Soprano Home Movies
Encyclopedia
"Soprano Home Movies" is the thirteenth episode of the sixth season of the HBO television drama series The Sopranos
and seventy-eighth episode overall. It served as the midseason premiere
to the second part of the show's sixth season, the broadcast of which was split into two. It was written by supervising producers Diane Frolov
and Andrew Schneider
, series creator/executive producer David Chase
and executive producer Matthew Weiner
; it was directed by frequent series director Tim Van Patten
. The episode first aired in the United States
on April 8, 2007.
"Soprano Home Movies", which is set eight months after the preceding episode,
details a weekend that series protagonist
Tony Soprano
(James Gandolfini
) and his wife Carmela
(Edie Falco
) spend with his sister Janice
(Aida Turturro
) and brother-in-law Bobby (Steve Schirripa
) at a lakefront vacation home in upstate New York
and the complications that arise during this weekend.
The scenes set at the vacation home were filmed in Putnam Valley
, New York. "Soprano Home Movies" was watched by 7.66 million American viewers. Critical reception of the midseason premiere was mostly favorable; critics praised the episode for its calm, contemplative storytelling. The episode garnered a number of award nominations and was the episode submitted to Emmy Award
voters to represent the season, leading to a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series
, an award the show subsequently won.
's (Vincent Curatola) arrest and Tony Soprano's dropping of a pistol in the snow as he flees the scene. The same teenage boy later picks up and fires the gun.
Three years later, in August 2007, Essex County
authorities arrest Tony on a gun charge. Tony spends a short period of time in custody before appearing in court with his attorney, Neil Mink (David Margulies
) and is released on bail. In Brooklyn, a party is held for Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent
), who has recently returned from the hospital.
Tony returns home to a warm welcome. Later, he and Carmela travel to Janice and Bobby's upstate New York
lakefront vacation home to celebrate Tony's forty-seventh birthday, where Tony fires Bobby's customized AR-10
assault rifle
in the nearby woods. Bobby gives Tony the firearm as a birthday present. The two later relax by fishing on the lake in Bobby's boat. Tony raises the fact that Bobby has never "popped his cherry" in regard to murdering someone and juxtaposes this with the kill record of Bobby's father. Bobby replies that he has "come close," but that his father never wanted it for him. In North Caldwell
, New Jersey
, A.J. (Robert Iler
) uses his parents' bedroom to entertain his new girlfriend and has friends over for a party while his parents are away.
Tony, Carmela, Bobby and Janice celebrate Tony's birthday with karaoke
, drinking and Monopoly
. An argument starts after a discussion of Monopoly house rules. Over Tony's objections, Janice relates a childhood story of their father and mother
; tensions reach a crescendo with Tony's remarks about Janice's looks and past promiscuous behavior. Bobby hits Tony in the face and the two have a fight, ending with Tony bloodied and bruised on the floor. Janice scolds Bobby for hitting Tony and Bobby runs outside, where he drives off drunk in his SUV and reverses into a tree. He returns inside and apologizes to Tony and the two couples go to their beds. Tony wakes up in the middle of the night and tells Bobby and Janice that Bobby beat him in a fair fight. The next day, the couples seem to make amends, but as the day progresses Tony increasingly obsesses over losing the fight to Bobby.
Tony and Bobby leave for a pre-arranged business meeting with two Quebec
ers who want to sell them past-the-date medication. As a part of the deal, Tony agrees to arrange the murder of one of the Quebecers' former brother-in-law and asks Bobby to take care of it. Back at the vacation home, Carmela and Tony leave for home and Bobby sets off for Montreal
, where the man he agreed to murder lives. He finds his target in the laundry room of an apartment building and kills him by shooting him twice.
Back home, Tony watches the "Soprano Home Movies" DVD given to him by Janice as a birthday present. Mink calls, informing Tony that the gun charge, though dropped by Essex County, has been picked up by the FBI
. Bobby returns to his lakefront house, picks up his daughter and gazes out over the lake in silence.
and Andrew Schneider
, series creator and showrunner David Chase
and executive producer Matthew Weiner
, who had been promoted from co-executive producer before the production of "Soprano Home Movies" began. The four developed the episode's story outline along with executive producer and co-showrunner
Terence Winter
.
