Watching The Sopranos for the first time. Woof.

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Cesspool Hustler
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6:16p, 10/20/26
I'm on episode 9 of season 1.
I love mob movies and mob history. I've heard for almost 30 years how great this show is.

Holy **** this show sucks. It's boring as hell. Please tell me it gets better.
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zap
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6:18p, 10/20/26
AG
If you are not into it by now, you should bail.
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RightWingConspirator
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In reply to Cesspool Hustler • 6:24p, 10/20/26
AG
We watched it. Never understood the hype. But we also didn't get the hype for Game of Thrones or Dark or Severance or many others.
"But it is easier to purchase products that denote superiority than to be actually superior in economic achievement." - Thomas J. Stanley
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Another Doug
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6:37p, 10/20/26
AG
This show revolutionized tv as it is today… but yeah 25+ years later it's pretty boring.
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Lathspell
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7:04p, 10/20/26
AG
I'm in the same boat. I love mafia and crime movies. I finally tried to start it myself, a few months back, really excited to get to spend a long time with these characters and stories. I had to force myself through the first 3 episodes and ultimately just dropped it. I agree... it was boring as hell.
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FL_Ag1998
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7:30p, 10/20/26
AG
If you're watching the Sopranos because you wanna watch a show about the mob then you're gonna hate it and miss the point.

I understand calling it slow. But after finally watching all of it not that long ago, it was one of those shows that as soon as I watched the final episode I immediately started missing that world of Tony Soprano that I had been totally absorbed in.
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Roll the Bones
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7:44p, 10/20/26
AG
Wow, we loved it but we watched it when it was released, so maybe seeing it for the first time almost 30 years later is not the same experience. It's a character study as much as a mob story.

We've rewatched it twice now and I am itching for a third.
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schmendeler
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8:03p, 10/20/26
AG
Curious how old the OP is...
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brew82
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8:07p, 10/20/26
Sopranos was great! What's wrong with you people?
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_lefraud_
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8:13p, 10/20/26
AG
I'm watching for the first time, on episode 2.

Finished The Wire a few months back, so excited to see what Tony and the family has to offer.
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Bruce Almighty
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8:16p, 10/20/26
AG
I didn't watch it live, binged it about 15 years ago. I thought it was good, glad I watched it, but it didn't blow me away. I thought the earlier seasons were better than the later ones where it really started to drag, especially season 5 and the first half of season 6. It did end well, and I didn't even mind the finale, even though I already knew about it. I think it belongs among the 5 greatest shows of all time because of what it meant for the history of tv, but I wouldn't put it in my personal top 10.
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Madmarttigan
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8:16p, 10/20/26
AG
Wife and I didn't make it past 2nd season. It was a show about dramatic things happening in a family who happened to be mobsters. I know it was revolutionary for its time but after watching tons of other mobster/antihero shows it doesn't hold up.
Formerly tv1113
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walton91
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In reply to Cesspool Hustler • 8:29p, 10/20/26
Short answer, it gets better in Season 2. The Sopranos was a groundbreaking show, everyone knows this, but it's from a different era. Shows 30 years ago usually took 1-2 seasons to find their rhythm before they really started to cook. Networks were slower to cancel back then. Premium tv shows today are way stronger out of the gate, with better defined characters and storylines than tv 30 years ago, but they also decline quicker with diminishing returns in seasons 2 and 3 in my experience. 30 years ago shows were the inverse, started slow, found their legs in season 2, then hit their stride in Season 3 and after
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SJEAg
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9:02p, 10/20/26
AG
Those that find The Sopranos dull, I have to think have no shot of liking The Wire. That show took some effort. I nearly bailed out on Ep 1. Now I kind of miss shows that needed a little time to cook. Mad Men was another.

