Sopranos

For the record. I had no problem with the ending to "The Sopranos". I'm not sure what people were expecting, other then the obvious, which would have been a pandering cop-out.

I had a problem with the last 2-3 seasons as a whole. To judge any series based on an ending is ridiculous. It's just as bad as declaring a mostly mediocre movie an instant classic because of some twist ending.

 

I thought the entire last season was awful and the ending was the final nail in the coffin. Every single episode in the last season was dreadful, including, but not limited to, the re-make of "Comfortably Numb." The ending was the final foot step that set off an avalanche. It was a fun ride but after Season 4 it got worse. Put it this way, there were 15 episodes that just blew. Therefore, it does not deserve to be called an ATG show. What about the whole dream /heaven sequence. WTF was that Sopranos meets soren kierkegaard and they take acid. The whole horror movie thing. God just awful. Fuck that show.

 

It wasn't even the best show on HBO. The Wire was 100,000 times better. Breakng Bad is a million times better, but that was after.

 

The Sopranos ending was aticlimatic and IMO was a tactic to open the door for a big screen movie sequel, so they saved any kind of real resolution for something that never materialized. As highly disapointing as "Lost" finale. I remember a time when tv series had satisfying endings, like The Fugitive, The Prisioner or M.A.S.H. for example. Today most series final episode plain sucks.

 

Not 6 Feet Under. It was the best ending in any series.

 

I didn’t watch this until 10 years after it was over

James Gandolfini was amazing in it. Edie Falco was really good too.

The holy trio for me is (in order) The Wire, Sopranos, and Breaking Bad.

 

for me, the Wire and Sopranos are a class apart. Breaking Bad seemed to have some good elements to it, but fairly quickly it became like a soap opera - what's gonna happen next, who's gonna turn on who - and it meant that the characters just weren't deep enough.

when critics say the wire and sopranos may be among the greatest tv shows ever made, i can see what they're saying. but when critics have said it about Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones, it just sounds faddish - people won't be saying that in 5-10 years' time.

 

Game of Thrones is probably the most over-hyped show of all-time...and mainly for the reason you mentioned.
Of all the people who told me how amazing it is....they'e the people who have no CLUE about The Wire or The Sopranos.

Breaking Bad lived up to my exact expectation just 30mins into Ep1: "this is fuckin dogshit"

 

I don’t separate them as much but I do have The Wire #1 and The Sopranos #2. I love Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad but I have them below those 2.

I can actually see how some find The Wire too slow but once you get into it, it’s amazing, and deals with so many different issues along just being an absorbing drama. Season 4 regarding the school system was the best season of television I’ve ever seen.

 

Why not? GOTs has already been considered one of the greatest shows of all time for much longer than five years. If a show or film is going to fall off or regress it usually happens fairly early like with Avatar or Walking Dead. GOTs’ fandom has come too far to fail at this point. It also has a bunch of highly respected novels it’s based on so there’s also that.

To me people who hate Thrones either don’t like the genre, don’t like dramas or anything that doesn’t have constant action, or they like to consider themselves cool for not following the crowd. But than there are no shows or films that are 100% universally loved.

 

i initially tried the first novel: found it even harder to take than the tv show.

for one thing, the show is just too fucking graphically violent. i saw another scene where that mountain guy pushes that exotic prince's eyes back into his skull until his head explodes in his hands. i would march to have that kind of thing banned from ever being committed to film.

 

Lolznowflake.

 

Yeah it’s not for the queasy of stomachs. But being gratuitously violent doesn’t automatically regulate a show to being bad.

 

Breaking Bad was a 'one watch' show for me. It's very good but for me to consider a show a classic, it has to be rewatchable. The Wire or The Shield I can watch over and over.

 

After reading that, now I might never watch it.

 

Lots of people watch it over and over. Watch a few eps and decide.

 

The Wire is the greatest show ever

 

agree. but does seem like there was a notable drop off in the final season. for me, the ranking goes: 1-3-4 the best, then comes season 2, then comes season 5.

 

Deadwood was every bit as good as sopranos or wire, imo.

 

I think I might have to agree. I probably looked forward to watching "Deadwood" more then either of those two shows. Certainly more then "The Sopranos". Sad it went out with such little fanfare at the end because it was such a complicated project to put together at the time.

 

Yeah. Show deserves way more acclaim from the general public, imo.

 

I agree about 5 being the least strong, but I'd go with 4 as the best.

4, 3, 1 (3 & 1 are very close), 2, then 5.

But 5 did have a couple of my favorite murders on the show.

"close your eyes, it won't hurt none" was just brilliantly filmed and acted, and "how my hair look?", I just cheered.

 

I forget his name, but i preferred the original kingpin in wire. Much more human than the cartoon one who took over.

 

Avon Barksdale followed by the pure evil Marlo Stanfield

 

Yeah. Like Avon much better. Marlo was sort of absurd.

 

Cheese getting whacked was fantastic

 

I think the point of Marlo was that he was the polar opposite of Stringer Bell

 

Show got worse imobwhen they brought him in. Thought it had been a more serious show before.