"Soprano Home Movies" is Frolov and Schneider's fourth and final official writing credit
for the series; it is Chase's twenty-seventh and Weiner's ninth. Chase and Weiner collaborated on two more of the season's episodes: "Kennedy and Heidi
" and "The Blue Comet
".
The episode title derives from Janice's birthday present to Tony: a DVD onto which she has had transferred old home movies of them and their sister during their childhood.
The scenes at the lakefront vacation home were filmed over two weeks in June 2006 in Putnam Valley
, New York
. Additional interior shots were filmed six months later at Silvercup Studios
, New York, where a replica of the cabin had been built in a sound stage
. The lake seen multiple times in the episode is Lake Oscawana
. The scenes of Tony and Bobby fishing were filmed on location on the lake but much closer to the shore than it appears in the episode. The scenes set in Montreal were actually filmed in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
. Filming of the scenes set in New Jersey
and the Soprano residence took place on location in Essex County, New Jersey and in Silvercup Studios. The ripping of Bobby's shirt when he commits his first murder was not in the script but was added during production.
While filming the cabin fight scene between Tony and Bobby in Silvercup Studios, Steve Schirripa accidentally headbutted James Gandolfini. The fight scene was choreographed but Gandolfini didn't step out of the way in time. His nose was bloodied but not broken. The real headbutting was kept in the episode.
, who plays Phil Leotardo's advisor Butch DeConcini on the show, is now billed in the opening credits. Joseph R. Gannascoli
has been removed from the main credits as his character
was murdered two episodes prior to "Soprano Home Movies". The characters Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco
) and Junior Soprano
(Dominic Chianese
) do not appear in the episode but the actors who play them are still listed in the opening credits.
. This was a significant drop from the 2006 season premiere episode, "Members Only", which attracted 9.47 million viewers and the lowest ratings for a Sopranos premiere since the season two opening episode, "Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office...", which drew roughly the same number of viewers as "Soprano Home Movies" (7.64 million viewers).
webblog TV Squad gave the episode a favorable review, writing "All in all, big thumbs up from me."
Marisa Carroll of PopMatters
called the midseason premiere "stellar" and wrote that "David Chase
repeatedly re-imagines ordinary family scenarios—like a weekend trip to the mountains—in brutal, gangster terms. [...] Such signature exaggerations remain both hilarious and unsettling." She awarded the episode a score of 9 out of 10 (shared with the following two episodes).
Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle
praised the episode, writing "the series remains as vital and interesting as ever [...] There may be no better (or realistic) way to go forward into this Sopranos swan song."
Kim Reed of Television Without Pity gave the midseason premiere an A−, writing "...while, on the surface, not much happened, I think there were a ton of callbacks to previous episodes and that familiar Soprano tension was used to good effect."
Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune
wrote "this is loose, contemplative Sopranos storytelling at its best."
Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly
was impressed with the midseason premiere and wrote that, despite not being a very eventful episode on the surface, "everything happened".
Alan Sepinwall of The Star Ledger gave "Soprano Home Movies" a positive review and praised it for featuring the character of Bobby Bacala in a more prominent role, writing "The hour was largely a refresher course on Tony, Janice and their history, but it also gave Bacala the dignity he's so often been deprived by the writers."
Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times
gave the episode a mixed review, calling it "solemn" and wrote that "even before last season the series had started to sag in places, a creative fatigue that matched the main characters' weariness and also the audience's."
Brian Zoromski of IGN
awarded "Soprano Home Movies" a score of 9.5 out of 10, citing the calm, subtle storytelling as a great strength.
. The episode was submitted for consideration in the category of Outstanding Drama Series
. This led to a nomination and the show—which was judged by six episodes from the second part of the sixth season, including "Soprano Home Movies"—won.
It was also nominated but failed to win in the categories of Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series (Phil Abraham
), Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series (William B. Stich) and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Aida Turturro
).
The episode was also submitted for Emmy
consideration in the categories of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Steve Schirripa
) and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
(Diane Frolov
, Andrew Schneider
, David Chase and Matthew Weiner
); however, it was not nominated.
In 2008, episode director Tim Van Patten
was nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award in the category of Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series' – Night but lost out to Mad Men
s Alan Taylor
, also a director for The Sopranos.
