‘Sopranos’ fans abuzz online as HBO series nears finale

As the final season of the “The Sopranos” winds down, fans of the HBO drama are abuzz online about their last glimpses of the New Jersey mafia family and theories on the show’s upcoming finale.\n“The Sopranos,” created by David Chase, has only five episodes left of its short nine-episode swan song (or should we say duck song?). Speculation has been building on what might be the fate of mob boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini).\nEveryone has, as Paulie Walnuts might say, an “idear.”\nAmong the many online forums to discuss “The Sopranos” is a site done by NJ.com: http://www.nj.com/sopranos. The current dialogue there revolves around expectations for the demise of Tony’s son, A.J. (Robert Iler).\nSlate.com has long published an episode-by-episode review and discussion of “The Sopranos.” After Sunday’s show, Jeffrey Goldberg, the Washington correspondent for The New Yorker, wrote in a column exchange with Slate’s Timothy Noah that the final season of “The Sopranos” is dawdling.\nThe 4th episode’s lack of narrative urgency, Goldberg wrote, “seemed pointless given that this 86-hour story arc has only five hours to go. Let’s start murdering off the cast already, for goodness’ sake.”\nMany fan sites of “The Sopranos” are now dormant, which reflects not only the nature of fan sites, which generally come and go, but perhaps also a slight waning of enthusiasm for the program. The premiere of this final season of “The Sopranos” drew 7.7 million viewers, down from last year’s 9.4 million viewers.\nStill, whacking odds are being posted by online bookies. Just before this season’s first episode, BetUS.com posted 2-1 odds that Tony will die in the final episodes; Tony living was listed as 1-3.\nIt’s not hard to find amateur finale forecasts, among them the theory that Tony will spill his guts not by a bullet, but by talking to the Feds. Many think Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) is doomed after his unflattering fictionalization of Tony in his movie, “Cleaver.”\nThe official site of the show, http://www.hbo.com/sopranos, isn’t to be overlooked, either. The recently broadcast mock behind-the-scenes set visit on “Cleaver” can be watched there. But the site’s best use may be for tracking down music from the show, like John Cooper Clarke’s riveting, trance-inducing “Evidently Chickentown” that concluded this season’s second episode.