Small Details About THE SOPRANOS That Make The Show EVEN BETTER

The critically acclaimed HBO series Sopranos ended its 10-year run in 2008

but thanks to streaming services and an abundance of free time, Tony and the fam have been winning over a whole new generation of fans

As they say on the show, Those who want respect, give respect

So let's give it up for small details about The Sopranos that made the show even better

When The Sopranos first premiered in 1999, there was no other show like it on TV

It was foul-mouthed, violent, and often kind of funny. You were on my lap five minutes ago

No, I wasn't. Yes, you were. Now you're going on Santa's listen

You're getting nothing. F*** you, Santa. Even during the show's casting process

potential actors had no real way to anticipate what the show was actually about

In the music world, the soprano is the name for the highest human vocal register and also singers who can achieve it

When Jamie Lynn Sigler, who plays Meadow, arrived for an audition for the show, she had thought it was for some kind of musical

Being a soprano singer, she figured she would be a perfect fit for the show, which was true, just not for her singing ability

If the actors were confused, what would the viewers think? Producers saw a potential problem with the title, and let's just say they dealt with it

By changing the R to a stylized handgun in the show's logo, creators made it clear this wasn't a musical, though some snitches did end up doing some singing

The interpersonal drama of an Italian-American crime family isn't a new concept

The show's creators made it clear that The Sopranos took major inspiration from the original mob boss classic The Godfather

For a show keen on paying respect, The Sopranos did a great job with its many homages to the original gangsters from the famed Coppola film series

Small Easter eggs are sprinkled throughout the show, some obvious, and some are for real superfans

In the episode, nobody knows anything. While trying to get Big Sal's attention, Pauly drives by honking his car horn

But instead of a normal honk, Pauly's horn plays the tune of Speak Softly Love

otherwise known as the Godfather theme song. Oranges are symbolic in the Godfather series because the hit on Don Vito Corleone

takes place at a street fruit stand after he buys oranges The ominous fruit shows up in The Sopranos too If Tony was shown eating an orange earlier in the episode trouble was coming He gulps O before the shooting in Season 1 Isabella Tony also eats an orange in the final episode at Carmella new project house

perhaps a clue into the show's ambiguous final scene. In fact, this orange from the finale has sparked many fan theories about Tony's ultimate demise

If they truly were symbolic, maybe Tony did get shot? The Sopranos also paid homage by straight

up having former cast members pop up throughout the series. Richard Bright, who played the family

hitman Al Neary in the Godfather trilogy, appears as an elderly hitman in Season 4, Episode 4

The Wait. In the Season 3 episode, Pine Barrens, the script called for Tony's character to burst

into laughter when he sees Bobby in his hunting outfit for the first time. Being the true method

professional thespians they are, Steve Sharippa decided he needed to add a little extra gabagool

to his wardrobe to get the most genuine laugh out of James Gandolfini. According to Steve Sharippa

When the director yelled, action, Steve appeared off camera wearing his character's hunting outfit

but also holding an enormous . Steve felt pressure to make James laugh in the moment

so he asked the prop guy to find him the biggest you have. Even the most serious tough guy actor could not resist that unexpected sight

James' laugh was perfect and genuine for the scene. We loved the idea of The Sopranos actors portraying tough guy killers

and then pulling fifth-grade goofs on each other simply for fun. Sometimes those gags make their way on screen, and then it takes some real acting to keep the scene going

Here's another one we love, also from the Pine Barrens episode. What was happening on set that week

The script called for Silvio's character to pass a note to Tony. This note should have been the address for their next planned hit, which Tony would then read off into the phone for the scene

But when the cameras rolled, Sil's note to Tony wasn't an address at all. Look closely at the small piece of paper, and you can see Stephen Van Sant actually wrote the word dick on a slip of paper and handed it off to James Gandolfini

What's most impressive is Tony doesn't skip a beat. He plows through the scene without batting an eye