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
and seventy-eighth episode overall. It served as the midseason premiere
Season premiere
In North America, a season premiere is the first episode of a new season of a given television show. It often airs in September or October, after several months of reruns.-Evaluating the changes:...
to the second part of the show's sixth season, the broadcast of which was split into two. It was written by supervising producers Diane Frolov
Diane Frolov
Diane Frolov is an American television writer and producer. She has written for several television shows, including The Sopranos and Northern Exposure. She frequently co-writes episodes with her husband, Andrew Schneider.-Career:...
and Andrew Schneider
Andrew Schneider
Andrew Schneider is an American screenwriter and television producer, whose credits include writing for The Sopranos, Northern Exposure, and Alien Nation. He frequently co-writes episodes with his wife, Diane Frolov. In 1992 Schneider won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama...
, series creator/executive producer David Chase
David Chase
David Chase is an American writer, director, and producer of television series. Chase has worked in television for more than 30 years; he has produced and written for shows as The Rockford Files, I'll Fly Away, and Northern Exposure. He has created two original series; the first, Almost Grown,...
and executive producer Matthew Weiner
Matthew Weiner
Matthew Weiner is an American writer, director and producer of television drama. He is the creator, executive producer, head writer, and show runner of the AMC television series Mad Men. He is also noted for his work on the HBO series The Sopranos, on which he served as a writer and producer...
; it was directed by frequent series director Tim Van Patten
Tim Van Patten
Tim Van Patten is an American television director, actor, screenwriter, and producer. As a director, Van Patten has directed episodes of The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Boardwalk Empire, Rome, The Pacific, Game of Thrones, Ed, and Sex and the City. Van Patten is perhaps best known for portraying...
. The episode first aired in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on April 8, 2007.
"Soprano Home Movies", which is set eight months after the preceding episode,
details a weekend that series protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
Tony Soprano
Tony Soprano
Anthony John "Tony" Soprano, Sr. is an Italian-American fictional character and the protagonist on the HBO television drama series The Sopranos, on which he is portrayed by James Gandolfini. The character was conceived by The Sopranos creator and show runner David Chase, who was also largely...
(James Gandolfini
James Gandolfini
James J. Gandolfini, Jr. is an Italian American actor. He is best known for his role as Tony Soprano in the HBO TV series The Sopranos, about a troubled crime boss struggling to balance his family life and career in the Mafia...
) and his wife Carmela
Carmela Soprano
Carmela Soprano née DeAngelis, played by Edie Falco, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. She is the wife of Mafia boss Tony Soprano and the program's most prominent female character.-Character biography:...
(Edie Falco
Edie Falco
Edith "Edie" Falco is an American television, film and stage actress, known for her roles in Oz as Diane Wittlesey, as Carmela Soprano on the HBO series The Sopranos, and as the titular character on the Showtime series Nurse Jackie...
) spend with his sister Janice
Janice Soprano
Janice Soprano Baccalieri, played by Aida Turturro, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. She is Tony Soprano's elder sister. A young Janice has appeared in flashbacks, played by Madeline Blue and Juliet Fox.-Biography:...
(Aida Turturro
Aida Turturro
Aida Turturro is an American actress probably best known for playing Janice Soprano, sister of New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano, on the HBO TV series The Sopranos .-Personal life:...
) and brother-in-law Bobby (Steve Schirripa
Steve Schirripa
Steven R. "Steve" Schirripa is an American actor, voice artist, producer, and comedian, best known for playing Bobby Baccalieri on The Sopranos....
) at a lakefront vacation home in upstate New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and the complications that arise during this weekend.
The scenes set at the vacation home were filmed in Putnam Valley
Putnam Valley, New York
Putnam Valley is a town in Putnam County, New York, United States. The population was 10,686 at the 2000 census. Its location is northeast of New York City.The Town of Putnam Valley is in the southwest part of Putnam County...
, New York. "Soprano Home Movies" was watched by 7.66 million American viewers. Critical reception of the midseason premiere was mostly favorable; critics praised the episode for its calm, contemplative storytelling. The episode garnered a number of award nominations and was the episode submitted to Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
voters to represent the season, leading to a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series
This page lists the winners and nominees for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, since its institution in 1951. The award is often cited as one of the "main awards" at the Emmys ceremonies, and has changed names many times in its history. It was first called Best Dramatic Show...
, an award the show subsequently won.
