And it’s never been bettered.

The Wire and Mad Men came close, but not quite.

I’m watching it at the moment (for the first time).
Half way through season 4.

I have to say, so far, although good, it feels much more soapy than I expected.

The Wire, Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul are still above it in my view, although I accept I never had the opportunity to see it at the time of broadcast.

I’ll give you The Wire, because it’s a very close call.

Not the other two though. They’re good, but they’re an Arsenal to Soprano’s Real Madrid

Really annoyed me. I downloaded the final episode and whoever recorded it must have set the timer wrong and didn’t get the end of it, screen went blank just as it looked to be getting interesting and I never found out what happened.

I agree. Now Tony’s dead, Meadow’s musical career never took off, Carmela became a druggie nurse, Christopher’s done loads of acting (hit & miss) and Adriana married and divorced the leader of a biker gang.

Give the last season a miss, it is a better series this way.

Would like to watch it again. Was a big fan at the time.

Never seen it. Or Game of Thrones or The Wire and most of the big series TV. I’ll be retired a long time and will need all this stuff to fill the void.

Did they all get whacked at the end in the restaurant, or not?

Did they all get whacked at the end in the restaurant, or not?

Exactly the point.

Great show, though HBO’s Deadwood was slightly higher quality IMO.

Al Swearengen was a better Tony Soprano than Tony Soprano.

HBO’s Deadwood was slightly higher quality IMO.

It’s criminal that it was cancelled.

I bloody loved Deadwood, if you liked the tone of it, look at Hell on Wheels (5 series i think) which was good

FYI: http://www.spin.com/2017/05/deadwood-movie-script-hbo/

I watched the 1st series of the Wire and cant take it seriously at all!

Loved the Sopranos- had the first 2 series on video.

Have the OZ boxset to break into. Watched about 5 or 6 episodes on TV ages ago and loved it.

It’s great TV, personally I think The Wire is slightly better, but I can’t complain about either.

The ending is the one sticking point for me, not the actual last scene, although they over-stretched it trying to making it something it’s not, but the last episode or two.

There’s a war that’s been building for the last 2 series or so, well really, it’s been building since the very start, it’s the conclusion of this 86 hour opus, because a few little cul-de-sacs alone the way it’s really a single story from start to finish which is brilliant, when it finally comes it’s as shocking as you’d ever hope, major characters die, but then it just ends. We never learn the outcome of all this, you can assume this and that – but really after 6 years do we just accept a character like Paulie Walnuts, gets ‘a bump’ he doesn’t really want outside the Pork store and that’s it, Sil lays in a hospital bed not knowing if he lives or dies etc, its almost like they were hoping they’d get another series at some point in the future that never came.

The Wire on the on hand, ends – there’s another war or sorts, people die – but then there’s this amazing scene without dialog which shows that despite all the drama, all the killing, all the arrests that it hasn’t made a difference, new people move into old roles – there’s a new Bubbles, a new Omar, a new Avon, a new McNulty and a million other characters unaffected and ignorant of what’s happened doing what they always did.

They could remake the Soprano’s one of those new wave, not a sequel, not a remake type things and it could be good, or it could be crap but it would be different.

They could make another series of The Wire, set it today and we’d see how Baltimore has changed over the last 10 years, or they could set it 12 hours after the last one ended and it wouldn’t need a single existing character and it could still be great,

and we’d see how Baltimore has changed over the last 10 years

or not

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/gallery/2017/may/27/baltimore-15-years-after-the-wire-in-pictures

There’s a war that’s been building for the last 2 series or so, well really, it’s been building since the very start, it’s the conclusion of this 86 hour opus, because a few little cul-de-sacs alone the way it’s really a single story from start to finish

I think you’ve completely missed the point of the series. It was about Tony’s struggle to keep his family together. In the first season, he had anxiety attacks related to the ducks flying away (kids growing up and leaving). He went to the shrink to deal with that. In the final season, he sorted out the problems (Meadow became a mob lawyer and AJ accepted his place in things) so Tony no longer needed the shrink. Of course, he had to deal with problems with his other (mafia) family too, but those weren’t actually the main point of the series.

It’s 16 years today since I saw AC/DC at the Milton Keynes Bowl. they were more awesomer than a telly series

http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/acdc/2001/milton-keynes-national-bowl-milton-keynes-england-53d21fbd.html

ctk – Member
I watched the 1st series of the Wire and cant take it seriously at all!

