Kessler, who said he is still puzzled by the success of "Providence," showed a glimpse of his future writing interests when he tried to incorporate a mafia story line into an episode of the show.

But Kessler was stopped by network restrictions--an NBC attorney informed him that the words "mafia" or "mob" could not be used on air on NBC.

Kessler, however, was given the opportunity to write about the crime underworld when he was hired for the new HBO series "The Sopranos."

He said the freedom that cable networks allow has given him more creative control over his writing.

"There's just no censorship," Kessler said. "We tell the stories we're interested in."

The show portrays the everyday lives of a fictional mob family from New Jersey.

"These are bad people," Kessler said of the show's characters. "But if you put them in a certain light, they can become appealing and vulnerable."