Serious business

My obligatory Sopranos/pimp-HBO-programming post of the week:

The Futon Critic projects that The Sopranos and Entourage will return on 3/11/07 and that the LAST EPISODE EVER is projected for April 29th, but I'm thinking that they'll take a week off before the finale in order to save the episode for May sweeps and to have a big blowout ad campaign to fuel the hype. And also because May 6th is a couple days after my birthday.

Entourage was originally supposed to start in January, but it also got pushed back to March due to James Gandolfini's knee surgery that delayed The Sopranos. The good people at Home Box Office want to pair the two together (Sopranos at 9:00, followed by Entourage at 10:00) because HBO is setting Entourage to be the franchise when Sopranos ends. Check it out on HBO On Demand if you have the means, because it's a fun show and Ari Gold is one of the five best characters on TV, which include Tony Soprano, Stephen Colbert, Dwight Schrute, and Jack Bauer.

Fun facts to report (spoilers, nothing too big, but spoilers nonetheless: courtesy of The Deadwood Stage):

• Episode Titles:
  

  6.13 (78) - A Few Kind Words
  6.14 (79) - Stage 5
  6.15 (80) - Remember When
  6.16 (81) - Bloodlines

• The show picks up more than a year after the Christmas scene in Kaisha.
• There is going to be a major fight in the first episode (technically, the 13th). Filming took place on Putnam Valley’s Lake Oscawana at actor Roy Scheider’s house. Aida Turturro (Janice Soprano), Steven R. Schrippa (Bobby Bacala), and James Gandolfini (come on) were seen on the set.
• A chase scene was filmed in West Milford, NJ. Gandolfini present.
• Tony will be the godfather of Christopher's kid. Scenes were filmed in Astoria, NY for the baptism. Vincent Curtola (Johnny Sack) was photographed having some really white hair and Robert Iler (AJ Soprano) now has a goatee. Remember when Iler was the short fat kid in the first episode? Every season he looks completely different. My theory, he's a robot (hence, the really bad acting) who blows up every year and they have to rebuild him for each season, which is the true reason for all the delays.
  
• Julianna Margulies (Julianna Skiff) won't be in the first four episodes.
• Daniel Baldwin is signed on to play the lead role in Chrissy's movie.
• Tony Sirico (Paulie Walnuts) will do something hilarious.

Here's the DVD artwork for the Season 6 Part One DVD

That's about all for today.

Here's a preview for the next installment of my obligatory Sopranos/pimp-HBO-programming post of the week:

The Sopranos is the best. Everyone should watch it. I will murder you all if you don't.

James Gandolfini was filmed walking on the Raritan River, while creator David Chase turned water into wine and healed a leper.

I hope everyone watches The Wire. It starts on September 10th, four days after the newest episode of Costas Now. And did anyone see Dane Cook's Vicious Circle. Man, does that guy suck or what? I hate that motherfucker. I only watched it 10 times on HBO On Demand this weekend.

It's not TV, it's the greatest network of this or any generation.