You know, I wish that Season 1 had been all about the family under Jackie, and then early in S2 he's in the hospital with cancer and dies; it could have really tied in to the Richie storyline too, like maybe Richie got out of prison just after Jackie died, to keep his storyline going in roughly the same direction with Junior becoming "boss", Richie backing Junior and that part ending the same way.

I don't think it would have really impacted much of the series.