The Sopranos named ‘greatest TV show of all time’
Rolling Stone magazine has released its list of the 100 greatest TV shows of all time and has picked crime drama series The Sopranos as number one.
The outlet wanted to compile a list of ‘the most game-changing, shocking, tear-jerking, mind-blowing, world-building, genre-breaking shows’ that television history has ever seen.
While there were several big contenders, journalist Alan Sepinwall marveled at The Sopranos’ groundbreaking storytelling, which managed to ‘break every written and unwritten rule that television storytelling has followed since Gunsmoke’.
He added: “Simplicity and hand-holding are out, replaced by narrative and moral complexity, right up until the final edit where we can’t stop.”
After the HBO show, it was no surprise that The Simpsons came in second, with Breaking Bad and The Wire coming in third and fourth respectively.
Rounding out the top 10 was British comedy series Fleabag, followed by Seinfeld, Mad Men, Cheers, Atlanta and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
The Sopranos, which first aired in 1999, was set in a fictional town in New Jersey, and followed Italian-American gangster Tony Soprano, played brilliantly by James Gandolfini.
The show portrayed the contrast between Tony’s underground world of organised crime and his traditional family life.
The series ran for six seasons and ended in June 2007, drawing an estimated 11.9 million viewers for its final episode.
However, the show not only garnered a huge following, but also made history by becoming the first series to be nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series seven times, in every year of eligibility.
It eventually won the award in 2004 and 2007. Many critics often note how the series changed television storytelling, as many shows attempted to copy its likable antihero formula.
Life writer Richard Jerome said of the show: “Pushing creative and moral boundaries along with audience expectations, the show influenced a host of prestige television shows that followed—including Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Wire, Deadwood, and Game of Thrones.”
“From the production equipment and crew to the way the show was shot, The Sopranos functioned as the first 13-hour television series broadcast one hour a week,” wrote Imperium Publication editor Arjun Khanchandani. “It helped establish episodic television as a legitimate art form on par with feature films, literature, and theater.”
