vibrator:

Janice: How much money did ya make today slut?

Ralph: Three hundred..

Janice: Thats all bitch?

Im gonna put you back you on the street hoe! Make you work that ass!

Work that ass you little cunt!

Momma's little tramp, mommas little WHOO-AH! I'm gonna pimp you out BITCH!!

The writing on this show was so witty. It was a comedy as much as a drama. I actually preferred the later seasons because it got even darker.

R135, that was a crazy scene. I also liked it when Ralph broke up with Rosie Aprile and headed over to Janice's house to let Janice know the good news (that he was officially single). IIRC, Janice and Ralph faced off on the stairway inside Livia's house. Janice threw something at Ralph and he fell down the stairs.

Carmela's kitchen has electric stove burners, I doubt she would have these, she makes a lot of sauce. Their countertops are formica looking with wood trim. No shine of granite ANYWHERE.

Carmela's kitchen was a 1990s kitchen. I don't think the granite trend had taken hold yet. You can make sauce on an electric stove.

Gloria Trillo. The hottest piece of ass. So fierce, yet so vulnerable. Love her!

Jackie Jr stays at Omar's house in the projects!

Carmela had granite in her kitchen in the very last season.

I watched this all so long ago it is like a fresh show to me. I remembered the terrible mom, Svetlana's leg being stolen by Janice, the Barren Pines episode, Dr Melfi's sexual trauma, Ralphie's terrible deeds, Adriana's hit, and oh my lard, the horror of disgusting Christuphuh when he smashes Adriana's dog in his stupor...and not much else.

Speaking of comedy: a total Dragnet parody scene between two cops at the door asking questions. (Season 3) and the nonstop malapropisms from ALL the Soprano gang. They're like a bunch of Archie Bunkers.

The soundtrack's song selections are always so good, even the quiet ones you can barely hear in the background. Season 4, episode 1 had "World Destruction" with John Lydon and Afrika Bambaataa. When Tony's singing along with "Dirty Work" in his car...I can't help but laugh.

R143, since you brought up Christopher killing Adriana's dog (Cosette), I'm posting the intervention they all had for Christopher. Adriana brings up Cosette and, for Tony, it's a deal breaker because "I know what it's like to lose a pet," i.e., Pie O My the horse.

Also: How many cans of GLH were used to spray paint nonexistent hairlines and cover shiny bald spots?

Julie Goldman from The People's Couch is a school mate at Meadow's college! So many people with wee dinky parts. Will Arnett was the husband of the undercover FBI chick who set up Adrianna. I think he had two lines.

Whoa, they’re casting James Gandolfini’s son to play young Tony in Saints of Newark.

Gabagool.

Casting Jimmy G's son to play him in this movie (which apparently takes place in 1967) would make Tony Soprano around nine years old in the Sopranos universe. This Michael kid is almost 20. Don't know how it's gonna work but I'm sure they'll figure out something clever. Maybe. Nice gesture casting the son although it seems a tad gimmicky, no?

Casting the son could pay off, depending on the acting ability and the whole production. I always hate it when actors/actresses are cast as blood relatives and they look nothing alike.

The point being, at the very least, the son looks like a younger version James Gandolfini.

Pine Barrens! The two stugots sucking on the old condiment packets and Christapha telling Paulie to try mixing the ketchup with the relish. Paulie complaining that Chris was hogging the carpet. And using a piece of that carpet as a make-shift shoe and then stepping directly into a foot of fresh snow thus rendering it useless. Motherfucker!

Wasn't there a gay story line?

R153, yes. Vito was caught giving a blowjob to a security guard by Finn, Meadow's boyfriend. He was later spotted dressed in leather at a gay bar. He goes into hiding and eventually gets whacked.

Tony’s warning to Janice: “Don’t fuck with the Russians!” is more timely than ever.

Why would they create a gay story line around someone so unattractive?

[QUOTE]Tony’s warning to Janice: “Don’t fuck with the Russians!” is more timely than ever.

