Let's get something straight. It's still the best show on television. But, The Sopranos is slumping.

Unpursued storylines, shock value violence and little character development has left the hit HBO series groping for its identity as its fourth season winds down.

Maybe creator David Chase is setting up for an explosive season finale or just simply planning for the fifth season, which is rumored to be the last. Either way, The Sopranos needs to pick it up down the stretch. If it doesn't É well, you know what happened to Pie-Oh-My.

Season four started out with so much promise. Tony had a simmering feud with the Russians, Christopher and Paulie were seemingly waiting for retaliation from their own feud with a Russian they tried to bury in the Pine Barrens, Adrianna was nabbed by the Feds and Meadow was on the cusp of calling her father out for ordering a hit on Jackie Jr. All this, plus Uncle Junior was on trial in Federal Court.

Then, nothing.

The Russian subplot abruptly ended. The FBI is using Adrianna sparingly, pumping her for information they already know.

Meadow's appearances have been limited to looking like Jersey trash at Adrianna's wedding shower and Junior's trial is turning into an OJ-type debacle. What in the name of Bobby Bacala is going on?

To Chase's credit, he wasn't playing with a full deck at the start of the season. Tony Sirico, who plays Paulie, had a real-life spinal problem and wasn't able to film for the first few weeks of taping. So, Chase had to scrap Paulie's planned storyline and rewrite the entire season. Hence Paulie's incarceration on a trumped-up charges at the beginning of season four.

Also, the season hasn't been bad, it just hasn't been up to previous Sopranos standards, which are sky-high. This season every plot has been on the brink of breaking through, but has stopped.

The first few episodes seemed like they were a set-up for something big, but nothing big ever happened.

Instead the storylines have been hit-or-miss. Carmela (who viewers are starting to realize is the backbone of both the Soprano family and of the show) had her financial concerns, but that ended calmly after a non-argument with Tony.

Her pseudo-relationship with Tony's henchman Furio has been intriguing, but does anybody really believe either of them will give into temptation with the risk involved?

Janice has thankfully not played a major role this season and neither has petulant Soprano son A.J. The most promising developments had to do with the impossible-to-read Johnny Sack and New York City crime boss Carmine Lupertazzi. It looks as if those two will play a large role in the final episodes, but we've been fooled before.

Instead, the highlight of the season was the last 30 minutes of "Whoever Did This," where Tony killed constant nuisance Ralphie and then enlisted the help of a strung-out Christopher to make the body "disappear."

From the time Tony walked into Ralph's house to the episode's conclusion when he walked out of the Bada-Bing into a burst of blinding, white light, was The Sopranos at its best. Crisp writing, superb acting and real-life emotion filled the screen.

Once again, Tony's love of animals (remember the ducks from season one?) played a large role in the show and ultimately weakened Tony's reputation in the eyes of others.

But after the tense drama of that episode, last week's show only touched on Ralphie's disappearance.

This suggests a slow build to the problem's resolution, which has become commonplace this season on The Sopranos.

Don't break out the chains yet. The Sopranos is far from sleeping with the fishes.

It continues to be the best-written show on television as well as having the finest actors on the small-screen.

A down year for The Sopranos is like a down year for the Yankees. Watch out next season, they'll be back with a vengeance.