Courtesy of HBO
The Sopranos is the best TV show of all time. The six seasons of the show are the best television I have ever seen. Every episode leaves you wanting more. The story and writing are the best I have ever seen. I know what you're thinking, how can an ending like that make you think this is the best TV show of all time? I actually think The Sopranos had an amazing ending. I'll explain that later in the article. First let's give some basic knowledge about the series.
The Sopranos stars: James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, Lorraine Bracco, Dominic Chianese, Tony Sirico, Steven Van Zandt, Drea de Matteo, Jamie Lynn Sigler, and Robert Iler. The show follows the main character Tony Soprano and his life as mob boss of the Dimeo Crime Family and as a father of his own family. He is married to Carmela Soprano and has two children, Meadow and AJ. With his life as mob boss comes a unique cast of characters: Paulie Gualteri, Silvio Dante, Christopher Moltisanti, Uncle Junior, Big Pussy, etc. All of these characters have an effect on Tony's life in one way or another.
James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano is the best acting ever done in a television series. I do ont care what anyone says. You can mention Bryan Cranston as Walter White or Charlie Hunnam as Jax Teller or any other TV character in any other show, there is simply no one better. The range Gandolfini had to go to every episode was remarkable. One scene Tony Soprano could be calm, cool, and collected and the next moment he can explode and be the ruthless mob boss we all know. The most important thing was that he was authentic. Whenever you watch The Sopranos, you don't feel like you're watching a television show. You feel like you're watching a documentary with a cinematic feel to it. Actual mobsters have praised Gandolfini's performance and they would often call him and other cast members to give their advice. As a viewer, we should hate Tony Soprano because he is a mobster, kills people, cheats on his wife, and does a plethora of horrible things to people. That is the genius of James Gandolfini. He can make you love him and his character knowing he does all of these bad things. I often found myself rooting for Tony Soprano in situations because I loved his character so much and all of that is attributed to the amazing acting of James Gandolfini. I can talk about his performance for pages but instead I'll let James show you himself.
Series creator David Chase did an incredible job with this series. He found a way to sustain high quality episodes of The Sopranos for over 7 years. The biggest complaint with TV today is the dropped quality of many great TV shows. The most recent TV show to do this was Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones was a great show until the last season. The last season felt like the writers took a shit on the whole series. Nothing made sense and the legacy of the show was never the same. This is why The Sopranos was so impressive. Every season felt like the best one. Every episode is great and that is incredibly hard to do in television.
The Sopranos was a pioneer in many aspects of television. It changed the way we look at television today. Many of your favorite shows would have not been made without The Sopranos. Tony Soprano was an antihero. Television had never seen that before. It was the first time the protagonist of a television show was capable of doing the wrong thing and still being loved. It was groundbreaking. Walter White or Jax Teller would not be created without Tony Soprano and that's a fact. It was a must see television. Every Sunday night HBO everyone was watching The Sopranos. The cultural impact this show had on America is profound. Even if someone didn't watch the show, everyone knows The Sopranos and who Tony Soprano is.
Now, what everyone has been waiting for me to talk about: the ending. The ending to The Sopranos is one of the most controversial endings in television history. For those that haven't watched the show spoilers are coming. Tony Soprano is sitting in a diner waiting for his family. Carmela comes in and sits across from him. They talk about what's on the menu and what they want to eat. Tony's son AJ comes in and sits next to Carmela. We see Tony's daughter Meadow trying to parallel park. She can't seem to get it right and keeps trying and trying. We see a man walk in the diner and the camera focuses on him. He goes to the bathroom with the camera focused on him. Meadow finally figures out how to parallel park. Meadow runs towards the restaurant. We hear a door open and a bell ring. The camera cuts to Tony's face and suddenly the screen goes black. Seriously, that is the ending. On the night of the final episode premiering, viewers thought many things. They thought their dog or cat accidentally unplugged the TV. They thought HBO had a power outage. They thought their cable was shut off. They couldn't believe that was the ending. Many fans were angry and understandably so. This was an ending no one had ever seen before. Thinking about it for a long time, it is the greatest ending to a television series. There have been may theories about the ending. Let me tell you mine. Tony Soprano dies when the screen goes black. The man I talked about earlier shot and killed Tony Soprano in front of his entire family. If you think about the show runs through Tony Soprano. It's all through his perspective. There's a scene earlier in the series where Bobby Baccala and Tony are talking in a boat. They talk about their life in the mafia. They talk about all the danger that goes with this life. Bobby says: "You probably don't even hear it when it happens, right?" Bobby is talking about being shot and killed. That is exactly what happens in the final scene. We don't hear gun shots. We only hear a door open and a bell ring. Bobby foreshadowed Tony's death and gave the viewer the finale without anyone noticing. That is genius writing from David Chase. That reason is the reason why The Sopranos ending is the greatest of all time.
Do you thing The Sopranos is the best show of all time? If not, which show is? Leave it in the comments below.