But he was in business with them.

Hawhawhaw Uncle Junior seeing Larry David and Jeff Garlin on TV and thinking it was himself and Bobby on tv. Classic.

Also the Uncle Junior line, If you're gonna lie to me, tell me there's a broad waiting in the car to tongue my balls.

The Vito/Johnnycakes storyline was one of the series' peak arc IMO. It started with my all time favorite episode, "Mr and Mrs John Sacramoni request..." Johnny Sac's daughter, the portly Allegra, gets married and has a lavish Jersey style reception. This makes (the even more portly) Vito melancholy, so he goes out to a gay bar in full leather regalia, where he is spotted. He knows he is doomed, so he jumps in his car and takes off, eventually landing in "live free or die" New Hampshire.

But of course, it does not end well.

They killed him and stuck a pool cue up his ass. They were particularly offended that he was a bottom.

I forgot about Finn... he was hot. And, if I remember, there is an extended scene with him in just his boxers sweating his balls off during a heat wave (fighting with Meadow, as always). Nice memory.

Jason Cerbone was hawt as fuck, though. I bet he got Meadow all Molly-ed out and fucked the shit out of her. Lucky girl. A shame his career never took off... WEHT?

Meadow’s hottest boyfriend was Noah, IMO. Jackie was such a dumb, useless piece of shit that it severely detracted from his hotness.

The show never recovered from the death of Nancy Marchand, she was the meat and potatoes, and without her it was shit

Rewatching the show i'm noticing Sean and Matt of season 2 were a couple. Cute.

This thread is a blessing. I am currently at season 5- A MAJORLY underappreciated supporting role is that of Feech LaManna played by Robert Loggia! The character is a horrible and one angry motherfucker. And one of the ONLY bad eggs not rubbed out, but set uo and sent back to prison by Tony! The look on his face as he is sent back to prison is as heartbreaking was someone being shot to death!

Matthew Weiner was responsible for writing much of the Vito gay storyline in seasons 6A and 6B.

FOR SOME REASON I THOUGHT THAT WEINER WROTE LONG TERM PARKING, BUT IT WAS TERRENCE WINTER!!

I saw Long Term Parking once, when it premiered. Never again! It's too much. Poor Adriana never had a chance.

If I remember right, Lin Manual plays a bellboy in one of the later episoddes.

Lin-Manuel Miranda appears very, very briefly as a bellhop in "Remember When," the fifteenth episode of the sixth season, and was HOT.

Gaga should've won an Emmy for her role in The Sopranos.

R167, I was 27 years old, and had never expected a character to be killed off like this! I was upset for two weeks. I remember going to work on Monday feeling absolutely depressed.

It sounds so dumb! But I was horrified. Now THAT is a good show!

Adriana's death was tragic but always struck me as farfetched -- has the FBI really tried getting information from the wife of someone who wasn't even particularly high up in a crime family? Although, none of the other mob wives had careers or potential exposure the way she did, so maybe she was just an easy target in that respect.

[QUOTE]The show never recovered from the death of Nancy Marchand, she was the meat and potatoes, and without her it was shit.

Her loss was a big blow, but the show carried on just fine without her.

Allegra really did look like Ginny Sack's biological daughter.

Adriana was not ever married to Christopher. It's plausible (to me) that the FBI chose to work on Adriana. On one episode, the FBI threatened to charge her with something to do with cocaine. So, Adriana had something to lose and something to gain.

[quote] Why would they create a gay story line around someone so unattractive

Because they couldn’t find someone as attractive as Sammy the Bull Gravano

The gay storyline should have been about Christopher Moltisanti.

The gay storyline should've been about Uncle Jun and Bobby Baccaliari. Hot! Hot!

I'll never forget the powerful scene of Tony killing Ralph with his bare hands.

Of all the violence and degradation of women on the show the one storyline that really skeeved me out was Ralph and the twenty year old dancer with the bad teeth. The scene where he's fucking her while she gives the cop a blowjob and he tells her to get braces and Ralph asks her if she's going to cry is so perverted. And then her brutal murder. And then he had the horse burned to death. That rat bastard deserved to die the way he did. I think Tony killed him as much for the dancer as Pie Oh My.

