| The Sopranos | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | |
 Season 1 DVD cover art | |
| Starring | |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Release | |
| Original network | HBO |
| Original release | January 10 (1999-01-10) – April 4, 1999 (1999-04-04) |
| Season chronology | |
Next → Season 2 | |
| List of episodes | |
The first season of the American crime drama seriesThe Sopranos aired onHBO from January 10 to April 4, 1999. The first season was released on VHS and DVD in North America on December 12, 2000,[1] and onBlu-ray on November 24, 2009.[2]
The season introducesDiMeo Crime FamilycapoTony Soprano and his family, as well as his troubled relationship with his motherLivia. Also troubled is his relationship with hisUncle Junior, who becomes locked in a power struggle with Tony after the death of the Crime Family Boss,Jackie Aprile. Tony also begins therapy sessions withDr. Melfi after suffering a panic attack.
Meanwhile, Tony's daughterMeadow becomes aware of her father's true profession while preparing to get into college, and Tony's nephewChristopher attempts to write a screenplay about his criminal life and anxiously awaits becoming amade man. Due to Junior's plotting of an assassination, Tony also gets embroiled in a plot against childhood friendArtie Bucco, a charming but obsequious restaurateur.
The season won theGolden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama, thePrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for the episode "College", as well as several other accolades.James Gandolfini andEdie Falco received numerous accolades for their performances, including winning both Golden Globe Awards andScreen Actors Guild Awards.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | U.S. viewers (millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "The Sopranos" | David Chase | David Chase | January 10, 1999 (1999-01-10) | 3.45[3] | |
After a family of ducks he had been sheltering flies away,New JerseyDiMeo crime familycapoTony Soprano has apanic attack and is pointed to Dr.Jennifer Melfi for psychiatric help. When he tries to get his petulant motherLivia to go to anursing home, her pushback forces a second attack, and he admits to Melfi that his work depresses him and that he was upset about the ducks because their flight reminded him of his fear of losing his family. Tony's protégé and cousin by marriageChris Moltisanti executes a rival gangster to win Tony's favor, but finds his work ignored. Tony's uncleCorrado "Junior" Soprano plans to have a man killed at Nuovo Vesuvio, a restaurant run by Tony's friendArtie Bucco, so Tony has it burned, knowing a murder would irreparably damage its reputation. As Livia and Junior drive to Tony's house, Junior remarks that "something may have to be done" about him, and Livia quietly smiles. | |||||||
| 2 | 2 | "46 Long" | Dan Attias | David Chase | January 17, 1999 (1999-01-17) | N/A | |
Chris and his friend Brendan Filone rob a trucking business that pays protection to Junior, who warns them to stop. Brendan accidentally kills a driver during the next robbery. Angry that Chris did nothing to stop him, Tony decides to let them both deal with the consequences. Tony's sonAnthony Jr.'s teacher has his car stolen, so Tony sendssoldiersSalvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero andPaulie Gualtieri to find those responsible. They track down the gay couple who stole it and force them to steal another car, giving it to the teacher. After Livia injures her wrist driving, Tony moves her to the nursing home despite feeling guilt over not taking care of her, and almost has another attack while moving family photos out of her house. Despite Melfi trying to get him to stop displacing his anger towards Livia, Tony beats Georgie Santorelli, an employee at theBada Bing, thestrip club he runs, for mishandling the phone in a manner similar to her. | |||||||
| 3 | 3 | "Denial, Anger, Acceptance" | Nick Gomez | Mark Saraceni | January 24, 1999 (1999-01-24) | N/A | |
Chris and Brendan return the stolen truck and Tony is given credit for solving the issue, prompting Junior to go to Livia for advice. He has Chris mock executed and watches as Brendan is killed by soldier Mikey Palmice. Tony is hired by aJewish man who is being extorted by his son-in-law, and he attacks the man when he tries to back out on the deal, who derides him as a "golem". DiMeoboss Giacomo "Jackie" Aprile is hospitalized withstomach cancer, and Melfi tries to get Tony to discuss his feelings on it, as well as asking if being compared to a monster upset him. He attends his daughterMeadow's choir recital and is moved to tears by her solo part, unaware that she has spent the past few days usingspeed sold to her by Chris to complete her schoolwork. | |||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Meadowlands" | John Patterson | Jason Cahill | January 31, 1999 (1999-01-31) | N/A | |
