Top Television Show of All Time: The Sopranos

With the theme song rocking and Tony Soprano rolling from the office to home we all realize it one last time, Sopranos is the top television show of all time. Some write it off because of its incessant violence and endless cussing, but miss the stunning reality it brings to us with each episode. Others blow it off for its broken families and traditional gender stereotypes, but miss the impact each character has on the other. The Sopranos isn't great because of the flash and circumstance of a mob family trying to fly under the radar, it is great because it is a collection of diverse characters trying to live together. It is a commentary on our society as a whole, treasuring the little things, but putting dollar signs on everything.

The smaller moments like Tony's obsession with the ducks in season one are what have endeared us to these characters in a special way. Nobody would have any sympathy for a ruthless killer who made decisions about other people's lives like he would choose dinner off a menu. A mobster who is fearing the departure of his children and the loss of family life through watching some ducks in a pool, he has problems. We like people with problems, people like us, people like us with lives nothing like us!

When poor Big Pussy got the whack in the second season we all somewhat saw it coming, but we wanted to see if Tony had as big of a heart as we wanted him to. We all knew the feelings of love between Tony, Pauly, and Silvio for him, yet we all knew what was going to happen. We watched because these are seemingly human people that we know through their faults dealing with problems we can only imagine. None of us would have to kill our best friend to save our own livelihood, but if we did, could we?

The problems that these characters have faced, from Adrianna's devastating struggle with the F.B.I. to Junior's struggle with dementia we have experienced everything along with them. Tony's fight through Uncle Junior's gunshot was something to behold as we witnessed his cousin and alternate life through one trippy dream. These problems would not have been remotely interesting had it not been for the little times we witnessed Tony eating ice cream and Adrianna opening her own club. Those small moments made the big moments more intense, more meaningful.

When the Sopranos go away and we are left trudging through the endless array of reality and game show television we will truly appreciate what we had. Nobody will make us more appalled and heartbroken at the same time like the Sopranos did. Nobody will make us wonder, are the good guys the government or the lawbreakers? Nobody will make us wonder like the Sopranos did and that is why it was the top television show of all time.