25 years today
Awesome.
Makes me want to go back and watch it from the beginning.
Same, but the sequel was excellent.
Tried it, I left it too late I guess, The Wire spoiled me.
Brilliant in lots of ways but I gave up after 5 1/2 series, got bored of Tony making the same mistakes. I'm with Al, The Wire is still my favourite.
I have been to see Alabama 3 a few times though, always entertaining 🙂
I’m with Al, The Wire is still my favourite
I think season 4(?) of The Wire was unmatched. Season 1 was good, season 2 and 3 were ok but a bit slow, then season 4 was utterly brilliant. Season 5 was a huge disappointment. Great show but uneven.
The Sopranos was the show that kicked off the prestige drama/tormented antihero thing. When it came out, it was unmatched. Since then, we've had The Wire, Deadwood, Breaking Bad, The Americans, Succession, etc. so The Sopranos doesn't feel as amazing as it was first time round.
One of my favourite scenes ever.
I've seen it through to the end twice now, could probably go a third time I reckon.
I personally reckon it pips The Wire for best TV show ever, but it's a flip of a coin really. They both certainly pretty much ruined the rest of telly for me, nothing comes close.
Tony Soprano : [over the phone] It's a bad connection, so I'm gonna talk fast! The guy you're looking for is an ex-commando! He killed sixteen Chechen rebels single-handed!
Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri : Get the **** outta here.
Tony Soprano : Yeah. Nice, huh? He was with the Interior Ministry. Guy's some kind of Russian green beret. This guy can not come back to tell this story. You understand?
Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri : I hear you.
[the telephone connection is lost - Tony swears, and Paulie hangs up]
Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri : [turning to Christopher] You're not gonna believe this. He killed sixteen Czechoslovakians. The guy was an interior decorator.
Christopher Moltisanti : His house looked like shit.
Currently watching the Sopranos for about the third time. I would go with a top three of
Breaking Bad
The Wire
Sopranos
I know I'm in a minority of one, but I don't think Breaking Bad is as great as its reputation. It's good, obviously, but it's not up in the Sopranos/Wire league.
And that script extract from the Pine Barrens episode demonstrates something that was lacking from the later series - the humour. The later series became very serious, and I missed the (darkly) comedic elements.
One of the fundamental laws of the Internet - all Sopranos discussions end up in the Pine Barrens.
Loved the Sopranos, I used to get a series boxset to watch over the Christmas holidays. It can be slow at times but has some incredible scenes and characters. The ending was good, gave real closure whilst at the same time leaving just enough vagueness to allow you to make your mind up on what happened.
Pauly was my favourite character, a real prick but so funny.
Paulie was the only cast who was an actual gangster before becoming an actor
If you have a lot of time to kill Christophur & Bobby have a podcast
https://www.talkingsopranos.com/
"I know I’m in a minority of one, but I don’t think Breaking Bad is as great as its reputation."
That's a fairly commonly held opinion, I believe.
Better Call Saul was far superior IMO, and BB was annoying, repetitive and unengaging some of the time.
Anyway, didn't know what to expect from the thread title.
Glad James Gandolfini hasn't died again.
I enjoyed The Sopranos better the second time around, probably because I didn’t have to wait 2 days for an episode to download from a hooky site once a week.
Disappointed this is not an Alabama 3 thread
It can be if you want, you just need to put the work in to keep derailing it when people try to get it back on topic.
Also, wouldn't Alabama 3 be better off changing their name to "The Band that Sang the Sopranos Intro" or something like that so that people actually know who they are?
Just remembered a story from a guy I used to work with. He lived in New Jersey for a while, and on his way to work each day he used to drive past a bar at the side of the road. He said it took him about two weeks, but then the penny finally dropped and he was like "hang on, that's the Badda Bing!"
Better Call Saul was far superior IMO
Watched it. Stuck with it. Wanted to like it but in the end it was a bit....meh...
I just didn't care about Jimmy or Kim. I didn't root for them, or against them. I couldn't care less by the end.
You root for Walter White and then against him - but at least you care.
You hope Tony Soprano will ascend out of the darkness even though you know he won't - but at least it's an enjoyable ride.
The Sopranos was the show that kicked off the prestige drama/tormented antihero thing. When it came out, it was unmatched. Since then, we’ve had The Wire, Deadwood, Breaking Bad, The Americans, Succession, etc. so The Sopranos doesn’t feel as amazing as it was first time round.
This.
It set the standard that TV could become about complex cinematic story-telling.
Anti-heros have been the mainstay of the likes of Scorsese for years so I doubt the Sopranos would have existed without Goodfellas - in my mind.
Never bettered on TV. One of the greatest endings to a series too.
The Saints movie was extremely disappointing though.
First time around o loved the sopranos but I never saw the last season or 2. It moved from C4 to sky which I didn't have.
