A collection of writing

This article was originally featured on StudentPunch.com, which is a student online magazine that I write TV articles for. I will be archiving all of my articles that that were featured on Student Punch— Andrew.

The world of television has become a dark place in recent years with the monstrous rise of reality TV featuring z-list celebrities or people who want to become z-list celebrities. I am personally fed up of it, but that’s the way things are these days. However, all is definitely not lost as we have had some fantastic TV shows over the past decade and I think it’s time to highlight a particular favourite of mine – The Sopranos.

The Sopranos first aired in the distant past of 1999, but I did not watch it when it first came out. In fact, I only watched the show for the first time a few years ago. I can safely say, though, that The Sopranos is a masterpiece of TV. I would actually go as far as to say that The Sopranos is the best TV show ever, so far.

The Sopranos, as I hope you would know, is about a mafia mob boss, Tony Soprano, based in New Jersey. The show is about Tony’s life and family, both personal and business. Looking in from the outside, it might seem like ‘just another gangster story’, but it goes further than that. An advantage that the show has being on TV, as opposed to film, is the longevity; it has six full seasons of at least 13 hours per season. This allows the show to delve deeper into the characters than any mob film, and that’s what separates it from most of the riff-raff on TV today. David Chase, the show’s creator, allows viewers to fully engage with the characters in the show, especially Tony, and it engages with a mobster’s psyche more than anything I have seen before it. You get to see Tony in every aspect of his life; with his own family, with his associates, with enemies, making decisions, his therapy, and the list goes on. You begin to understand everything that Tony does, without condoning it all.

Don’t be completely fooled, though, as The Sopranos might just be a TV show, but it transcends what TV traditionally represents, and, instead, you wouldn’t be completely wrong to think of the show as a damn good film that just so happens to be 80 hours long. While the writing is probably the strongest aspect of the show, everything else blends together to form this excellent final product. As a TV show, there was a large list of directors that worked on the show, all of whom are extremely talented in what they offer as individuals, but they all seem to work together in end, which was due to David Chase making executive decisions on the show. The music throughout the entire show is flawless. The music department seemed to find a perfect song for any moment or emotion, ranging from classical Italian music to classic rock. A particular favourite of mine is the ending of the entire show that features Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing’.

The cherry on top of this large and delicious cake is the cast. There was not one casting mistake. Everybody that appears on-screen fits their role, whether it is one of the main characters that appears throughout the entire show, or just somebody that only appears for one episode. The highlight, obviously, is James Gandolfini, who plays Tony Soprano. As an actor, James Gandolfini was not particularly well-known before The Sopranos, mainly appearing in films, but he really solidifies the role of Tony and he shows a tremendous amount of acting ability in a difficult and demanding role. Many of the other actors found in the show have appeared in some mobster films before The Sopranos, such as Lorraine Bracco, who played a main character in Scorsese’s Goodfellas. Having an identifiable mob-story cast helps the show seem grounded and believable. The cast work so well together that everything on-screen feels incredibly genuine.

I could easily keep listing reasons why you need to see The Sopranos, and I’m tempted to do just that, but I think it’s best to let the show do the talking. You do not need to be a lover of mob stories to appreciate and enjoy The Sopranos; you just need to be an appreciator of good TV and/or film. The entire show can be found in a DVD box-set for under £60, which is ridiculously cheap for the quality and quantity of the show found within.

AC

The original article can be found at http://studentpunch.com/the-sopranos-find-it-and-watch-it.html