Soprano Showbiz and Celebrity Breaking News

EXCLUSIVE: The upcoming second season of HBO’s House of the Dragon will consist of eight episodes, two fewer than Season 1 of the Critics Choice Award-winning Game of Thrones prequel. It is part of a long-term plan for the show, which includes HBO mulling a green light for a third season, I have learned.

Ray Liotta‘s Facebook page has been hacked by a celebrity death hoaxer.The late Goodfellas star’s page had been spreading fake news about celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger in recent days.According to TMZ, a representative for Liotta’s team said they had been working with Facebook to resolve the problem, though after that was confirmed the page posted pornography, which has since been removed.The account appears to have been restored to normal as of today (March 27).Liotta died last May aged 67, passing away in his sleep in the Dominican Republic, where he was filming the film Dangerous Waters.The actor was well known for starring in 1990’s Goodfellas, and in recent years had appeared in films such as Marriage Story, The Sopranos prequel The Many Saints Of Newark and this year’s Cocaine Bear.The latter’s director Elizabeth Banks said after Liotta’s passing: “I had a special bond with Ray Liotta. We met on a little film, The Details and he blew me away.

The Sopranos inspired season two of Yellowjackets, showrunners have claimed.Yellowjackets tells the story of a team of talented female high-school soccer players who survive a plane crash deep in the Ontario wilderness. The series chronicles their descent from a complicated but thriving team to warring, cannibalistic clans, while also tracking the lives they have attempted to piece back together.The series became Showtimes’ highest-viewed new series in six years, with over five million viewers weekly.In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, creators of the show Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickelson discussed how normalising cannibalism, murder, and trauma is connected back to the Italian mob boss.

Caroline Manzo took to Instagram on Sunday to share a clip of her husband trying to extinguish a large house fire. The reality TV star, 61, posted a video of Albert Manzo III, 63, on the roof with a fire extinguisher in hand as he battled with the blaze.  Caroline - who recently had an unpleasant interaction with co-star Brandi Glanville - appeared to have a sense of humor about the scary ordeal, as she described finding out about the fire in the caption of the clip.

Starting on Saturday, Silicon Valley will be airing on TBS and True Blood will air on TNT in an experiment to attract new audiences with existing IP.

Annette Bening is set to headline Peacock’s upcoming limited series Apples Never Fall in her return to television nearly two decades after starring in HBO’s 2005 TV movie Mrs. Harris, which earned her an Emmy nomination. Before that, she played herself in an episode of The Sopranos.

Odele Ventimiglia, daughter of Sopranos legend John, has died at the age of 25, her family has confirmed.

Michael Gandolfini (The Many Saints Of Newark) is set for a major role opposite Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio in Daredevil: Born Again, Marvel’s upcoming revival series on Disney+, sources tell Deadline.

Terence Winter knows a thing or two about depicting the underworld. He served as an executive producer on both The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire before Taylor Sheridan called upon him to tell a fish-out-of-water tale about New York mafia capo Dwight “The General” Manfredi in Tulsa King, dropping Nov. 13 on Paramount+. Here, the veteran writer-producer talks about the drama’s beginnings, avoiding mob stereotypes, and working with Sylvester Stallone.

Sauron is an evil character featured in The Lord of the Rings books and his identity has finally been revealed in the prequel series The Rings of Power.

who also starred as Tony Soprano's neighbor and family physician Dr. Bruce Cusamano on has died.

Bob LuPone has sadly died.

Tubi continues to expand its adult animated programming, giving a green light to Breaking Bear, an adult animated comedy series from The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia director Julien Nitzberg, Creepshow producer Cartel Entertainment, and Blink-182 frontman Tom DeLonge’s To The Stars Media (Monsters of California).

Sopranos legend (who himself was quoting The Godfather's Michael Corleone), just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in…Refresher, though I doubt anyone with access to WiFi needs one: onstage at the Oscars after the comedian made a joke about Smith's wife, , and her alopecia-related hair loss. In the days following, in which he apologized for his “unacceptable and inexcusable” actions.

Dr. Oz can’t seem to catch a break.

Best known for his role as mob boss Tony Soprano in the HBO crime drama series "The Sopranos," James Gandolfini is one of the most beloved and innovative American performers of all time. His death shocked the world, especially the entertainment industry, but his popularity continues to grow nearly a decade since his passing.

Angel Blue, an African American soprano, has stepped down from her role in Aida at the La Traviata Verona theater in Verona, Italy. 

