US:You bet your life. And now you can bet Tony Soprano's life.
US online gambling sites are taking bets on whether the head of HBO channel's New Jersey crime family makes it out alive from the series finale going out in the US tomorrow night. So far, the smart money is on Tony living.
"My advice to all the gamblers out there is 'Don't bet against David Chase'," creator of The Sopranos," HBO spokesman Quentin Schaffer said. "He defies all theories of probability."
Chase reportedly filmed three different endings to the finale to help keep the conclusion secret. And he has always revelled in denying audience expectations, and delights in foolhardy pundit prognostications.
Most dramas and sitcoms that bid adieu with a much anticipated finale do so without the weight of passing a final judgment on its main character. In this way, the ending of The Sopranosmight have more in common with the conclusion of Sex and the Citythan it would appear. In that show, whether Carrie Bradshaw would remain single or get hitched was always the question.
Likewise, whether Tony is - as he claims in therapy - "basically a good guy" is the perpetual conflict of The Sopranos. In a recent interview, actor James Gandolfini acknowledged he had lost faith in his character.
Asked whether he likes Tony, Gandolfini said, "I used to. But it's difficult towards the end. I think the thing with Christopher might have turned the corner.
"It's kind of one thing after another," he added.
"Let's just say, it was a lot easier to like him before than in the last few years."
Chase recently said: "There'll be people who will like the finale and people who won't like it. But I think that if people look at what the show was, or could even watch the whole story again, they'll understand what the ending is."
Online gambling is also taking money on the presidential campaign song Hillary Clinton might choose, with Beautiful Dayby U2 coming in as a 3-to-2 favourite.