Favorite episode: The first episode. It establishes the characters and the series. It was a pilot that was developed for a long time by Chase and it shows. This ep was almost made into a movie. The soundtrack is movie quality, as it paces like Goodfellas.

Favorite scene: When Pussy has that quiet moment with Christopher while wearing a wire (season 2). It shows how Pussy can't completely side with the feds, and how the direct contact with Tony makes him feel guilty for turning on him.

Quote: Any Silvio impersonation of the Godfather Trilogy.

i havent seen The Sopranos. i saw one yesterday in a video shop and its on "sale" but its not a box set, the episodes are not complete. what episodes will you recommend?. . . .thanks.

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I command this family right or wrong. . .it was not what I wanted!

On the general subject of "Sopranos":
Have you noticed that Frank Vincent, who has played a gangster in just about every movie and TV series over the past 20 years, has yet to make an appearance in "Sopranos"? Wonder why not?

I'd recommend to start from the very beginning and go from there. Starting in the middle might confuse you a bit because a lot of the character development happens at the beginning of the series (obviously). But if they don't have the episodes starting from the beginning, just get ahold of whatever you can. It's a great show, and if you're into mob movies, then you'll love this show.

What else has he been in and which characters has he played?

Frank Vincent played Salvy in "Raging Bull," Billy Batts in "Goodfellas," Frankie (Nicky's sidekick) in "Casino." He was in Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" and "Jungle Fever," and played DiB in "Gotti." The guy's been in almost as many movies as the MGM lion...

thanks Don Corpuzzi. . .

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I command this family right or wrong. . .it was not what I wanted!

Read an interview with ex-mob insider. The mafia are polished, articulate men who don't swear like Fat Tony does. I mean how is a fat slob like him supposed to instil fear. If an overweight mother- like him goes to do, you're just gonna nut him. Sorted

I think that Tony Soprano fulfills what many people in society believe what the mafia is like. I don't know any real mafiosos, so all I have to go on is what I see on television. To me, the Sopranos is a lot more realistic than the Godfather movies. But what do I know? I'm just a guy from Southern California.

My favorite eposide has got to be the one after chris gets shot. It shows sides of paulie, silvio and pussy that had never been seen before.

my favorite line?? Easy! Where Junior says,
" If he told me to take a crap on the deck of the queen mary, an hour later they'd be hosing it down with disenfectant."
Junior is the king of one liners.

The Sopranos is such a great show. I just finished watching the first two seasons on DVD. I just got HBO and now they are starting at the beginning of season 3. Sweet!

Favorites are too hard to mention as they are so numerous.

Episodes: I seem like the episodes where the traditional good guy/bad guy roles are reversed and we are cheering for the bad guys (the mobsters) instead of the good guys. The ones that come to mind:
* In season 1, the mob is under investigation and every is trying to keep low. But Christopher is mad because he is not listed as a mobster in the newspapers. Great stuff. Also one of my favorite scenes, where Christopher holds up the bakery because he is being disrespected.

* The episode where Tony and Meadow take a trip to the college. One of my favorite lines is from this episode: "There is no mafia."

* The first episode of season 3. Not actually a great episode, but I liked the way they had me rooting for the Sopranos and against the Feds.

At the risk of gettin' ran off this BB, I must confess I've never seen The Sopranos, I don't have HBO, but I've been tempted more than once to rent Season One on DVD at Blockbuster. The only thing is Blockbuster will only let'cha rent the whole friggin' set at once, not one at a time. Maybe I'm just a tightwad. I read what yous guys have said. I love GF (DUH!), Goodfellas, Donny Brasco, etc. Is it worth my hard-earned $ to rent The Sopranos season one?

Yes.

That's a lie sir!!!!! I work there!!! We rent them separtely. Well at least at my store we do. And yes they are worth renting!!! Great show!!!

how about bumping up a thread that's about as old as the Iraq war? and with a quote from Turnbull!

that scene is just great. I know it's somewhere around season 3 so I'm getting there, but right now I just watched season 2, episode 9 "From where to eternity" - or the one after Chris gets shot - I watched most of season 3 before but haven't seen more than a couple of episodes from the latter seasons. recently I've been downloading every single episode and watching them in order

since the show is so great, I like pointing out the few flaws and less inspired episodes so I'll throw a worst section as well.

best episode - "Pine Barrens"; but you just can't forget "College" and one favorite of mine that never gets a mention is "Full Leather Jacker". it's short and effective. I wonder why that episode runs only 45 minutes but it worked out for the better; I just didn't see the Chris hit coming;

best scene - the golf course scene, Rusty Irish being thrown away - another great episode, S1 #6, "Pax Soprana" - Junior at the top of his game;

best line - "his house looked like shit", or Junior after hearing that Rusty Irish is selling dope to the neighborhood kids: "oh really? what's that smuggling-fuck name?";

worst episode - both "The Pilot" and "Commendatori" deserve a mention - I don't know how someone could include these among their favorite like people did back in 2002 (!) - not even Paulie's wandering in Naples saves it. but the very worst is Season 1 closing episode "I Dream of Jeannie Cusomano" - not a bad watch but full of inconsistent plot holes;

worst scene - AJ stealing screen time in "Down Neck", but nothing beats that lame car pursuit in "The Pilot";

worst line - "that cocksucking motherfucker mezzo fanucchi" - not to mention that Jon Favreau probably borrowed an out-of-character quote for his last scene, then we see the only time when Chris uses Italian-American slang that way. anyway we're talking one of the worst episodes too, "D-Girl".

