Source:www.hbo.com

After a long, long run, HBO's hit series, "The Sopranos", concludes Sunday night.

Your guess is as good as mine as to how the show ends, and whether or not Tony will be sent to the big pizza parlor in the sky, with or without Phil, his nemesis in New York.

These cable TV specials have been highly successful and I'm a fan of most of them. When the end is near for a series I always have mixed emotions about it, much as I did when the plug was pulled on the "X Files".

Many times I feel that a series has overstayed its welcome, and then when it's gone, I miss it.

When the Sopranos started I thought it was going to be more comical, but then, how could a show that centers on crime, violence and death be funny.

For me, and I'm sure many of my Paisans (friends, people who are similar in background), the show has been entertaining in a nostalgic sense. Hearing the Sicilian slang words and seeing the accompanying gestures has taken me on a trip down memory lane to my youthful days in northern New Jersey and New York City.

But beyond that I found the show to be nothing more than a rehash of most Mafia movies, with the travails of a modern American family thrown in to assure people that, yes even criminals have leaky roofs, and problem children.

I did find the actor's portrayals of generic mob figures to be accurate. But then that was to be expected since they are actors, and most of them are Italian and familiar with the lingo and quirks, and many of them no doubt grew up around real wise guys as well.

Some of them probably had the offer of a "position", with the "family", extended to them, as did I. I'm sure it was my size and not my IQ that caused the Don to notice me.
I recall how flattered I felt, at age 19, and again at 21, to be considered capable of being able to break someone in half.

Many therapists and their patients were put off by last week's episode during which Tony was booted as a patient by Dr. Melfi.

Here's the link to an interesting story about the role psychoanalysis played in the series.

Anyway, the show ends on Sunday and I'm looking forward to learning how it all pans out.

Whether or not I'll miss it remains to be seen.

Will you?