Watching Too Much Television

"Watching Too Much Television"
The Sopranos episode
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 46
Directed by	John Patterson
Teleplay by	Terence Winter Nick Santora
Story by	David Chase Robin Green Mitchell Burgess Terence Winter
Cinematography by	Alik Sakharov
Production code	407
Original air date	October 27, 2002
Guest stars
see below
Episode chronology
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Episode chronology

"Watching Too Much Television" is the forty-sixth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and was the seventh of the show's fourth season. Its teleplay was written by Nick Santora and Terence Winter from a story by Robin Green, Mitchell Burgess, Terence Winter and David Chase. It was directed by John Patterson and originally aired on Sunday October 27, 2002.

Guest starring roles

• Sharon Angela as Rosalie Aprile
• Oksana Lada as Irina Peltsin
• Carl Capotorto as Little Paulie Germani
• Max Casella as Benny Fazio
• Vondie Curtis-Hall as Maurice Tiffen
• Matthew Del Negro as Brian Cammarata
• Joseph R. Gannascoli as Vito Spatafore
• Lola Glaudini as Agent Deborah Ciccerone Waldrup
• Dan Grimaldi as Patsy Parisi
• Marianne Leone as Joanne Moltisanti
• Richard Maldone as Ally Boy Barese
• Anna Mancini as Donna Parisi

• Patty McCormack as Liz LaCerva
• Frank Pellegrino as Bureau Chief Frank Cubitoso
• Richard Portnow as Harold Melvoin
• Peter Riegert as Ronald Zellman
• Matt Servitto as Agent Dwight Harris
• Lewis J. Stadlen as Dr. Ira Fried
• Lauren Toub as Liz DiLiberto
• Maureen Van Zandt as Gabriella Dante
• Vanessa Liguori as Terri
• Karen Young as Agent Robyn Sanseverino
• Vondie Curtis Hall as Maurice Tiffen
• Melissa Gambill as Herself

Episode recap

Paulie Walnuts gets out of jail and a huge party is thrown for him at the Bada Bing. Tony and Ralphie get an idea from Brian Cammarata the next day: to defraud the HUD fund with bogus housing deals. Tony recruits Assemblyman Zellman and a friend of his, Maurice Tiffen, the formerly idealistic head of a non-profit low income housing program, to put the plan into action. They also recruit Dr. Ira Fried to initially buy the property. Zellman confesses that he has started seeing Irina; Tony appears to give his blessing.

Adriana's surreptitious meetings with the FBI continue. Believing that the FBI will stop hassling her if they can't use her testimony, she asks Christopher to finally set a date for their wedding. Later, during a casual conversation, she finds out that marital privilege may not apply after all. She secretly goes to a lawyer, who tells her that marital privilege will only apply to conversations that take place after they get married, are not in the presence of a third party, and do not further any criminal enterprise. As no conversation she's ever had with Christopher meets all these criteria, marriage will not solve her legal problems. This is reinforced by the FBI agents, who discuss the likelihood of her nuptials among themselves and voice no serious objection, in fact being marginally in favor of the proposed union.

The HUD option is carried through by Zellman and his contact at the "For Profit Organization" after Tony advises the Assemblyman that the crack addicts should be moved out as there is about $7,000 in copper piping there. Maurice Tiffen is paid a visit by Zellman and told to take care of it by sending in some "gang-bangers". 4 young teens show up and beat on the family previously seen by Tony and A.J while a small child watches. Later a crew can be seen ripping the houses apart for copper and "mantle pieces" on Tony's say so. Zellman and Tiffen later discuss the deal and see no moral problem with it.

Elsewhere, Carmela and Furio Giunta's tentative flirtation continues, as he calls her with the pretense of looking for his missing sunglasses, which he later admits he left at home. Later on, when Furio goes to pick up Tony in the morning, he refuses Carmela's offers to come inside for coffee, claiming he needs to sit in the car because it is having engine problems. Meanwhile, Paulie is giving up more information in his meetings with Johnny Sack. They meet for a meal and he divulges the HUD scheme, while also seeking assurance from Johnny that their discussions are kept private.

At the end of the episode, while driving, Tony hears the Chi-Lites' "Oh Girl" on the radio and briefly starts crying. He stops at Assemblyman Zellman's house, finding Irina there. He goes upstairs where he finds Zellman and beats him with his belt, causing Zellman to cry in front of Irina.