27 Years Later, HBO's Timeless Crime Series Is Still a Streaming Hit
Erin Konrad's love for everything entertainment dates back to elementary school when she became obsessed with classic Hollywood musicals. When she's not catching up on all her favorite television shows, she's advising her friends and family on what they should binge watch next.
She has her Bachelor's degree in Journalism and a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. Creating content for Collider gives her the opportunity to combine her writing skills with her passion for television and movies. She spends her free time trying to beat her personal record of reading 137 books in a year and cuddling with her dog, Gracie.
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One of the best aspects of streaming is the ability for older shows to have a resurgence on new platforms. Even series that aired decades ago, such as Suits or The Office, now have legions of new fans because viewers are catching them on streaming. Whether audiences decide to re-watch one of their old favorites, like Star Trek or Friends, or are tuning in for the first time, these days every old television show feels new again. Now, there's one other series from the past that is speeding up the charts and is still incredibly worthy of a binge-watch.
What Is 'The Sopranos' About?
The Sopranos, to this day, remains one of the best series ever made. From the time it premiered back in 1999, the six-season show invented the prestige drama and allowed television to take on a whole new kind of protagonist — the morally ambiguous antihero. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a middle-aged mobster living in New Jersey whose world is rocked when he starts having panic attacks. The tough guy breaks down and starts seeing a dedicated, yet firm psychiatrist named Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco). Right away, Dr. Melfi understands what Tony's life is like without him explicitly telling her about his many illegal activities.
Collider Exclusive · Villain Personality Quiz Which Criminal Mastermind Would Be Your Nemesis? Lecter · Joker · Moriarty · Chigurh
Four of the finest criminal minds ever put on screen. One of them would look at you and see something worth their time. Eight questions decide which one comes for you, why they picked you, and what they would want when they arrived.
🍷Lecter
🃏Joker
♟️Moriarty
🪙Chigurh
01
What would a criminal mastermind notice about you first? Great villains choose their opponents carefully. Something about you got their attention.
02
How do they make first contact? The introduction tells you everything about what is coming next.
03
What do you actually believe about right and wrong? Every nemesis is really an argument about the thing you believe most.
04
What finally gets under your skin? Everybody has a pressure point. Finding yours is the whole plan.
05
They have made their move. How do you fight back? This is the part of the film where the audience finds out who you are.
06
What would they use against you? A good villain never brings a weapon you have not already handed them.
07
What do they actually want from you? The money is never the point. Something else always is.
08
How does it end between the two of you? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who comes for you.
The Case File Is Complete Your Nemesis Is…
Four criminal masterminds. One of them was always going to be yours. Here is who comes for you, why they picked you out of everyone available, and what they want from the encounter.
Hannibal Lecter
Your nemesis does not want to beat you. He wants to know you completely, and he is patient enough to wait for it. The frightening part is how good the conversation is.
- Lecter is the most dangerous kind of opponent: the one who finds you interesting. He never raises his voice, because he has never needed to.
- You keep a great deal to yourself and you are careful about what you show. That reserve is exactly the door he would knock on.
- The films understood something other thrillers missed. The horror is not the violence. It is being perfectly understood by the wrong person.
- He would be unfailingly polite about all of it. That is the worst part.
The Joker
Your nemesis is not after money, territory or revenge. He is after a demonstration, and you are the person he has chosen to prove his point on.
- The Joker only picks opponents who believe in something. Your decency is not a defence against him. It is the entire reason he showed up.
- He has no plan you can predict and nothing you can take away, which removes every tool you would normally reach for.
- His whole argument is that you are one bad day away from being him, and you would spend the rest of your life proving him wrong.
- He would call it a magic trick. You would call it the worst night of your life.
Moriarty
Your nemesis respects you, which sounds flattering until you work out what it means. He chose you because nobody else was worth his time.
- Moriarty is the original criminal mastermind, the template every later one borrows from: a mind the equal of the hero's, pointed the wrong way.