But of course with seemingly every good show being 8-10 episodes with 2-3 years between seasons they almost have to grab you right away.
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Ervin Burrell
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9:37p, 10/20/26
AG
The Wire is my favorite show of all time and I haven't been able to make it past mid-second season of The Sopranos despite a handful of tries. It's a bit too on the nose/cliche for me but I see why people love it.
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Kashchei
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10:25p, 10/20/26
AG
I finished watching it through for a third time last year. It gets better each time. Agree with another poster, as soon as I finished it I was ready to restart it again.
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Proposition Joe
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10:27p, 10/20/26
The Wire holds up.

Sopranos does not. It's dated. If you didn't watch it during it's run, you don't hold it in near the same esteem.

Re-watching The Shield and while it was for a long time my favorite of all time, it suffers the same.
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Dan Scott
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10:29p, 10/20/26
AG
I love the Sopranos but don't like Season 1. Season 2 when it gets good.
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Darth Randy
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In reply to Cesspool Hustler • 12:12a, 10/21/26
Cesspool Hustler said:
I'm on episode 9 of season 1.
I love mob movies and mob history. I've heard for almost 30 years how great this show is.

Holy **** this show sucks. It's boring as hell. Please tell me it gets better.

This is the worst take I've ever seen on Texags, and I post on the politics board...
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NukeAg10
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In reply to Ervin Burrell • 4:41a, 10/21/26
AG
Ervin Burrell said:
The Wire is my favorite show of all time.


Username checks out.

The Wire is #2 for me, behind Breaking Bad. I did my annual rewatch of the wire this summer and it still holds up. Season 2 became my favorite after a few times through. So damn good.
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SteakandPizza
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In reply to NukeAg10 • 6:34a, 10/21/26
NukeAg10 said:
Ervin Burrell said:
The Wire is my favorite show of all time.


Username checks out.

The Wire is #2 for me, behind Breaking Bad. I did my annual rewatch of the wire this summer and it still holds up. Season 2 became my favorite after a few times through. So damn good.

There are two of 'em in this thread.
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Chipotlemonger
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7:52a, 10/21/26
AG
I'd be curious of the OP's opinion (or any of the rest of y'all knocking on The Sopranos) is regarding Mad Men. I bet there's a good Venn Diagram type overlap of people that enjoyed both shows. Less flashy than a lot of TV, but very good character studies.
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Rigs
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7:54a, 10/21/26
You have to make it to episode 5, "College". If you don't get it by then, you never will.

The finale was such a huge deal- I boarded a cruise ship for my honeymoon the morning of the night that it aired, but in 2007, was able to remain blissfully unaware of anything resembling a spoiler while on a ship, knowing it was waiting on my DVR the night I got back. And gddamit, after a week of avoiding all that, there was some issue on disembarking, and they stuck us in this big auditorium where spoilers are playing in a loop.
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Ag_07
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9:02a, 10/21/26
AG
Sopranos is better the more you understand the entire universe and all the side plots and supporting characters.

It may be slow early on but it gets better later on and even more so on your second watch.
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one MEEN Ag
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9:36a, 10/21/26
AG
This is very much a 'Seinfeld isn't funny' or 'Casablanca is full of cliche one liners' post.

Sopranos was a very good tv show for its time. HBO gave a lot more leeway in how the episodes were framed because of their subscription model. Discussing tv shows around a water cooler each week was a cultural thing as well.

The concept of must watch tv that kept media relevancy for 1/3 of a year died with top tier Netflix content.

People expect more of movie style pacing of their tv shows nowadays and it colors how you look at older shows.

That being said, dang everybody on this board watches way too much tv.
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aggiegrad01
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9:49a, 10/21/26
AG
Hope you like the sound of people chewing their food, and breathing heavy; cause you are in for a real treat!
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BoxingAg84
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10:09a, 10/21/26
AG
The Wire > Sopranos
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Zombie Jon Snow
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10:54a, 10/21/26
AG
Absolute insanity.

Sopranos completely changed TV.

If you can't appreciate the long form slow burn I blame it on attention spans these days. And binge watching stuff.