Tensions rise after Tony beats Palmice for Brendan's murder and is unable to reach a compromise with Junior. After Aprile dies, Tony uses Melfi's advice on dealing with elders and backs Junior for boss of the family, allowing him to feel in control while Tony pulls the strings. He realizes his growing attraction to Melfi and has indebted police detective Vin Makazian tail her while she is on a date, but Makazian ends up beating up the man she is with. A.J. almost gets into a fight with a classmate, but the boy backs out because of who A.J.'s father is. Confused, he goes to Meadow, who reveals the true nature of Tony's work. | |||||||
| 5 | 5 | "College" | Allen Coulter | James Manos Jr. and David Chase | February 7, 1999 (1999-02-07) | N/A | |
While taking Meadow to tour colleges, Tony spots Fabian Petrulio, a former DiMeo soldier who flipped on the family. Petrulio realizes he is being watched and follows Tony to his motel, where he almost kills him but is stopped by the presence of witnesses. The next day, Tony finds him at his place of business and strangles him. Meadow notices the bruises on Tony's hands, but he dodges her questioning. Tony's wifeCarmela gets a call from Melfi, who Tony had told her was a man. Upset, she asks local priest Phil Intintola to stay when he comes over, confessing that she feels guilt over letting Tony commit crimes for her family. They almost kiss after some drinks, but Phil instead goes to the restroom and vomits. Carmela and Tony argue about Phil and Melfi when he returns. | |||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Pax Soprana" | Alan Taylor | Frank Renzulli | February 14, 1999 (1999-02-14) | N/A | |
Tony'sProzac begins negatively affecting his sex drive, and he finds himself increasingly attracted to Melfi. He tries to kiss her and has her car repaired, but she rebuffs his advances. At the same time, he convinces Carmela that he feels no attraction to Melfi, and they reconcile. After Junior's tailor's grandson dies while on drugs, Junior has the dealer hunted down and killed, angering a DiMeocapo, as the dealer was his top earner. Junior begins taxing Tony's Jewish mob associate Herman "Hesh" Rabkin at Livia's suggestion without distributing the money to hiscapos, forcing Tony to negotiate with him, who shares his portion of the payment with Hesh. At Junior's celebration dinner, a waiter covertly takes pictures of everyone present with a button camera under his name tag provided by theFBI. The final shot of the episode is of a detective's bulletin board mapping out the hierarchy of the DiMeo family, with Junior's position title being updated to "boss". | |||||||
| 7 | 7 | "Down Neck" | Lorraine Senna | Robin Green &Mitchell Burgess | February 21, 1999 (1999-02-21) | N/A | |
After A.J. gets in trouble for being drunk in school, his parents learn that he may haveADD. Tony worries that his genes may have corrupted his son and that he will turn out to be like him, and so he tells Melfi a story from his childhood: his father Johnny would take his sisterJanice somewhere often, but he was always excluded. Jealous, he hid in the trunk of Johnny's car and learned that he was taking Janice to a fair, but only so she could act as cover while he did illegal business. After young Tony watched Johnny get arrested, he felt a sense of pride that he realizes A.J. feels about him. When he learns that A.J. is a borderline case, he rejects any further testing. A.J. tells Livia that Tony is seeing a therapist. | |||||||
| 8 | 8 | "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti" | Tim Van Patten | Frank Renzulli and David Chase | February 28, 1999 (1999-02-28) | N/A | |
Melfi and her ex-husband debate over whether or not she should continue treating Tony. Livia tells Junior that Tony is in therapy. The DiMeo family gets a tip that the FBI will soon be raiding them, so thecapos hide and destroy any evidence of wrongdoing. Chris has nightmares about the man he killed, so he digs up the body and relocates it. As he struggles to write a mob screenplay and feels anger at not being recognized as a feared figure, he has an altercation at a bakery where he shoots the clerk in the foot. He learns that his name is in the newspaper, which delights him. | |||||||
