First published 2019
Television critics Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz examine The Sopranos through comprehensive episode analysis and fresh interviews with creator David Chase. The authors covered the HBO series from its 1999 debut for The Star-Ledger, Tony Soprano's fictional hometown newspaper. Their collection combines detailed episode recaps with critical conversations exploring the show's construction and cultural impact. Sepinwall and Seitz investigate how the series transformed television by introducing complex antihero storytelling that influenced later programs like Mad Men, The Wire, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones. The book features newly conducted interviews with David Chase alongside archival pieces the authors wrote during the show's original run. Their analysis covers the series' artistic techniques, its representation of Italian American culture, its use of violence, and its relationships to film and television history. The authors provide readers with both episode-by-episode commentary and broader thematic examination of the series that launched prestige television.
Genres: american-fiction, non-fiction, biography-memoir, criticism, 21st-century, academic
Vibes: analytical, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: academic-analysis, behind-the-scenes
Setting: The Sopranos, The Star-Ledger
Period: 1999
471 pages · Hardcover · Abrams Press