Bingeing on ‘The Sopranos’ in Sarasota-Bradenton

I blame the whole Sopranos thing on my dear friends Jack Elka and Hope Yencho. It’s all their fault. About 6 weeks ago while out to dinner with them at our favorite Italian Restaurant (that’s right, Italian) Primo-Ristorante, they told Laura and I that they had really gotten into watching the Sopranos series on Amazon Prime! I smiled and thought, wow, it’s been years since I saw that show. On the drive home, Laura asked me what the Sopranos was all about? My response, “it’s certainly not Mr. Rogers!”

She had never watched the show and knew nothing about it. I explained it was a combination of sex, drugs, rock n roll, shootings, killings, funerals, cheating, guns, money, marriage, marriage separation and always lots and lots of Italian food and drinking.

We walked into our house, I went to Amazon where I found the Sopranos and that’s when the bingeing began. The first night we watched 3 shows without ever getting off the couch. Laura’s chin dropped several times as she saw a mob hit for the first time…. In the first episode!

Well 2 weeks went by and we hardly ever left the house. And, when we did, I started seeing normal everyday people in the supermarket and they reminded me of Soprano characters. And, oh boy, were they characters- Tony Soprano, Carmela Soprano, Silvio, Phil, Christopher, Paulie, Meadow Soprano, Anthony Soprano, Jennifer Melfi, Uncle Junior, Big Pussy, Adriana, Bobby Baccalla, Janice Soprano, Tony Blunddetto, Artie Bucco, Vito, Ralphie, Livia, Furio, Johnny Sack, Charmain, Patsy, Rosalie, Hesh….and I am sure that I missed a few. Every episode had something crazy going on with those wild and crazy characters.

And the actors and actresses- James Gandolfini, Frank Vincent, Steven Van Zandt, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, Lorraine Bracco, Tony Sirico, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Robert Iler, Dominic Chianese, Vincent Pastore, Drea de Mateo, Steve Schirripoa, Aida Turturro, Steve Buscemi, John Ventimiglia, Joe Pantoliano, Nancy Machand, Frederico Castelluccio, Vincent Curatola, Katrine Narducci, Dan Grimaldi, Sharon Angela, Jerry Adler and more.

So we binged and binged and binged. Every character is etched in my brain. So much killing, so much payola, so much food and drink, so much of everything and I loved watching every minute of it!

My favorite character? That’s a hard one so here are my top 5-
Tony Soprano
Carmela Soprano
Silvio
Christopher
Paulie & Uncle Jr. (tie)

Some stuff about the Sopranos. It was created by David Chase and ran on HBO from January 10, 1999 – June 10, 2007. There were 86 episodes. The story of the Sopranos was initially conceived as a feature film about “a mobster in therapy having problems with his mother” (from Wikipedia). David Chase pitched the show to several networks but they all turned him down until HBO came along.

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Photo from Wikipedia