Wow, check out this post from Turnbull, made in February of 2002, over 8 years ago!

Hey TB, it turns out you were psychic, as Frank Vincent joined the cast about 2 years after your post. Can you help me out with tomorrow's Mega Millions numbers?

My favorite episode is "46 Long," the second episode of Season 1. It just has so many great things--Paulie's line about "this espresso shit," Livia accidentally starting a fire in her house and telling Tony "I'm not dead, unfortunately for some" when he comes to see her and give her flowers, and the funny subplot where AJ's science teacher, Mr. Miller, gets his Saturn stolen and Tony sends Paulie and Big Pussy to get it back. And there's also the scene where Tony screams at someone in the Bing who doesn't know how to use the phone correctly: "You press hold, g*d damnit!"

Great episode!

yes that episode is very good. actually I really love episodes 2 thru 6 from season 1. then you add #12 "Isabella" and that's the reason why the series is so good right off the bat. it's amazing how they present all the characters and make us understand their motivations.

Junior kicks ass throughout the whole season, the Chris/Brenan Fillone storyline is cool and Mikey Palmice was a great character too. plus, Nancy Marchand steals every scene she's in. she reminds so much of my grandmother

and yes, I did notice it too. one more reason for us to wonder what Turnbull is up to or who he is

My favourite episode is probably "University". Its double depiction of both Meadow and Tracee's vulnerabilities is sensitive but unsentimental. It's a heartbreaking episode, beautifully acted.

TonyMosrite, how far are you in the series? I do suggest you watch it all before browsing these threads too much - all of them have a spoiler of some sort, and some of the thread titles alone are spoilers...

I just watched S2, #10, "Bust Out" - very good! - but I caught some random episodes while it was going on and was already a fan so unfortunately I leave the surprise effect regarding the outcome of most things off of my appreciation; I do look away when I see that the conversation heads towards Season 4 and on but I can tell you that you don't miss anything by knowing how the series will end, Ade's fate, etc...

the greatest thing about it is how things are ambiguously left open for interpretation and most times you're so wrapped up into the episode that you can't help but feel like it's a surprise. Tony's hit in "Isabella", for instance - I knew it was coming but it didn't affect the overall impact of the scene. I'm sure you've rewatched it yourself a few times

Yeah, that's an excellent episode. It's also one of the absolute darkest in the entire series. If anyone wants a reason to hate Ralphie, he more than provides it for them in "University."

My favorite individual scene is probably in "Boca," where Paulie goes to Coach Hauser's house (Meadow's soccer coach) with two men carrying a gigantic TV set in order to intimidate the coach into not accepting a job offer with another school. I think this was Paulie's best scene in the entire series. His utter confidence and nonchalance is great. When Coach Hauser says "You tell your friends I know all about them," Paulie, without missing a beat, says "If you did, you'd do what they want." Then they just leave the TV on his lawn and walk off. Hauser hysterically protests that he won't be intimidated, all the while seeming quite intimidated indeed.

That's a good scene, Vito. But my favorite scene in "Boca" is when Junior puts the pie in Bobbi's face. That scene was certainly inspired by the grapefruit-in-the-face scene from "The Public Enemy."

I have only watched one episode in the last month - "House Arrest" - but I was watching a few scenes on youtube and just rewatched the golf course sene

actually the funniest thing about it is that the doctor feels repulsed by the situation but is so scared - Tony and Furio keep slowly taking steps towards him pushing him into a well - that he finally goes on with it and when he gets his cellphone and starts saying "hello Sheryl? make sure Mr. Soprano is scheduled..." Tony just slaps the cellphone out of his hands into the water. great scene!

"Boca" also has what's probably my favorite line in the series, Tony saying "Uncle Jun's in the muff...Did I say muff? I meant rough!" Hysterical!

Other great lines include where Tony meets the Hasidic father and son (in "Denial, Anger, Acceptance") and the father introduces the son without saying what the son's name is. Tony says: "Well does he have a name or do we have to give him one?" And when he's taking about Janice and says (I forget the episode), "There are men in the can better looking than my sister." He certainly doesn't mince words, that's for sure!

Carmela had a beautiful line in "Boca," also.

Tony: "Uncle Jun, how was Boca?"

Junior: "Wonderful, I don't go down enough."

Carmela: "That's not what I heard."

Yeah, that episode really cleverly shows how hard keeping a secret can be.

yes definitely some great moments in "Boca", all from the Junior storyline. Chianese is just perfect in the role and the guy is priceless. it's so funny when he's in bed with the "pie girl" talking about cunnilingus -

"they think it's a sign of weakness. posibly that you're a fanook";

"they think if you suck pussy, you suck anything"...

I just love watching these old-school manners. where does that come from? I mean come on, don't they see the difference?

also when the FBI busts him at home and he just shouts to himself "ffffuck" like he was just waiting for that. I use that "fuck" all the time, and always remember Junior. when he falls in the shower and yells "sister's cunnt!"... and well, I could go on and on. definitely one of my favorite characters.

Uncle Jun's in a muff.