😯

I’ve killed people for less! 😆

I’m repeating The Sopranos at the moment. It’s great but not quite up with The Wire IMO.

For any Wire fans who haven’t read it David Simon’s book Homicide A Year On The Killing Streets is worthwhile. As a journalist he spent a year embedded with the Baltimore homicide squad.

Did anyone watch The Shield? Thought that was pretty good as tough cop dramas go, along with Braquo?

“The Wire on the on hand, ends – there’s another war or sorts, people die – but then there’s this amazing scene without dialog which shows that despite all the drama, all the killing, all the arrests that it hasn’t made a difference, new people move into old roles – there’s a new Bubbles, a new Omar, a new Avon, a new McNulty and a million other characters unaffected and ignorant of what’s happened doing what they always did”

Correct.
IMHO its not been topped yet.

The shield, very good. Only one problem, where to go after the 1st episode 🙂

“The Wire on the on hand, ends – there’s another war or sorts, people die – but then there’s this amazing scene without dialog which shows that despite all the drama, all the killing, all the arrests that it hasn’t made a difference, new people move into old roles – there’s a new Bubbles, a new Omar, a new Avon, a new McNulty and a million other characters unaffected and ignorant of what’s happened doing what they always did”

Correct.
IMHO its not been topped yet.

The shield, very good. Only one problem, where to go after the 1st episode 🙂

I’ve only just started watching season 1. I have to admit I’m struggling with it a bit 🙁 are we supposed to sympathise with Tony ? Because I can’t he’s such an unpleasant character !! In fact everyone is, I’ll stick with it though perhaps it’ll come to me.

Loved The Shield but it was so OTT, I think they were taking the piss in the end.

Did anyone watch The Shield? Thought that was pretty good as tough cop dramas go

Yep, and it was excellent.
It’s tough to take Breaking Bad and (especially) Mad Men seriously as being “as good as The Sopranoes”; the latter in particular was just… meh.

The Wire is excellent, but S5 was a joke.

Pine Barrens ftw

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsxthFO-HWs[/video]

tho much love for The Strong Silent Type
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_peSCECc4I[/video]

are we supposed to sympathise with Tony ?

nope, he’s a very bad man!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antihero

We finished it for the first time last week. I think my wife is in a state of mourning…

taxi25 – Member

I’ve only just started watching season 1. I have to admit I’m struggling with it a bit are we supposed to sympathise with Tony ? Because I can’t he’s such an unpleasant character !! In fact everyone is, I’ll stick with it though perhaps it’ll come to me.

No, not really, there’s a few scenes through the series where you can empathise perhaps, he does at times have a soul, but it’s a twisted one at best.

It’s a bumpy road the Sopranos, for the most part the few decent people in it will either suffer horribly because of their contact with the other characters or be completed corrupted by them, the rest of them – some seem innocent at first but invariably end up being as evil as the rest of them, even if they’re not the ones swinging the ace

When I watched it when it was current (or there abouts) I wasn’t mature enough to understand all of the characters, the Gangster side is more obvious, they all have their own moral justifications for what they do, but they’re all murdering psychopaths.

The Family side on the other hand is more complex, at first view Carmella seems a naive innocent party in all this, but she’s not – she’s a snob hiding behind a veneer of respectability, but she knows exactly where the money comes from, later in the series she completely gives up pretending Tony is anything but what he is in exchange for keeping her lifestyle. It’s a straight forward business arrangement.

The Kids are brats at best, the more that Meadow tries to be righteous the more, self-centred she is.

AJ suffers a bit, when he’s down he’s a tortured soul, but when he’s up he’s an egotistical ****.

One of Tony’s goals throughout the series is keeping his kids out of his business and he does just that, but he doesn’t make them decent people, not by a long shot.

Love The Wire and the French cop drama Spiral along with Fargo and Better Call Saul. Tried watching The Sopranos and gave up a few episodes in to season two. I found it way too soap like and extremely boring.

It was very soapy.

Gomorrah is a good modern comparison to The Sopranos actually, bit more gritty and even less glamourised.

Yeah, Gomorrah was great, but Christ on a bike it was unremittingly bleak!

Yeah, Gomorrah was great, but Christ on a bike it was unremittingly bleak!

I binge watched two seasons while stuck in hospital. Great show, but very bleak.

Southland was a fantastic show, not quite at Wire level, but the characters and plot worked well.

Can’t forget the ever ridiculous The Shield.