Perhaps the most consequential scene of the whole show. Carmela Soprano is one of the more complex characters in all television.

Yeah R181 - that was a weird nonsequitir scene. Not sure a shrink would be that moralistic. Or that blunt. Plus - She never really learns from it or seems to struggle with the idea. She blocks it out - always did and continues to do so.

That was a powerful scene, R181. Carmela's character flaw was that she was complicit with Tony and cared too much about material things (fur coat, emerald ring, Porsche Cayenne car, etc.). The priests at her church enabled her to be an enabler. The therapist in that scene symbolized morality.

Oh my God, TONY! Is that the new Por-scha?

Maybe the funniest line in the entire series to me: Bobby and Janice are discussing Bobby's upset kids and Bobby says Sophia can't even enjoy her Nancy Drew, "It's too mysterious!"

Adriana stole very scene

R185 , yes, that was funny! Bobby was involved in a lot of hilarious moments.

R177 , now that you say that, I think Christopher would have been better for the gay story line.

It needed to be someone whose personal life we weren’t privy. You also needed someone who was important to Tony for some reason or another, to create a dilemma in terms of how he would deal with it. Bearing that, how the hell would Christopher all of a sudden be a closeted gay when he’d been one of the main focal points of the show for the past five seasons? They just forgot to mention that he likes to suck cock?

Watching the entire series from beginning to end on Amazon Prime now. Just getting into season 4. My God, the Sopranos’ home looks so dated. Those hideous pastel floral window treatments and that Formica countertop. Besides that and the antiquated technology - including that weird in between time when people were using beepers and cell phones concurrently, the show has aged rather well.

Whatever happened to the woman who played Adriana ? She really had star power.

I love the way their home looked, even now.

"SHE'S A MALIGNANT CUNT! "

The Sopranos home was perfect. It was uninteresting, large, indistinct, blandly decorated with no personal statement; no beloved, inherited furniture & it told you nothing of the inhabitants. The kids lived in their bedrooms. The only weird thing I noticed was that it didn’t have a finished basement. I’ve been in those Jersey McMansions thanks to having in-laws (crooks, but not Italian) and the basement is always finished. A nice workout room with mirrors, a home theater, a place for kids to bring their friends to run around when it’s raining outside & you don’t want them making noise upstairs, a suite for a live-in housekeeper or nanny. Finished basements were de rigueur in the era before kids stuck their faces into their phones & Macbook Airs all day long.

Paulie, the most eternally frustrated, white shoed, white winged, live-alone-bachelor-mamas'-boy.

I *just* finished watching the whole series again and by the time I got to the last season I forgot to be on the lookout for Carmela's green formica kitchen counters changed out for granite, as advised by a commenter above. I should go back to her dad's birthday party episode to have a look. It's one of the few times I recall scenes of C cooking, seems like she was always pulling a foil covered dish out of the fridge or freezer to heat up or give away.

Perez Hilton played the ticket seller that Jackie Jr robbed. I forgot what concert it was supposed to be.

R194, don't forget about the Lladro figurine on the side table in the living room.

I think the reason the basement was unfinished was because that's where Tony conducted some of his meetings. Maybe the creators wanted the meeting place to look dark and dank.

Jackie Jr. was the getaway driver for the robbery of a Jewel concert, R196.

The Lladro was genius. So symbolic of the striving and money but absence of real artistic taste or value of beauty. Also symbolized Carmela’s complicity - as the psych pointed out - because she liked the money and the stuff of being rich.

[QUOTE]I think the reason the basement was unfinished was because that's where Tony conducted some of his meetings. Maybe the creators wanted the meeting place to look dark and dank.

Yeah, a lot of those scenes down there would’ve felt different if there was carpeting, a couch set and accent lighting. Leaving the basement unfinished was genius.

