Tony Soprano whacked by Troy & Gabriella

Just in case you missed it, "High School Musical 2" debuted Friday night on the Disney Channel.

As if that wasn't news enough, try this: Friday's premiere drew 17.2 million viewers to the screen; that's 5 million more than watched the "Sopranos" finale.

(Thanks to Nielsen Media Research for Friday's final number.)

Yes, Troy Bolton, Gabriella Montez, Sharpay Evans, Ryan Evans, Chad Danforth and Taylor McKessie (portrayed by Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Tisdale, Lucas Grabeel, Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman, respectively) are seemingly the only ones who could defeat Tony Soprano.

Friday's audience set a record for the biggest of any program on basic cable ever!

It's no wonder Corbin, Lucas, Vanessa & Ashley are smiling!

Now, I haven't watched the sequel yet (I taped it Friday night but didn't have enough time over the weekend to watch it), so don't give away the ending.

I did, however, hear from someone here in the office (who's 10 years my senior, btw!) that it's a great movie, almost as good as the first.

Whatta ya think? Can we count down the days until "High School Musical 3" starts shooting?!