TV Flashback: ‘The Sopranos’ Turns 22

“The Sopranos” turns 21…On this day in 1999 was the debut of the multi-Emmy Award winning mob drama “The Sopranos”. Before creator David Chase developed the story of Tony Soprano and his family for television, he pitched it as a movie about a mobster who enters therapy to discuss problems he has with his mother. This pilot episode began with Tony (James Gandoflini) starting therapy with his psychiatrist, Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco). He proceeds to narrate the events of the episode to her, and to the audience.

Ultimately, “The Sopranos” ran for six seasons (and 86 episodes). It was nominated for 111 primetime Emmy Awards in total, winning 21. More specifically, it was nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series in every year eligible, winning in 2004 (as the first series on a cable network to do so) and in 2007.

“The Sopranos” was also honored with two consecutive Peabody Awards (in 2000 and 2001, respectively), and also won several major guild awards for its actors, directors, producers and writers.

In March 2018, New Line Cinema purchased a film detailing “The Soprano”s background story, set in the 1960s and 1970s during, and in the wake of, the Newark. The 2021 film, which is titled “The Many Saints of Newark”, is written by David Chase and Lawrence Konner, and will feature Michael Gandolfini, the son of James Gandolfini, as a young Tony Soprano.