The Soprano Family

Forget the two major Hollywood award ceremonies coming up. I am stoked for "The Sopranos" to air on March 12. We have had a long break from Tony's mobster crew. However, with only a few more episodes to shoot, HBO is set and ready to let loose another batch of "The Sopranos."

With 12 episodes lined up in March, repercussions over the jailing of rival mafia man Johnny Sack (played by Vincent Curatola), and Tony's reconciliation with Carmella (played by Edie Falco), will begin the new season. However, despite reports, which gave us all false hope that "The Sopranos" will last past their final eight episodes scheduled in January 2007, it turns out that this is not going to happen. Boo!

According to James Gandolfini, who gained huge recognition via the role of Tony Soprano, "fame has been an incredible life lesson that a lot of us wouldn't have had without this opportunity. "It teaches you about what's important."

However, continues Gandolfini, "I'm too tired to be a tough guy or any of that stuff anymore. We pretty much used all that up in this show."

During a gathering in Pasadena on Friday where the entire "Sopranos" cast spoke to television critics, whether or not the final goodbye would end with the Sopranos family going on or going down remains a mystery. When asked the question, creator/writer David Chase said; "The truth is both."

It all began in 1999 when Tony Soprano tried to live up to his "mob boss" expectations while simultaneously being a good family man. Feeling the pressure, he began suffering from anxiety attacks, forcing him to put his ego aside and secretly seek the help of a shrink, (played by Lorraine Bracco).

And when Uncle Junior (played by Dominic Chianese) wants to use Tony's childhood pal's restaurant to whack a guy, Tony solves this "dilemma" by blowing it up. Bada-bing!

Before "The Sopranos," mob stories consisted of gun-toting bad guys who inflict pain on relatively innocent people over and over again. These hard-core gangsters mainly attracted a male audience because of their creepy inability to feel remorse as they beat, shot and decapitated anyone that stood in their way. Not something us girls can bear for hours on end.

Every character in a mafia series was portrayed as a man missing a soul and every plot revolved around violence. That is.... until David Chase's "Sopranos" came along. Through the eyes of Tony Soprano, we witness a mafia family from an internal point of view. By revealing the main man behind the mask, multiple interpersonal plots contribute to the majority of the story line and although violence is definitely present, it takes a backseat to character development.

Don't get me wrong - the bloody battles are as gruesome as ever. Who could forget the episode when Tony killed Ralphie (played by Joe Pantoliano), with his bare hands and nephew Christopher (played by Michael Imperioli), later chopped off his head. Or... when Ralphie beat his girlfriend to death in the back of the Sopranos' stripper nightclub.

Despite the violence, however, we saw Tony's love for animals, his guilt and shame via nightmares and the depression and anxiety attacks resulting from that. As the show progressed, plots also expanded beyond Tony's point of view as other characters' inner complexities came out. Most notorious was during Season 4 when Carmella finally had enough of her husband's B.S. and after receiving a painful call from one of his many flings, she boots him to the curb. Played by Edie Falco, this was a performance of a lifetime as her true internal suffering throughout the years shined through in one hour-long episode.

Using psychological imagery, such as dream sequences to contribute to Chase's genius way of subjective storytelling, "The Sopranos" is a true classic and will forever be one of the best shows on cable television.