Many critics have asserted that The Sopranos is the greatest and most groundbreaking television series of all time.[2][3][4][29][117][118][119][120] The writing, acting, and directing have often been singled out for praise. The show has also received considerable attention from critics and journalists for its mature and artistic content, technical merit, music selections, cinematography, and willingness to deal with difficult and controversial subjects including crime, gender roles, family, and American and Italian American culture.[60][119][120] The Sopranos is credited for creating a new era in the mafia genre deviating from the traditional dramatized image of the gangster in favor of a simpler, more accurate reflection of mob life.[121] The series sheds light on Italian family dynamics through the depiction of Tony’s tumultuous relationship with his mother.[122] Edie Falco’s character Carmela Soprano is praised in Kristyn Gorton's essay "Why I Love Carmela Soprano" for challenging Italian-American gender roles.[123] The New Yorker writer, David Remnick, stated in his 2006 article "Family Guy", The Sopranos mirror the "mindless commerce and consumption" of modern America.[124]
The Sopranos has been called "perhaps the greatest pop-culture masterpiece of its day" by Vanity Fair contributor Peter Biskind.[13] The New Yorker editor David Remnick called the show "the richest achievement in the history of television."[125] TV Guide ranked The Sopranos fifth on their list of the "Top 50 TV Shows of All Time,"[126] while the series was only in its fourth season. In 2007, Channel 4 (UK) named The Sopranos the greatest television series of all time.[127]
The first season of the series received overwhelmingly positive reviews.[128] Following its initial airing in 1999, The New York Times stated, "[The Sopranos] just may be the greatest work of American popular culture of the last quarter century."[18] In 2007, Roger Holland of PopMatters wrote, "the debut season of The Sopranos remains the crowning achievement of American television."[129]
Time Out New York 's Andrew Johnston had high praise for the series, stating: "Together, Chase and his fellow writers (including Terence Winter and Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner) produced the legendary Great American Novel, and it’s 86 episodes long."[130] Johnston asserted the preeminence of The Sopranos as opposed to Deadwood and The Wire in a debate with critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz.[131][132][verification needed]
In November and December 2009, a large number of television critics named The Sopranos the best series of the decade and all time in articles summarizing the decade in television. In numbered lists over the best television programs, The Sopranos frequently ranked first or second, almost always competing with The Wire.[120] In 2013, TV Guide ranked The Sopranos No. 2 in its list of The 60 Greatest Dramas of All Time,[133] In the same year, the Writers Guild of America named it the best-written television series of all time.[134]
The Sopranos won and was nominated for a large number of awards over the course of its original broadcast. It was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series in every year it was eligible, and is the first cable TV series to receive a nomination for the award. After being nominated for and losing the award in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2003 (losing the first time to The Practice, and the last three to The West Wing), The Sopranos won the award in 2004, and again in 2007. Its 2004 win made The Sopranos the first series on a cable network to win the award,[142] while its 2007 win made the show the first drama series since Upstairs, Downstairs in 1977 to win the award after it had finished airing.[143] The show earned 21 nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and won the award six times, with creator David Chase receiving three awards.[144]
The Sopranos won at least one Emmy Award for acting in every eligible year except 2006 and 2007. James Gandolfini and Edie Falco were each nominated six times for Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress, respectively, both winning a total of three awards. Joe Pantoliano won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in 2003, and Michael Imperioli and Drea de Matteo also won Emmys in 2004 for their supporting roles on the show. Other actors who have received Emmy nominations for the series include Lorraine Bracco (in the Lead Actress and Supporting Actress categories), Dominic Chianese, Nancy Marchand, Aida Turturro, Steve Buscemi (who was also nominated for directing the episode "Pine Barrens"), Tim Daly, John Heard and Annabella Sciorra.[144]
In 2000 and 2001, The Sopranos earned two consecutive George Foster Peabody Awards. Only two other series have won the award in consecutive years: Northern Exposure and The West Wing.[145][146] The show also received numerous nominations at the Golden Globe Awards (winning the award for Best Drama Series in 2000)[147] and the major guild awards (Directors,[148] Producers,[149] Writers,[150] and Actors[151]).
Influence on television industry
The Sopranos had a significant impact on the shape of the American television industry. It has been characterized by critics as one of the most influential artistic works of the 2000s (decade) and is credited with allowing other drama series with similarly mature content to achieve mainstream recognition. It has also often been cited as one of the television series that helped turn serial television into a legitimate art form on the same level as feature films, literature and theater.[59][119][152] TIME editor James Poniewozik wrote in 2007, "This mafia saga showed just how complex and involving TV storytelling could be, inspiring an explosion of ambitious dramas on cable and off."[119] Also in 2007, Maureen Ryan of PopMatters described The Sopranos as "the most influential television drama ever" and wrote "No one-hour drama series has had a bigger impact on how stories are told on the small screen, or more influence on what kind of fare we’ve been offered by an ever-growing array of television networks."[59] Hal Boedeker, also writing for PopMatters in 2007, stated that the series was "widely influential for revealing that cable would accommodate complex series about dark characters. The Sopranos ushered in Six Feet Under, The Shield, Rescue Me and Big Love."[152]
The series helped establish HBO as producers of critically acclaimed and commercially successful original television series. Michael Flaherty of The Hollywood Reporter has stated that The Sopranos "helped launch [HBO's] reputation as a destination for talent looking for cutting-edge original series work."[29]
