New challenges abound for Tony Soprano as his life grows increasingly complicated. Now that he and Carmela are back together, they must face the reality that their kids are no longer children, but not yet grown. And with Johnny Sack in prison, the always-tense relations between the New Jersey and New York families are strained even further.

The critically acclaimed, Emmy®- and Peabody-winning HBO series THE SOPRANOS returns for the first part of its sixth season with 12 new episodes, starting SUNDAY, MARCH 12 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET), followed by other episodes on subsequent Sundays at the same time. The additional eight episodes of the final season will debut in early 2007.

Creator David Chase’s drama series stars three-time Emmy® winners James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano and Edie Falco as Tony’s wife Carmela, plus Lorraine Bracco as therapist Dr. Jennifer Melfi, Emmy® winner Michael Imperioli as Tony’s nephew Christopher Moltisanti, and Dominic Chianese as Uncle Junior. Also returning to the series are regulars Robert Iler as Anthony Soprano, Jr., Jamie-Lynn Sigler as Meadow Soprano, Tony Sirico as Paulie Walnuts, and Steven Van Zandt as Silvio Dante.

Aida Turturro, who plays Tony’s sister Janice, will return to the show as a series regular, as will Steven R. Schirripa as Bobby “Bacala” Baccalieri, John Ventimiglia as Artie Bucco and Vincent Curatola as Johnny Sack.

Other cast members of THE SOPRANOS this season are Ray Abruzzo as Carmine, Frank Vincent as Phil Leotardo, Joe Gannascoli as Vito Spatafore, Max Casella as Benny, Lenny Venito as Murmur, Carl Capotoro as Little Paulie, Dan Grimaldi as Patsy, Katherine Narducci as Charmaine Bucco, Sharon Angela as Rosalie Aprile, Maureen Van Zandt as Gabrielle Dante and Toni Kalem as Angie Bompensiero.

Guest stars for the sixth season include Jerry Adler (“In Her Shoes”), Tim Daly (“Wings”), Frankie Valli (Four Seasons lead singer), Hal Holbrook (“Men of Honor”), Ben Kingsley (“House of Sand and Fog”), Julianna Margulies (“ER”), Treach (HBO’s “First Time Felon”), Ron Leibman (“Garden State”), Elizabeth Bracco (“Analyze This”) and Lord Jamar (HBO’s “Oz”).

March episode info has been added to our Episode Guide

Veteran directors of THE SOPRANOS returning for new shows are Jack Bender, Steve Buscemi, Alan Taylor and Tim Van Patten. Directing episodes for the first time will be Danny Leiner (“Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle”), David Nutter (HBO’s “Band of Brothers”) and Steve Shill (HBO’s “Rome” and “Deadwood”).

Among the writers this season are Emmy® winner David Chase, Emmy® winner Terence Winter, Matthew Weiner and Diane Frolov & Andrew Schneider.

In 2004, the series won four Emmys®, including Drama Series; Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Michael Imperioli); Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Drea de Matteo); and Writing for a Drama Series (Terence Winter, “Long Term Parking”). The show has also won five Golden Globe Awards, including the award in the Best Television Series – Drama category in 2000.

THE SOPRANOS is a production of HBO Original Programming, Brad Grey Television and Chase Films; executive producers, David Chase, Brad Grey, Ilene S. Landress, Terence Winter; co-executive producers, Henry J. Bronchtein and Matthew Weiner; supervising producers, Diane Frolov & Andrew Schneider; producers, Martin Bruestle and Gianna Smart.

Sorry if you’ve had difficulty accessing the site, trust me, it’s not going away. First, the domain name registration ran out while I was away on vacation, then most recently our host made some "upgrades" and misconfigured the DNS. It should be working properly now.

Kick-ass Las Vegas rock trio The Pervz are one of 20 bands that will compete in Little Steven’s Underground Garage Battle of the Bands in drummer Joe’s hometown of Chicago. They are scheduled to perform Wednesday, June 9th at 9:45pm at the Double Door. The man we know fondly as Silvio Dante has done so much for the garage rock scene and if my pals are lucky enough to win the semi-finals they’ll get $6,000 worth of Gibson gear, plus an expenses paid trip to New York for the final nine band showdown. If you are in the area I highly you support this event and check out some great music.

