Normally I don't use excessive punctuation in regards to actors (sorry, never been big on the cult of celebrity). However...

For tonight's repeat of the Sopranos on HBO, all the scenes with Fairuza Balk were cut and replaced with another actress! Incredible to say the least - and it brings up a very legitimate question as to what exactly we'll see on the S3 DVD.

What? Does anyone know why this is? I haven't seen the season finale or the repeat but my friend did tape it. I'll be seeing it tomorrow.

I just saw the last S3 Sopranos tonight for the first time... didn't realize she was in it as she definitely was not in the episode I saw. But man, WHAT AN EPISODE!!!!! This was far and away the best episode of the series IMHO. But anyway, no Fairuza... that's very, very odd if they cut it.

One random thought - perhaps they had to get rid of a couple minutes to keep it under an hour due to the importance of new Six Feet Under and The Wire starting at the right time?? I doubt HBO would do something like that, but just a thought.

Perhaps the fact the fourth season was delayed so long? I'm sure she had other things going on.

I need to watch this when they rerun it.

I ****ing KNEW Balk used to be in this. Thank GOD THEY CUT HER I HATE HER!!!!!!!!!!

As far as I now there hasn't been a news release or anything; however, it's almost certainly because Balk was somehow unavailable for the fourth season.

There wasn't an edit for time, as far as I'm aware. The scenes with Balk are completely intact - just wth another actress instead!

I missed the episode a couple weeks back so I wasnt clear on what exactly happened to Jackie Jr.

I'm assuming that Joey Pants ordered the hit on Jackie Jr?

If so, just cause he was dealing X, or what?

And what was the song that Corrato was singing at the end of the show?

Ok, one more question... Jackie Sr. was the guy that died of cancer back in season 1?

Brian

I could have sworn it was her as well the first time. What is the deal?

Huh, interesting... I have to ask of course here, which character is it... is it the FBI's new friend for Adrianna?? If so, this new "friend" looks and acts the part perfectly!! Whether or not it's her, I'm definitely looking forward to seeing a lot of her (hopefully a WHOLE lot if ya know what I mean ) in S4! However, I just cannot for the life of me picture Fairuza in that role! She just doesn't look like someone who could be working for the FBI... so if it wasn't that role, which was it?

Jackie Aprile Sr. Was the boss of the family, whom died in Season 1. That's when Tony took over under the guise of Junior Soprano being the boss.

Ralph had Jackie Jr. killed because Jackie and 2 of his friends decided to try and hold up a card game that was being run by Ralph. A Few nights before, Ralph had told Jackie Jr. and his friend about how Jackie Sr. and Tony had done the same thing when they were younger, and that Ralph decided not to go, and because of that job they were forgiven and were "made" pretty much right then and there where as Ralph was a nobody and now has to kiss ass to Tony Soprano. Jackie Jr. and his friends got the brilliant idea that they should do the same thing, and they hit the card game. They shot at two made guys and killed the dealer before running. One of the three got caught (and of course killed).

At that point Jackie Jr. new he was screwed and went into hiding. Ralph told Rosalie the story of the drugs to cover up the real reason why Jackie Jr. had ran off. He went to Tony to ask what he should do with Jackie Jr. and he gave the impression that he wanted to let Jackie Jr. off the hook, so they decided to give him a "pass" but make sure he knew what he did was unacceptable, etc etc. Ralph then had Jackie Jr. Found and killed and blamed drug dealers since he was in the projects and he had already manufatured the drug story about him, so it was a good cover for him...


Hope that helps

Also, it's still on the Sopranos site (www.hbo.com/sopranos):

Deborah Ciccerone -- Fairuza Balk

"Agent Deborah Ciccerone a special undercover assignment: get close to the Sopranos by befriending Adriana. Soon Agent Ciccerone, AKA "Danielle," "

Weird...I wonder why her scenes were replaced?

Eeew, I can't imagine Fairuza Balk in that role. Whoever the new lady is is a much better fit I think.

And yes, that synopsis helped

Brian

The new lady sucks. Fairuza Balk rules and she was good in the part!

I would sure like to know why she was replaced.

Maybe she was unavailable for the upcoming season due to prior commitments.

It's quite possible the character would've been a major player in the fourth season.

Yeah... I don't see why the new girl can't be the same major player, and although she's not a semi-well-known star (like Fairuza), she seemed to handle it well. In fact, the potential evolution of that character (I mean c'mon, who is not obsessed with Adrianna? ) is one of the things I'm most looking forward to in S4.

I've always thought Balk was sort of scary looking, and has that young Elvira look going for her (facially).

Umm... yeah, I don't think some of those photos can be posted here

I love everything about her. She was on LOVELINE a few weeks ago and she was so cool.

Women like her are for us guys who're tired of being force fed BLONDES in Hollywood.

She's a dirty girl. And hot.

Amen, brother.

Everyone else can keep their damned cheerleaders and sorority girls.

Fairuza is a goddess.

Finally saw that episode. It was really great. Maybe I can search online and see if I can find the original episode with Fairuza.

So they WENT BACK and replaced balk with another actress in episodes that have already been finished and aired?! Am I reading that right?

Man, if they're replacing the actress in season 4, then this is one hell of a continuity job! I don't think I've ever heard of this being done before!