About a year ago, I found out that Christopher was going to die. [Sopranos creator] David Chase told me. He told me how it would happen, and I thought it was a great idea. It was very unexpected and revealed a really interesting and twisted side of Tony's character.

People think it was unjust of Tony to do that to Christopher. But I think it was good, because it's easy to forget that these characters have a very vicious and ruthless side to them. People fell in love with these guys, especially with Tony — they see him with the family, and they see him being this loyal boss. But there's also this side that is selfish, greedy and violent. I think it's good that when the sun sets, that's going to be one aspect of how he'll be remembered.

We filmed my death scene in the wintertime. You know what I found interesting? The very first time that you ever saw Christopher in The Sopranos, he was wearing a baseball cap and driving Tony. I didn't wear baseball caps much at all the rest of the series. But in the last scene, I'm driving Tony and I'm wearing a baseball cap. I have to ask David if that was deliberate. But I thought it was really funny.

Christopher was a character who evolved over the years on the show. He grew up and matured, and took on lots of different and bigger responsibilities, both in his personal life and work life and his struggles with addiction and recovery. It's sad. When he finally had some kind of normalcy — he had a kid and a nice house, and was really making a go at movies and stuff — it all fell apart.

Toward the end, I think Christopher started to resent Tony having all this power over him. He was very ambitious and very selfish and greedy and probably wanted to be calling the shots and felt he could do better. And I don't think he ever made peace with the fact that Tony had to have his fiancée, Adriana, killed. Even though Christopher gave her up, I think somehow he still blamed Tony. I really do.

The scene where I had to go tell Tony about Adriana was always a very powerful scene for me. James [Gandolfini] is probably one of the two or three best actors I've ever worked with, including Robert De Niro. He never takes any moments for granted, and he's incredibly hardworking and generous.

The Sopranos showed the industry what I could do as an actor and that's brought me a lot of rewards and happiness. It's given me a lot of friends, too. When it became a hit, there was a period of adjustment, definitely. We were thrust into the public eye in a big way. But I have a pretty secure family life, and I try to work a lot. I'm more interested in working than going to clubs and stuff. I'm also old: I'm 41. If this happened to me when I was 21, I'd probably be in rehab.

The series finale of HBO's The Sopranos airs Sunday at 9 pm/ET.

Let our Online Video Guide arm you with some Sopranos clips.

John Schneider has gone from playing a good ol' boy on the enduring 1979-85 hit Dukes of Hazzard, to more fatherly roles like Clark Kent's dad on Smallville, to serving as the role model to a 12-year-old orphan in Hallmark Channel's You've Got a Friend (premiering Saturday at 9 pm/ET). He spoke to us about his journey.

TV Guide: Tell us about You've Got a Friend.Schneider: It's a fantastic movie to sit and watch with your whole family, which is very important to me these days — there seems to be less and less of that out there. It's a great story about the importance of big-brother relationships and fathers. I [think] it's really important how we depict fathers so that perhaps we can inspire people who are watching these bits of drama to be better at it themselves.

TV Guide: What drew you to the part of town loner and former boxcar champ Jim Klecan? Schneider: He's very strict, he's very stubborn, but he's very loving underneath all that. We live in a time now where everybody thinks you have to be your child's best friend, and I don't think that's true. You have to raise your children to prepare them for what's coming up after they leave your house, which is oftentimes not pretty. The world is not your best friend.

TV Guide: Most of your scenes are with your 13-year-old costar, Dylan McLaughlin. How was it to work with such a young actor? Schneider: Fantastic, he's wonderful. The first scene that we did was [me] teaching him how to drive, which was perfect for me because I'm such a car nut. I think his glee really shows up in the movie. I think that bonded us immediately. [Laughs] He trusted me, and I trusted him.

TV Guide: It has been nearly 30 years since Dukes first aired. How do you explain its continued appeal?Schneider: It's just amazing, isn't it? Certainly the stories were oftentimes very silly, but the people were real. When you're watching Dukes you're seeing not just cars flying through the air and all that fun stuff, you're seeing people you want to be like.

TV Guide: And you're auctioning on eBay your General Lee from the 2000 TV-movie Dukes of Hazzard: Hazzard in Hollywood. Schneider: I am. I'm raising money to do Collier & Co. 2, so we'll see how that goes. I'm intentionally staying away from [the auction] until it's almost over. It's too much stress to follow.

