HBO will release its biggest-ever DVD box set when the complete Sopranos collection hits store shelves in November. The 10-pound brick will include all 86 episodes of the show on 28 DVDs, along with three soundtrack CDs and two bonus discs. And the extra material will really be something special: never-aired scenes (Tony kisses Dr. Melfi!), panel discussions with the writers and actors, a lengthy interview with creator David Chase conducted by Alec Baldwin, and even show satires from Saturday Night Live, Mad TV and The Simpsons. (Marge: "You know, I've never met your wife." Fat Tony: "Sadly, my Anna Maria was whacked by natural causes.")
The list price will be $399.99... unless, of course, your copy happens to fall off the back of a truck.
After the jump, some choice nuggets of Sopranos intel from USA Today's preview of the DVD extras:
-- During the first season, the producers considered having Dr. Melfi write a book about Tony, which would be turned into a show-within-a-show starring Anthony LaPaglia (the actor selected to play Tony in the original Fox incarnation of the show).
-- Chase predicts that Tony's son A.J. won't end up as much, but "he's not going to be a killer"; meanwhile, daughter Meadow will have a (non-mob-related) "career of some kind."
-- Like Tony, Chase grew up in New Jersey with a difficult mother, and many aspects of the show resemble his own life. He says, "Everybody in the show is annoyed.... Without the profanity and without the violence and sexuality, that's a fairly good representation of family."
-- The producers shot several fake endings to the final episode, and removed pages from the scripts, to keep the details from getting out. But when director Alan Taylor read the real script, complete with the ambiguous sudden-blackout ending, he assumed they were "hiding 15 pages."
Photo: HBO