"The Sopranos" probably is my favorite television show ever. And I'm almost positive it is the best one-hour drama ever made. And I rejoiced when the series returned to HBO last month after a two-year hiatus.

So why do I find myself looking at the clock by the 30-minute mark of most episodes this season? Other than Tony getting shot, not much in the way of compelling action has happened yet. (Though I'm curious to see how this "gay mobster" story plays out.) In a way, this is par for the course for "The Sopranos," which always has toyed with viewer expectations by avoiding obvious payoffs and letting storylines play out at a leisurely, novelistic pace. I just feel a little, well, antsy with the show right now.

I won't go so far as to say I'm bored by the current season, and I'm certainly not giving up on my greatest TV love. I suspect my restlessness has less to do with "The Sopranos" than with "Big Love," HBO's new polygamy drama airing after "The Sopranos" Sunday nights.

Whenever Tony finds himself lost in yet another dream sequence, I start looking forward to seeing "Big Love" star Bill Paxton deal with the impossible logistics of being married to Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloe Sevigny and Ginnifer Goodwin, and having separate families living next door to each other in a leafy Utah suburb. You think Tony has problems dealing with Carmela, Meadow and A.J.? Imagine keeping a checklist in your pocket to help remember which kids belong to which mothers.

Like "The Sopranos," "Big Love" presents an unconventional family that's intriguingly alien at first, and almost blandly normal upon closer inspection. OK, so a guy popping Viagra in order to satisfy three women isn't exactly bland. But once you get used to the dynamics of this unique clan, "Big Love" makes polygamy seem as mundane as monogamy.

Which is not to say three wives competing for one man's attention doesn't present fascinating dramatic entanglements. Last week's episode, the season's best so far, dealt with patriarch Bill Hendrickson (Paxton) engaging in an "affair" with oldest wife Barb (Tripplehorn) on days when he is supposed to be with his other wives. Second wife Nicki (Sevigny) finds out about the tryst, and suddenly announces she wants another baby.

Is Bill tiring of polygamy and yearning for the security of his original solitary marriage to Barb? Is Nicki trapping Bill with a new child? Whatever happens on "Big Love," it's a safe bet you won't see anything like it on another TV show. ("Big Love" airs at 9 tonight on HBO.)