Money

The Sopranos this season has the longest credit roll of any series television program I have ever seen in my entire life. And, shocker, there have been quite a few of them.

I'm assuming that by now they have the best television crew money can buy in NYC. That's what you should do if you have some of the most expensive stars on television. The credits read like it's a feature now. James Gandolfini's Dialect Coach, no less.

What the hell, they're totally worth it. Gandolfini and Edie Falco must be the best acting team working today. Even when he's in a coma.

I'm guessing that HBO makes so much money on the DVD season sets that they're budgeting like a feature anyway. Does anyone know if they've hit $10 million per episode yet?

Have to say I'm excited to see where it goes. The first episode was insanely tight, laid out this very scary family right at the head of the season. It's for life, no way out.

The genius of the show is how it implicates the audience. It unerringly depicts contemporary suburban life, with all our prosaic self-deception, but then you realize those folks you're identifying with are very, very bad people. They kill people. Sometimes for a living. Sometimes for elective.

Oh beautiful.