- You enjoy being the cleverest person in the room. He is counting on exactly that, and he has already built the room.
- This is the rare nemesis who would be genuinely disappointed if you lost badly. He needs the game to be worth playing.
- It ends the way these things always end. Two people, one problem, and only one way down.
Anton Chigurh
Your nemesis has no personal interest in you whatsoever, and that is precisely what makes him unsurvivable. You are not a rival. You are a stop on the way.
- Chigurh does not negotiate, gloat or explain. He arrives, he asks one question, and the answer was decided long before you opened your mouth.
- You trust yourself to handle things. He is the one problem in the world that has no interest in how capable you are.
- No Country for Old Men rewrote the screen villain by removing the thing audiences quietly rely on: the sense that talking might work.
- Call it. He will wait.
There are enemies everywhere he turns, including members of his own family like his terrifying mother, Livia (Nancy Marchand), and his wily Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese). Tony has a supportive wife, Carmela (Edie Falco), and two teenage children, but he's constantly having to watch his back. The Sopranos is filled with unique, funny, and complex characters, including a bunch of Tony's gangster friends; Tony's nephew, Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli), who's just starting out in mob life; and Christopher's loyal girlfriend, Adriana (Drea de Matteo). Through all 86 episodes, there is never a dull moment in this masterpiece of a series.
'The Sopranos' Is a Brilliant Drama That Truly Stands the Test of Time
Even decades later, The Sopranos manages to never feel dated. Because of its authentic storylines and characters, the drama feels like it could easily be taking place in the present day. In each perfect episode, creator David Chase manages to infuse a range of genres (crime drama, dark comedy, psychological thriller) to invite us into one of the most frightening and intense settings for a television show. The genius writing makes every scene feel addictive, and you'll find it impossible not to binge to the very end once you get enmeshed in Tony's violent and brutal world. The storylines feel incredibly high-stakes, and very quickly you'll discover that no character is safe from the cruel fate that befalls many gangsters (and the people who love them).
The Sopranos is definitely not for the faint of heart, but there's still a strange beauty that exists in this world. Something as quietly haunting as Tony becoming obsessed with the family of ducks living in his swimming pool demonstrates that he's not your typical gangster. Whether you get drawn in by the Mafia-related heart-pumping action or the more subtle symbolism of food or animals seen throughout the series, there's no way you won't immediately consider yourself a fan.
'The Sopranos' Had a Talented Cast, but It Ended Controversially
The Sopranos was a huge hit in large part because of the astounding actors present in its cast. The late Gandolfini took on the role of a lifetime as Tony, but there's no way the character would have been so iconic without Gandolfini's vulnerability and layered performance. Bracco and Falco are also exceptional, as the two most influential women in Tony's life. Every side character in The Sopranos ends up creating a colorful, yet tonally dark vibe. Aida Turturro, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Steven Van Zandt, Tony Sirico, and Vincent Pastore are all fabulous additions to the complicated cast of characters.
The Sopranos came to an end in 2007, with one of the most controversial series finales of all time. Whether you love the ending or hate it, there's no way you can deny the series as a whole is extraordinary. With a wildly impressive 21 Emmy wins (and 112 nominations!), the drama is now surging on the Apple TV charts. Its continued success proves that there will never be another series as remarkable as The Sopranos, but at least we have the ability to binge-watch it to our heart's content.
The Sopranos is available to stream on HBO Max or through the Apple TV Store in the U.S.
The Sopranos
- Release Date
- 1999 - 2007-00-00
- Network
- HBO
- Showrunner
- David Chase
- Directors
- Tim Van Patten, John Patterson, Alan Taylor, Jack Bender, Steve Buscemi, Daniel Attias, David Chase, Andy Wolk, Danny Leiner, David Nutter, James Hayman, Lee Tamahori, Lorraine Senna, Matthew Penn, Mike Figgis, Nick Gomez, Peter Bogdanovich, Phil Abraham, Rodrigo García
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.