David Chase and company have earned multiple awards and accolades for their portrayal of American mobster life on The Sopranos In fact they were so good at their job that real mobsters began to worry there was a rat inside spilling their secrets to HBO According to one of the show

writers, Terrence Winter, FBI agents told him they'd discuss the latest episodes on Monday at

work. They would listen to the wiretaps from that weekend, and it was mob guys talking about The

Sopranos. Apparently, New Jersey mafia members were worried about a rat spilling their family's

secrets, because The Sopranos got so many elements of mob life correct. It was reported they believed

that the show's team had someone on the inside, leaking details of what mafia life was really like

In a wiretap from 1999, four associates in the Decavacante crime family talked about the many

similarities between their crime family and the Soprano family. Before she hatched onto the scene

as Lady Gaga, Stephanie Germanotta was just a young actress looking for her big break. Eagle-eyed

fans will be able to spot her in the 2001 episode that Telltale Musadel has a high school bad girl

smoking cigs and drinking on campus after hours. She really shows her range during a mini

destructive spree with AJ Soprano and his buddies. She might look totally different with her natural

red hair, but you can't deny her star power. The role was a small one. So small, in fact

her character didn't have a name, and Gaga wasn't credited for the role. Eight years later

she would explode onto the pop culture map with her first hit Just Dance in 2008

One of the many interesting things about The Sopranos is that a cast member had a real-life

connection to the criminal world. Tony Sirico, who plays family henchman Pauly Walnuts

worked for the Colombo crime family, and was arrested a total of 28 times throughout his life

Luckily, he escaped the long arm of the law before stepping into the world of Hollywood

While in prison, Sirico was visited by an acting troupe of ex-convict actors known as

Theater of the Forgotten. They reportedly inspired Sirico to explore acting once he

was released from prison. His first minor movie role was in The Godfather Part II

and then a major appearance as Tony Sachs in another mob classic, Goodfellas

cemented his place as a Hollywood tough guy. But Tony Sirico had one rule before accepting

this new Sopranos role. Pauly has to be loyal no matter what. He's no rat

Given his history we can understand why he was unwilling to ever play a character that would snitch on his associates Tony therapy sessions with Dr Melfi are some of the most important character development scenes on The Sopranos But did you know that Dr Melfi was actually based on a real

life person? David Chase's inspiration for Dr. Melfi is based on his own therapist, Lorraine

Kaufman. Not only did Dr. Kaufman serve as the inspiration for one of the most grounded characters

on the show, she helped contribute to her character's development throughout the series

Dr. Kaufman was a major help for David Chase. He said that Kaufman had the same way of cutting through BS that Dr. Melfi has on the show when

dealing with Tony. He even used her expertise in plotting out the character stories, often discussing the

characters and their motivations in depth with Kaufman. This led to one of her biggest contributions for the series

Dr. Kaufman charted all characters' psychological developments and traits. Her background allowed her to create a realistic data set featuring the details of the Soprano

family and how they might behave in the future given their interpersonal dynamics

One of the most iconic and slightly infuriating moments from the Sopranos series finale

featured a tension-heavy montage as Tony and his wife and children prepare to sit down for a meal at a restaurant

It's like a Renaissance painting, with detail in every corner. Tony sits at the booth, an ominous figure moves at the end of the restaurant

and Meadow is...trying to park? The show spends a lot of precious series finale time with Tony's daughter Meadow

as she tries her best to parallel park outside the diner. It may have seemed kind of random, but in reality, we learned much earlier in the series

that parallel parking was never a skill in Meadow's toolbox. In season 2 episode 2, a young Meadow is lamenting her driver's license test

She says she took her driving test, and the only thing she didn't do well was, you guessed it, parallel parking

We guess she never really did get the hang of that maneuver. It might have seemed random, but fans have theorized that this long parking sequence

in the finale spelled out the end of the series. Before the finale, there were two attempts on Tony's life

He survived both. However, the final scene of the show left it up for question if there was a third and

final attempt to finally whack Tony. Many think Meadows' three attempts and then finally successfully parallel parking outside

are a major clue on the show. And for Tony Soprano, the third time is the charm too