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The Sopranos
*In the pilot episode, a group of senior citizens is seen watching an episode of, "The Rockford Files (1974)". David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, got his first big job in the business as the producer/writer of The Rockford Files. David also based the character of Tony's mother on his own mother whose name is also "Livia". You can see David in episode #17, "Commendatori". While in Italy, Paulie speaks Italian to a man at a cafe and the man ignores him. That's David!
*Dominic Chianese who plays Tony Soprano's uncle on the TV show also played mafia member Johnny Ola in the movie, "Godfather: Part II (1974)".
*The "Bada Bing" strip club on the show is shot at "Satin Dolls" in Lodi, New Jersey.
*The "Green Grove Retirement Community" is shot at the "Green Hills Retirement Community" in West Orange, New Jersey.
*All of the characters on this HBO series own a Philips television sets. You think maybe they all "fell off" the same truck?
*Actor Frank Vincent played Phil Leotardo on the series and killed someone in the trunk of his car while they begged him to let them live. Frank played a role in the movie, "Goodfellas" where he got killed in exactly the same way.
*Actor Michael Imperioli who plays Christopher on the show shot someone in the foot for being disrespectful in episode #8, "The Legend of Tennesee Moltisante". He also appeared in "Goodfellas" as a character who got shot in the foot for being disrespectful. By the way, besides acting, Michael whose character on the series is struggling to become a screenwriter, is also a screenwriter in real life!
*In the beginning, there was some concern that viewers might think the title, "The Sopranos", meant that the show had something to do with singers. Other titles were considered but they finally decided to simply add a gun to the Sopranos logo.
*Tony Sirico (Paulie Gaultieri) would only agree to do the role if his character was guaranteed to never "rat out" the mob.
*The series character 'Uncle Junior' (Corrado Erico Soprano) is played by Dominic Chianese, the very same Dominic Chianese who played Johnny Ola in The Godfather: Part II.
*In January 2000, the Coalition of Italian American Associations issued a joint statement condemning The Sopranos for perpetuating negative Italian-American stereotypes.
*In Season 5, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and Silvio Dante (Steve Van Zandt) are waiting on Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli). Upon arriving late, Christopher says that the "highway was jammed with broken heroes on a last-chance power drive", the lyrics to a Bruce Springsteen hit "Born to Run". Steve Van Zandt is in Springsteen's E Street Band.
*Silvio Dante (Steve Van Zandt) is based on a character of the same name in a short story that Van Zandt wrote and showed to series creator David Chase.
*Steve Van Zandt and David Proval originally auditioned for the role of Tony Soprano.
*Drea de Matteo appeared in the first episode as an unnamed maitre d'. She was only intended to appear in that one scene. But David Chase liked de Matteo's enthusiasm and decided to expand her role. In the third episode, the unnamed maitre d' became Christopher's girlfriend, Adriana.
*Lorraine Bracco was originally asked to play the role of Carmela Soprano, but she felt that the part was too similar to her character in Goodfellas. She decided the role of Dr. Melfi would be more challenging.
*David Chase had planned a major story line for the third season concerning Tony's efforts to prevent Livia from testifying against him in court. But Nancy Marchand's death caused Chase to revise a large portion of the season.
*Tony Sirico had undergone major back surgery during the shooting of the fourth season. David Chase put Sirico's character, Paulie, in jail so the actor could fully recover.
*Although Nancy Marchand, who played Livia Soprano, had passed away by the time Episode 28 ("Proshai, Livushka") began filming, she appears in a brief scene at the beginning in which she has a conversation with her son, Tony. Producers pieced together dialogue from previous episodes for Livia's half of the conversation, and used state-of-the-art CGI effects to place old footage of her face on a body double. The effect cost about $250,000, and took two weeks to put together.
*The cast is signed up through 6 seasons and creator David Chase is signed up for 5 seasons.
*During seasons 2 and 3, Steve Schirripa had to wear a fat suit, in order to play Bobby Baccala.
*David Chase claims the relationship in the story between Tony and his mother Livia is based on his relationship with his own mother, who was also named Livia.
*In episode #17 "Commendatori", Tony and the gang goes to Italy to conduct business. While Paulie is dining at a cafe he notices a man and speaks Italian to him the man turns away and ignores him. This man is the show's creator, David Chase.
*During the first season, HBO execs were initially opposed to Tony Soprano murdering Febby Pretulio in the "College" episode. They felt that it would make him an unlikable character. Producer David Chase, on the other hand, felt that the audience wanted to see Tony as a character with his own sense of ethics, murder being part of that ethic. In the end, Chase won out.
*Just before the attempt on his life in Season 1, Tony buys orange juice. In The Godfather, Vito Corleone buys oranges before the attempt on his life.
*Originally James Gandolfini wanted to keep the character of Richie Aprile alive but the writers decided against it and he was killed in Episode# 25.
*Phil Leotardo played by Frank Vincent kills Angelo Garepe in the trunk of his car, while Angelo is begging for mercy. Frank Vincent's character in Goodfellas was killed in the same way.
*Joe Pantoliano was told when he first took the role of Ralph that the character would only last two seasons.
*The first cable-television series to win the Emmy award for Outstanding Drama Series.
*In episode #4.01, "For All Debts Public and Private", Carmine Lupertazzi remarks to Tony, "A don never wears shorts." This was actual advice give to James Gandolfini by someone connected with the Mafia, commenting about an earlier barbecue scene in the series. After Carmine Lupertazzi dies, Tony goes back to wearing shorts, most notable in episode 5.08 "Marco Polo".
*Drea de Matteo had to spend four hours in hair and makeup before shooting each episode in order to achieve her "mob girl" look. It took two hours to prepare her hair, and in the instances in which her arms, legs, and/or torso were uncovered, an hour and a half to apply makeup to cover her tattoos.
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