History Series / TheSopranos

** [[spoiler:While A.J. finally gets his life back on track, Meadow has embraced the MafiaPrincess life, with prospects of becoming an AmoralAttorney. Uncle Junior completely loses himself and is left to die in a mental hospital, and Bobby's kids are stuck with Janice, who's essentially become [[EvilMatriarch her and Tony's late mother Livia]].]]

** [[spoiler:Dr. Melfi drops Tony as a patient after she realizes he cannot be saved.]]

** [[spoiler:''Paulie'' is the one character who isn't shown to have anything bad happen to him immediately, so [[KarmaHoudini make of it what you will]].]]
* DragonWithAnAgenda: In season 1, Tony allowed his Uncle Junior to become the official Boss of the family since he would become the FBI's main target instead of Tony, who could still exercise power through the other capos, who recognized him as de facto leader. Eventually, it resulted in a minor MobWar when Junior realized that his nephew had fleeced him, one which Tony won.

* DwindlingParty: By the end of the series, almost all the significant members of the [=DiMeo=] crime family are dead, incarcerated, have disappeared from the narrative, or have suffered an arguable FateWorseThanDeath. (As in the case of [[spoiler: Silvio]]) It's basically just [[spoiler: Tony, Paulie, and Patsy at the end.]]

** [[spoiler: Even though Phil Leotardo is killed, ending the mob war between New Jersey and New York crews, the future of the [=DiMeo=] crime family is pretty grim; most of Tony's key guys are either dead or otherwise incapacitated. Even worse, Carlo, one of the last trusted members of the organization, decides to go into witness protection.]]

** [[spoiler:Tony himself stops visiting Dr. Melfi as she realizes he cannot be saved and abruptly ends her and Tony's therapy sessions, with no real conclusion.]]

* DownerEnding: Nothing upbeat about the finale:

** [[spoiler:Tony himself stops visiting Dr. Melfi as she realizes he cannot be saved and abruptly ends Tony's therapy, with no real conclusion.]]
** [[spoiler:And, finally, the last scene of the series implies Tony might or might not have been killed in front of his family. Even if he weren't, he's likely to spend time in prison on RICO charges. Everybody loses. Tony just left a lot of loose ends, after all. ''Paulie'' is the one character who doesn't have anything bad happen to him immediately, so [[KarmaHoudini make of it what you will]].]]

[[caption-width-right:325:[[BigScrewedUpFamily Wouldn't you need therapy?]] [[labelnote:Characters]] From left to right: [[TheLoad Janice Soprano]], [[DistractedByTheLuxury Carmela Soprano]], [[PsychopathicManchild Paulie Gualtieri]], [[TheDragon Silvio Dante]], [[SoapboxSadie Meadow Soprano]], [[MafiaPrincess Adriana La Cerva]], [[WellDoneSonGuy Christopher Moltisanti]], [[DumbassTeenageSon AJ Soprano]], [[AuthorityInNameOnly Junior Soprano]], [[TheDon Tony Soprano]], [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Ralph Cifaretto]], [[TheShrink Jennifer Melfi]].[[/labelnote]][[labelnote:Not Pictured]][[EvilMatriarch Livia Soprano]], [[ButtMonkey Artie Bucco]], [[EnigmaticMinion Big Pussy]], [[KnightInSourArmor Dwight Harris]], [[AxCrazy Richie Aprile]], [[BewareTheQuietOnes Bobby Baccalieri]], [[ChronicVillainy Tony Blundetto]], [[MouthOfSauron Johnny Sack]], [[ArmoredClosetGay Vito Spatafore]], [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Carmine Lupertazzi]], [[InadequateInheritor Little Carmine]], [[FinalBoss Phil Leotardo]].[[/labelnote]]]]

