Opinion on The Sopranos for a blind buy (1 Viewer)

[LarryE]

I was wondering what you guys thought of The Sopranos for a blind buy. I'm not a huge mobster genre fan, but I would rate Goodfellas in my top 5 of all time, and I liked the Godfather films. I also thought that the HBO series Band of Brothers and From the Earth to the Moon were first rate. So what do you think?

 

[PaulP]

Go for it. I bought all 4 seasons blind for, I believe, $280 on Amazon. Very much worth it. As you, I think Band of Brothers and From the Earth to the Moon are probably some of the best mini-series ever made. If you don't feel like plonking down close to 300 bucks, get the first season. But really, it's an astonishingly awesome show, and I went through all 4 seasons in about 2 weeks - I couldn't stop watching. I knew I had to get up early for work, but I still pushed play on that LAST EPISODE just to know what's gonna happen... It was great, can't wait for the fifth season!

 

[JohnAP]

yeah, I'd say there's almost no chance you'd be disappointed picking up the first season blind. I discovered the show on dvd and I think that's an ideal way to watch it considering the fact that you won't have to wait a whole week for the next episode. Plus, they're extremely rewatchable. If you're still not sure though, most video stores have begun carrying the show so you could always go rent the first disc before buying.

 

[Steve...O]

A great, great show. The only way I would not recommend it is if someone would be disturbed or offended by the large amounts of "adult" material in it.

The casting in this show is as close to perfection as you can get. The actors are so into the characters that it is very easy to forget that this is just a show.

My only advice is to stay away from reading about the show in books, etc as you will likely stumble upon some major spoilers. This show has some dynamite moments of totally unexpected action, and it would be a shame to know before hand what happens.

Don't expect a lot in terms of extras on the DVDs; they're fairly sparse. However with a show this good, you don't need extras.

Steve

 

[LarryE]

Thanks for the information guys. Is this series aspect ratio 16x9, like Band of Brothers? I thought that Band of Brothers had the best video quality of any television production I've ever seen.

 

[Pete M]

Yes, all 4 seasons are 16x9 with DD 5.1. It's not quite the same quality as BoB, but is still excellent.

 

[James Sarno]

LarryE,
Do yourself a favor and purchase the first season,I promise you halfway trough it you'll be making some ziti with sausage and placing an order for the remaining seasons

As Steve...O mentioned,the casting is on point...Great show...Excellent series.

Order and Enjoy...

 

[Christ Reynolds]

great show, i received season 1 in a trade, i had never seen an episode, and now i have all 4 seasons. i got my gf addicted as well, which is good. in my opinion, the first season is the best. given your choices for your fav movies, you should definitely enjoy the sopranos very much.

CJ

 

[Mike Broadman]

I bought the first three seasons blind. While it is a great show and I eagerly await new episodes, I did regret actually buying the DVDs. Like 24, it's the kind of thing I watch only once. I've since sold them and didn't lose much money on the whole thing so it's ok, but I should have rented them.

On the other hand, I did blind buy Farscape and did not regret it. I think it's different with sci-fi for me.

So, anyway, definitely watch the show. Whether you actually want to buy the discs might be another matter. It's real easy and cheap to rent box sets from Netflix.

 

[Dave Morton]

I agree with Mike. I bought the first season and I've only watched it once. For me, I don't watch tv shows repeatedly on DVD. If you do, then I would buy it. My first season is just taking up space on my shelf.

 

[Chad A Wright]

If you can handle all the adult material, it's a fantastic show. I really enjoyed it. The only reason I sold off the seasons is because I got tired of not being able to watch them with my family. It's rough having to wait till the kids go to bed to watch it.

 

[Andre Barros]

If you have the money I would suggest you buy all 4 seasons at once if the price on the package is at a significant discount. Face it, if you buy the first season you'll end up buying all of them anyway so...

 

[PaulP]

Exactly, and this is what I've done, as I said above. And do not regret it for a bit.

 

[CharlesD]

This in an excellent show and you'll likely find yourself blowing through all 13 hours of Season One in a few days.

I do find it to be somewhat rewatchable... its not the sort of thing you watch one week and then again a month later like you might with a movie, but I have rewatched all of my Sopranos DVDs at least once (except for S4 which I got for Christmas and have only seen once on DVD.)

 

[GregBe]

I think the show has great replay value. 24 is my other favorite show, and I can't repeat view that one. I think the difference is that 24 is so much based on suspense of what is going to happen next, but the Sopranos is like any other good drama. If you have replay value in good drama movies, I think you will enjoy the Sopranos many times over.

Greg

 

[Malcolm R]

You could always rent a couple discs first.

 

[Nicodemus]

Great thread! I've just been wondering if I should buy a few Sopranos boxsets or not. I haven't seen an episode of Sopranos before but have heard and read praising reviews of the show. Some review site said Sopranos isn't serialized while some other site said it is - that some open plot thread isn't solved until later seasons. So which is it? Serialized or not? I'm very much into The Shield kind of format.

I watched Chase's Someday I'll Fly Away from tv a while back and liked it very much. So if Sopranos is even of that quality...

 

[PaulP]

The Sopranos is VERY much serialized. I don't think any of the episodes so far could be categorized as true stand-alone episodes, where a viewer could come in without any prior knowledge and follow the story completely. It's basically a very long mini-series. That's my opinion anyway.

 

[Scott_F_S]

It's serialized, but not nearly as heavily as many other shows. I don't think it would be difficult for a newcomer to jump in on any given episode. Most episodes of the Sopranos can stand on their own, and a newcomer would not be hopelessly lost. Not all plot threads are tied up in one episode, but none of the continuing threads are so complicated that a newcomer couldn't figure it out.

I consider shows like Buffy and 24 and Alias heavily serialized. Plot threads are so intricately woven that a newcomer wouldn't be able to figure them out by just watching a random episode.

The Sopranos isn't like that. To me, each episode can more or less be viewed as a slice-of-life character study. Continuing plot threads are pretty straightforward and can be figured out within the context of the episode.

 

[Sean Cauley]

The Sopranos is definitely serialized, but often (especially noticeable in Season 4) there are subplots that are left hanging in one episode and not even discussed in the next. They do come back to haunt the characters later, but it's not as quick a turnaround.

Put it this way: in the "previously on The Sopranos" that runs before each episode on HBO, very little in the highlight reel will come from last week's show.

There are a couple of dropped plot threads that have irked a few viewers, like (NOT A SPOILER) the "Russian" storyline in Season 3 (Chase is amazed that fans were clamoring to followup on this; he never intended it to be a cliffhanger), but for the most part, you can be sure that when you see something, you'll see it again sometime down the road.

It's excellent television, well-written, well-acted and well-directed, and featuring really creative use of music on the soundtrack to enhance scenes.