'Sopranos' Sing Sweet Again

By Stephen M. Silverman

05/12/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Everyone's a critic, including "The Sopranos' creator David Chase. "I don't think the second season was quite as good as the opening season," a candid Chase told the New York Post about his very own show. The new season, the third, of the acclaimed HBO series about a New Jersey Mob family kicks off next Sunday, March 4, amid critical praise from those who've already seen previews. PEOPLE TV critic Terry Kelleher says that Sunday's premiere proves that the series "is better than ever." Chase also thinks he's back on track with the show, after admitting that the success of the first season "screwed me up. We had written ourselves into a corner." He specifically thinks that the episodes set in Naples early in the second season "didn't work." As for this season, the episodes "will focus on the Sopranos as parents. On how patterns of behavior are repeated from one generation to the next." And as for the always-volatile relationship of Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and his therapist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), "Tony will never have an affair with Dr. Melfi," says Chase. "Dr. Melfi is not some trampy idiot."