Plot
In a flashback to 2004, a neighborhood teenage boy witnesses Johnny SackJohnny Sack
John "Johnny Sack" Sacramoni, played by Vince Curatola, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. He was the longtime underboss and later the boss of the powerful Brooklyn-based New York City Lupertazzi crime family...
's (Vincent Curatola) arrest and Tony Soprano's dropping of a pistol in the snow as he flees the scene. The same teenage boy later picks up and fires the gun.
Three years later, in August 2007, Essex County
Essex County, New Jersey
Essex County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the United States 2010 Census, the population was 783,969, ranking it third in the state after Bergen County and Middlesex County; Essex County's population has declined from 786,147 as of the bureau's...
authorities arrest Tony on a gun charge. Tony spends a short period of time in custody before appearing in court with his attorney, Neil Mink (David Margulies
David Margulies
David Joseph Margulies is an American actor.Margulies was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Runya , a nurse and museum worker, and Harry David Margulies, a lawyer. Margulies graduated from City College of New York. Immediately afterward, he made his stage debut in the off-Broadway play Golden 6...
) and is released on bail. In Brooklyn, a party is held for Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent
Frank Vincent
Frank Vincent is an American actor, musician, author and entrepreneur. He is a favorite performer of director Martin Scorsese, having played important roles in three of Scorsese's most acclaimed films: Raging Bull , Goodfellas and Casino . He often plays a gangster and works both in features and...
), who has recently returned from the hospital.
Tony returns home to a warm welcome. Later, he and Carmela travel to Janice and Bobby's upstate New York
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is the region of the U.S. state of New York that is located north of the core of the New York metropolitan area.-Definition:There is no clear or official boundary between Upstate New York and Downstate New York...
lakefront vacation home to celebrate Tony's forty-seventh birthday, where Tony fires Bobby's customized AR-10
AR-10
The AR-10 is an American 7.62 mm battle rifle developed by Eugene Stoner in the late 1950s at ArmaLite, then a division of the Fairchild Aircraft Corporation...
assault rifle
Assault rifle
An assault rifle is a selective fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge and a detachable magazine. Assault rifles are the standard infantry weapons in most modern armies...
in the nearby woods. Bobby gives Tony the firearm as a birthday present. The two later relax by fishing on the lake in Bobby's boat. Tony raises the fact that Bobby has never "popped his cherry" in regard to murdering someone and juxtaposes this with the kill record of Bobby's father. Bobby replies that he has "come close," but that his father never wanted it for him. In North Caldwell
North Caldwell, New Jersey
-Local government:North Caldwell is governed under the Borough form of New Jersey municipal government. The government consists of a Mayor and a Borough Council comprising six council members, with all positions elected at large. A Mayor is elected directly by the voters to a four-year term of office...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, A.J. (Robert Iler
Robert Iler
Robert Michael Iler is an American actor, known for his portrayal of A.J. Soprano on The Sopranos which aired on HBO from 1999-2007....
) uses his parents' bedroom to entertain his new girlfriend and has friends over for a party while his parents are away.
Tony, Carmela, Bobby and Janice celebrate Tony's birthday with karaoke
Karaoke
is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...
, drinking and Monopoly
Monopoly (game)
Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...
. An argument starts after a discussion of Monopoly house rules. Over Tony's objections, Janice relates a childhood story of their father and mother
Livia Soprano
Livia Soprano , played by Nancy Marchand, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. She is the mother of Tony Soprano. A young Livia, played by Laila Robins and later by Laurie J. Williams is sometimes seen in flashbacks...
; tensions reach a crescendo with Tony's remarks about Janice's looks and past promiscuous behavior. Bobby hits Tony in the face and the two have a fight, ending with Tony bloodied and bruised on the floor. Janice scolds Bobby for hitting Tony and Bobby runs outside, where he drives off drunk in his SUV and reverses into a tree. He returns inside and apologizes to Tony and the two couples go to their beds. Tony wakes up in the middle of the night and tells Bobby and Janice that Bobby beat him in a fair fight. The next day, the couples seem to make amends, but as the day progresses Tony increasingly obsesses over losing the fight to Bobby.
Tony and Bobby leave for a pre-arranged business meeting with two Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
ers who want to sell them past-the-date medication. As a part of the deal, Tony agrees to arrange the murder of one of the Quebecers' former brother-in-law and asks Bobby to take care of it. Back at the vacation home, Carmela and Tony leave for home and Bobby sets off for Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, where the man he agreed to murder lives. He finds his target in the laundry room of an apartment building and kills him by shooting him twice.
