The Sopranos (The Sopranos episode)

"The Sopranos", also known as "Pilot", is the

Tony has recently been dealing with tensions between his wife Carmela and teenage daughter Meadow, as well as trying to keep his nephew, Christopher Moltisanti, in check. Tony's uncle, Corrado "Junior" Soprano, resents Tony for rising in the family hierarchy while he himself is in decline. Tony also has a strained relationship with his mother, Livia, who is resisting his advice to move into a retirement home.

A confrontation with Livia triggers another panic attack, causing Tony to return to Melfi. He tells her about a family of ducks that were living in his swimming pool, but left when the ducklings fledged. Guided by Melfi, Tony realizes he is sad to see them go because he dreads losing his own family; to his consternation, this makes him cry.

A Czech-American criminal organization is bidding against Tony for a waste management contract. Christopher unilaterally murders one of the Czechs, Emil Kolar, resulting in the Czechs withdrawing their bid.

Junior wants to kill

At a birthday party for Tony's adolescent son A.J., Christopher, frustrated about not receiving recognition for killing Kolar, tells Tony he is thinking of turning his life story into a Hollywood script, which Tony angrily forbids.

As he drives Livia to the party, an embittered Junior says, "Something may have to be done about Tony." Livia doesn't say anything, but shows a hint of a smile.

Cast

• James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano
• Dr. Jennifer Melfi
• Edie Falco as Carmela Soprano
• Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti
• Dominic Chianese as Corrado Soprano, Jr.
• Pussy Bonpensiero
• Steven Van Zandt as Silvio Dante
• Tony Sirico as Paulie Gualtieri
• Anthony Soprano, Jr.
• Jamie-Lynn Sigler as Meadow Soprano
• Nancy Marchand as Livia Soprano

Production

Pre-production for the pilot commenced in the summer of 1997, a year and a half before the series debuted on TV. The episode was filmed in August 1997 and completed by October 1997. Despite being well received by Chase's closest friends and the cast and crew who watched it, Chase feared the pilot would not be picked up by

During the year-long break between the pilot and the start of the shoot of the rest of the 12 episodes of the season, James Gandolfini gained 60 pounds for the role of Tony and underwent voice coaching. Siberia Federico and Michael Santoro play Irina and Father Phil respectively. For future episodes, these roles were recast with Oksana Lada and Paul Schulze. Drea de Matteo was originally simply cast as a restaurant hostess for this one episode only. The filmmakers liked her performance, and her character was developed into the role of Adriana La Cerva in future episodes.^[3] The pork store used as a meeting place is Centanni's Meat Market, a real butcher shop in Elizabeth, New Jersey. However, because the shop had a steady business and because local business owners were annoyed with the incidental effects of having a television production being shot on a weekly basis, HBO acquired an abandoned auto parts store in Kearny, New Jersey which became Satriale's Pork Store for use in future episodes.^[4]

Awards

David Chase won the