IIRC, the change to granite countertops doesn't happen until 6B.

Michael Gandolfini acting. He has a lot of his dad's mannerisms.

Saw Oceans 8 on HBO last night. Everyone and there mother is on that movie. And i believe Michael Gandolfini in a scene too. He has his dad's build that's for sure.

Michael Gandolfini when he was still a pudgy adolescent. They really did cast AJ well, didn't he? Iler looked a lot like young Gandolfini when he was younger.

The only difference is that Gandolfini inherited his father's height and build, and Iler is something of a munchkin.

Oops, forgot the picture:

Male Italian genes are strong.

Christopher Walken's wife cast this show.

So I was watching Goodfellas & picking out Sopranos cast members (never noticed Big Pussy moving the coatracks through Sonny Bunz’s restaurant before). I wondered why Tuddy, Paulie’s brother who yelled at Henry for wasting towels & whacked Tommy, was never in the Sopranos, Turns out he was a huge recording industry exec. He managed people like Michael Jackson, Taylor Dane, Richie Sambora.

And he was definitely in the mob - a guy got whacked in a car he owned.

Oh, and he’s dead. Heart problems.

And the real Karen Hill had an affair with the real Paulie. His name was Paul Vario & he’d have to give me fistful of thousand dollar bills to go near him. Here he is, the real Paulie

I'm not sure which couple it is, but one of these couples is Henry and Karen Hill. I think it's the couple in the middle. Must have been a wives' night (instead of a girlfriends' night).

My grandfather looked just like Paul lol. I inherited that violent looking face. Oddly lol

WOW! BRILLIANT FEATURETTE SOMEONE DID!

[quote]I'm not sure which couple it is, but one of these couples is Henry and Karen Hill. I think it's the couple in the middle.

I think it's the couple on the right. The guy looks more like Henry.

R208, you're talking about Frank DiLeo, who did indeed have a couple of go rounds managing Michael Jackson.

I always remember that b/c I dated a guy named DiLeo.

[quote] I dated a guy named DiLeo.

Are you sure it wasn't Lea DeLaria?

Adriana will now be in an ABC drama, A Million Little Pieces

Henry & Karen are on the right in that photo. Henry looks a little weird but that’s definitely Karen.

In all the photos I’ve seen of Karen she looks nothing like a woman who hangs with crooks & does coke. She looks like the typical middleclasssuburban girls of her time who didn’t go to college & got married pretty much right out of high school. Very staid, middle class, somewhat conservative looking. Henry, on the other hand, looked like what he was.

Nils Lofgren is in the E Street Band with Little Steven who played Silvio on the show.

I'm watching D-Girl, episode 2.7, and this has to be the worst episode in the series.

D-Girl is terrible but Michael Imperioli is shirtless in it.

When does Lauren Bacall get punched out?

Bacall appears in “Luxury Lounge” in season six.

Adriana (Drea DiMatteo) was a terrific character in Sons of Anarchy. It always made me happy that her sad ending in The Sopranos was totally redeemed by the happy ending she got in Sons. She was one of the very few characters that came out alive and well at the end of that series.

Crazy she isn’t a bigger star. Charisma for days. She deserves to be on the screen, hopefully more before she gets too old.

I am at the episode before Long Term Parking. It is very interesting to me that Adriana had very limited screen time about 3 episodes before her last episode. I would have expected MORE screen time. And when I look at this again, it actually made her outcome all the more shocking. I was around 26 when this aired and I went to work Monday morning absolutely devastated. I couldn't let it go for a week.

Adriana’s murder was the most jaw dropping moment of The Sopranos in my opinion. You could see it coming which made it all the more gut wrenching. Drea De Matteo was superb as Adrianna.

I thought the most jaw dropping moment was when Janice plugged Richie Aprile right in the forehead - didn't see that coming at all! And then Tony comes and bails her out!

The most jaw dropping moment in the series was that ending. It was the biggest wtf ending ever. The credits roll in and it's confirmed it's over.