Back home, Tony watches the "Soprano Home Movies" DVD given to him by Janice as a birthday present. Mink calls, informing Tony that the gun charge, though dropped by Essex County, has been picked up by the FBI
FBI on The Sopranos
A major plotline on the fictional HBO drama The Sopranos has been the Federal Bureau of Investigation's ongoing pursuit of the DiMeo and Lupertazzi crime families. The Bureau's investigations have met with varying degrees of success...
. Bobby returns to his lakefront house, picks up his daughter and gazes out over the lake in silence.
Writing
"Soprano Home Movies" was written by four of the show's five season six writers: supervising producers and writing team Diane FrolovDiane Frolov
Diane Frolov is an American television writer and producer. She has written for several television shows, including The Sopranos and Northern Exposure. She frequently co-writes episodes with her husband, Andrew Schneider.-Career:...
and Andrew Schneider
Andrew Schneider
Andrew Schneider is an American screenwriter and television producer, whose credits include writing for The Sopranos, Northern Exposure, and Alien Nation. He frequently co-writes episodes with his wife, Diane Frolov. In 1992 Schneider won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama...
, series creator and showrunner David Chase
David Chase
David Chase is an American writer, director, and producer of television series. Chase has worked in television for more than 30 years; he has produced and written for shows as The Rockford Files, I'll Fly Away, and Northern Exposure. He has created two original series; the first, Almost Grown,...
and executive producer Matthew Weiner
Matthew Weiner
Matthew Weiner is an American writer, director and producer of television drama. He is the creator, executive producer, head writer, and show runner of the AMC television series Mad Men. He is also noted for his work on the HBO series The Sopranos, on which he served as a writer and producer...
, who had been promoted from co-executive producer before the production of "Soprano Home Movies" began. The four developed the episode's story outline along with executive producer and co-showrunner
Terence Winter
Terence Winter
Terence Winter is an American writer and producer of television and film. He is the creator, writer, and executive producer of the HBO television series Boardwalk Empire...
.
"Soprano Home Movies" is Frolov and Schneider's fourth and final official writing credit
WGA screenwriting credit system
In the United States, screenwriting credit for motion pictures and television programs under its jurisdiction is determined by either the Writers Guild of America, East or the Writers Guild of America, West . Since 1941, the Guilds have been the final arbiter of who receives credit for writing a...
for the series; it is Chase's twenty-seventh and Weiner's ninth. Chase and Weiner collaborated on two more of the season's episodes: "Kennedy and Heidi
Kennedy and Heidi
"Kennedy and Heidi" is the eighteenth episode of the two-part sixth season—the sixth episode of the second part—of the HBO television drama series The Sopranos and the show's eighty-third overall episode. It was written by Matthew Weiner and series creator and showrunner David Chase,...
" and "The Blue Comet
The Blue Comet
"The Blue Comet" is the twentieth episode of the sixth season of the HBO television drama series The Sopranos and eighty-fifth episode overall. It is the eighth episode of the second part of the sixth season, which was broadcast in two separate batches and the show's penultimate episode...
".
The episode title derives from Janice's birthday present to Tony: a DVD onto which she has had transferred old home movies of them and their sister during their childhood.
Filming
"Soprano Home Movies" was the first episode of the final batch of episodes to be produced, following a six-month-long production hiatus. In preparation for shooting the episode, series creator/executive producer David Chase held several rehearsals with the lead actors.The scenes at the lakefront vacation home were filmed over two weeks in June 2006 in Putnam Valley
Putnam Valley, New York
Putnam Valley is a town in Putnam County, New York, United States. The population was 10,686 at the 2000 census. Its location is northeast of New York City.The Town of Putnam Valley is in the southwest part of Putnam County...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Additional interior shots were filmed six months later at Silvercup Studios
Silvercup Studios
Silvercup Studios is the largest film and television production facility in New York City. Located in the neighborhood of Long Island City, in the borough of Queens, the studio complex has been operating since 1983 in the former Silvercup Bakery building...
, New York, where a replica of the cabin had been built in a sound stage
Sound stage
In common usage, a sound stage is a soundproof, hangar-like structure, building, or room, used for the production of theatrical filmmaking and television production, usually located on a secure movie studio property.-Overview:...
