Room to Rome

As I noted in last week's ''Sopranos'' summary, ABC's Academy Awards broadcast on March 25 took a major ratings hit by airing against a new episode of HBO's Mafia smash. As I also noted, ''The Sopranos'' is dramatically superior to this year's Best Picture winner, ''Gladiator.'' Since the references to Russell Crowe's Roman epic continue to mount on the April 1 episode (all of them courtesy of Joe Pantoliano's Maximus obsessed Ralphie), I thought it might be time to enumerate exactly why Tony and his crew have it all over their Italian ancestors.

TRULY SPECIAL EFFECTS Sure, Ridley Scott's digitally enhanced recreation of the Coliseum is visually impressive, but ''Sopranos'' creator David Chase doesn't need any fancy computer trickery to conjure awe inspiring drama. This week's deceptively simple episode tracks the simultaneous mental dissolutions of Caitlin (Ari Graynor), the moody roommate of Jamie-Lynn Sigler's Meadow Soprano, and Tracee (Ariel Kelly), a Bada Bing Club stripper who is eventually beaten to death by Ralphie, father of her unborn child. ''Gladiator'' achieves sensory overload, but this dizzying tale of two tailspins packs the emotional power of a gut punch.

POP GO THE REFERENCES The Roman empire's idea of entertainment was watching two guys (and maybe a tiger) fight to the death. While that might work as a Fox reality show today, the HBO drama's pop cultural lexicon is a bit more sophisticated. This week's episode alone contains allusions to Tod Browning's ''Freaks'' (Caitlin does just that after seeing the 1932 horror movie), Stanley Kubrick's ''Spartacus'' (''This is a great gladiator movie? Look at Kirk Douglas' hair -- they didn't have flattops in ancient Rome!'' Ralphie sneers), Francis Ford Coppola's aptly titled ''Dementia 13'' (Meadow's boyfriend Noah takes her to see it), Steven Soderbergh's ''Erin Brockovich'' (Carmela's mom thinks it was a ''nice movie''; her dad ''didn't care for it''), and Dick Wolf's ''Law & Order '' (Noah's lawyer dad represents the producer, whom Meadow confuses with sportscaster Warner Wolf).

GAG REFLEXES Like Crowe on Oscar night, ''Gladiator'' could've used a few laughs. ''The Sopranos'' works explosively funny punchlines into its scripts without sacrificing the series' underlying seriousness. ''It's like an ad for a f---in' weight loss center: before and way before,'' Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico) cracks about a pair of overweight mobsters. Granted, the humor is often extremely dark, like when Tony advises Tracee to get an abortion: ''With Ralphie as the father, you'll be doing the next few generations a favor.'' Now we know why they're called ''wiseguys.''

THEY SHOOT, THEY SCORE! I don't care if it did get an Oscar nomination -- Hans Zimmer's ''Gladiator'' score was overblown junk. (Justly, he lost to Tan Dun for ''Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.'') The soundtrack of ''The Sopranos'' constantly surprises, whether it's Tony singing along to Steely Dan's ''Dirty Work,'' Bobby Bacala Sr. (Burt Young) dying to the strains of America's ''Sister Golden Hair,'' or the Bada Bing Girls gyrating to this week's exquisitely chosen closing number, the Kinks' ''Living on a Thin Line.''

TIME WELL SPENT ''Gladiator'' clocks in at a butt numbing 154 minutes. This week's ''Sopranos'' breezed by in 49. 'Nuff said.

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