Gouge

In a deal that will extend the run of the most successful series in the history of cable television for another year, HBO announced yesterday that "The Sopranos" will not end with its next season starting in March, but will continue with an additional eight episodes starting in January 2007.

The drama about a New Jersey mob family has won more Emmy awards than any other show on cable TV and has frequently drawn audiences larger than programs competing against it on broadcast networks, even though HBO is available in only about a third as many homes.

Chris Albrecht, chairman of HBO, said yesterday that the network had been talking with David Chase, the creator of "The Sopranos," for several months about his plans for the coming season.

"Seasons for 'The Sopranos' have always been organic," Mr. Albrecht said.

Indeed, unlike conventional broadcast network series, there have been no set intervals between the production cycles of "The Sopranos" and they have started at several different times of the year.

Mr. Albrecht said Mr. Chase had at one time indicated that he was coming to the end of his creative ideas and would produce only about 10 more episodes and then sign off on the series.

"But David was just really reinvigorated by the reception the show got last year," Mr. Albrecht said.

Brad Grey, the new Paramount chief, who retained his title of executive producer on "The Sopranos," said that Mr. Chase, when he got into the storytelling for the coming season, decided it was still so rich it could be continued, a decision Mr. Grey said that was endorsed by everyone involved in the production.

"For the people on the show, this has been the greatest creative experience of everyone's life. Why wouldn't you want that to continue?" Mr. Grey said.

For HBO, the business incentives were equally great. The series has been the most popular program the pay cable channel has generated.

Now HBO will get the opportunity to add 20 episodes of "The Sopranos" instead of the 12 that had been planned. Mr. Albrecht said that HBO did virtually the same thing with its second-most successful series, "Sex and the City." That comedy had an eight-episode final run a year after its last full season was completed.

And as "Sex and the City" did, "The Sopranos" will shoot all its remaining episodes in one production cycle, holding over the last eight for what HBO is calling a "bonus season." The break between the end of May 2006, when the 12-episode run ends, and January 2007, when the final eight episodes will be begin being broadcast, will be by far the shortest break between cycles of "The Sopranos" in the show's history. Mr. Albrecht said that short break was crucial to Mr. Chase.

Beyond the advantages HBO will get out of having two cycles instead of one (the channel, like the broadcast networks, tries to package "The Sopranos" with new series it would like to build audiences for), keeping the show in continuous production now means that for technical and contractual purposes it will remain the show's sixth season. That is relevant because the show's actors signed contracts that committed them to the series for six seasons.

Mr. Grey said another advantage of staying in production for 20 episodes is "everybody will stay in the same rhythm."

Asked if this was truly an announcement that signaled the series would indeed produce a finale to the Soprano family saga, Mr. Albrecht hedged just a bit. "I'll know it's the final episode if David shoots a final episode," Mr. Albrecht said.

Hardlinks

"Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in"

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reed_4

it's been a long time since i watched this show.

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Doctor Dre

Sopranos rock ... I rented the dvds the other day and I couldn't stop watching ... but we got a better serie here on Radio Canada ... it's called "Les Bougons" . Best serie ever produced on cable tv ;)

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