1x01 The Sopranos - The Sopranos Episode Guide

The Sopranos

- Episode 01x01

Episode: 01x01 (pilot)
Title: The Sopranos
Type: Regular Episode
Production Code: S101
First Aired: Jan. 10, 1999

Season 1 » Episode #01 - The Sopranos

Summary: Tony Soprano leads two lives, one where he is a good family man to his wife, two children, and his widowed mother and the other as part of the New Jersey mafia. He soon begins suffering from panic attacks and he begins seeing a female psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi, which he knows if members of the "family" find out, he will be killed. Meanwhile, Tony's Uncle Junior wants to use Tony's childhood friend, Artie's, restaurant to whack a guy by the name of Pussy Malenga.

Who appeared in this episode?

Junior Soprano	played by Dominic Chianese
A.J. Soprano	played by Robert Iler
Alex Mahaffey	played by Michael Gaston
Dick Barone	played by Joe Lisi
Hesh	played by Jerry Adler
MRI Technician	played by Alton Clinton
Nils Borglund	played by Phil Coccioletti
Hunter Scangarelo	played by Michele DeCesare
Sandrine	played by Elaine del Valle

	Season 1 / Episode 1: - The Sopranos Dr. Jennifer Melfi: Do you have any qualms about how you actually make a living? Tony Soprano: Yeah. I find I have to be the sad clown: laughing on the outside, crying on the inside.
	Season 1 / Episode 1: - The Sopranos Tony Soprano: Here we go. Here comes the Prozac!

[More Quotes]

MISTAKES/GOOFS

FACT: The ducks in Tony Soprano's swimming pool in the pilot episode are all female. There are several remarks about the group of ducks being a family. No male ducks are within that group.

TRIVIA

Robert Loggia was seriously considered for the role of Uncle Junior but lost out to Dominic Chianese. Loggia would appear later in the series as Michele "Feech" La Manna.
While Tony and Livia are visiting the nursing home, a group of elderly people is shown watching "The Rockford Files" (1974) on TV. Creator David Chase (II) got his big break in television as a writer and producer on that show.
This pilot was filmed in 1997. The show was picked up for series a year later.
In this episode, the pork store used as a meeting place is named Centanni's Meat Market, a real butcher shop in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Producers found an abandoned location in Kearny, New Jersey which was converted into Satriale's Pork Store and used in for rest of the series.
James Gandolfini's voice is distinctly different in this episode then it will be in future episodes. After this episode, Gandolfini hired a dialect coach to sound more like a mobster from Newark, New Jersey.