Bada Bing! ‘The Sopranos’ 25th anniversary: 25 greatest episodes, ranked worst to best [PHOTOS]

Ray Richmond
·3 min read
1

The classic show “The Sopranos” began its life on HBO on January 10, 1999, single handedly launching the Golden Age of Cable Drama. It’s difficult to recall now, but when the show premiered, HBO was not yet HBO, and original programming outside of network primetime was still in its infancy. Creator David Chase crafted a series at once dark and comedic, violent and emotionally vibrant. It introduced the world to entertainment’s ultimate antihero in Italian-American mob boss Tony Soprano, played with power, pathos and perturbation by James Gandolfini. Beset by depression and panic attacks, he showed us what “The Godfather” never did: a gangster in therapy, regularly visiting the office of New Jersey psychotherapist Dr. Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) to download his many troubles and come to terms with a toxic mother Livia (Nancy Marchand). Tony’s long-suffering wife Carmela (pitch-perfect work from Edie Falco) and precocious daughter Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) completed his female-surrounding quartet.

SEEEmmys Best Drama Series gallery: Every winner in Emmy Awards history

But “The Sopranos” was much more than a mere character study of a strongman struggling to keep his sanity and survival intact. It was blessed with astonishing good writing and direction and had a deep bench of supporting players portraying the angsty knuckleheads in this world of packing and whacking, including Michael Imperioli as Tony’s hotheaded nephew Christopher, Steve Van Zandt as his consigliere Silvio, Dominic Chianese as his unstable Uncle Junior, Tony Sirico as his loyal lieutenant Paulie Walnuts, Aida Turturro as his perpetually troubled sister Janice, and a few dozen others who gave memorable performances as regulars, semi-regulars and one-timers.

More from GoldDerby

Along the way, the show obliterated all of the written and unwritten rules of television storytelling, infusing the drama with a moral complexity never before seen on the small screen. It blended banality and brutality in ways that changed TV’s approach to primetime, vividly illustrating its lead character’s wrenching dysfunction by deftly interweaving the chaos of both his personal and professional lives.

“The Sopranos” is regularly either at the top or near the top of the lists of the greatest television shows ever to air, and it’s well earned. Its 86 episodes over six seasons were rewarded with 111 Emmy nominations and 21 wins between 1999 and 2007. It was nominated for Best Drama Series every year it was eligible, winning in 2004 and again in 2007. The first victory made it the first cable drama to be so honored. Both Gandolfini and Falco were nominated six times apiece, both winning three times each.

In celebrating the 25th anniversary of “The Sopranos,” tour our photo gallery above where we rank the 25 greatest episodes from worst to best.

Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?

Launch Gallery: 'The Sopranos': 25 greatest episodes, ranked worst to best

Best of GoldDerby

Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.