>>>High infrastructure costs in New Jersey? I blame the Sopranos.
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>>Boy, do I miss that show. It was the one that proved TV writing could be as good as any movie. It set a path that other series have been following: nuanced plots, compelling characters. The characters weren't all good guys by any means but I wound up caring about all of them. Including Carmela, who was nice in some ways and in other ways could more than hold her own against a mob boss. She was the only one Tony seemed scared of. My favorites were Paulie Walnuts and Christuffuh. My favorite episode was probably "Pine Barrens", where the two of them were lost in the words. Or the seemingly annual episodes based on Tony's haunting dreams. Too many great episodes to count, really.
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>Pine Barrens was a classic.
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>"Tony said the guy was some kind of interior decorator"
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>"Interior decorator? The guy's apartment looked like sh__ "
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>My favorite sequence of events was at the end of Season 1/beginning of Season 2, when Junior ordered the hit on Tony, who was battling severe depression. Of course, it failed, it woke Tony up, and then Tony sent the ultimate message back to Junior when they clipped Mikey Palmice, Chucky Signore, and Phil Parise - and then Junior got nailed by the Feds. The scene when Tony visits Junior in prison with a big smirk on his face and says, "a lot of deaths in your neck of the woods...so many tragedies" was an absolute classic.
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>The first three years of Sopranos was as good as anything we'll ever see. Remaining years were a mixed bag. Most people lost sympathy for Tony after Season 3.

Agreed on the first seasons being the best. It still remained the most compelling show on television. One episode I remember in particular was Meadow explaining the facts of mob life to A.J. (An amazing number of guys on the internet chat site had a thing for Meadow). "Uncle Junior isn't our uncle."

Re Tony, I don't think he was meant to be sympathetic. Only enough that he wasn't a caricature. He took out that snitch in Maine without a moment's hesitation. The pitch meeting for the series probably boiled down to "mob boss who sees a shrink." In the screenwriting business they call that high concept. You can fill in the details as you go along. Provided you have amazing writers, of course.

The web site was even better than this one (no insult to anyone). After a new episode it would light on fire. There were real judges, one of whom who posted as Johnny the Gavel, and I'm pretty sure a couple of real gangsters.