I don’t hold with Tom Tapp‘s putdown of Peter Biskind‘s “The Story of The Sopranos” piece in the new Vanity Fair. Sometimes words of praise are entirely just and fitting. I worship this show — it can’t be spoken of too highly — and everything Biskind says about it is spot-on. My words exactly.

Sopranos departed (l. to r.): David Proval, Vincent Pastore, Annabella Sciorra, Joe Pantoliano, Drea de Matteo, Steve Buscemi

I particularly agree with his flat declaration that The Sopranos “is one of the masterpieces of American popular culture, on par with the first two Godfathers, Mean Streets and Goodfellas [as well as] Fellini’s 8 1/2, Visconti’s The Leopardand Fassbinder’s Berlin Alexanderplatz.” The Sopranos saga has been unfolding since early ’99 — hard to believe it’s been eight years. My heart is breaking that it’s all coming to an end.

My nostalgia is so pervasive I’m willing to forgive and forget that season #4 felt like a bit of a wank. Wait…do I mean #3? It was one of those two.

Here’s a video record of he Annie Liebowitz cover shoot.