History Series / TheSopranos

''The Sopranos'' is a deconstructive CriminalProcedural series centered around New Jersey [[TheMafia Mob]] [[TheDon Boss]] Tony Soprano, who after a panic attack secretly begins seeing a therapist. Hilarious RealityEnsues as his therapy coincides with him sending his troublesome, sociopathic mother Livia into a nursing home when it becomes apparent that she's no longer able to take care of herself.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the-sopranos-2_7524.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Wouldn't you need therapy?]]

** The FBI has ADayInTheLimeLight episode where the procedure regarding how to plant a surveillance bug in Tony's house is shown in detail. Tony is a ProperlyParanoid boss who regularly sweeps his headquarter for bugs, relies on {{PayPhone}}s and avoids talking shop inside his house but he is vulnerable in the noisy basement. The bug eventually has a very limited use and the trope is subverted because the judge is adamant and the FBI is only given one shot at this method that is never used again.

* {{Expy}}:

* BigBad: Not in the typical OnceASeason fashion of many shows; season 2 has Richie Aprile and the final season has Phil Leotardo. Partial examples in Junior in season 1 and Johnny Sack in season 5, as they stay agreeable for the most part and while there is some build-up or major conflict, it gets resolved or defused very quickly before becoming an arc.

** Tony making contemptuous remarks against Kelli for being too melodramatic, like "Jackie Kennedy".

** Silvio and Tony have a FriendshipMoment in which they mimic [[Film/RagingBull boxing moves while Cavaleria Rusticana plays]].

* InSeriesNickname: Phil gets called "The Shah of Iran". He resents it

* BigBad: Not in the typical OnceASeason fashion of many shows; season 2 had Richie Aprile and the final season had Phil Leotardo.

* DramaticDrop: Meadow drops the phone after she's informed of [[spoiler: Jackie Jr.'s death.]]

* KickTheDog: The murder of [[spoiler: Bobby and the grave wounding of Silvio]] certainly qualify for Phil.

* MobWar. Avoiding it is a major concern as [[PragmaticVillainy blood is expensive]] but several times it just happens:

* PragmaticVillainy: [[DangerouslyGenreSavvy Tony]] berates Richie for selling drugs in the garbage routes, but only because it will draw the attention of the FBI, not out of any moral qualms. An issue explored in [[Film/TheGodfather other]] [[Film/GoodFellas works]] of the genre alluded to in-universe and TruthInTelevision.

* WhatDoesSheSeeInHim: Adriana and Chris.

** A small comedic subplot involved Tony meeting a gangsta rapper in the next hospital bed over during his recuperation. One of the guys' entourage is a fledgling rapper who realizes that surviving a shooting is key to getting famous, to which he hires Bobby Baccala to do it. Bobby shoots him in the ass. If the connection wasn't apparent enough, they dress [[FiftyCent the character]] in [[MemeticOutfit white pants, a white tank top, and a white hat at the time.]]

** Avoided with "Feech" LaManna, released together with Tony B and Phil Leotardo at the beginning of season 5, but who was frequently mentioned and referred to in season 3, with Ralph recounting how "Feech's" card game was hit and inspiring his stepson to attempt to reenact it. The same anecdote is replayed once "Feech" is released.

** Ralphie is a {{fanboy}} of ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' who disregards ''Film/{{Spartacus}}'' -suggested by Chirs- as unrealistic, and who reenacts one scene on [[EyeScream Georgie's head]].

** Lorraine Calluzzo offers to blow the Leotardo brothers in what turns to be a mock execution.

** Ralphie is a {{fanboy}} of ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' who disregards ''Film/{{Spartacus}}'' -suggested by Chirs- as unrealistic, and reenacts one scene on [[EyeScream Georgie's head]].
** Numerous little nods and subtle references here and there to ''Film/{{Goodfellas}}'', a film defined by David Chase as "My [[Literature/TheQuran Koran".

* AintTooProudToBeg: Christopher in Season 1 when he suffers a [[ItWorksBetterWithBullets mock execution]]. [[DefiantToTheEnd Reversed]] later in Season 5 when Tony is about to kill him and Chris doesn't back down from an accusation.

