Television Review | The success story of the Sopranos started with the series creator’s own bad mother

of the 1990s at the end, it was rare that especially young people remembered 25-year-old TV series, at least without reruns.

About an American mafia family, Sopranos turns 25, but many remember it. The series has not disappeared from streaming services.

The Sopranos is one of the most central works of contemporary television on many levels. The series was once hugely popular and received rare unanimous praise from critics. It started a new appreciation of TV series and turned their creators into well-known artists.

The main character of the series is Tony Soprano, a middle-aged family man and mob boss from New Jersey, who regularly goes to therapy.

Something The Sopranos of the position says that the celebration document Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos has done Alex Gibneythe most respected American documentarian by Errol Morris alongside.

Gibney’s sensible portrait was recently seen in cinemas In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon. Two-piece Wise Guy is of the same category in total duration.

Even though the documentary is done The Sopranos for HBO, which produced it, it is much more interesting than just an advertising tool.

Usually Gibney doesn’t tend to appear himself in his documentaries, but here he is interviewed The Sopranos author David Chase on a set that resembles a reception room, one where by James Gandolfini played by Tony Soprano was seen by psychiatrist Jennifer Melfin (Lorraine Bracco) as a patient.

We start with childhood, on the way we see excerpts from a student film and remember our TV career as a writer in series such as The Rockford Papers and Wild North.

Sometimes Chase already complains that he wouldn’t have agreed The Sopranos-documentary, if he had known that it only deals with him. About Chase (b. 1945) there is as much as a portrait. He wanted to be a film director, but made his career mainly as a TV scriptwriter.

Chase directed The Sopranos the pilot and the final episode. Between them, he built the framework for all six seasons and strictly managed the writing team.

The Sopranos was personal to Chase in many ways. He started developing it about his own mother, whom he says is a shame.

David Chase (center) on the set of The Sopranos. Picture: Will Hart

Chase thought it might be interesting if the gangster’s son went to a psychiatrist to deal with his problematic relationship with his mother. So the model for the mother of mob boss Tony Soprano is Chase’s own mother. He adapted Dr. Melfi based on his own therapist.

When The Sopranos ended up on HBO, the pay channel was still a fairly small player in the US TV market, which was dominated by the traditional television network giants.

Cold ring and Single life had already started on HBO earlier, but The Sopranos blew up the bank. It quickly brought new subscribers to the channel and made it a trendsetter.

As Chase says, Tony Soprano is an ordinary family man who just happens to work for the Mafia. Godfather the operatic grandeur is a far cry from suburban New Jersey.

Within that framework, Chase dealt with many themes over the years. Sometimes Italian-American guys have to get used to a female boss at work.

On the other hand, Tony and the other gangsters are unpredictably violent. The brutal scenes overturned the traditional boundaries of tame television. The authors emphasize that The Sopranos violence was always justified.

Actress Edie Falco played Carmela Soprano in the series. Picture: Max

Chase deservedly gets the main role in the documentary, but Gibney also interviews many of the screenwriters and most of the essential actors.

James Gandolfini, who played Tonya, died in 2013. His interviews are old material, at least by James Lipton from the program The stars tell.

Steven van Zandt played Silvio Dante in the series. Picture: Max

Wise Guy generally illuminates TV series and in particular The Sopranos about doing. Among other things, the casting videos are interesting, and there are also a lot of rejected actors.

To David Chase The Sopranos was a rather late success, the crowning glory of a career. When it started, he had already worked in the TV industry for a quarter of a century.

With success, Chase could have moved on to making the movies he dreamed of as a youngster. However, he continued The Sopranos eight years.

Although The Sopranos would remain Chase’s only significant work, that’s enough in many ways. It is a personal masterpiece that changed the history of its field. Wise Guy is a good and well-deserved proof of that.

Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos, on the Max streaming service, Sun 8.9.

The Sopranos is David Chase’s most significant work to date. Picture: Max