Today it is hard to imagine our lives without them: new series highlights appear on the numerous different streaming platforms almost every day and can win over countless fans. Productions like “Game of Thrones“, “Breaking Bad” and “Stranger Things“ have long been part of pop culture and don’t have to hide from any movie. But that wasn’t always the case.

When the first episode “The Sopranos” was broadcast, most film fans only had a weary smile for the medium – Episodic stories without major narrative arcs, B-celebrities in the main roles and uninspired staging were the norm, ambitious projects like “Twin Peaks” were the absolute exception. That changed drastically within a few years – and a gangster family from New Jersey played a large part in it.

All six seasons of the successful series “The Sopranos” are available on Sky and WOW – so anyone who has missed them can easily catch up and look forward to a lively fan culture that keeps the memory of the series alive to this day:

Stream “The Sopranos” on WOW*

Stories that life writes – and the mafia too!

Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) is the name of the iconic mob boss who made TV history. The six seasons revolve around him and his family – and this includes his wife and children as well as the community he has chosen for himselfwith which he controls organized crime in northern New Jersey. The boundaries are fluid: one minute an enemy gang member is being interrogated in a dark warehouse, then Tony is at home in the kitchen complaining about the pulp in his orange juice.

The Sopranos’ life in the suburbs has two sides: between gang wars and parent-teacher discussions in high school, supposed undercover informants from the FBI and his daughter’s new boyfriend we get an insight into a life that often seems surprisingly normal. The individual episodes are framed by regular sessions with Tony’s therapist, Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), who always has problems maintaining a professional distance from her extraordinary patient – and the same goes for the audience.

How sympathetic can serious criminals be?

Directors like Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola made the Italian-American gangsters and the ruthless lifestyle full of violence and money big – but “The Sopranos” makes all of this surprisingly small and tangible again. The series’ great strength lies in the relatability of its characters. The protagonists are rarely clearly good or evil – at the end of the day, everyone sits at dinner and has to carry his or her own package.

Self-discovery, stress, and marital problems are just a few familiar themes wrestled with here. It almost hurts when “The Sopranos” repeatedly reminds us with drastic images what kind of people we are dealing with here. In the end, the series does not allow itself to judge its characters – and in doing so paints an unusually tangible, realistic picture of the criminal parallel world.

What no one tells you about “The Sopranos”…

…but that’s how funny the series is: interpersonal errors and incredibly absurd scenarios reliably accompany us through the 86 almost one-hour episodes. When a mafioso pulls out a gun to get quicker service at the bakery, a ruthless gangster visits a fortune teller out of superstition, or everyone wants to produce a horror film together, stories unfold that you really never see coming.

“The Sopranos” feels incredibly real, jumps between genres and was able to define a new type of television at the turn of the millennium that we still experience today. New productions like “The Penguins“ are a loving reminder of this great piece of television history, whose themes still stand the test of time 25 years later. So if you’ve missed the series so far, I have a very clear recommendation.

Are you still looking for suitable recommendations for the Christmas holidays? Then feel free to take a look at the following article

On Disney+, Netflix and Co.: The best films for Christmas 2024 to stream

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