My old flame

It really felt like running into an old girlfriend that you haven't seen for a very long time. You think that you are completely over her, but once you see her again, all those feelings you had come back to the surface and you realize just how much you've been missing her.

That's the best way I can describe my feelings while watching the season premiere of The Sopranos on Sunday. We had been apart for so long and a lot of things had changed since The Sopranos were last in my life. For one thing, my friend Bubby, who I watched most of last season with, spent a year in Iraq and managed to come home without missing a single new episode. On top of that, I started this website, my brother got married and I even found a new love - Lost.

But, to be honest, things with Lost and me had been rocky for some time now. Because of the incompetence of ABC, the show is back to airing a new episode like every three weeks, arbitrarily showing reruns from the beginning of season one. For a show that works on a slow build anyway, having to wait so long for a new episode is beyond frustrating.

So when The Sopranos came along with it's big season premiere, I guess I was ready to be wooed once again. I was a little apprehensive going in – wondering if it would still be as good as I remembered. I remember when the last season ended, thinking about how far away the next season was and how sad I was to not have any new episodes. But somehow, just seeing it again, the past two years just faded away and we were right back where we left off.

The doesn't mean I forgive David Chase for taking so long. For one thing, he's really rolling the dice with some of the characters. Not to sound morbid, but Junior and some of his peers are starting to look pretty old and might not have been around if he had waited much longer. You don't want a repeat of the Nancy Marchand situation. Plus, A.J. is now like 35 years old (and sporting some nice, long stoner hair). Of course, the biggest problem of all with waiting so long in between seasons is that with each passing day, Edie Falco looks more and more like Skeletor (and if you think I'm being too hard on her, you obviously haven't been watching the past two seasons on HDTV).

The show definitely came out the gates strong. You had two supporting characters die, a guy get roughed up and hit by a car and the show ended with Tony getting shot. (Apologies if you haven't seen the show yet, but come on, it's Tuesday, you should have watched it by now.) But it's not just the mob stuff I love, I really enjoyed watching Tony eat tons of food throughout the episode, I absolutely loved his "circle jerk of life" comment and I even enjoyed his excessive mouth breathing. Plus, the opening montage was quite a roller coaster ride - we had to endure seeing Janice breast feeding, but it was followed up with a great clip of Meadow doing a sexy little dance in her bra and panties. Not sure if it makes the Janice thing worth it, but it at least kept me from ending things the way Eugene Pontecorvo did once he realized he wasn't going to be making it to Florida.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm really happy to have The Sopranos back in my life. I think we can make things work this time around and be really happy together. All of the waiting is over and the new episodes are finally here and I honestly couldn't be happier. Of course, now a new sort of waiting begins. Waiting a whole week to find out what happens next. Even the common sense dictates that Tony should be okay, I could see David Chase pulling a Vince McMahon caliber swerve and killing off his main character. (And don't think I didn't notice that you skipped out on showing a preview of next week's show HBO, you cruel bastards.)

In my heart, I know this relationship can't end well. After this season, I believe we have been promised one more mini-season, then the show will go away forever. So that's why, even though I'm getting back with The Sopranos, I'll continue to see Lost on the side. I think Tony would approve.

Random thought of the week:
The Gateway Grizzlies, a minor league baseball team, have announced plans to sell something called "Baseball's Best Burger," which is a hamburger topped with sharp cheddar cheese and two slices of bacon, placed inside of a Krispy Kreme glazed donut instead of a bun. Honestly, I'm not sure whether to be completely appalled or kind of intrigued.

Joel Murphy is the creator of HoboTrashcan, which is probably why he has his own column. He also has some really hot friends. You can contact him at murphyslaw@hobotrashcan.com.