But the black screen mercifully ended that shitty Journey song.

The brilliance of The Sopranos writers.....

It is AJ's confirmation. Tony has just told Christophuh that he has to decide between between Tony and whatever is calling him out on the street (heroin), Pussy is wearing a wire and is AJ's sponsor, Carm and Tony have just caught AJ smoking pot in the garage and Carm yells, "Can't you be a good Catholic for 15 FUCKING minutes?!"

That guy that played Sean, pictured on the right, is one sexy guy.

That is a GREAT scene, R239, in a series that was FULL of great scenes. Doesn't Christopher say something like, "Anthony, I am your soldier" too?

And their use of music was WITHOUT PEER.

[quote] That guy that played Sean, pictured on the right, is one sexy guy.

Sure, if you think brain damaged orangutans are sexy

I never really paid attention to Angie Bonpensiero in the show. But she does have an interesting story. Big Pussy got whacked and she dealt the cards she was handed to great success.

R231 When they used "4th of July" by X in "Live Free or Die" my heart was won forever. All the songs in link.

I was annoyed at how they misused some songs. “I’m Not Like Everybody Else,” eg. It's a Kinks song and it wa# used after Tony did some bad shit. But the song is about a guy who’s not an asshole to women. And Tony’s an asshole.

Poor Tracee. So sad how she met her demise.

My two favorites were "Comes Love", the Artie Shaw number playing when Junior shot Tony; and the insanely beautiful "chi il bel sogno di Doretta" they used as end credits for one of the Carmela episodes.

I wonder how Kiri Te Kanawa felt about being the distracting main attraction while dear Anna got raped by the late, brutal Mr Greene

The scene Adriana realizes she isn't being taken to see Christopher at the hospital and is going to get popped is heartbreaking. She did some of her best acting in those few minutes.

David Chase, in an interview, said that Christopher (Michael Imperioli) realistically should have been killed off earlier. As a drug addict, Christopher was weak and a liability to the business. Glad he got to stay on, though. He was always beating up Adriana, though. I guess that part was realistic.

Chase: You have this feeling of exhilaration that she’s escaped. She looks like she’s going to be the one person to escape this hell in New Jersey. But, of course, she isn’t. I think there’s very good chance she could’ve [fled], but she didn’t. Why didn’t she? Why didn’t she run away? What happens is people get trapped. And we make excuses for why we didn’t take an action or why we didn’t do something to better a situation.

That Cookie had a hot snatch!

It's a funny show!

"He Is Risen" episode:

Ralph: Fuck [Tony] and his Turkey! I outta shove a drumstick up his ass!

🤣🤣

Janice running! Lolololol

Remember when Carmela did this to Charmaine Bucco?

She put that bitch in her place.

How about when someone asked if the bread Artie was serving at Vesuvio’s was from a “bread museum”? 😂

Don't feel sorry for Charmaine, though.

Watching the show always makes me hungry.

R62) I agree that this was great acting and it is one of my favourite episodes. The music selection is well thought out, with Heart's Barracuda playing as Adriana is dragged from the car and realizes her fate. Some of the lyrics are as follows: "You lying so low in the weeds Bet you gonna ambush me You'd have me down, down, down to my knees Wouldn't you, Barracuda?"

Im in season 5. I'm noticing as the series went on Adriana LaCerva got progressively dumber, and Bobby Baccaliari got smarter.

We had a problem.....The package hit Chrissy with an implement and ran off.

Season 3, Ep. 11 Pine Barrens

Another shocker was Paulie robbing his mother's old lady friend and then killing her

R253- That was so vicious!!

I am telling you, the 4th and 5th seasons were where this show turned, and I started to realize what thugs and murderers these guys were. Adriana, was the real turning point- but you could tell that Chase was making that clear.

The poor stripper in Season 3 should have been the first tip off.

I met “Charmaine” at the Gym Bar on 8th Ave in Chelsea one night. She was there with her gays and we played a couple of games of pool. She was incredibly nice and good at pool.