* DownerEnding: Nothing upbeat about the finale: [[spoiler: even though Phil Leotardo is killed, ending the mob war between New Jersey and New York crews, most of Tony's key guys are either dead or otherwise incapacitated, making the future of the Soprano crime family pretty grim. Even worse, Carlo, one of the last trusted members of the organization, decides to testify against Tony and others. Meanwhile, while AJ finally gets his life back on track, Meadow essentially becomes her mother, with prospects of marrying a mob lawyer. Uncle Junior completely loses himself and is left to die in a mental hospital, and Bobby's kids are stuck with Janice, who starts resembling her and Tony's mother Livia. Tony himself stops visiting Dr. Melfi as she realizes he cannot be saved and abruptly ends Tony's therapy, with no real conclusion. And, finally, the last scene of the series implies Tony might have been killed in front of his family...or not. Everybody loses. Tony just left a lot of loose ends, after all. ''Paulie'' is the one character who comes out on top, so [[KarmaHoudini make of it what you will]].]]

* NoEnding: Probably the most notorious example. Take a look at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZpwnI4z49A&feature=fvwrel this]] to see portions of the ending, as well as details that pop up in it. As for the actual ending itself: [[spoiler: Tony and his family sit and eat in a restaurant, with Tony continually looking up at the door to see who walks in, obviously extremely nervous. Just as another person walks in, the show immediately cuts to black, and after a few seconds the credits roll]].

** Nancy Marchand (Livia Soprano) died between seasons. The writers gave her a final scene with Tony, cut from her previous work with him. It was terrible. Most jarring was that Livia's lines are pretty generic with Tony's dialogue made to fit. Not to mention that [[spoiler: Tony probably wouldn't have visited his mother or even talked to her at that point.]]

** Tony Soprano's {{Wrath}} and short fuse sometimes got the better of him.

* AllPsychologyIsFreudian: Played with. Tony Soprano cites UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud (whom he learned about in his "semester and a half" of college) to explain to Melfi that he understands therapy "as a concept", but the show deals with psychology a lot, and it really isn't here. Often called the most accurate fictional depiction of what ''actually'' happens in therapy. Tony however is diagnosed with a compelling FreudianExcuse and Freud is also the TropeCodifier for OedipusComplex, one of the {{Freudian Excuse}}s mentioned often by Melfi despite Tony's repulsion.

* OedipusComplex: Tony has an Oedipus complex relating to his mother, and it is repeatedly shown to impact his relationships with other women in his life.

[[caption-width-right:325:[[BigScrewedUpFamily Wouldn't you need therapy?]] [[labelnote:Characters]] From left to right: [[TheLoad Janice Soprano]], [[DistractedByTheLuxury Carmela Soprano]], [[PsychopathicManchild Paulie Gualtieri]], [[TheDragon Silvio Dante]], [[SoapboxSadie Meadow Soprano]], [[MafiaPrincess Adriana La Cerva]], [[WellDoneSonGuy Christopher Moltisanti]], [[DumbassTeenageSon AJ Soprano]], [[AuthorityInNameOnly Junior Soprano]], [[TheDon Tony Soprano]], [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Ralph Cifaretto]], [[TheShrink Jennifer Melfi]].[[/labelnote]][[labelnote:Not Pictured]][[EvilMatriarch Livia Soprano]], [[ButtMonkey Artie Bucco]], [[EnigmaticMinion Big Pussy]], [[AxCrazy Richie Aprile]], [[BewareTheQuietOnes Bobby Baccalieri]], [[ChronicVillainy Tony Blundetto]], [[MouthOfSauron Johnny Sack]], [[ArmoredClosetGay Vito Spatafore]], [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Carmine Lupertazzi]], [[InadequateInheritor Little Carmine]], [[FinalBoss Phil Leotardo]].[[/labelnote]]]]

* NostalgiaAintLikeItUsedToBe: A running theme. Tony often laments that the then-current Mafia (the late 90s/early 00s) is nothing like it used to be. He imagines the mob in the days of his father (mid to late 70s), picturing loyal mobsters who would never turn state's evidence and instead just take their prison sentences like "real men", as a period where the mob was "honorable" and well respected by the community. Flashbacks indicate that if anything, his father's day was just as bad or even worse.

