'The Sopranos' so far

1999 season So there was Tony Soprano, a powerful underboss in a North Jersey crime syndicate. Tony had the love of his good-hearted wife, Carmela, and some other women too, but mostly Carmela, although she felt some guilt about raising their children, Meadow and Anthony Jr., in a mob household. Tony started passing out, just like that, so, taking the advice of his neighbor/doctor, went to see a pyschiatrist, Dr. Melfi. They talked about his feelings, making no headway despite the obvious reverse-Oedipal situation brought on by Tony's mother, Livia. She was angry at him for sending her to a nursing home, then tried to get him killed by telling Uncle Junior, her brother-in-law and the syndicate's figurehead, things that would make Junior want to kill Tony. But Tony had a loyal band of captains and in a bloody turf war they knocked off Junior's guys until the FBI collared Junior for some other misdeeds. Meanwhile word got out that Tony was seeing a shrink, and Tony told Melfi to flee for cover. Big Pussy, one of Tony's closest associates, also vanished. Was he the one wearing a wire? No one knew for sure. 2000 season Dr. Melfi moved her practice to a cheap motel and began drinking heavily. Big Pussy came back and all was well until they killed him for being a snitch. Richie Aprile, the brother of Tony's old boss, got out of prison and started muscling in on Tony's turf, hooked up with Tony's sister Janice and generally gave Tony headaches until finally he was shot dead - not by Tony but by Janice during a domestic dispute, so Tony cleaned up the mess and Janice split town. Tony made up with Junior, who was under house arrest, but he didn't make up with his mother, who was in the care of a one-legged Russian girl and acting senile so she wouldn't have to admit she'd been playing everyone like a Stradivarius. Editor's note: With all due respect to our friend Aaron, there was only so much story he could cover in the room we offered him. He doesn't even touch on nice subplots like the dynamics of Tony's lifelong friendship with the clean living Artie, whose restaurant he blew up to keep Junior from making a hit there that would ruin its reputation. (What kind of stupid idea is that you may ask? Yeah, that's what Artie asked Tony at gunpoint after Livia told him all about it. But they're still pals.) If you're still reading this we know you're intrigued and would like to know more. We recommend www.hbo.com.sopranos, a truly comprehensive official Web site with episode guides, cast information and interviews, even a trivia game for those of you in the know. On Sunday, a live chat with Jamie-Lynn Sigler (Meadow) will start at 10 p.m. >>>