With the series finale of HBO's The Sopranos fast approaching (a week from this Sunday, to be exact) speculation is running wild as to what's going to become of Tony Soprano and his companions. The biggest question is whether or not Tony will alive or dead when the final credits role.

Michael Starr of the New York Post is betting that we'll know something about the series finale after the next-to-last episode airs this Sunday. Starr believes that this week's episode could be the one that features a final battle between Tony and his enemies, while the last episode could be the one that ties everything up in a tidy package, leaving Tony alive and kicking. Few clues are being given in episode description. For example, for this week's episode, "The Blue Comet", HBO writes 'The allegiance of those closest to Tony is put to the test and a case of mistaken identity has serious ramifications.' Not much to decipher from that notice, is there?

Its also been reported that show creator David Chase, who co-wrote this Sunday's episode and wrote and directed the series finale, has filmed several endings to The Sopranos to throw everyone off as to the fate of Tony. My guess is that Tony will wake up from a dream and Suzanne Pleshette will be there in bed next to him. Hey, it worked before!

Is it me or is Larry King more inattentive and scatterbrained than he has been in the past? I don't know; I've been watching Larry King Live a little bit lately and it just seems that ol' Lar is more intent than ever on asking the next question on his mental list than actually listening to what the interviewee actually has to say and following up on that. He's even interrupted some insightful answers to get to his next question. It just seems like he's almost ready to retire and let a young buck in the timeslot.

But according to Michael Starr of The New York Post, whatever show that will take Larry's place when he finally calls it a career probably won't have the same format. Starr reports that CNN executive Jim Walton told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that "It's probably very unlikely that when Larry does retire that we would replace him." This means no Diane Sawyer, not Ryan Seacrest, no Bob Costas all proving that they're better interviewers than King.