The Sopranos (The Sopranos episode) The Sopranos (The Sopranos episode) "The Sopranos", also known as "Pilot", is the first episode of the HBO television drama series, "The Sopranos", which premiered on January 10, 1999. It was written and directed by the series creator and executive producer David Chase. New Jersey mobster Tony Soprano passes out while barbecuing. Tony's collapse is diagnosed as a panic attack, leading to his referral to psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi. Tony is initially uncooperative, but soon tells Dr. Melfi a story about a family of ducks which nested in his swimming pool. He goes over tensions between Carmela and Meadow over a
Whitecaps (The Sopranos) anger at Tony for letting him down. Tony says twice, "I shouldn't be hearing this." They part ways after an embrace, but eye each other as Johnny drives away. Thanks to juror intimidation, Junior is freed following a mistrial. Celebrating upon returning home, Bobby and Janice dance fondly together, but Junior finds a pretext to stop them.. Irina drunk dials Carmela and brags about Tony's relations with her and tells her he also had sex with Svetlana. This causes Carmela extreme distress because Irina spoke first to one of her children, AJ, and because she knew Svetlana and liked her.