* GoldenAge: Junior tends to look back on the old days of the mob with rose-tinted glasses. Tony is more skeptical:
-->'''Junior:''' You know, back in the 50s, we worked together. Even rival families settled their differences amicably.\\
'''Tony:''' [[SarcasmMode Oh yeah, I remember that picture of Albert Anastasia lying there all "amicable" on the barbershop floor.]]

** {{Discussed}} when Christopher runs into gangsta rapper Massive Genius and is invited to a party at his villa to set up a meeting with Hesh, one of the Soprano Family's associates. The rapper is outrageously smug, purposely showing off his vast wealth (including his BlingBlingBang) and generally trying to act as tough as possible to Christopher, a character the audience knows full well to be a sociopathic murderer. Christopher later laments that in the modern day being a fake gangster is clearly a lot more profitable than being an actual one. In a subtle dig, Massive Genius admits to having seen ''Film/TheGodfather'' 200 times (a favorite among Tony's crew, who frequently quote it), illustrating that Tony's crew are looking back at the old Mafia days with rose-tinted glasses just as much as a genuine outsider.

* DamnItFeelsGoodToBeAGangster: Zig-zagged and deconstructed. The show can make gangsters look cool at times and uncool at others. Working in TheMafia has its own perks, but we're also shown how much of it is not so glamorous and sometimes even dark. Sure, Tony has a nice house and is relatively well-off, but he has to face his boorish family all the time (and vice versa), suffers from depression and anxiety attacks, and he always worries about his "friends" turning on him, maybe leading to his arrest or assassination. As Tony's nephew Christopher learns the hard way when he finally gets made, it means that he's under even more pressure to earn when he thought it was much easy.

* {{Bowdlerization}}: The syndicated version survives relatively unscathed sex and violence-wise, as Creator/DavidChase filmed alternate scenes (the scenes at the Bada Bing Strip Club have scantily-clad dancers who don't take off their clothes and the violent deaths are often replaced with shots of someone's face or shown at an angle so the violence won't be as severe). However, all of the profanity and explicit sexual lines are redubbed with toned-down versions that either weaken the dramatic impact or are just plain {{Narm}}y. One particularly notorious instance of editing came when the line "...sucking on a Cub Scout's ass" became "...chewing on a Cub Scout's ear" [[note]]which still implies sexual molestation to a Boy Scout, no matter how you slice it[[/note]].

The show had a significant impact on the American television industry. It is commonly credited with ushering in the golden age of television and has been characterized by critics as one of the most influential artistic works of the 2000s and a turning point for the legitimization of serial television as an art form on the same level as feature films, literature, and theater. In the show's wake, TV entered an age of complex, no-handholding storytelling centered around morally dark protagonists (examples include ''Series/{{Breaking Bad}}'', ''Series/{{Mad Men}}'' and ''Series/{{Boardwalk Empire}}'', all of which were directly inspired by ''The Sopranos'', with the latter two programs having showrunners that also worked on ''The Sopranos''). The series helped establish HBO as producers of critically acclaimed and commercially successful original television series, and became the first cable program to be both nominated for and win an UsefulNotes/EmmyAward.

The show became the first cable program to be both nominated for and win an UsefulNotes/EmmyAward.

* [[BornInTheWrongCentury Born in the Wrong Decade]]: Tony and his friends are well aware that the mob's heyday is long over with, but they have a hard time coming to terms with it. Especially with the fact that modern technology and science continue to make running protection rackets and committing crimes without getting caught more and more difficult.
-->'''Meadow''': It's the 90s, parents are supposed to talk about sex with their kids.\\
'''Tony''': No, you got it wrong. Out there, it's the 90s. In this house, it's 1954. 90s... ''(points to the open front door)'' ...1954 ''(points to the floor)''. Got it?

The Film-Within-The-Show ''JustForFun/{{Cleaver}}'' has its own work page.

''The Sopranos'' was a major ratings success throughout its run, despite being aired on premium cable network HBO, which at the time of the show's premiere had been available in significantly fewer American homes than regular networks. The show frequently attracted equal or larger audiences than most popular network shows of the time.

