THE SOPRANOS: SEASON 1

Amazon.com The Sopranos, writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television series, is nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home: Like 1999's other screen touchstone, American Beauty, the HBO series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there's the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegial mob clan and his own, nouveau riche brood. The series' brilliant first season is built around what Tony learns when, whipsawed between those two worlds, he finds himself plunged into depression and seeks psychotherapy--a gesture at odds with his midlevel capo's machismo, yet instantly recognizable as a modern emotional test. With analysis built into the very spine of the show's elaborate episodic structure, creator Chase and his formidable corps of directors, writers, and actors weave an unpredictable series of parallel and intersecting plot arcs that twist from tragedy to farce to social realism. While creating for a smaller screen, they enjoy a far larger canvas than a single movie would afford, and the results, like the very best episodic television, attain a richness and scope far closer to a novel than movies normally get. Unlike Francis Coppola's operatic dramatization of Mario Puzo's Godfather epic, The Sopranos sustains a poignant, even mundane intimacy in its focus on Tony, brought to vivid life by James Gandolfini's mercurial performance. Alternately seductive, exasperated, fearful, and murderous, Gandolfini is utterly convincing even when executing brutal shifts between domestic comedy and dramatic violence. Both he and the superb team of Italian-American actors recruited as his loyal (and, sometimes, not-so-loyal) henchmen and their various "associates" make this mob as credible as the evocative Bronx and New Jersey locations where the episodes were filmed. The first season's other life force is Livia Soprano, Tony's monstrous, meddlesome mother. As Livia, the late Nancy Marchand eclipses her long career of patrician performances to create an indelibly earthy, calculating matriarch who shakes up both families; Livia also serves as foil and rival to Tony's loyal, usually level-headed wife, Carmela (Edie Falco). Lorraine Bracco makes Tony's therapist, Dr. Melfi, a convincing confidante, by turns "professional," perceptive, and sexy; the duo's therapeutic relationship is also depicted with uncommon accuracy. Such grace notes only enrich what's not merely an aesthetic high point for commercial television, but an absorbing film masterwork that deepens with subsequent screenings. --Sam Sutherland Product Description Sopranos, The: The Complete First Season (DVD) Meet Tony Soprano: your average, middle-aged businessman. Tony's got a dutiful wife. A not-so-dutiful daughter. A son named Anthony Jr. A pill of a mother. A hot-headed uncle. A not-too-secret mistress. And a shrink to whom he tells all his secrets, except the one she already knows: Tony's a mob boss. In Season One, feeling his handle on his family and his business slipping away, Tony (James Gandolfini) suffers a series of anxiety attacks that land him in the office of a psychiatrist (Lorraine Bracco). Opening up to his shrink, Tony relates the details of his life as a 'waste-management consultant,' and tries to come to terms with the professional and private strains that have brought him to the brink of a breakdown. Co-starring Edie Falco as his wife, Michael Imperioli as his nephew and Dominic Chianese as his uncle. ]]> From the Back Cover EPISODES 1 - 13 THE SOPRANOS - Written by David Chase, Directed by David Chase In the series opener, we meet Tony Soprano and his two families -- the genetic one and the one in the Mob -- and see how pressure from both causes him to see a therapist. 46 LONG - Written by David Chase, Directed by David Chase Can't anybody manage two minutes without Tony's supervision? Livia needs household help; Chris and Brendan are setting up their own jobs; and Anthony, Jr. needs someone to find his science teacher's stolen car. DENIAL, ANGER, ACCEPTANCE - Written by Mark Saraceni, Directed by Nick Gomez Everybody wants something: Meadow and Hunter want Chris to help them score some crank, a Hasidic man wants Tony to help his daughter get a divorce, and Tony wants to help a friend in the hospital. MEADOWLANDS - Written by Jason Cahill, Directed by John Patterson Tony decides to find out about Dr. Melfi's personal life, while Anthony, Jr. finds out about his dad's professional one. COLLEGE - Written by Jim Manos, Jr. and David Chase, Directed by Allen Coulter On a trip to Maine to visit colleges with Meadow, Tony thinks he spots an old friend with whom he has some unfinished business. PAX SOPRANA - Written by Frank Renzulli, Directed by Alan Taylor Uncle Junior gives everybody "agita" by announcing he's not honoring any deals made by Jackie Aprile. What's Tony going to do about it? DOWN NECK - Writte
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