The Sopranos: 20 years Later

This week marks the 20th anniversary since the television show"The Sopranos" debuted on HBO, and with all the celebrations going on this week I wanted to put in my two cents about the series.

It feels like only yesterday that we were all talking about the show.  Every Sunday night HBO would air the show, and by Monday we were all talking about it.  the show seemed to capture our imagination, and we were always drawn back to it no matter what happened each week.

The Sopranos was about a family in New Jersey that happened to be in the mob.  Tony Soprano was the head of this family and it was his character that drew us in every Sunday night.  Of course James Gandolfini had a lot to do with us coming back to the show each week.  Along with the cast of Edie Falco James Gandolfini and Falco turned a unusual drama into a weekly viewing ritual.  I am of course not listing the others such as Steven Van Zandt,  Tony Sirico, Michael Imperioli, and Lorraine Bracco and many more who contributed to the series and it's unusual trajectory.   

The Sopranos was a ensemble piece.  Each character contributed to the complex storyline that was the Sopranos.  It's been 20 years since HBO aired their last episode "Made in America" to a bit of controversy when the screen suddenly went to black, and it's sound dropped out.  America at first thought that their cable went out.  It's all that everyone talks about.  What did it mean, and why?

But I'm not going to talk about that.  It ended as it should have, and that was it's creators decision.  David Chase who created the series created a fascinating world of mob life with a twist.  The main character Tony Soprano played by Gandolfini is prone to panic attacks , and decides to go into therapy for it.  It is this idea tat turns the series upside down.  

In the past we have had many films that deal with the gangster element, but none like what the Sopranos did.  Why did we come back week after week wanting to find out what happens to our beloved characters.  It was through Gandolfini's portrayal that we gained sympathy for his character, and the characters around him.  Chase showed us the mundane as well as the brutality of mob life.  It was a contradiction to what we had seen before.

In the movies we've seen before we see sociopaths that have no morality.  They kill because of vengeance, or profit, or betrayal.  We never got a working picture of who these guys were.  not even in the Godfather do we know why Sonny joins the business.  We assume it's because he joins out of loyalty of his family.  Sonny seems to want retribution, and because of his family being threatened we have sympathy for him.  What David Chase does in the Sopranos is that he gets us to like Tony Soprano through his weaknesses.  We identify with Tony in a certain way even though he is a sociopath with violent tendencies.   We se him interact with his family and find a little of us in all of them.  That's "the Soprano's secret.  The performances are all stellar, and that's what really brings home these characters.  

We have Tony's mom played by Nancy Marchand who gives a stellar performance as a manipulative mother who has shaped Gandolfini's character Tony.  The family dynamic is layered, and through each episode we find out why things are the way that they are.  We even have two families.  One is Tony Soprano's immediate family.  There is his son A.J ( Robert Iler), Medow (Jamie Lyn Sigler), Carmela (Edie Falco), and Corrado "Junior" (Dominic Chianese).  Then there is his other family.  Tony's gang.  We have Christopher (Michael Imperioli), Silvio (Steven Van Zandt), Paulie (Tony Sirico, and Sal (Vincent Pastore).  Both families are close and both interact with each other.  It's this that keeps us tuning in each week.  The audience wants to know why and how our cast of characters gets out of their predicaments each week.  Their dysfunction is a reflection of us too.  No one is perfect, and seeing this crazy dysfunctional family makes us feel better.

Also the series is entertaining.  The show gives us love, lust, betrayal, loyalty, passion, and vengeance.   All at 55minute increments.  

When the show premiered there was no show like this.  In today's age where the proverbial cliffhanger seems almost a mandatory plot device "the Sopranos" never did that.  The series was the continuous exploits of "the family".  Each episode delivered shocks, and surprises and it sometimes horrified us.  In the episode "University" we are suddenly aghast to witness Ralphie's (Joe Pantoliano) sudden brutal killing of one of the dancers of the club that Tony owns.  The violence comes out of nowhere and takes us into a different realm of reality.  These guys which we are viewing and are interested in are brutal sociopaths with no regard to life.   Of course this is not the first violent act in the show, but one of many.  But it's suddenness is what made "the Sopranos" a series to watch.  The audience never knew what would happen, and though not every episode contained such violence when the violence did happen it made an impact.  It was a cold slap to its audience.  Why do we care about these characters, are we just as morally bankrupt in watching the violence unfold.   Maybe I delve too deep, but the show had an impact, and the show got people talking.

The show was and is entertaining.  The old bread and circus applied.  We tuned in to see who would be left standing each week, and the actors along with the writing made it a must watch for its day.  Today watching the show it still works on many levels and it plays well, but as a one time viewer when it originally played on HBO the show does not have the same impact that it once did.  Maybe it's because I already know the characters and I know what is going to happen.  What I am always look at are the performances of each actor.  I've been watching some episodes of late on HBO, and have concluded that the show works well because of these performances.  The performances are stunning, and the writing is as good as it can get.  David Chase really hit a home run with the series, and you can understand why if you see his earlier work.  Such shows as "the Rockford files", and "Northern Exposure" are examples of good writing.  Chase has an ear for dialogue and he creates complex characters that interact with each other well.  Just that alone makes the series re-watchable, and if you're a fan it's like visiting old friends.

Chase never thought that after completing the first season that the series would be as popular as it was, but the audience connected and  as they say the rest is history.  The cinematic feel of the series was what also contributed to it's popularity.  Chase is a lover of the cinema, and you can see that through each episode of the show.  It plays very well in a the 16:9 format which is what all TV's are now.  In that way David Chase knew that the wider format would enhance the show and give it a "bigger" feel.

50 years from now people will still watch the series, and it will speak to another generation.  The shows ideas and it's portrayal of an American dream turned into a nightmare is something that will resonate with future audiences.  Yet for me the show is a good example of a well produced, well written show with depth.  The Sopranos will always have an audience, and it will always be memorialized as a show that broke a lot of barriers for TV.  Scholars and critics will forever talk about the Sopranos as a show that broke ground on so many different levels, and that makes the show one for the ages.