* RememberTheNewGuy: Richie Aprile, Ralph, Tony B and Phil Leotardo. Justified as they were in jail since '83, the Jersey crew avoids contact with their pinched guys (Paulie in season 4) and internally coherent, the big boss Ercole [=DiMeo=] is "a guest of the government" and he is rarely alluded to, if ever, after the first episodes.
** Subverted with "Feech" LaManna, released together with Tony B and Phil Leotardo at the beginning of season 5. "Feech" was frequently mentioned and referred to in season 3, with Ralph recounting how "Feech's" card game was hit and inspiring his stepson to attempt to reenact it. The same anecdote is replayed once "Feech" is released.

* TwoPersonPoolParty: In the episode "Marco Polo".

* FauxSymbolism: Invoked; for no real reason the movie closes on a close-up shot of a crucifix and a cornicello, to "juxtapose the sacred and the profane".

* AnyoneCanDie: Too recent to call it ''the'' codifier, but probably the first series a lot of people think of when they think of this trope. Many deaths are out of the blue, making [[WhamEpisode wham episodes]] frequent.

* TheCharacterDiedWithHer: Livia Soprano, played by Nancy Marchand.

* ChronicVillainy: Played for tragedy in the case of [[spoiler: Cousin Tony.]]

* ComedicSociopathy: While the series on the whole is aimed at creating disgust with the mob's brutality, the violence ''is'' often played for laughs. Paulie is particularly a bit of a ComedicSociopath.

* EnforcedMethodActing: Ralphie's crew look genuinely surprised - Ralph's hair almost takes off - when [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1cfyDMR_L0 Vito breaks a chair and falls like an elephant]]. In fact the whole moment looks like a borderline ThrowItIn, comically incorporated later into the script.

* EverythingsWorseWithBears: In season five, a marauding bear drops by the Sopranos' compound a number of times, alarming Carmela and panicking A.J. At that moment Tony isn't living there, so he posts some of his underlings as guardians. Eventually he defends the fort himself, posted through the night with weapon in hand, emphasizing the necessity of a strong male family leader.

* FanService:

** TheEvilGenius: Silvio Dante
** TheDarkChick: Christopher Moltisanti

* {{Gayngster}}: [[spoiler:Vito Spatafore]].

* GoodIsNotNice: The FBI are portrayed as manipulative, condescending jerks, but still [[BlackAndGreyMorality unambiguously better than the mob]].

** Noah Tannenbaum's father, a Hollywood attorney who frequently represents celebrities, claims to have met the actor Creator/TimDaly before. Tim Daly would later go on to play the recurring character J.T. Dolan.

** Chris references ''BruceSpringsteen'' in one episode even though Steven Van Zandt (Silvio) is guitar player in the E Street Band.

* EvilMatriarch: [[MeaningfulName Livia]]. '''[[IClaudius LIVIA.]]'''

** [[MagnificentBastard Li]][[IClaudius via]].

* NobleBigot: Tony believes he is doing the righteous thing when he abrasively confronts Noah -- [[DatingWhatDaddyHates Meadow's boyfriend]] and [[TwoferTokenMinority black-Jewish]] -- on race grounds. Noah even gets admonished by Tony because he thinks that Noah plays the race card, as he identifies himself only as black. Played with in that Tony's behavior can be seen as lashing back at what he feels to be Noah's patronizing classism, flaunting his bourgeois New York upbringing in front of the culturally middle-class Tony in ways that make him feel threatened. Played with even more in that shortly after this incident, Tony has a panic attack when he encounters a black face in a cereal box. Tony is always unapologetic and the ambiguity about the source of this anguish (his daughter dating a black man or Tony's guilt over racism and confrontation) gets cleared [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxZwRcHFjFg later in genuine Tony's fashion]]:
-->'''Tony''' Don't tell me you were happy when she was going with that... Jamal Ginsberg the Hasidic Homeboy. We scraped through that by the skin of our ass.

* WeCouldHaveAvoidedAllThis:
** Tony's reflections about the struggle with his uncle.
-->'''Tony''': "Uncle Junior and I, we had our problems with the business but I never should have razzed him about eating pussy. This whole war could have been averted. [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbDL4rI4zu8 Cunnilingus and psychiatry brought us to this.]]"
** Little Carmine slides from pompous to pragmatist in late seasons and mentions the trope sometimes. Other New York bosses do the opposite.