Hello, friend (Ooh look at the size of that ‘H’, already we’re having fun!). Welcome to Never Seen Sopranos – a blog about a TV show (guess which one?) from someone who has … I think you’ve got it

Long before anyone watched the Stark’s plot a game of thrones, before Walter White broke bad, even before Oceanic flight 815 was lost (then found, then lost again); there was a show that kick-started the whole medium called Heores The Sopronos.

Legend has it that before The Sopronos television shows mostly consisted of black and white close ups of a lone old man narrating fictional events, an hour at a time. While it is true that many of these were more entertaining than succeeding shows like Heroes for the most part they didn’t set the world alight*.

Then in 1999 – (Can you believe its been 20 years?! I mean, I can. If anything I thought it was longer, but I was playing hop-scotch and memorising my times-tables back then so I was all sorts of busy) came a small, little known series that I like to call The Sopronos. A show that opened the door to the captivating quality TV that we have today. Articles have been written about it, books published, seminars and courses conducted. At a time when internet fandom was in its infancy, there are (presumably) hundreds of blogs dedicated to far greater analysis, depth and insight than anything you are going to find here (I think at this point, that is probably clear).

But does the show hold up today? Does it appeal to people in their 20’s, who have been saturated with incredible television over the last 15 years? It is worth the 86 hours of commitment? Which foolhardy pioneer will be brave enough to take such a gamble on a show currently 13th in IMDb rankings of all time best TV shows?

As someone that has subjected himself to over two seasons of Nashville; two seasons of Glee; all seven (seven!) seasons of True Blood; over eight seasons of The Walking Dead (and we’re aren’t even going to talk about the four seasons I persisted with Heroes) I think I owe it to the TV gods to find out.

Here’s what (I think) I know about The Sopranos going in: …It ends in a bar with an abrupt cut to black mid sentence. (Even as I’m typing that I’m wondering if I’m thinking of a different show, but will I search and find out? No way! I’m going into this blind and since the show ended in 2007, the very act of a straight white male educating himself has been outlawed, so there’s that to think about as well).

What happens before that final moment I have no idea. Some mobster shenanigans I think… Is it too late for HBO to title the show Mobster Shenanigans? Dear HBO, remake this show, frame for frame, but only using crustaceans, I give you: Lobster Shenanigans. I guess The Shellpranos would be quite marketable as well.

I’ll also say going in, Lobster mobster shenanigans doesn’t usually do it for me, so my hopes aren’t particularly high. Saying that I did enjoy Boardwalk Empire. I think as long as the characters are good and there is at least the odd bit of levity and humour, we should be okay!

If you are new to the show, you are more then welcome to come on this journey with me – I very literally couldn’t stop you if I wanted to. If you have stumbled here because you love the show and you want to see it through fresh (albeit stupid) eyes, then hello to you too. If you are here because you have time travelled from the turn of the century and want to see if anyone uses WordPress anymore then, hell, I’m just as surprised as you are but it just feels right for the task you know?

Fire up your engines interwebs – we’re about to consume what is commonly referred to as:

The Greatest Television Show of All Time!

… no pressure

*apart from, of course, The Tale of The Arthritic Arsonist. That story led to a sea of copy cat crimes which I’d go into but Johnny Depp bought the movie rights so forget it.