The more I re-watch the show I realize a noticeable change between season 1 and the rest. I don't mean in quality either I mean the tone of the show. I found season 1 more light-hearted, less violent than the rest, like the show seemed to get darker and darker as it got on. I think Tony himself was a more reasonable, level-headed character in season 1, and slowly as it developed in later seasons he had a shorter and shorter temper and seemed to be more explosive in his violence.
I guess maybe the writers were kind of testing the waters so to speak early on, I mean if they had shown the stripper getting beaten to death in the first couple of episodes who knows? They may have lost a lot of viewers etc.