All Time Greatest Television Series: #4 The Sopranos

The Sopranos was not just ground-breaking, but in many ways it was a revolutionary television show. Tony Soprano and his associates showed that a television series with mass appeal does not have to reside on network television. It also showed just how much better a series could be when it has the latitude of being on a premium television network such as HBO. It also made Sunday night a prime-time viewing night for serial television. Nowadays, it seems like every big series is on a Sunday night slot.

So what made The Sopranos so good? I love mafia related movies, starting with The Godfather and moving on to Goodfellas and the like. The Godfather showed the mafia in a much more glorified fashion that was fitting for the era it portrayed. The Sopranos showed the gritty reality of the mafia today. Today’s mobsters have it much more difficult than the ones from that era. A life of crime is far more of a difficult thing to manage. I also loved the characters in the show. Tony Soprano, played by the late James Gandolfini, is an iconic character that resonates among the multitudes of television characters. Christopher and Paulie were also fantastic characters. The show had complex storylines and did a great job of building up to an ending. For better or worse, the Sopranos ending has also gone down in television lore.