It has actual story and substance and character arcs and a wide ranging ensemble cast. You aren't going to "get it" in a few episodes. Maybe we had more time then and it built over time because we could only watch it one week at a time. And then wait 9 months for more. There was no binging it, not until it was on DVD.

But it is a family drama that happens to be a mob related family story. Not a mob story in the traditional sense.

If you can get to E5 College and you are not hooked then give up. But E13 is gold and should lock you in if you make it that far.

Each season has at least one outstanding episode, sometimes the penultimate episode is bigger than the finale
S1 - College E5
S2 - The Knight in White Satin Armor E12
S3 - Pine Barrens E11
S4 - Whoever Did This E9
S5 - Long Term Parking E12
S6A - Members Only E1
S6B - Soprano Home Movies E1 or The Blue Comet E8

And then the ending episodes are usually stellar too, very memorable except the 6A season ender which was more of a mid season pause than a finale, it should have ended on Soprano Home Movies instead.

S1 - I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano E13
S2 - Funhouse E13
S3 - Army of One E13
S4 - Whitecaps E13
S5 - All Due Respect E13
S6A - Kaisha E12 was meh
S6B - Made in America E9


Still some of the best TV ever made. But the payoff is not in immediate gratification.
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Rigs
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In reply to Zombie Jon Snow • 11:09a, 10/21/26
Quote:
And then wait 9 months for more.
9 months?!? Dude, we has to wait like 18 months between S3 and S4, then S4 and S5, and almost 2 years between S5 and S6.
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Zombie Jon Snow
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In reply to Rigs • 11:19a, 10/21/26
AG
Rigs said:
Quote:
And then wait 9 months for more.

9 months?!? Dude, we has to wait like 18 months between S3 and S4, then S4 and S5, and almost 2 years between S5 and S6.


Well it seemed like a long time but I could not recall exactly.

Yeah the first 3 seasons wasn't bad.

S3-S4 was 16 months
S4-S5 was 21 months though
S5-S6A was another 21 months
Even S6A to S6B was 10 months

All told 8.5 years. 86 episodes. So an average of 10 episodes a year.

The Beatles were only together recording for 7.5 years and made 13 albums plus another 20+ singles or 2-3 more albums effectively. lol



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Btron
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11:21a, 10/21/26
AG
Well, there's always Young Sheldon and Two Broke Girls you can continue to watch....
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Proposition Joe
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11:36a, 10/21/26
It completely changed TV.

It's also dated, mainly due to it's narrative structure being very episodic and somewhat self-contained.

Now, that's not it fault - back then when writing for TV you didn't know if you had 1 season or 10.

But when put up against a series that had true character and story arcs like Breaking Bad, it shows.
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YouBet
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In reply to Zombie Jon Snow • 2:03p, 10/21/26
AG
Agreed. It's an incredible show and revolutionized TV.

It started the Golden Age of TV we've all enjoyed for the last many years.
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Emotional Support Cobra
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2:52p, 10/21/26
AG
I was a kid in the 90s in suburban NJ so for better or worse, the Sopranos looks like home to me, in a visceral manner that is hard to describe if you didnt live with these types of people in your real life, with mobsters living in your neighborhood and Italian grandmas babysitting you and feeding you. Same for Goodfellas to a lesser extent but the culture is the same.

I have watched it all the way through multiple times, every few years. I can understand how it is a bit dated for younger folks with no attention span but it is truly great TV.
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amercer
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6:52p, 10/21/26
AG
Watched Sopranos when it was on TV. Incredibly high quality TV and the start of the prestige era of television. But it was still, format wise, very much like tv of the time. Lots of episodes per season, lots of seasons. It was like the best restaurant in your town, you could go every week and it would be good.

TV now is like paying $500 for a tomahawk steak at a resort on vacation. Every season needs to be only 6-10 episodes that are %100 action, suspense, thriller, and mystery box for every moment. Also why most series that start out great can't kept if going.

So yeah it's different
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