What could the Sopranos have done better?

I personally think they shouldn't whack Richie Aprile or Jackie Jr, let them be part of the main roles and show how close the Apriles and Sopranos are. And maybe instead of starting a war with New York, they had an internal war. Richie Aprile allied up with Patsy (still grudging about his brother)and they seeked out to kill Tony and Silvio (Richie would have been Underboss instead of Bobby Baccala) and New York of course sided with Richie due to Phill still holding a grudge about his brothers death, and ... Coco Cogliano, Fat Dom Gamiello etc.

Also Phil shouldn't die, Jersey would never have won a war against a NY family, especially not someone who is based on the Genoveses. Then eventually, of course Jackie would have been allied with Richie, but Tony made a deal with Jackie Jr. that if he killed his uncle, he would become a rising star which he did.

I'am also educating myself as an screenwriter and have already started writing screenplays for a new mob series based in Chicago.(along with a few other guys) Instead of focusing on the old timers, I will focus on the Younger generation. The associates of the Syndicate. What do you think?

Apart from the ending, i wouldn't have changed a thing..

Hindsight is 20/20, but here's what I would have done differently:

Tony's Antagonists -- This is how I see Tony's primary nemesis by season:

Season 1 -- Junior Soprano
Season 2 -- Richie Aprile
Season 3 -- Ralphie Cifaretto
Season 4 -- Ralphie Cifaretto (at least the first half of the season)
Season 5 -- Tony Blundetto (not an enemy per se, but his actions jeopardized Tony)
Season 6 -- Phil Leotardo

Putting Junior in jail at the end of Season 1 really impacted any real effect for the remainder of the series -- he goes from being a wily older capo to sick old man over the course of Season 2. It underutilized a great actor in Dominic Chianese.

I think some very interesting plotlines would have been developed by a Junior/Richie pairing, or a Richie/Ralphie pairing or a Ralphie/Tony Blundetto pairing. Rather than a war with New York in Season 6, there could have been a factionalized struggle within the DiMeo family. It would have also given three plus seasons to develop key characters, rather than jam a bunch of Phil Leotardo's people in the last half of Season 6.

Vito's Subplot -- unnecessary and really killed the core of Season 6, Part 1. There's parts of the Vito character I find implausible -- he's a waddling construction contractor in Season 2, and by the end of Season 4, he's the superstar earner capo of the family? Without clipping anybody?

The Ending -- if that wasn't a middle finger to a good chunk of the fan base, I don't know what was. You're introducing new characters (Patsy Parisi's wife) in the last 10 minutes of the series, and then poof...no resolution.

Totally agree. I don't know if anybody has noticed but in season 1 Vito was Gino in the bakery that Christpher Moltisanti shot that kids foot off.

Henry here is the Scene Clip:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnZ1vn_UEN0

Yeah, how the f*ck did that happen? also, anybody thinks it's a little funny that Michael Imperioli shot a waiter in the foot considering Goodfellas, hehe.

Spider's revenge - lol!

Still upset that Chase never completed the Russian story in Pine Barrens.

Yeah, it seems like a lot of things were either ignored or went too fast. I agree with the above that Richie, Jackie Jr. and even Ralph should have been around longer. I also think that Junior got relegated to the background too fast.

I almost think the show might have been better had Tony stayed as Underboss/Capo and not almost immediately have been the power behind the scenes.

Vito killed Jackie Jr, but I do see what you're saying.

Oh yes, I see I forgot about Little Lord Fuckpants.

From what I've read, Chase did these kind of things on purpose. He wanted to show that in real life, not everything gets resolved or has closure, the finale was done that way for the same reason (in addition to having the option to make a movie)
Not trying to say I always liked it, but that's just why he did it.

I think Richie and Jackie were victims of their own ambition due to the rep Jackie Sr. had, therefore they felt like their were entitled to bigger and better things because:
A)Richie did 10 years in the joint
B)Jackie "My old was Jackie Aprile" Aprile Jr.

Richie and Jackie were both wildcards under Tony's regime, Richie was too old school and looked to undermine Tony at every turn while Jackie was too inexperienced and reckless to be a viable soldier or associate.

Much like in real life, murder, assassinations, accidents are all prevalent in the world of the Sopranos and we don't get closure as we would like.

So how would you like to have ended it? I'm just curious because after a while most people seem to agree that the ending was perfect for the show.

Im not sure, just not a blank screen..