TV Guide: Still glad you decided to exit Smallville? Schneider: Once I read the pilot, it was an easy decision [to do the series] — a great script. But it was a difficult show to do, because it was up in Vancouver, so I spent a lot of time away from my own family while playing a "good dad" on television. That kind of rubbed me the wrong way for five years, but it was a wonderful experience as far as the show goes.

TV Guide: Was it fun to play a death scene — and be mourned? Schneider: I don't know about fun, but it was challenging. That episode was very well written and I did like being mourned. I felt very much like John Wayne in The Cowboys.

TV Guide: Any other projects you'd like to do with Tom Wopat? It was cool when you were both on Smallville. Schneider: I have a terribly irreverent script that I think we're going to do called Trailer Trash. It flies in the face of everything I've told you so far, but it would be so much fun. We'd play cousins, and I'm even considering getting Christopher Mayer and Byron Cherry, who played [Dukes'] Vance and Coy Duke, to play other family members.

Brian Regan recently landed the type of deal up-and-coming comedians only dream about. The veteran stand-up signed a multiplatform arrangement with Comedy Central that includes two specials, a tour and the development of his own series. The first special for the network, Brian Regan: Standing Up, airs this Sunday at 10 pm/ET. TVGuide.com got a chance to speak with Regan about his good fortunes and about his preoccupation with a certain city in the O.C....

TVGuide.com: You've been doing stand-up for 25 years. With the Comedy Central deal, is Brian Regan's career peaking, or is this only the beginning?Brian Regan: [Laughs] I'm going to go on the optimistic side and say it's only the beginning. When the Comedy Central thing came through, I must say I was pretty excited. Like you said, I've been doing stand-up for quite a while and for the most part I've built this gradual following, but I never really felt like I had "heat" with the powers-that-be. I kind of felt like the kid in junior high who never got picked for the basketball team. So it was pretty nice to finally get picked.

TVGuide.com: How did you go about deciding what material would be part of Standing Up?Regan: Well, I've always been careful not to double up on material that's been on other things. I had a CD that came out in '97 and I had a DVD called I Walked on the Moon that came out a few years ago, and I made sure those had different material on them. I also did a half-hour special on Comedy Central. I wanted to make sure none of that was on Standing Up.

TVGuide.com: That's a lot of material to turn your back on.Regan: I pride myself on that. If there are people out there who like my comedy and have watched or listened to my stuff before, I want them to say, "Man, all this is new!" So it's a challenge. But next year I have to do another special for Comedy Central, so maybe by that time I'll be like, "You know what? It's time for a greatest hits."

TVGuide.com: I Walked on the Moon was shot in Irvine, as was Standing Up. Why is your humor a good fit for Orange County?Regan: My CD was recorded in Irvine, too! It's weird. I guess it's just because of its proximity to Los Angeles, so it's easy to get a crew there. When my manager said that he wanted to shoot Standing Up in Irvine, I mentioned that we'd done the previous stuff there. I was like, "Isn't this going to look weird? People are going to think that I only have fans in Irvine, California."

TVGuide.com: When I was doing research for this interview, I admit I thought to myself, "Wow, people in Irvine really get Brian Regan."Regan: Yeah. If they ever poll the citizens of Irvine on their favorite comedians, I'll be towards the top of the list. In any other town, they probably have no idea who I am.

TVGuide.com: So are you planning to shoot the next special there as well?Regan: Of course. I can't insult the good people of Irvine.

TVGuide.com: Understandable. Your material is pretty much free of profanity. Don't you ever feel like dropping an F-bomb in there?Regan: No, I just tend to think that way. It was never a conscious choice. When I started, my act was 90 percent clean anyway, because I happen to think about everyday things. Every once in a while I'd do a show that was completely clean, because I never got around to doing the dirty jokes. Soon I realized I was getting pretty cool comments from people after shows. They'd come up and say not only, "Hey, we liked your show," but, "Hey, we liked your show and we liked the fact it was clean." After a while, I thought there might be something to that.

TVGuide.com: Isn't that a challenge?Regan: You can get a lot of mileage throwing F-bombs out there and talking about sexual topics. I'm not opposed to comedy like that, and I happen to think a lot of blue comedians are fantastic. But I've found for me that it actually opens me up to a wide variety of language choices. It's fun to pick peculiar words, rather than trying to hit that target with the F-word over and over again.

TVGuide.com: What's the series you're developing for Comedy Central going to be about?Regan: Don't know yet. I do have some ideas, but I'd like to keep them close to my vest. In a general sense, I would not want to do a traditional sitcom. I'll probably want to do something more sketch-oriented. I'll probably use some of my material, but most of it I'm hoping will be stuff I come up with for the show, kind of like Seinfeld.