The show had a significant impact on the American television industry. It is commonly credited with ushering in the golden age of television and has been characterized by critics as one of the most influential artistic works of the 2000s and a turning point for the legitimization of serial television as an art form on the same level as feature films, literature, and theater. In the show's wake, TV entered an age of complex, no-handholding storytelling centered around morally dark protagonists (examples include ''Series/{{Breaking Bad}}'', ''Series/{{Mad Men}}'' and ''Series/{{Boardwalk Empire}}'', all of which were directly inspired by ''The Sopranos'', with the latter two programs having showrunners that also worked on ''The Sopranos''). The series helped establish HBO as producers of critically acclaimed and commercially successful original television series, and became the first cable program to be both nominated for and win an UsefulNotes/EmmyAward.

[[caption-width-right:325:[[BigScrewedUpFamily Wouldn't you need therapy?]] [[labelnote:Characters]] From left to right: [[TheLoad Janice Soprano]], [[DistractedByTheLuxury Carmela Soprano]], [[PsychopathicManchild Paulie Gualtieri]], [[TheDragon Silvio Dante]], [[SoapboxSadie Meadow Soprano]], [[MafiaPrincess Adriana La Cerva]], [[WellDoneSonGuy Christopher Moltisanti]], [[DumbassTeenageSon AJ Soprano]], [[AuthorityInNameOnly Junior Soprano]], [[TheDon Tony Soprano]], [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Ralph Cifaretto]], [[TheShrink Jennifer Melfi]].[[/labelnote]][[labelnote:Not Pictured]][[EvilMatriarch Livia Soprano]], [[ButtMonkey Artie Bucco]], [[EnigmaticMinion Big Pussy]], [[AxCrazy Richie Aprile]], [[BewareTheQuietOnes Bobby Baccalieri]], [[ChronicVillainy Tony Blundetto]], [[MouthOfSauron Johnny Sack]], [[ArmoredClosetGay Vito Spatafore]], [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Carmine Lupertazzi]], [[InadequateInheritor Little Carmine]], [[FinalBoss Phil Leotardo]][[/labelnote]]]]

''The Sopranos'' is a [[GenreDeconstruction deconstructive]] CriminalProcedural series created by Creator/DavidChase. Its PilotEpisode was shot in 1997, and the show premiered on {{Creator/HBO}} in the United States on January 10, 1999, concluding its original run of six seasons and 86 episodes on June 10, 2007, with one of the most infamous endings in American television history[[note]]see [[{{WMG/TheSopranos}} the WMG page]] for various interpretations[[/note]].

The series is centered around [[UsefulNotes/NewJersey North Jersey]] [[TheMafia mob]] [[TheDon boss]] Tony Soprano (Creator/JamesGandolfini), who after a panic attack secretly begins seeing a therapist. {{Hilarity|Ensues}} and [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Reality Ensues]] 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.

The show had a significant impact on the American television industry. It is commonly credited with ushering the golden age of television and has been characterized by critics as one of the most influential artistic works of the 2000s as well as helping turn serial television into a legitimate art form on the same level as feature films, literature, and theater. The show ushered in the age of morally complex protagonists and directly influenced shows such as ''Series/{{Breaking Bad}}'', ''Series/{{Mad Men}}'' and ''Series/{{Boardwalk Empire}}'', (the latter two programs had showrunners that worked on ''The Sopranos'') as well as the age of complex storytelling and lack of handholding. The series helped establish HBO as producers of critically acclaimed and commercially successful original television series. It became the first cable program to be both nominated and win an Emmy award.

Corrado "Junior" Soprano was based on Giovanni "John the Eagle" Riggi, who became boss of the [=DeCavalcante=] crime family after Sam [=DeCavalcante=] stepped down in 1982.

* NotGoodWithPeople: Tony Soprano loves animals and animal abusers are a major BerserkButton for him but he has absolutely no problem maiming, torturing, or killing someone. This is part of what makes his therapist realize he's an incurable sociopath and sever ties with him.