The Sopranos changed television, and not just HBO. Complex, adult dramas like Six Feet Under, Deadwood, Rome and The Wire could not have existed without it. It did more than that, though.The Sopranos showed that television drama could be dark, complex and coloured with emotional shades of grey, the mirror opposite of the popular TV programs of the day: Friends, Touched by an Angel and the prime-time game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? It shared its serialized story format with popular prime-time soaps like Dallas and Dynasty but its sensibility was closer to the big-screen realism of Martin Scorsese and Robert Altman.
A fitting eulogy for an incredible series.
Not to mention FX Network's "The Shield", a cop-themed drama which - just starting its 6th season - is also coming to a Sopranos-like apotheosis this week.
And beyond all this, it's not a CSI show.
All true, but I think the series ran a year or so too long. The recent years have been a pale imitation of the first few.