| 9 | 9 | "Boca" | Andy Wolk | Jason Cahill and Robin Green & Mitchell Burgess | March 7, 1999 (1999-03-07) | N/A | |
Junior's girlfriend praises hiscunnilingus talents against his wishes while Carmela is nearby, and both Carmela and Tony make thinly veiled jokes about it around him. Furious, Junior breaks up with her, pulls his money out of her business, and reveals Tony's therapy to Palmice, who believes he is informing on them. Meadow's soccer coach makes plans to leave town for a better job, while the team's star player reveals to Meadow that the coach had sex with her. Tony prepares to have him killed until Artie tries to get him to change his mind. After drinking excessively, Tony calls off the hit, and the coach is arrested after one of the teammates reports on him. | |||||||
| 10 | 10 | "A Hit Is a Hit" | Matthew Penn | Joe Bosso and Frank Renzulli | March 14, 1999 (1999-03-14) | N/A | |
Chris tries to fulfill his girlfriendAdriana La Cerva's dream of being involved in music production by meeting with a gangster rapper, who is in a dispute with Hesh aboutroyalties. When he and Hesh agree to sue each other, Tony's crew mocks the rapper for going through the legal system. Adriana's first recording goes poorly and Hesh rejects their material. Tony's neighbor Bruce Cusamano invites him to play golf with his friends. They make Tony uncomfortable with questions about mob life, and he tells Melfi about a boy from his childhood with acleft palate he and his friends used to mock, only understanding his pain after being humiliated at the club. As revenge, Tony pranks Cusamano by filling a box with sand and leaving it with him to hold on to, and he and his wife Jeannie nervously try to guess what illegal contents may be inside. | |||||||
| 11 | 11 | "Nobody Knows Anything" | Henry J. Bronchtein | Frank Renzulli | March 21, 1999 (1999-03-21) | N/A | |
The FBI raids a card game and arrestcapo Jimmy Altieri. Pussy is caught but mysteriously released. Makazian informs Tony that he heard Pussy is wearing awire. Tony sends Paulie to confirm the existence of the wire and Paulie takes Pussy to a bath house, but Pussy refuses to take his clothes off, citing highblood pressure. At the same time, Tony learns that Makazian, who kills himself after being caught in abrothel, may have had ulterior motives for implicating Pussy. Altieri is released and talks to Tony, who realizes from his strange behavior that he is the informant. Junior learns from Livia that the mothers of several of hiscapos have been placed in her nursing home, and he realizes they are meeting behind his back. He has his men organize a hit on Tony. | |||||||
| 12 | 12 | "Isabella" | Allen Coulter | Robin Green & Mitchell Burgess | March 28, 1999 (1999-03-28) | 4.19[4] | |
Pussy disappears, leaving Tony depressed and listless. He meets Isabella, a youngItalianexchange student watching over the Cusamanos' house while they are away, and fantasizes about her nursing a baby named Antonio. When she disappears, Melfi realizes thelithium she had him taking was causing him to hallucinate, and explains that Isabella was an idealized maternal figure. Chris unwittingly saves Tony's life when he checks on him, his car blocking the two hitmen who were sent to kill Tony. When the contractor jokes about Livia being responsible for the hit, Junior has Palmice kill him. The next day, the hitmen strike, but Tony survives after one of them accidentally kills the other. Junior and Livia go to check on him, where she feigns memory loss. | |||||||
| 13 | 13 | "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano" | John Patterson | David Chase | April 4, 1999 (1999-04-04) | 5.22[3] | |
Tony almost attacks Melfi when she suggests that Livia may haveborderline personality disorder, and warns her to go into hiding because of Junior's attempted hit. He reluctantly tells his men that he is seeing Melfi, but they accept and encourage him. He has Altieri and Palmice executed, as well as killing the man he suspects Junior will send after him next. The FBI arrest Junior using information from Altieri, although he refuses to inform on Tony. Carmela notices Phil getting close with Aprile's widowRosalie and calls him out on his pattern of seducing "spiritually thirsty" married women. Livia tells Artie that Tony was the one who burned Nuovo Vesuvio, and Tony convinces him while being held at gunpoint that he was not responsible. When Livia has astroke and the FBI inform Tony that they taped her subtly convincing Junior to put out the hit, he goes to the hospital to kill her, but is stopped by the staff taking her away. A storm knocks out the power in the Soprano household, so the family goes to the rebuilt Nuovo Vesuvio, where Tony advises his children to "remember the little moments that were good." | |||||||
