The Sopranos first caught my attention in December 1999. I had just turned 15, young and innocent as I was I visited my family in New Jersey and New York to celebrate the 99/00 thing. As sort of a souvenir, because it seemed so weird and different from what we have in Germany, I took home an out-of-date issue of the TV Guide. It had The Sopranos on the cover, advertising the upcoming Season 2. I’m not sure whether I ever read the accompanying article, but I probably never fully grasped (or just didn’t care) that the show was about a certain Italian-American subculture in north Jersey, not about opera singers. I might have to catch up on that, this TV Guide actually should still be somewhere in a box in the attic at my parent’s house.

It took no less than eight years for the show to catch my attention for real. After having seen many more ads for the show on my last two visits in NJ/NY in ’05 and ’06, after having read numerous recommendations and reviews about the awesomeness of this show all over the internet, and after having turned into a TV show junkie in general, I finally started watching this highly praised show myself.

The opening credits felt like driving home. All those road signs, streets and storefronts Tony passes by – I’ve been there many times, riding the bus from NJ to NYC and back or driving with my aunt to wherever we go in the area. It adds a weird sort of familiarity.

I have to admit that it took me a while to get used to the style of this show. In the first few episodes it was a little hard to keep up with this multitude of characters and especially with the pacing because other than in most shows, a lot of time can have passed between scenes.

After being used to the extremely thrilling kind shows with cliffhangers after each episode (like Prison Break), the story lines, especially in the first season, seemed almost boring. But The Sopranos isn’t about thrills, it’s about characters. And the characters are what makes this show so incredibly great. Some of the characters are even a joy to look at for the way they act and look, like Sil for example.

Tony Soprano, the main character, is probably one of the most complex characters portrayed. He is a devoted husband and father who sees a shrink to treat his panic attacks, but he is also a ruthless mob boss with high traditional values. Around him is a great character ensemble, and even though a lot of them are gangsters, they are all (with very very few exceptions) very likable and were all dearly missed whenever one of them had to bite the dust. In the later seasons we even see some big names as guest stars.

Independent from that, the later seasons, let’s say Season 3-6 I, were my personal favorites. Those had some very strong story lines dealing with a wide range of topics. The most memorable scene by far is that in Season 6 I Episode 2, where the wind blows through the trees when Tony wants to go to a family reunion. Very powerful moment.

The show has it’s downsides of course. What bothered me most were the conservative views of a lot of characters, but it mostly seems like the show doesn’t take itself too serious on those issues. Other than that I expected a little more from the final episode. It was pretty good, but I guess I’m spoiled by all this mind-blowing stuff in Heroes or Dexter.

Now that I’m through with the show I feel like I really have to watch it again. I always want to watch a show again after I’m finished, but with The Sopranos I’d really have to. There were so many characters and subplots in this show that I missed a few. When I started watching it actually took me a Season or two to realize who which character was and how they relate to whom in which way and whatnot. But there are so many other shows out there which I have to watch first before I’ll have the time to watch this again.

In conclusion, The Sopranos is fuckin’ awesome entertainment for adults. It needs getting used to, but it definitely deserves all the fuzz and awards it gets.