TV series "The Sopranos" on NTV

NTV begins showing one of the best series in the history of television, “The Sopranos.” The main character of this series is a respectable family man, Tony Soprano. He cares for his wife, children, crazy mother and mistress. Tony Soprano works as the leader of a small mafia organization from New Jersey. The main business of a gangster is some kind of banal prostitution, drug and weapons trafficking. His clan is engaged in the removal of garbage from New York. It's true—garbage removal and construction are traditionally considered Mafia-controlled businesses in America.
The plot of the series develops around conflicts that arise in Tony's personal and business life. The refrain to the overall narrative is Soprano’s visits to a psychoanalyst, with whom he shares his own problems and experiences. The genre of this series is somewhere at the intersection of industrial, family, psychological and crime drama with elements of comedy.
In Tony Soprano, Americans saw their life - with trips to the supermarket, to see his mistress, with stress at work, quarrels with children. The fact that Soprano is still a bit of a bandit did not bother anyone. On the contrary, the completely unromantic image of a mafia boss was captivating with its novelty.
"The Sopranos" created a sensation in America, which can be compared, for example, with the success of the film "American Beauty." In addition to the Emmy and less significant awards, The Sopranos managed to become a national series, which was watched with rapture by both high-brow intellectuals and ordinary people. In addition to the artistic merits of the series, which would be enough for several full-fledged film masterpieces, and the charm of James Gandolfini, who played Soprano, there is another reason in which lies the secret of success. To the question: “Why are so many people watching your not very good TV series?” — Russian TV series producers always answer: “People just want to watch about themselves, about their lives.” In this sense they are right.
ALEXEY KARAKHAN
NTV, from October 27

Magazine "Kommersant Weekend" No. 195 dated October 25, 2002, p. 28

Everyone knows the mafioso