Joe Gannascoli (aka Vito) will be live in the studio on the Howard Stern Show on Monday morning at 7:30am. I was just interviewed by USA Today’s Ann Oldenburg for a Sopranos Season Finale story that will run on Friday.

The most-asked question right now is "When will Season Five be available on DVD?" and the only answer I can give you is hopefully in the Fall, and that’s purely based on HBO’s previous release schedule.

Jamie-Lynn DiScala was spotted in Las Vegas over Memorial Day Weekend checking out Rehab, the Hard Rock Hotel’s Sunday pool party according to Las Vegas Review-Journal gossip columnist Norm.

Recaps of episodes Sentimental Education and In Camelot are now on-line.

A couple of weeks ago I was treated to a delightful lunch at The Palm along with some great Sopranos discussion courtesy of Nick and Ronnie. Thanks fellas!

Channel 9 in Sydney, Australia will be screening the start of Season 5 on Tuesday, May 4th.

Sopranos Season Five will air in the U.K. in August on both E4 and Channel 4.

"Oisín" tells me that Ireland started weekly airings of Season 5 on Tuesday, April 12th on RTE’s Network 2 at 9:30pm.

Recaps of episodes "All Happy Families" and "Irregular Around The Margins" are now on-line, which means I’m almost caught up again. Whoo hoo! And look for a fan-tastic special offer from Steiner Sports to be announced on Monday!!

Discussion about The Sopranos fifth season is in high gear at The Sopranoland Forum. There are now more than 540 registered members (that’s 140 more people than just 2 weeks ago) and there’s lots of insights and information posted about each episode. Just remember, access to the Forum is a priviledge; please discuss all you want in a civilized manner, but if you are only there to be insipid and/or cause trouble your account will be closed without hesitation.

VH1 is casting for a new series about crazy fans and they’ve got their eyes on The Sopranos. Think you’ve got what it takes to make the cut? Send your story of obsession to Joseph Morganella or call 310-752-8403.

If you live in the Los Angeles area you can now pickup some of our exclusive Sopranoland merchandise at Benway Records in Venice (1600 Pacific Ave). That’s right, my friends Ronn and Kelly have offered us our first retail opportunity, and they run a damned fine independent record store also.

My recap of the Sopranos Season Premiere "Two Tonys" is now on-line and discussion of the premiere is in full swing at The Sopranoland Forum.

A new episode of The Sopranos airs every Sunday at 9pm on HBO. If you miss the inital broadcast of an episode here’s the repeat times
Monday at 10pm on HBO2
Tuesday at 11pm on HBO
Wednesday at 9pm on HBO
Friday at 9pm on HBO2
Sunday at 12am on HBO

In May 2003 Las Vegas’ Riviera Hotel and Casino released 1,000 special edition $5 gaming chips honoring their former Entertainment Director turned actor Steve Schirripa (aka Bobby Bacala) and his first book "A Goomba’s Guide To Life." In March 2004 the Riv issued another $5 special edition Steve Schirripa chip (front and back of chips pictured at right), this time commemorating his second book "The Goomba’s Book Of Love."

I have the very last of the MINT 2003 chips direct from the casino cage and have paired them with MINT 2004 chips in order to offer Sopranos fans a unique pair of items. Click here for more info on adding these chips to your collection.

Tomorrow morning (Monday, March 8th) at 9:45am (EST) I will be appearing on Fox News Live to discuss the Sopranos Fifth Season Premiere. Fox News Live airs in Las Vegas on Cox Cable channel 21, check your local TV listings for the channel in your area.

The Sopranoland Famiglia will be chatting about today’s episode in the Sopranoland Forum chatroom, following tonight’s broadcast. The chat room is limited to 25 people, so first come, first served.

Can you believe there are only 10 more days until we get to see a new episode of The Sopranos?! That’s right, on Sunday, March 7th the fifth season will FINALLY begin with "Two Tonys," at least for fans in the US. I’m not sure when the episodes will air in other countries, but I’ll let you know as soon as I find out.

Just e-mailed the Sopranoland List with news and updates. If you have subscribed you should have received it. If not, you can sign up in the column to the right of this.

Seems there’s always something new in the works for the talented Sopranos actors; you can see many of them on the Sopranoland Forum (and add your own if you discover something).
Soprano Sue’s Bada-Bing Blog at NJ.com is another good place to check for interesting tidbits.