. The lake seen multiple times in the episode is Lake Oscawana
Lake Oscawana
Lake Oscawana is a lake at the heart of Putnam Valley, New York State, United States.The lake has a depth that ranges from to . The lake is fed by a stream from its north end and it drains through a stream at the middle of its eastern shore...
. The scenes of Tony and Bobby fishing were filmed on location on the lake but much closer to the shore than it appears in the episode. The scenes set in Montreal were actually filmed in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
Clinton Hill is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. It is bordered on the east by Bedford-Stuyvesant, on the west by Fort Greene, on the north by Wallabout Bay and on the south by Prospect Heights...
. Filming of the scenes set in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and the Soprano residence took place on location in Essex County, New Jersey and in Silvercup Studios. The ripping of Bobby's shirt when he commits his first murder was not in the script but was added during production.
While filming the cabin fight scene between Tony and Bobby in Silvercup Studios, Steve Schirripa accidentally headbutted James Gandolfini. The fight scene was choreographed but Gandolfini didn't step out of the way in time. His nose was bloodied but not broken. The real headbutting was kept in the episode.
Cast notes
Gregory AntonacciGreg Antonacci
Gregory Antonacci is an American television actor, director, producer and writer.As a director, producer and writer, he worked on a number of television series namely Brothers, The Tortellis, Perfect Strangers, The Royal Family, The John Larroquette Show, Herman's Head, It's a Living and other...
, who plays Phil Leotardo's advisor Butch DeConcini on the show, is now billed in the opening credits. Joseph R. Gannascoli
Joseph R. Gannascoli
Joseph R. Gannascoli is an Italian-American actor and celebrity spokesman most notable for his portrayal of Vito Spatafore on the HBO series, The Sopranos.-Early life:Joseph R. Gannascoli was born and raised in Brooklyn....
has been removed from the main credits as his character
Vito Spatafore
Vito Spatafore, Sr., played by Joseph R. Gannascoli, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. He was a member of the DiMeo Crime Family and a subordinate of Tony Soprano. He was married to Marie Spatafore with two children, Francesca and Vito, Jr., and was a closeted homosexual...
was murdered two episodes prior to "Soprano Home Movies". The characters Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco
Lorraine Bracco
Lorraine Bracco is an American actress. She is best known for her TV roles as Dr. Jennifer Melfi on HBO series, The Sopranos, and Angela Rizzoli on the TNT series, Rizzoli & Isles...
) and Junior Soprano
Junior Soprano
Corrado John Soprano, Jr., played by Dominic Chianese, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. Usually referred to as "Junior" or "Uncle Jun", he is the mentor and surrogate father for capo Tony Soprano. A younger Corrado sometimes appears in flashbacks and is played by Rocco...
(Dominic Chianese
Dominic Chianese
Dominic Chianese is an American film, television and theatre actor, perhaps best known for his role as Corrado "Junior" Soprano on the HBO TV series, The Sopranos.-Early life:...
) do not appear in the episode but the actors who play them are still listed in the opening credits.
Ratings
"Soprano Home Movies" drew an average of 7.66 million viewers when it first aired on HBO on Sunday April 8, 2007 in the United States. This estimate was done by Nielsen RatingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
. This was a significant drop from the 2006 season premiere episode, "Members Only", which attracted 9.47 million viewers and the lowest ratings for a Sopranos premiere since the season two opening episode, "Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office...", which drew roughly the same number of viewers as "Soprano Home Movies" (7.64 million viewers).
Critical response
The episode was generally well-received by critics. Tom Biro of televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
webblog TV Squad gave the episode a favorable review, writing "All in all, big thumbs up from me."
Marisa Carroll of PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
called the midseason premiere "stellar" and wrote that "David Chase
David Chase
David Chase is an American writer, director, and producer of television series. Chase has worked in television for more than 30 years; he has produced and written for shows as The Rockford Files, I'll Fly Away, and Northern Exposure. He has created two original series; the first, Almost Grown,...
repeatedly re-imagines ordinary family scenarios—like a weekend trip to the mountains—in brutal, gangster terms. [...] Such signature exaggerations remain both hilarious and unsettling." She awarded the episode a score of 9 out of 10 (shared with the following two episodes).
Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
praised the episode, writing "the series remains as vital and interesting as ever [...] There may be no better (or realistic) way to go forward into this Sopranos swan song."
