The Sopranos (Spoilers)

[Sour Billy Tipton]

Has anyone else been watching a few of the episodes on HBO Signature at 8 P.M.?

They've been running them every weekday in chronological order. I find myself watching a few episodes each week and then going on HBO Go and watching other episodes.

I loved that show when it was on the air, but I really miss it and understand how great and unique it was now that's been gone for over 5 years.

[WTFSalami]

For whatever reason I was never really into the show while it was actually running, but I caught the pilot on HBO Signature one night, and then the 2nd episode the next night. After that I decided to get on HBOGO and watch the entire series over. I know all the major plot points from seeing them here and there over the years and I know the ending, but it has not stopped me from being completely glued to the TV. I got the Sopranos box set as a Christmas gift and am halfway through Part I of Season 6.

If I had the self control to not watch a great show while it's on the air, I'd do it every time. I was late to the party on both Lost and Breaking Bad as well, and watching all of those episodes back to back with no week-long break in between episodes or a year-long break in between season was incredible.

The Sopranos is THE greatest show that has ever been on TV.

[Daario's*before*Snows]

I hate they made Big Pussy be a snitch. Unforgivable.

[peterbound]

The Sopranos is THE greatest show that has ever been on TV.

Except, of course, for the Wire.

Also, spoiler this shit.

[Isis]

It's better than The Wire. :)

And yes, spoilers! It's not fair encouraging people to watch a show then handing out spoilers.

The Sopranos is the only drama series I have watched in real time as it aired on TV. And it ran for a long time. It spanned the whole of my 20's I think. I find Tony a fascinating character. At times he can be repulsive to watch and you want awful things to happen to him in return for his actions. Other times he can be the voice of reason or temperance in a situation and you find yourself agreeing with him or cheering him on. But most frequently you watch his predictably self-destructive behaviour even when all seems to be going well for him and feel, well, a whole slew of mixed emotions.

Hmm. Might have to do a spot of rewatching today.

[TheEvilKing]

Let's not turn this into a Wire vs Sopranos thread. They're both great TV and contenders for best show ever.

The Wire is obviously better.

Also, let's turn this into a spoiler thread, so there's no need to hide real spoilers. The show finished years ago.

[Antonius Pius]

I loved that show when it was on the air, but I really miss it and understand how great and unique it was now that's been gone for over 5 years.

Nice touch with the avatar!

I loved The Soprano's too, but in retrospect I think I liked the first three seasons the best. Partly because of certain characters who have since gone into witness protection (Manson Lamps with his jacket stands out), and partly because I thought it was a bit funnier then. Later on it was more cynical and more pretentious (seven minute dream sequence in season 6, wtf) and simply repetitive. Loved it when I watched it, though. I bought the dvd-boxes because I couldn't wait for the airings on tv over here.

[Anya, Vengeance Demon]

I loved The Soprano's too, but in retrospect I think I liked the first three seasons the best. Partly because of certain characters who have since gone into witness protection (Manson Lamps with his jacket stands out), and partly because I thought it was a bit funnier then. Later on it was more cynical and more pretentious (seven minute dream sequence in season 6, wtf) and simply repetitive. Loved it when I watched it, though. I bought the dvd-boxes because I couldn't wait for the airings on tv over here.

Seven minutes? Have you forgotten "The Test Dream"? That's a lot longer than seven minutes.

Although personally I loved the Kevin Finnerty episodes, particularly the first one that ends with the fires in the distance while "When It's Cold I'd Like To Die" plays on the soundtrack. I tend to think that the first half of season six is a little underrated, actually.

[Mya Stone]

I want to rewatch it.

I haven't seen it since it ended. I find the first three seasons more palatable, but I think it's only because I've seen those episodes so many times. Pine Barrens, especially. :lol:

[Blisscraft]

One of my favorite TV shows without a doubt. I've been watching it every evening, too. Last night was the Ralphie loses his head episode. Amazing, really, especially when Christopher hears the bowling ball rolls down the stairs.

I also love The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Boardwalk Empire. Fantastic writing and great directors make all the difference (brilliant acting doesn't hurt either).

[Alex.]

Best show on the tele ever IMO

[Francis Buck]

Easily my favorite TV show of all time. If I had to absolutely choose the best show, I would probably have to go for The Wire, but I enjoy The Sopranos far more and I've re-watched the episodes many more times. I also seriously believe that it has one of the best endings to any television show or movie ever made.

I really hate to sound like "that guy", and this is truly one of the only circumstances where I would ever say it, but I honestly believe that a large portion of the people who think the ending to The Sopranos sucked just genuinely didn't get it. I'm not saying that everyone who didn't like it also didn't get it. Not saying that at all. But I think there numbers are there. That final scene is one of the most brilliantly choreographed and orchestrated "death scenes" ever put onto film in my opinion. They completely subvert what would have otherwise been a fairly typical ending to a gangster story.

I agree with Harry the Heir in that I think the early season six episodes are actually underrated, because they're incredibly important to Tony's arc throughout the remainder of the show, and so much of it ties in with the final episode(s). That being said, I do think season six would have better served if it was just one, normal-sized season. I think they lost some focus with the second half of 6A, and even a little bit in the middle of 6B, all of which would have been fixed by trimming the fat and condensing the storylines.

