March 2 – HBO introduced the fifth season of their hit mafia series The Sopranos with a movie-style premiere at Radio City Music Hall, complete with red carpet, celebrity guests and desperate fans trolling the sidewalks for spare tickets. Just about the entire Sopranos cast showed up; star James Gandolfini with his fiancée Lora Somoza. The cast is so large that it’s hard to remember who-all is in The Sopranos, but as far as we can tell, Gina Gershon, Denis Leary, hip-hop impresario Damon Dash, Mario Cantone, Richard Belzer and Chris Meloni are not part of the show. Nor is Rudy Giuliani, who said he’s a “true fan” of the show. Peter Boyle, of the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond, said that what he likes about The Sopranos is the way the characters resolve conflicts: “They don’t talk it out. They just whack ‘em. They’re very simple people.” Speaking of whacks, Vincent Pastore, who plays Big Pussy, declined to reveal any upcoming murders on the series this season, but did say that he’d like to see Paulie Walnuts (played by Tony Sirico) get whacked. In the "Who knew?" department, The Sopranos' Marianne Leone, came with her husband, Chris Cooper, who won an Oscar for Adaptation. After the screening, the whole famiglia partied at Rockefeller Center.