The l-o-n-g-awaited sixth season of HBO’s mob soap, starring James Gandolfini and Edie Falco, launches in March, the network says. If you’re keeping count, Season 5 ended June 6, “04.

No exact date for the debut. HBO began running promos for it during the May 28-29 showing of “Empire Falls.”

The buzz: ‘Law & Order: Trial’ may return

Buzz in the biz is that NBC may bring back freshman “Law & Order: Trial by Jury,” which didn’t make the fall cut, as a midseason series.

“Trial,” which starred Bebe Neuwirth, Amy Carlson and Fred Dalton Thompson, averaged about 10 million viewers. “L&O” czar Dick Wolf blasted NBC for passing on “Trial” for fall.

Officially, “no decision has been made,” about “Trial,” an NBC rep says. Unofficially, its return is highly unlikely.

-Knight Ridder Newspapers