TVGuide.com: Jerry teamed with Larry David for Seinfeld; who would you bring in for your show?Regan: I'd want my brother Dennis Regan. He wrote for the King of Queens for the last four years, and now that they're done I'd definitely want to bring him on board. Dennis is a great writer. Plus, if somebody's going to take your money, it might as well be family.

TVGuide.com: You're about to do a Comedy Central-backed tour as well. How do you go about preparing to hit the road?Regan: Well, I've been touring for a while, so I'm pretty comfortable with it. I don't want to diminish it, because I'm thrilled Comedy Central wants to be involved, but in terms of the stand-up, I'll just prepare the way I always do: I'll drink a bottle of liquor and have somebody check to make sure my zipper is up.

TVGuide.com: That's all it takes?Regan: Sure. I might be a little nervous, because I'm not performing in Irvine, but other than that I'm ready to hit the stage.

Let our slick new Online Video Guide show you the funny with some Brian Regan clips.

Eight-year-old Bindi Irwin holds a deadly looking snake. "This snake is very venomous," she says into the camera. "Is this true, or am I just... whoa!" — she ducks and weaves as the critter's head oscillates wildly — "bluffing?"

Wendy the Woma python is not cooperating. Bindi's mom, Terri, jumps in on the sixth take as the highly endangered snake slithers across the table and out of the shot.

"Bindi, that's brilliant," Terri says. "Just look at the screen and don't worry about the snake. If you need to do anything, do like Daddy — spread your arms and legs wide and jump around!"

The crew laughs. Bindi nails it and gives the python a kiss on the head. (Turns out she was bluffing.)

"Doing like Daddy" comes naturally to the plucky girl in pigtails and de rigueur khaki. Daddy, of course, is the late Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, whose death in September after a stingray barb pierced his chest prompted an international outpouring of grief. "I really strongly feel that he's still with us," Bindi says.

She's been on location with her globe-trotting parents since she was a few weeks old, and is determined, she says, to "follow in my dad's footsteps."

Good thing Bindi has inherited the natural exuberance, boundless curiosity and passion for animals that made Steve such a magnetic host. Because she's a very busy girl.

The introductions she's filming today at Australia Zoo — a 70-acre wildlife sanctuary in the small Australian town of Beerwah, Queensland, where Terri, Bindi and 3-year-old Robert live — are for Planet's Best with Terri and Bindi, a series of best-of specials airing on Animal Planet (airing Sundays at 8 pm/ET). In addition, Bindi: The Jungle Girl premieres this Saturday (at 5 pm, on Discovery Kids), and Zoo Down Under, a reality series that goes behind the scenes at Australia Zoo, is in development.

"She's very much like Steve in so many ways," says Terri of her daughter, who sits stroking Candy, her pet rat. "Steve never put on airs or tried to be famous, and Bindi's the same way. It's just eerie after spending years walking around with Steve and seeing the reaction he got, and now it's the same with Bindi."

And Bindi, it seems, loves to be on TV. "As soon as I was born I was in front of the camera," she says. "I feel like I've got a place there."

Bindi: The Jungle Girl features her interacting with wildlife in her rain-forest tree house along with animal-themed song-and-dance numbers from her troupe, the Crocmen. The show is designed to promote interest in conservation among children.

Bindi has help in that mission from Dad. Seven of the 26 episodes were filmed before Steve's death, and the TV naturalist is featured so prominently he's considered her cohost.

"It's the Steve and Bindi show," says family friend John Stainton, who directed The Crocodile Hunter and is helming all the Irwin TV projects. "Throughout the show, Bindi introduces clips from the archives — Steve with gorillas, whales, snakes. That's the bulk of the show."

Terri and zoo director Wes Mannion, one of Steve's best mates, are also featured; Steve's passing is not addressed in the show. When asked about it, Stainton replies flatly, "Steve will live forever."

Those who cried "Too soon!" when Bindi stepped back in front of the camera just weeks after her father's death don't realize that it's the place she feels closest to him, says Terri.

"I think if you went fishing or surfing every weekend with your dad and he died, you wouldn't want to never fish or surf again," she says.

Steve himself definitely would have approved. "One day last year when we started doing Bindi: The Jungle Girl," Stainton recalls, "I said to Steve, ‘Bindi is going to be a much bigger star than you've ever been.' And he said, ‘Bring it on! I only ever wanted to be Bindi's costar.' "

See our Online Video Guide for clips of Bindi in action.