January
13-20, 2000

In the Mafia--or at least in Mafia movies--talking too much is never a good thing. But when it comes to TV shows, especially ones that generate as much buzz as The Sopranos has, talking is the thing, whether that means discussing the show with other fans and friends (or mobster-tomobster, as has been reported) or just listening for the series's sharp dialogue and budding catchphrases.

At Sopranoland.com [www.], Gandolfini's big mug greets you first, but the site is more text-oriented than theng page suggests. An episode guide, the site's centerpiece, has complete transcripts (nabbed from a closed-captioning device) of all 13 episodes (except for installments eigth and, natch, nine, the "Boca" episode.) Reading them and visualizing the actors working through the lines is almost as entertaining as a real viewing, and catches me up nicely. For example, I learn that in the first episode, Tony loses consciousness at a family barbegue and is reluctantly carried off to see Bracco's Dr. Melfi. "Stress?" she asks later, in a scene that sets up the series's premise. "I don't know," Tony answers--painfully, I imagine, and with one of Gandolfini's trademark grimaces. The site also offers electronic wallpaper for your desktop, audio snippets of captured dialog and Annie Leibovitz's photo of the cast posing a la The Last Supper. (The photo was scanned poorly, of course; that's the Soprano way, I'm learning -- bighearted but a little sloppy.)

Webmistress Note: The site got almost 5 column inches of the article and they did mention the transcripts and SoundBytes but I'm still irked considering I had to put 3 pieces together for that picture. My first magazine article, I guess I should just be happy for the press, huh?