Is this the last contracted year??
They’re apparently going to go into a SIXTH season. The story goes that they wanted to wrap everything up in 5, but it was easier/whatever to add 10 extra episodes.
I don’t know if there’s an official word out now, but it seems the next season will begin in March.
March 2004 sounds about right, since the lag time between seasons has grown to about 18 months now.
HBO owns the series, so they can keep pumping out episodes until, in the immortal words of Troy McClure, “The show becomes unprofitable.” However, David Chase has stated (not very recently, so he might have changed his mind) that season five will be his last season, and the three biggest leads – Gandolfini, Falco & Bracco – have said that when Chase is gone, they’re gone too.
Who gives a shit? The last season was so bad that I cancelled my subscription to HBO. I have the seasons that were released on DVD and it is appalling to watch the quality of the show steadily decline after season 1.
Chase is indeed involved in the extra ten episodes/sixth season - it was actually his decision to do one - and the cast is on board as well.
I don’t know, the idiots who still enjoy the show even though you don’t? 
I’m with Scumpup. I stopped watching after the fourth season. It’s crap. All crap. Unenjoyable. The only reason people still watch it is because they have bought into the idea (put forth by the hip TV-critic cognoscenti) that The Sopranos is to regular television as Moby Dick is to a Harlequin Romance. Screw 'em. Television rots your brain anyway.
I believe you misspelled your username. Shouldn’t it be Mr. Blabbington? Screw 'em? Hey, up yours, pal.
What was so horribly wrong with season 4?