[Antonius Pius]

Seven minutes? Have you forgotten "The Test Dream"? That's a lot longer than seven minutes.

It's been a while since I saw it. I mean the sequence that goes on and on and on, where Tony winds up being chased by several folks.

I find the first three seasons more palatable, but I think it's only because I've seen those episodes so many times. Pine Barrens, especially. :lol:

I love Pine Barrens. Absolutely brilliant.

[Sour Billy Tipton]

Nice touch with the avatar!

I loved The Soprano's too, but in retrospect I think I liked the first three seasons the best. Partly because of certain characters who have since gone into witness protection (Manson Lamps with his jacket stands out), and partly because I thought it was a bit funnier then. Later on it was more cynical and more pretentious (seven minute dream sequence in season 6, wtf) and simply repetitive. Loved it when I watched it, though. I bought the dvd-boxes because I couldn't wait for the airings on tv over here.

I feel the same way. But looking back on the later seasons, those episodes are still better than most shows on tv now. And they did perfect the strangeness of dreams,"You're Annette Benning! I thought so."

One of my favorite TV shows without a doubt. I've been watching it every evening, too. Last night was the Ralphie loses his head episode. Amazing, really, especially when Christopher hears the bowling ball rolls down the stairs.

Watching that episode last night made me start this thread. When you think about all the things that episode contained and how perfectly it balanced without feeling strained or forced(like GoT) it speaks to the perfect writing of that show.

You had Junior acting the fool.

Ralph showing you his funny side with Paulies mother.

Ralph making you feel sympathetic because of his son.

Ralph showing you he's a piece of shit for burning down the stables.

Tony showing his appreciation for A.J.

Tony showing his heartbreak to a "beautiful innocent creature."

Tony showing his trust in Christopher in a crisis job for the boss.

Christopher showing why he is reliable but still a liability to the family with his drug abuse.

All of this and other small details portrayed in hillarious, saddening, and exciting scenes in one hour!

[Darth Visenya]

I think it's hard to debate which is better between The Wire and The Sopranos, The Wire is more realistic but The Sopranos has moments where it is highly comical, some great writing there.

[Anya, Vengeance Demon]

My personal TV pantheon goes Mad Men, then The Wire, then The Sopranos. (I don't honestly know what number four would be.) But at this level of accomplishment, I don't think it's even possible to discuss what the 'best' show is, because the things that David Simon does better than David Chase are typically things that Chase isn't interested in, and vice versa.

And speaking of season 6.0, I love this opening montage. It's so dense with ideas and foreshadowing, plus it's funny and striking. It shows AJ under the soul that's associated with adolescence, which is a fairly obvious link. But it also says that this soul "is the only reliable guide to the land of the dead," foreshadowing the fact that depressed AJ will be the most insightful person in the last few episodes of the show (while presuming to have all this moral authority that is no way earned, and that's only skin deep anyway).

[Blisscraft]

SBT - I love this last nights episode. It's really one of my favorites for all of the reasons you listed.

BTW - Although I, too, love the portrait of Tony with Pie-Oh-My, I really miss the Samuel L. Jackson avatar as "Uncle Ben."

[Relic]

Sour Billy, could you please edit the title ot the thread to include the word [spoilerS]? Thanks.

[paddington]

It's better than The Wire. :)

And yes, spoilers! It's not fair encouraging people to watch a show then handing out spoilers.

The Sopranos is the only drama series I have watched in real time as it aired on TV. And it ran for a long time. It spanned the whole of my 20's I think. I find Tony a fascinating character. At times he can be repulsive to watch and you want awful things to happen to him in return for his actions. Other times he can be the voice of reason or temperance in a situation and you find yourself agreeing with him or cheering him on. But most frequently you watch his predictably self-destructive behaviour even when all seems to be going well for him and feel, well, a whole slew of mixed emotions.

Hmm. Might have to do a spot of rewatching today.

Exactly how i felt. You sort of end up getting to like Tony, an then he goes and does something or says something repugnent and you feel sort of crappy for getting to like him.

[Francis Buck]

Exactly how i felt. You sort of end up getting to like Tony, an then he goes and does something or says something repugnent and you feel sort of crappy for getting to like him.

Yup, and this also ties into why the ending was the way it was.

David Chase basically said that he was disgusted with the way a lot of viewers were rooting for Tony throughout most of the show, but then at the end they suddenly wanted to see him dead, to "see the blood on the wall" or something to that effect. So Chase essentially dodged that whole notion by killing Tony off-screen, and in a fashion so subtle that many viewers never even realized he died.

As to The Sopranos vs The Wire, they really are very hard to compare and contrast, because they go for such different things. The Sopranos is incredibly cinematic, and through the course of its entire run it probably employed just about every classic narrative and filmmaking trick imaginable, whereas The Wire made it a point to specifically avoid those kind of things as much as possible. The Sopranos was unique because no show (or at least very few) had ever tried to use those methods so extensively, whereas The Wire was unique because it so diligently evaded them.