The first season ofThe Sopranos was met with wide acclaim, receiving a score of 88 out of 100 onMetacritic,[5] and a 98% approval rating onRotten Tomatoes with an average score of 9.3/10, the latter site reporting the critical consensus as, "The Sopranos smartly runs an emotional gamut, offering detailed character work and riveting suspense while displaying a flair for both comedy and drama."[6] James Gandolfini was widely hailed for his performance, withKen Tucker ofEntertainment Weekly praising his "magnificently shrewd, wary performance" as Tony Soprano.[7]Deseret News expressed approval for the show's clear insight into the "modern incarnations of family and mortality and ambition."[5]
Marvin Kitman ofNewsday wrote, "It's a great show, the best new series of the year. It's so - dare I say it? - original. It catches you off guard. Basically, it's everything I'm always looking for in drama. It's beautifully written, authentic, without the plastic Los Angeles look. The acting is marvelous. It's funny in a darkly comedic way, involving as a soap opera, and quirky. I never quite know what's going to happen, even though the subject matter is by no means unprecedented for television."[5]
| Year | Association | Category | Nominee(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Drama Series | Nominated | [8] | |
| Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series | James Gandolfini (Episode: "Pilot") | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Edie Falco (episode: "College") | Won | |||
| Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series | Lorraine Bracco (episode: "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti") | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series | Nancy Marchand (episodes: "Pilot" + "46 Long") | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series | John Heard (episode: "Nobody Knows Anything") | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series | David Chase (episode: "Pilot") | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series | David Chase (episode: "Pilot") | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series | Robin Green,Mitchell Burgess (episode: "Isabella") | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series | James Manos Jr. (episode: "College") | Won | |||
| Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series | Frank Renzulli (episode: "Nobody Knows Anything") | Nominated | |||
| 1999 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Drama Series | Won | [9] | |
| Best Actor in a Drama Series | James Gandolfini | Won | |||
| Best Actress in a Drama Series | Edie Falco | Won | |||
| Best Actress in a Drama Series | Lorraine Bracco | Nominated | |||
| Best Supporting Actress – Television | Nancy Marchand | Won | |||
| 1999 | Screen Actors Guild Awards | Outstanding Ensemble in a Drama Series | Entire Cast | Won | [10] |
| Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series | James Gandolfini | Won | |||
| Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series | Edie Falco | Won | |||
| Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series | Lorraine Bracco | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series | Nancy Marchand | Nominated | |||
| 1999 | Directors Guild of America Award | Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series | David Chase (episode: "Pilot") | Won | |
| Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series | Allen Coulter (episode: "College") | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series | Daniel Attias (episode: "46 Long") | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series | Henry J. Bronchtein (episode: "Nobody Knows Anything") | Nominated | |||
| 1999 | Writers Guild of America Award | Best Drama Episode | Jason Cahill (episode: "Meadowlands") | Won | |
| 1999 | TCA Awards | Program of the Year | Yes | ||
| Outstanding Achievement in Drama | Won | ||||
| Outstanding New Program of the Year | Won | ||||
| Outstanding Individual Achievement in Drama | David Chase | Nominated | |||
| Outstanding Individual Achievement in Drama | James Gandolfini | Won | |||
| 1999 | Satellite Awards | Best Drama Series | Nominated | ||
| Best Actor in a Drama Series | James Gandolfini | Nominated | |||
| Best Actress in a Drama Series | Lorraine Bracco | Nominated | |||
| Best Actress in a Drama Series | Edie Falco | Nominated | |||
