There is quite a bit of information available on The Sopranos if you know where to look for it. I'm not just referring to the Fan Sites but to the Online Magazines, Newspapers and Entertainment News.

Much of what you'll find is very similiar; biographies, film credits and the never ending question: "Did you think the show would ever be this popular?". Yes, I'm sick of hearing that one too as I'm sure the actors are. In an interview with David Chase right after Season II was over he was again asked that and even though he politely answered it, you could tell that he wanted to be rolling his eyes thinking what a moron the interviewer was.

David also indicated that he wanted to take some time off and then do two months of post production on the season which just ended. After that he was going to start developing the next season.

There has been much criticism about the season schedule and the number of shows per season. This is coming from the viewers who can't believe that there are only 13 episode per season; a season being a year long. Some people have subscribed to HBO just because of The Sopranos. I've received emails from some of these people and they say they've been cheated and will probobly cancel their subscription until next March. That of course is a personal choice and they will miss the reruns of Season 1 and 2 but if you're going to take a stand and want to make a statement then you have to cancel your service. Is this going to bother HBO? Maybe a little bit but other than showing the past 26 episodes over and over again there is not much they can do about it.

David Chase is the man running the show and calling the shots. It was his vision that created The Sopranos and made it what it is today; a combination of Cult TV and a revolutionary ongoing mafia series which captured the attention and interest of tens of millions of viewers worldwide.

The combination was a winning one: take the mafia and portray it in the late 90's and focus more on the domestic and personal lives of the characters. The restrictions of network television were removed and real-life characters were assembled. David Chase purposly stayed away from 'big name" actors; ie the Di Nero's and Montaina's. He said he wanted the series to have down to earth and believeable people. Even though the majority of the cast have been around for some time and have been many movies and tv shows, they had never reached a superstar status until now. James Gandalfini was considered an unknown a few years ago; someone who made it on the top 100 list of worst actors. Today his asking price for being in a movie is $3 million dollars.

What made the show work for most of the first season was not the mafia aspect nor the violence and language, but the interaction with Dr. Melfi, Tony's psychatrist. There was some memorable dialog between the two and we received an insite of what being a top dog in the crime business was all about from a family man in the 90's. This was no longer the 50's and 60's of The Godfather. Tony Soprano was raised in a mob family on the streets of New Jersey and he's carrying on the family tradition. Along with his wife and two teenage children he does his best in trying to balance his two worlds. Somewhere along the line he suffers anxiety attacks and has fainting spells. His neighboor recommends that he see a psychiatrist and one day he shows up at Dr. Melfi's office.

Most of the first season had to do with various aspects of Tony's life and the people in it. We meet his mother, his Uncle (Junior), his crew, his wife Carmela, the two children and of course Dr. Melfi. On the one hand Tony is a family man trying to raise his kids the best way he knows. He treis to attend their school functions, plays nintendo with his son and shows a genunine interest in their lives. On the other side you have the world of extortion, blackmail, stealing, brutality and murder. Can these two worlds coexits in the late 1990's? This is the question that is addressed in The Sopranos.

From The New Times on The Sopranos book, Stephen Holden praised the show as "the greatest work of American popular culture of the last quarter century". Can you actually go that far? That is a very powerful statement to make but in many ways it is true. If you had to make a list of the 10 most captivating and influential shows of the 90's would The Sopranos be on your list?

While most reviews have nothing but praise for The Sopranos you also have to find some flaws. The New Jersey Online (http://www.nj.com/sopranos/) provided their views with the following:

"If one were out to nit-pick "The Sopranos" - and in the name of common sense, somebody has to - one could point out that the wisecracks are sometimes too glib and cartoonish, the f-word too plentiful (especially this season) and that the directors never saw a pair of huge silicon breasts they didn't want to film."

Ok, I don't think anyone can argue with that but that is also part of the charm of the show. The actors are actually given some ad-lib time in the episodes and a little of what you see is made up at the moment.