I think Tony and the Boys should go whack the writers who were responsible for the "ho-hum" last season. The actors themselves carried the show as best as they could, but the writers deserve the old Mafia treatment for what they did to the storyline.
Good questions raised - if the cost per episode doesn't include any DVD rights, etc. then that might be the real reasoning behind the raise demands. They are making a bundle off DVD sales alone - and I'm SURE that HBO picked up LOTS of new subscribers because of the Sopranos buzz. I know when we were whittling down our satellite subscription (500 channels of shit is still 500 channels of shit - lol) the 1st thing we marked that we REFUSED to give up was our HBO package because of these original dramas, original documentaries and the kids like the HBO Family channel in the afternoons. The Sopranos were a big part of our staying with HBO - and I think HBO knows that it's that way for a lot of people.
Hope they come back for another season. *crossing fingers*
