Where did the Sopranos go?

It’s Sunday and I miss the Sopranos. I can’t believe that we actually have to wait until January for the rest of the episodes. To be honest, I don’t know why I even like the show anymore considering how far it has fallen. Season one was just amazing. The show broke new ground and managed to stay clear of the stereotypical gangster films of the recent past. It was well-cast, the writing was fresh and it just worked.
Since then, the Sopranos has suffered a gradual death, in my opinion. David Chase, the show’s creator, has a style of writing where he doesn’t worry about wrapping up storylines or pursuing conflicts between characters. Take this last 2/3’s of a season (season six). First, Tony gets shot by Uncle Junior (played by Dominic Chianese) and goes into a coma. So, the next few episodes we have to sit through these silly “parallel universe” coma dream sequences. What is it with this guy and dream sequences? Every time he can’t come up with a way to finish a storyline, he concocts some dumb, meaningless dream sequence. To be honest, I think the show lost a lot of its appeal when Mama Soprano (the late Nancy Marchland) died. She was the glue and the soul of the show. Ever since she died the show has lost its momentum. I just hope David Chase pleases his many fans by wrapping up loose ends in January. A lot of questions need to be answered.
Will Christopher Molisanti (Michael Imperioli) kick heroin and become Tony’s heir to the throne? Will Tony’s kids, Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) and Tony Jr. (Robert Iler) get involved in the family business? Will Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent) continue to annoy Tony enough to get whacked? (Or will Tony get whacked for that matter?) Will they find Andrian’s (Drea De Matteo) body? When will the feds decide to indict Tony and his buddies? And what the hell are they waiting for? Surely they enough evidence by now! And from what we learned in season one, I know there’s old Sopranos $$ in that house. Will they find it? Will Tony finally get caught screwing everything that moves? Will Big Pussy (Vincent Pastore) come back from the dead?
It doesn’t seem like Chase will have enough time to answer all of these questions if this is indeed going to be the show’s last season. I have a feeling it won’t be – I’m betting this Chase guy will end up retiring more times than Sugar Ray Leonard. The Sopranos will be back for season seven – count on it. I just hope it gets better, because otherwise I'll have only Entourage (one of my other favorite shows) to watch on Sunday nights.
David Chase just wrote a book called “The Tao of Bada Bing”, which in a nutshell, explains the philosophy of mobsters, which basically says “That which confounds us gets whacked.”
Here is an interesting stat on the show: The season-by-season body count:

Season #1: 15 bodies
Season #2: 7 bodies
Season #3: 10 bodies
Season #4: 7 bodies
Season #5: 12 bodies
Season #6: 14 bodies (so far)

For a great fan site about the Sopranos, visit: www.the-sopranos.com.