Why Watching The Sopranos in 2026 Hits Different

I first watched The Sopranos in its entirety in my early 20’s and thought it was every bit as fabulous and defining as, well, everyone else did. I’ve never met a person who doesn’t rate that show and I don’t care to either, because it’s simply the best there is.

It’s nice (and rare for me) to feel in total and utter agreeance with the rest of society when it comes to a piece of media and the consensus on it. I usually annoyingly have some bone to pick, but when it comes to The Sopranos I have no notes, no bones, it’s just that good.

So the internet doesn’t need another Sopranos analysis or essay delving into the deep psychological problems that plague every character, nor does it need bringing to your attention the fact that the show is what defined television and projected it into the respected realm it now finds itself in.

The Sopranos made television what it is today - no questions asked.

We are currently rewatching this masterpiece and it’s nearing the end, so I wanted to point out a two things I’ve noticed that stick out in comparison to the shows we watch today, generally speaking.

• Ambiguity as to who is right, wrong and everything between. What characters really feel or mean with their actions or what they do or don’t say. Leaving in the blanks and letting the viewer ponder them.

• Each episode ends with a fade to black that isn’t a cliffhanger. It’s like the anti cliffhanger in fact. It ends on a pensive note that leaves you sitting there mulling over all sorts of moral complexes and in doing so makes you want to watch more.

The Sopranos isn’t interested in creating constant action and ending every episode on an extreme high because this was a social media free time.

This means that there was no reliance on the internet losing its shit over this week’s ep and posting about it relentlessly online, creating buzz and then having to maintain that buzz seasons on with more cliffhangers, more twists and turns, more endings leaving you at the edge of your seat.

The Sopranos wasn’t desperate. It was in no rush to get to the action or the big reveal. It was confident in how it would unfold and sometimes that was quite slow, meandering through each characters foibles and slowly weaving them together over a very long period of time. Something that shows now likely just don’t get the chance to do due to budget or creative constraints.

In the last two substacks I’ve really been sounding like some nostalgic boomer who has an issue with every recent development in culture or technology and maybe I am. Or maybe things just used to be better? Whether it was the way things were made in a more considered and quality manner, be it a pair of shoes or a television series about a mob boss and his family.

My husband was actually the one that pointed out the specific way each episode comes to an end. It circles back to the overall theme of the episode (which can sometimes exist all on its own separate from the series as a whole) in a way that lands you softly at the end, opening the gate to leave Sopranos land with a helping hand, not a jarring mic drop that leaves you wide eyed and gasping like today’s TV shows do, or strive to.

I started playing a little game where I would rewrite the ending, pointing out where they might have cut the episode if this was a show running today. I think the influence social media has had on the way we consume TV and cinema is greater than we may even comprehend. You don’t understand until you go back and watch something as sprawling and truly captivating as The Sopranos.

Of course there is the question of what is deemed “okay” by today’s standards and like a lot of 90’s shows and films I’m not sure certain things would pass today, for better or worse.

Aside from that though, it’s also the way it’s put together, the way it was allowed to be put together. It could lay down the roots for what it would end up being and get those roots right underneath you and your couch!

You feel compelled to root for Tony at all costs, even to your own, now very lowered, moral standards and this is because the show doesn’t just give Tony airtime, it allows every part of his universe to come into play, layering him up like a big ol’ deli sandwich.

It would seem an odd comparison to liken GOT and The Sopranos in any other way than both being HBO classics and also culturally defining shows, but they have another commonality: They build worlds with deeply flawed characters who progress and unfurl at a pace that feels real and relatable. The episode isn’t bound by it’s runtime, it’s doing what it needs to do to tell the story in how ever many seasons it needs to. I can’t say as much for shows today.

It’s as if I can feel the writers scrambling to try and make it a hit! Or I can feel the money run out and the ending change. I can feel the desperation in the way it’s so jam packed and “leaving me hanging” in this cloyingly artificial way that feels inauthentic.

The Sopranos reigns supreme because of its lack of desperation to have you continue watch it, it’s aloof in a way that nothing in 2026 could ever be because it would just be buried or scrolled past.

Imagine for a moment if The Sopranos was being made now for the first time, for today’s audience. It would be full of good looking people that’s for sure, and that fucking pisses me off. I want my Sopranos family, dirty, fat and sweaty from all the pork products they just consumed.

It would also be hyper edited to be “cool” like a Tarantino movie, or something in the vein of Peaky Blinders where it’s got this needledrop soundtrack and every bit of dialogue is so rehearsed. Every episode would need a breathy threat cause the guys are so tough.

Instead The Sopranos is looser and less concerned with being “cool” or “a hit”, in fact the majority of scenes show the mundane qualities of even someone as high up as Tony and we don’t get slick montages and brutal kills, instead we just get Tony driving in his SUV singing badly to ‘Dirty Work’ by Steely Dan, something I’ve heard my own (non mobster obviously) father do growing up.

This grounds Tony and keeps him close to us as regular people. I don’t feel like TV today knows how to do that.

I’ve enjoyed recent shows, yes, but none have hit me in the stomach, or heart, like The Sopranos did in my early twenties on first viewing and even more so now as a 34 year old woman with a family and various responsibilities.

I feel that The Sopranos respects me as a viewer and that’s likely because the creators were writing for an audience that were untainted by all these endless distractions we face today. They weren’t tasked with the battle of “dumb it down so people who are on their phones can still understand it”.

In fact the spots someone would look down at their phone during The Sopranos are the exact ambiguous moments that make the show what it is. It’s not giving you all the answers and it’s merky in it’s morality and how it makes you feel for judging or not judging certain characters.

Spanning family, society, politics, crime, love, sex, addiction, religion, culture, race, class, desire and of course, the meaning of life. Why are we here and what should we do whilst we are?

It’s an 86 hour long extensional crisis played out in what feels like a lifetime.

Everyone pulls their weight, including the audience who devoured the show and the lifelong fans it’s made years after.

My overarching point here isn’t to say that The Sopranos rules and every other show sucks, although I would happily say that and die on that New Jersey hill.

It’s more so to say that a rewatch of this entire series has helped me to identify what is missing in our current cultural landscape and that is subtlety, ambiguity, mystery, more ugly actors, audiences not on their phones and the confidence to invest in characters that take the time a sunday ragu does to fully become tender.

I have more to say about The Sopranos family but hey, who doesn’t?

Goomars, gabagool and goodnight to you.

Thank you for reading my Sopranos rant.