The Sopranos actor Robert Iler has recalled his late co-star Tony Sirico, saying he was the main reason he wasn’t bullied or harassed in Hollywood.The actor – who played A.J. Soprano in the HBO series – discussed Sirico’s presence on set in a recent episode of The Sopranos podcast Pod Yourself A Gun.During a discussion about other teenage stars in Hollywood, Iler (who was around 13 years-old when he joined The Sopranos) said Sirico vowed to protect him if anyone “bothered” him.Speaking on the podcast, Iler said: “When all the molesting stuff gets talked about… people always say to me, ‘Did anything happen like that on your set?’ And I’m like, you think Tony Sirico was standing around, if there were people eyeing me the wrong way, like ‘Oh, Rob looks really cute today,’ Tony Sirico is just gonna stand there and not do anything?”He added: “Once we did the second or third episode, Tony Sirico just came over to me and said, ‘Hey, uh, if anyone ever… bothers you, or anybody says anything, you tell Uncle Tony, OK?’ And that’s how I felt in fucking school, too.“Like I was 13 years-old and I was like, ‘Oh, this kid thinks he’s gonna mouth off to me? I’ll have Tony Sirico come down.’ No matter how old you are, you see somebody that has like black hair here and silver hair on the sides – and just the way he always had a handkerchief in his pocket – you go like this dude will fuck you up.”Sirico, who played Paulie ‘Walnuts’ Gualtieri in The Sopranos, died aged 79 on July 8 after living with dementia for two years.His co-star Michael Imperioli paid tribute on Instagram, writing: “Tony was like no one else: he was as tough, as loyal and as big hearted as anyone I’ve ever known.

Sopranos cast member Steve Van Zandt has recalled how the late James Gandolfini gave cast members a share of a pay rise he received while on the show.Ganolfini, who played mob boss Tony Soprano in the long-running HBO show, had received a “big” pay rise according to Van Zandt and decided to share it among his fellow cast members.When asked about whether or not Gandolfini “gave each actor [in] The Sopranos $33,000 of his own money”, Van Zandt confirmed that he did – though not to settle a “salary dispute” as had been reported previously.Replying to the fan, Van Zandt said: “It wasn’t to settle a salary dispute. He had gotten a big raise and just divided it among the cast.

When Jamie-Lynn Sigler and her “Sopranos” sibling Robert Iler reunited for a Super Bowl commercial earlier this year, fans suddenly began wondering about the possibility of a reboot of the mob hit, featuring Meadow and A.J. Soprano.

Pete Davidson has found his new TV mom in Edie Falco!

The Sopranos and Law & Order, has died aged 65.The actor passed away in a Manhattan hospital on Saturday (May 7), as confirmed by his wife Carol Ochs to The New York Times. A cause of death has not yet been determined.MacVittie is perhaps best known for playing juror Danny Scalercio in the fourth season of HBO series The Sopranos. From 1991, he also had numerous roles in the Law & Order franchise, including spin-offs Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.He made his Broadway debut in 1983 opposite Al Pacino in a production of David Mamet’s American Buffalo, a role he continued in London’s West End.He went on to have numerous guest roles in television, including Barney Miller, Miami Vice, The Equalizer, Sex And The City, Oz, The Stand, The Street, and Spenser: For Hire.After taking a break from acting in 2011 to train as a nurse, MacVittie returned to the profession with roles in Blue Bloods, Chicago Med, The Deuce and acclaimed Netflix series When They See Us, where he played Detective Hartigan.Paying tribute in The New York Times, Pacino wrote: “I loved Bruce MacVittie.

Actor Bruce MacVittie has passed away. In a tribute published by The New York Times, MacVettie's wife Carol Ochs said the "Sopranos" actor died on May 7 in a Manhattan hospital, but the cause of death had not yet been determined. A representative for MacVittie did not respond to Fox News Digital's immediate request for comment.

Bruce MacVittie, a prolific New York stage actor who made his Broadway debut opposite Al Pacino in a 1983 production of David Mamet’s American Buffalo and became familiar to television viewers through roles on The Sopranos, Law & Order and As The World Turns, died May 7 at a hospital in New York City. He was 65.

Superbad sequel, despite hesitations from the rest of the team.The filmmaker, who produced the beloved 2007 comedy, recently said he wants to follow the high school characters as they make their way through college.“I always wanted them to do a sequel to Superbad,” Apatow said on the Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum podcast. Jonah Hill, who plays the lead, had said he would only make another one if the characters are in “an old folks’ home”.“I know that Jonah said, ‘Oh it’ll be funny to do it when we’re 70 or 80,’ but I really wanted them to do a Superbad in college where Jonah flunks out of college and just shows up and visits Michael Cera at college,” Apatow continued.“But everyone was like ‘Nah we don’t want to screw up Superbad by accidentally making a crappy second one,’ and I would always say the same thing, ‘Well that’s like saying don’t make the second episode of the The Sopranos.

