Sopranos Hits New High Note As Tv Ratings Soar

It was just the sort of hit to bring a smile to the crumpled face of a Mafia boss. The new series of The Sopranos, the TV drama about a dysfunctional New Jersey Mafia family, has just broken records with the sort of casual ease with which the show's stars break legs.

The first episode of the fourth Sopranos season this week was the most-watched original programme in the history of the HBO cable channel. So popular is the series that it beat all the networks for the most-watched prime-time programme on its opening night despite the fact the cable show can only be seen by a third of the 107 million US homes with television.

More than 13 million people tuned in to see Tony Soprano shuffling down his driveway in his dressing gown to pick up the morning newspaper as the new series kicked off. If he had picked up the paper yesterday he would read breathless plaudits for a show that never seems to peak.

The mob drama was also the most-watched show on any cable channel this year, and the third most-watched show on cable television since 1994.

"This was above what most bright and logical minds thought we would do," said Dave Baldwin of HBO. "This was a big number."

Fans of the critically acclaimed and award-garlanded show have had a long wait for the new series but will have recognised many of the familiar ingredients: trouble and flesh down at the Bada Bing! club; a bit of teenage cheek at the dining table from AJ, the son of the family; a reflective session with Tony's psychiatrist Dr Jennifer Melfi; and a whacking or two from junior mobsters.

The new series also coincides with the publication of some learned academic studies deconstructing the Sopranos phenomenon, although the works are unlikely to achieve the same ratings figures. One of the books, Glen Gabbard's the Psychology of The Sopranos, says therapists have reported a rise in male patients as a result of the show.

A further spin-off has been to turn New Jersey, the Essex of the US, into an unlikely tourist attraction for fans.

The cast will be missing from the platform at the Emmy television awards ceremony on Sunday because the show skipped a season while the team refreshed its creative juices.

The programme's dominance has been reflected by its stars also taking lead roles in feature films and on stage: Edie Falco, who plays the put-upon Carmela Soprano, is currently a Broadway hit in the play Frankie and Johnny and on film, with Sunshine State.

Although Italian-American groups have complained that the tenor of The Sopranos gives an altogether base ethnic impression, the show's producers have shrugged off the accusations. One further series is planned before The Sopranos' creator, David Chase, plans to call it a day.