"Woke up this morning..."

Like the gangster films of Coppola and Scorsese, The Sopranos is an enduring classic of the genre and a tribute to David Chase's brilliance. We loved the stories and the characters, but we also love some of the behind-the-scenes details that add so much flavor to the show. Consider these gems (Check out #13 to see what Steve Van Zandt is the best.)

1. James Gandolfini said that he was often contacted by real-life "wise guys" complimenting him on the authenticity of the series as well as giving him advice.
2. After the pilot aired, a real-life "wise guy" told James Gandolfini never to wear shorts again. The encounter seems to have been incorporated into the first episode of season four, The Sopranos: For All Debts Public and Private (2002), when New York mob boss Carmine tells Tony that he'd heard about his recent backyard party, and that "a don doesn't wear shorts."
3. Four members of northern New Jersey's only real-life mob family, the DeCavalcantes, were secretly taped in 1999 by federal investigators talking about their similarity to the fictional DiMeo/Soprano crime family. On the tape, one mobster asks another, "Is this supposed to be us?" And his capo buddy replies, "You are in there. They mentioned your name in there."
4. To settle salary disputes after Season Four, James Gandolfini gave each cast member $33,333 from his own pocket.
5. Corrado Soprano's nickname, Junior, was taken from the actual nickname used by Tony Sirico when he was a gangster as a young man, before he became an actor.
6. Michael Rispoli originally auditioned for the role of Tony. David Chase liked Rispoli's audition so much that he adjusted the role of Jackie Aprile Sr., originally a much older character, to fit Rispoli's age.
7. Many local New Jersey businesses are used as locations in the series. In the opening credits, we see a shot of a pizza shack known as Pizza Land. They get calls for pizza orders from all over the country as a result. In one episode, an actual sporting goods store, Ramsey Outdoor in Paramus, was portrayed as going out of business. So many people thought the real store was closing that the owners had to place ads explaining that they were still open.
8. Tony Sirico only agreed to sign on for the show if it was guaranteed that his character Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri would not be a 'rat' (an informant). As Sirico explained in James Toback's documentary The Big Bang (1989), he had served time in prison for robbery. Altogether, Sirico's rap sheet included at least 28 arrests. Reportedly, he also appeared briefly in an uncredited role in The Godfather: Part II (1974). Some aspects of Sirico's real life -- a brief stint in the military, etc -- were added to Paulie's life as well.
9. Before David Chase chose "Woke Up This Morning" by UK band Alabama 3 (from their 1997 debut album "Exile on Coldharbour Lane"), he wanted to open every episode with a different song. HBO executives convinced him that viewers needed to be able to identify the show with a theme song. However, every "Sopranos" episode ends with a different song.
10. David Chase had one rule for the scenes at Dr. Melfi's office: no camera movements.
11. HBO was worried that the title of the series would make the audience think it was about music. That is why the gun image is in the title logo. The network also considered other titles for the show, such as "Made in New Jersey".
12. Drea de Matteo had to spend four hours in hair and makeup before shooting each episode in order to achieve her "mob girl" look. It took two hours to prepare her hair, and in the instances in which her arms, legs, and/or torso were uncovered, an hour and a half to apply makeup to cover her tattoos.
13. David Chase was a longtime fan of Steven Van Zandt's music and had always wanted to write a role for him. When Chase saw Van Zandt induct The Rascals into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he invited him to audition for Tony Soprano, even though he had never acted before. Van Zandt did not want to take a role away from a real actor, so Chase wrote the role of Silvio Dante for him. The Rascals' performance footage ended up being featured in 1999's seventh episode, The Sopranos: Down Neck (1999).
14. David Chase had planned a major story line for the third season concerning Tony's efforts to prevent Livia from testifying against him in court. However, Nancy Marchand's death caused Chase to revise a large portion of the season.
15. During Seasons 2 and 3, Steve Schirripa had to wear a fat suit in order to play Bobby Bacala.
16. Ray Liotta was a top choice to play Tony Soprano but he turned it down, stating he did not want to commit to a television series. Later Liotta was in talks to play Ralph Cifaretto but ended up not taking the part.
17. James Gandolfini is the only cast member to appear in every episode.
18. There was no improvisation on set. The scripts were followed verbatim, and any possible change was discussed with David Chase first.
19. In the Second Season the word "fuck" is said 715 times. Tony (264), Sil (34), Paulie (31), Christopher (68), Carmela (9), Others (309).
20. The only cast members with no Italian heritage are Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Robert Iler, David Proval, Nancy Marchand, and Jerry Adler.
21. Lorraine Bracco was originally asked to play the role of Carmela Soprano, but she felt that the part was too similar to her character in Goodfellas (1990). She decided the role of Dr. Melfi would be more challenging.
22. During some scenes, James Gandolfini inserted a small stone in his shoe to anger him, making him play the role of Tony Soprano more authentically. He would also stay awake all night for some of the breakfast scene to achieve a tired look.
23. In Season 4, Christopher said Tony was going to die of a heart attack by age 50 due to his weight. In real life, James Gandolfini actually died of a heart attack at age 51 in Rome, Italy.
