I’ve read that the renaissance of television can be largely attributed to the decline in movies. Producing films is a risky business, but sequels, prequels and adaptations are less risky; these become popular with the folks who finance movies, but the overall quality of Hollywood flicks declines. Writers who actually give a shit are driven away from the movie business toward television, where the financial stakes are lower. Meanwhile, reality TV has become a lightning rod for lowest common denominator attitudes, drawing don’t-give-a-shit producers away from scripted television.
Scripted television gets an influx of talent, and is left with producers who are more often willing to take risks (which are smaller than those in the film industry) on new programs. A few early successes further increase the willingness of TV studios to try to make better shows. The quality of television goes up.
Whether or not The Sopranos was an irreplaceable key early success, I don’t know.
As much as I loved the Shield, for the record people usually talk about it as the first of its kind on basic cable. For instance, I don’t know anyone who thinks it’s nearly as good as the Sopranos, but Shawn Ryan and FX were the first to take the concept of doing incredibly good drama and apply it to basic cable.
Personally I think that shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad are much better than the Shield, but it still deserves credit for proving you can do great cable dramas outside of HBO and Showtime.
This books provides an answer to the OP. When The Shield was getting made, FX was looking for a show like The Sopranos, but for basic cable. When Mad Men and Breaking Bad were getting made, AMC was looking for a show like The Shield, an original TV drama to put their network on the map. Therefore, without Tony Soprano, AMC would have never tried to create Mad Men or Breaking Bad.
The reason The Sopranos revolutionized TV is because of its high ratings. The executives that develop TV shows finally had a good reason to develop high quality television. FX and AMC would have never gone looking for a high quality TV series if The Sopranos never existed.
Yep, the high ratings are the key. The book points out that Oz started before The Sopranos and was equally as well received critically, it was considered a minor show. It wasn’t until The Sopranos proved successful critically and generally that other networks followed suit.
Well, to be fair, the growth of the internet gave rise to viewers’ ability to blog about a show. alt.tv.twinpeaks was heavily trafficked, relative to 1990-91. But back then, Losernet was about all there was. You might well say that more people blogging and greater ease in creating web pages boosted the popularity of The Sopranos. IYAM, it sure did that for Lost.
Good example. Too bad the show didn’t go a full season.
I was thinking about this the other day, and thought maybe Seinfeld was a piece of the puzzle. Jerry and his friends are bad people-- not Don Draper bad, but they each get a year in prison in the finale.
There have been some other sitcoms about jerks. Married With Children comes to mind.
For certain definitions of “threatening”. Alice constantly dismissed Ralph’s threats without concern because she knew he wasn’t remotely serious. I can’t imagine the audience believed that Ralph was some domestic abuser; even as a kid I knew it was all a joke.
We’re re-watching this series after many years. We’re currently in Season 4, which has Christophah’s drug intervention, one of the funniest scenes in television history.
