Sopranos: The Best
Being chosen as the best series of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine this year and many times before that, Sopranos clearly is an outstanding performance. But what makes this show so special? Does it have the biggest budget? Or does it have the best actors? No. The answer is simpler, it is realistic.
While many of the movies or series that have mob in it usually narrated from an imaginative point of view, Sopranos keeps its realistic side during the series. For instance, when we see a usual mafia movie, we see characters that are out of society and untouchable. They seem to us as they are not human but more than that. This is mostly because they choose to focus on only one side of those characters, power. This is the point where the Sopranos shows its difference. Because in Sopranos the focus is not only on the power that those characters hold but also on their special life, problems, ideas, and their lifestyle. Also, it includes awkwardness and unprecedented moments. Those are the aspects that all of us have in our lives. Thus, this creates realistic atmosphere and provides connection between characters and the audience as they look more accessible and understandable.
The reason for such realism can be that it originally is. In the same year when a capo from New Jersey called Vincent Palermo became a government witness in 1999, the series started to be aired on HBO. The Sopranos’ main character Tony Soprano and Vincent Palermo showed massive similarities between themselves and the worlds that they had been living in. DeCavalcante crime family — which used to include Vincent Palermo — even was surprised about this alikeness. They were even recorded once when they were talking about the Soprano series itself and asking each other if it resembles them or not and those recording was even used in the court. But those kinds of involvements were not always safe. Once, the star of the show James Gandolfini got a call in the middle of the night and the caller who was an actual mafia member was saying that they appreciate what they are doing in the show but also warning them by saying “A capo never wears shorts.” . Later on, this quote was used in the series.
During its six seasons Sopranos won many awards and received honors, created a huge fan base and won the hearts of millions. It even inspired series like Breaking Bad and many more productions. Thus, Sopranos became an iconic production, and it is still being appreciated in this day.
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