Kim Reed of Television Without Pity gave the midseason premiere an A−, writing "...while, on the surface, not much happened, I think there were a ton of callbacks to previous episodes and that familiar Soprano tension was used to good effect."
Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
wrote "this is loose, contemplative Sopranos storytelling at its best."
Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
was impressed with the midseason premiere and wrote that, despite not being a very eventful episode on the surface, "everything happened".
Alan Sepinwall of The Star Ledger gave "Soprano Home Movies" a positive review and praised it for featuring the character of Bobby Bacala in a more prominent role, writing "The hour was largely a refresher course on Tony, Janice and their history, but it also gave Bacala the dignity he's so often been deprived by the writers."
Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
gave the episode a mixed review, calling it "solemn" and wrote that "even before last season the series had started to sag in places, a creative fatigue that matched the main characters' weariness and also the audience's."
Brian Zoromski of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
awarded "Soprano Home Movies" a score of 9.5 out of 10, citing the calm, subtle storytelling as a great strength.
Awards
In 2007, "Soprano Home Movies" was nominated in four categories for the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards59th Primetime Emmy Awards
The 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on September 16, 2007 and were televised live on Fox at 8:00 p.m. EDT for the first time in high definition...
. The episode was submitted for consideration in the category of Outstanding Drama Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series
This page lists the winners and nominees for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, since its institution in 1951. The award is often cited as one of the "main awards" at the Emmys ceremonies, and has changed names many times in its history. It was first called Best Dramatic Show...
. This led to a nomination and the show—which was judged by six episodes from the second part of the sixth season, including "Soprano Home Movies"—won.
It was also nominated but failed to win in the categories of Outstanding Cinematography For A Single-Camera Series (Phil Abraham
Phil Abraham
Phil Abraham is an American film and television cinematographer and director. He worked on all six seasons of The Sopranos, initially as a camera operator, then as a cinematographer and eventually as an episodic director...
), Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing For A Drama Series (William B. Stich) and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Aida Turturro
Aida Turturro
Aida Turturro is an American actress probably best known for playing Janice Soprano, sister of New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano, on the HBO TV series The Sopranos .-Personal life:...
).
The episode was also submitted for Emmy
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
consideration in the categories of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Steve Schirripa
Steve Schirripa
Steven R. "Steve" Schirripa is an American actor, voice artist, producer, and comedian, best known for playing Bobby Baccalieri on The Sopranos....
) and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series
The Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series is awarded to one television episode each year at the Primetime Emmy Awards. Often regarded as the highest honor that can be bestowed upon an individual episode of television, the nominees and winners often reflect outstanding achievement in...
(Diane Frolov
Diane Frolov
Diane Frolov is an American television writer and producer. She has written for several television shows, including The Sopranos and Northern Exposure. She frequently co-writes episodes with her husband, Andrew Schneider.-Career:...
, Andrew Schneider
Andrew Schneider
Andrew Schneider is an American screenwriter and television producer, whose credits include writing for The Sopranos, Northern Exposure, and Alien Nation. He frequently co-writes episodes with his wife, Diane Frolov. In 1992 Schneider won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama...
, David Chase and Matthew Weiner
Matthew Weiner
Matthew Weiner is an American writer, director and producer of television drama. He is the creator, executive producer, head writer, and show runner of the AMC television series Mad Men. He is also noted for his work on the HBO series The Sopranos, on which he served as a writer and producer...
); however, it was not nominated.
In 2008, episode director Tim Van Patten
Tim Van Patten
Tim Van Patten is an American television director, actor, screenwriter, and producer. As a director, Van Patten has directed episodes of The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, Boardwalk Empire, Rome, The Pacific, Game of Thrones, Ed, and Sex and the City. Van Patten is perhaps best known for portraying...
was nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award in the category of Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series' – Night but lost out to Mad Men
Mad Men
Mad Men is an American dramatic television series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. The series premiered on Sunday evenings on the American cable network AMC and are produced by Lionsgate Television. It premiered on July 19, 2007, and completed its fourth season on October 17, 2010. Each...
s Alan Taylor
Alan Taylor (director)
Alan Taylor is an American television and film director, television producer, and screenwriter. Taylor has directed for numerous programs on both network television and premium cable, most notably on HBO...
, also a director for The Sopranos.