24. Steven Van Zandt 's Silvio Dante character is based on a character of the same name in a short story Van Zandt wrote and showed to series creator David Chase.
25. Drea de Matteo's unnamed "hostess" character appears in the pilot, in a quick restaurant scene. In the very next episode of the series she appears as Adriana La Cerva, Chris Moltisanti's girlfriend. Later she is Artie Bucco's hostess.
26. Originally, creator David Chase was going to call the key character Tommy Soprano. He later changed it to Tony.
27. As of 2007 the show's staff had accumulated 6 Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, a record. Every season but the second received Emmys for the writing.
28. When Jamie-Lynn Sigler was first called in to audition for Meadow Soprano, she knew nothing about the premise of the show. From the title, she thought it might be about opera singers.
29. The large mugshot on the wall of the Bada Bing's office is of 23-year-old Frank Sinatra. In 1938 Sinatra was arrested and charged with "seduction of a married woman".
30. Tony refers to Christopher as his "nephew" throughout the series. However, Christopher is Carmela's second cousin on his father's side, who is known as Dickie. And Christopher is Tony's first cousin once removed on his mother's side, since Christopher's mother is Tony's first cousin.
31. The first cable-television series to win the Emmy award for Outstanding Drama Series.
32. "Oogatz", as it is used in the show, means zero, nothing. It derives from the Italian slang "un cazzo" meaning "a dick". Similarly, Tony's boat is called "The Stugots', which also derives from the phrase "sto (questo) cazzo" meaning "this dick".
33. The opening credits of the first three seasons are notable for one significant difference from the rest of the seasons' sequences: there is a shot in which the World Trade Center is visible in Tony Soprano's rear-view mirror which was, for obvious reasons, removed after 9/11.
34. Michael Imperioli is the only major cast member whose credits also include writing or co-writing for the series, having worked on five episodes. 
35. The writers carefully researched the ways in which mobsters controlled and laundered their money in order to make Tony Soprano as realistic as possible, and they employed New York assistant district attorney Dan Castleman to advise them on this issue. When Castleman was asked how much they had decided Tony would realistically be worth, he stated that it was roughly 5 or 6 million dollars - an amount that fluctuated, of course, because of Tony's substantial gambling problem.
36. Voted #5 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
37. The "Bada Bing" strip club is actually a go-go bar in Lodi, NJ, called Satin Dolls. It used to be a nightclub called Tara's. Before that it was the diner Hearth 17.
38. No one directed more The Sopranos (1999) episodes than Tim Van Patten --20 of the 86 shows, for which he received four EMMY nominations. He also shared a Writers Guild award for his story idea for Season #3's famous The Sopranos: Pine Barrens (2001)--which, oddly enough, he did not direct.
39. David Chase claims the relationship between Tony and his mother Livia is based on his relationship with his own mother, Norma. Livia is also the name of the Roman emperor Augustus' conniving, murderous wife.
40. When Steven Van Zandt landed the role of Silvio, his character's suits were made by real-life underworld figure John Gotti's tailor. Gotti was serving a life sentence at the time. Van Zandt knew early on that he was about to become part of a TV series determined to reflect realism in mob life when he noticed the character Johnny Ola (Dominic Chianese from The Godfather: Part II (1974)) sitting opposite him in rehearsals.
41. In Season 5 a story about Feech La Manna was told, concerning his killing of a New Jersey longshoreman for refusing to give up his favorite seat in a bar. This story was based on a true-life incident involving former Philadelphia/Atlantic City crime boss Nicodemo Scarfo(aka "Little Nicky").
42. The series started as a movie pitch. David Chase initially wanted his creation to be a film, and the original scripts that he wrote were for a feature-length production about a mobster who went to visit a psychiatrist. These themes were eventually carried over into the show, of course, mainly because Chase's manager believed that the characters were so well-written that they deserved the extensive time that they would be granted in a television serial.
43. The character "A.J. Soprano" was ranked #10 in TV Guide's list of "TV's 10 Biggest Brats" (27 March 2005 issue).
44. Anthony and Paulie have near identical Tiger tattoos on their upper arms.
45. Joseph R. Gannascoli was originally cast in a Season One cameo as Gino, a customer in the the bakery where Christopher shoots a teenage counter boy in the foot. He was then recast as Vito Spatafore in Season Two, and continued in that role until the end of Season Six, part I.
46. The Sopranos live at 633 Stag Trail Road, North Caldwell, NJ. The house used in exterior shots is actually located at 14 Aspen Drive in North Caldwell.
47. Whenever an actor would go to David Chase to complain about his/her character, arguing the character would never do this or that thing, it has been reported multiple times that Chase would respond: 'Who told you it is your character?'
48. Dr. Melfi was named after David Chase's grandmother, Teresa Melfi.
49. Asked what he thought of the series, Martin Scorsese admitted that he watched a few episodes but couldn't get into the show, claiming that it was a different generation's gangster culture than what he remembered and grew up around.
50. In a recent interview, David Chase has stated that some of his favorite characters include Christopher and Junior, mainly due to their self-pity, arrogance, and selfishness.

What YOUR favorite thing about The Sopranos?