If you'd been planning your January around the return of "The Sopranos," better pencil in something else for Sunday nights.

While I'm told filming on the final eight episodes began this week, HBO honcho Chris Albrecht said Wednesday that the launch, originally expected in January, has been delayed. Here's what he said (notice he doesn't even mention the protracted negotiations to get some of the players on board for the final eight):

"Jimmy [Gandolfini] had a little knee surgery, unexpected knee surgery, which pushed us back a couple of weeks, and then we looked at the fact that we could be launching sort of in the middle of playoffs and Super Bowl and all that stuff, and it seemed that for everybody's sake we would push back a few weeks. We don't actually have a specific start date right now. But whether or not we segue, we kind of lay it over some of their old episodes or start. We're working all that out now, but it definitely won't be January. It most likely would be the beginning of March."