Is it free to stream anywhere? Unlikely being hbo. I suspect it Wouldn't have aged great, but I'd give it a go.
The Saints movie was extremely disappointing though.
I was going to ask if anyone had seen that
One of the greatest endings to a series too.
Yeah, I really liked it at the time, and it's only got better as we've seen how other long-running dramas have ended.
I enjoyed The Sopranos better the second time around, probably because I didn’t have to wait 2 days for an episode to download from a hooky site once a week.
Yeah, I remember downloading one episode and then settling down after dinner to watch it. It started with a cold open with someone in the shower, you could see a very shapely naked arse through the glass, then a second very shapely naked arse, then the door opened and the two people turned around and then I realized that someone had uploaded gay porn mislabeled as the latest Sopranos episode. BASTARDS. So, after frantically deleting that from my computer, I had to forlornly accept that I was going to have to wait until the next day to download another copy.
So then, when the final episode came out, I had a job with very relaxed attendance policies and I lived just down the street, with a much faster internet connection, so I used to start the download in the morning then go home for lunch and watch it. So, I did that for the final episode, got nearly to the end when the screen just went blank and I realized I'd been pranked again. I started the download for a different copy and raced home after work to watch the ending, but that copy was pranked too and just went blank before we saw what happened. So, I downloaded yet another copy and then finally figured out that it just ended mid scene. Oh, how I laughed.
its OK, but not really a patch on the series
Yeah, it was worth watching if you liked the TV show but it wasn't really much good in its own right. Same with the Breaking Bad movie, more of a final episode than a stand alone movie.
Disappointed this is not an Alabama 3 thread
absolutely!. great band
hehe... same old points, but for clarity:
- Oz was the big HBO series before Sopranos. Never really got the same traction, and it's definitely not as good a show, but it was a previous attempt at big-budget prestige TV drama. And you can see all the actors in it who'd then go off to The Wire, Sopranos etc.
- The Wire at its best (S1-4) is definitely better than Sopranos. Sopranos had much better longevity though
- Sopranos really hasn't aged very well, but as someone said, what has?
- Breaking Bad wishes it was anything like as good as The Wire, Sopranos, etc
doh, and forgot:
- Alabama 3, yes please. Although am I alone in thinking their output was also a bit hit or miss? Obviously Exile on Coldharbour Lane is absolutely fantastic, and Outlaw is also really good; but other albums don't all hit that level.
Has anyone seen them since D Wayne Love's untimely passing, and how are they?
Did anyone ever watch Lilyhammer?
It was actually the first Netflix show that was made by Netflix. The premise was Silvio Dante decided to go and live in Lillehammer Norway.
About as stupid as you would expect but it actually explains quite a lot about Norwegian culture along the way.
Did anyone ever watch Lilyhammer?
I watched the first episode, it was ok but I couldn't be bothered with ep 2.
Yeah, I saw a few episodes. It was okay.
Sopranos was and is ace. Watched most of the episodes at least 3 or 4 times. At it's best, it's probably my favourite ever show.
Really tried to like BB but my wife gave up after a few seasons and I drifted out of it after a couple more.
Still not watched The Wire.
The Bear
Succession
Found both of those unwatchable.
Fargo & True Detective (most of them) far better. Though I guess, not quite the same as anthology series (I think they call it) rather than full continuation type series.
namastebuzz
Awesome.Makes me want to go back and watch it from the beginning.
I did recently, it's a joy. Always worth a rewatch.
Mugboo
I have been to see Alabama 3 a few times though, always entertaining 🙂
Great bunch of lads. And their rider when touring is brilliant too, all they used to ask from the venue wherever they were playing was for 11 pairs of sock and 11 pairs of jocks in their dressing room.
Tried to watch it and gave in before the end of the first series. I’ve watched The Wire three times and could probably do so again. Possibly came to The Sopranos too late and not the greatest fan of mafia related content. The Wire, Spiral, first series of the original Danish The Killing and Better Call Saul are peak TV for me.
Read an interview with one of the creators of The Wire who said the original intention was for seven series. The fifth series is three squashed in to one and the worse for it. Should’ve ended with the sublime fourth series.
See now I need to give the wire anther go. Tried a couple of times but just couldn't get into it
The Wire works best if you binge a few episodes at once. I love how it is one massive web. Characters that are background players in one series become the focus in the next. It has Game of Thrones levels of anyone could die at any minute with no ceremony too. Just a great piece of storytelling that shows how utterly ****ed the war on drugs is. Helped massively by having a fantastic cast of character actors and a brilliant script.
The Sopranos never jumped the shark and managed to jump the landing.
The Wire was great, but season 5 got silly.
Breaking Bad was slow to start.
Better Call Saul managed to nail the ending too IMO.
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