Television finales are an incredibly tough beast – just ask the team behind The Sopranos or Lost.

NEW YORK -- Call it bel canto in the Rust Belt.The Metropolitan Opera’s new production of “Lucia di Lammermoor” plucks the ill-fated heroine out of the Scottish hills where Sir Walter Scott placed her in his 1819 novel and where Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti kept her in his opera 16 years later.Instead, director Simon Stone has transplanted her to a contemporary American town whose once-prosperous residents are suffering the effects of economic decline and where the pharmacy and pawnshop are among the only thriving businesses.“It can feel relaxing to escape and go to a Donizetti opera that’s set in a previous era,” Stone said in a panel discussion at the opera house during rehearsal. “But I think it’s less of a transformative experience than if you can go, “Wow, this is about me, my family, us.'”Stone said he looked for an American equivalent to the original setting and settled on the Rust Belt.“The novel and opera are about the end of the aristocracy in Scotland, and it became an incredibly poor country very quickly,” he said in an interview.

Soprano Anna Netrebko has been hired by the Monte Carlo Opera to sing this month following the Metropolitan Opera's decision to drop her for failing to repudiate Russia President Vladimir Putin. The Monte Carlo Opera said Thursday that Netrebko will sing the title role in Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" in performances on April 22, 24, 27 and 30.The 50-year-old Russian replaces an originally announced Maria Agresta. Tenor Yusif Eyvazov, Netrebko's husband, is scheduled to sing Des Grieux.

Soprano Anna Netrebko has been hired by the Monte Carlo Opera to sing this month following the Metropolitan Opera's decision to drop her for failing to repudiate Russia President Vladimir Putin.The Monte Carlo Opera said Thursday that Netrebko will sing the title role in Puccini's “Manon Lescaut” in performances on April 22, 24, 27 and 30. The 50-year-old Russian replaces an originally announced Maria Agresta.Tenor Yusif Eyvazov, Netrebko's husband, is scheduled to sing Des Grieux.Netrebko was to have sung five performances in a revival of Puccini's “Turandot” at the Met in New York from April 30 to May 14.

Montserrat Caballe, one of the greats of 20th-century opera, is being remembered on what would have been her 89th birthday. Nicknamed “La Superba”, the Catalan singer began her career in Switzerland, Germany and Austria before becoming a superstar on the world stage. She made her American debut in Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia at Carnegie Hall in New York City on 20 April 1965, replacing the pregnant Marilyn Horne and earning a 25-minute standing ovation.

Rae Allen, the Tony Award-winning actress known for roles in Damn Yankees, A League of Their Own and The Sopranos, died early Wednesday morning peacefully in her sleep. She was 95.

Paul Herman has sadly passed away.

NEW YORK -- American soprano Renée Fleming is to make rare operatic appearances as Pat Nixon in a new production of John Adams' “Nixon in China” at the Paris Opera next season.The opera is to be given eight performances at the Bastille from March 25 to April 16, 2023, the company said Wednesday. Music director Gustavo Dudamel will conduct a cast that includes baritone Thomas Hampson as Nixon and soprano Kathleen Kim as Madame Mao.

Paul Herman, an actor known for starring in "The Sopranos," has died. He was 76. A representative for Herman confirmed the actor died on Tuesday, March 29, which was his 76th birthday.

Paul Herman, a Brooklyn-born actor who appeared in such classic mob movies as Goodfellas, Once Upon a Time in America and The Irishman but is probably best known for his portrayal of club owner Peter “Beansie” Gaeta in The Sopranos, died Tuesday. He was 76.

BERLIN -- Russian soprano Anna Netrebko said Wednesday that she plans to resume performing in late May after announcing in the early days of the war in Ukraine that she was taking a “step back” from the stage.In a statement, Netrebko also repeated her opposition to the war and said she was not "allied with any leader of Russia.”The 50-year-old opera singer said at the beginning of March that she was “opposed to this senseless war of aggression” and calling on Russia to end it. “This is not a time for me to make music and perform,” Netrebko said back then.That followed an Instagram post in which she had condemned the war but also said that “forcing artists, or any public figure to voice their political opinions in public and to denounce their homeland is not right.