Recently I have been re-watching The Sopranos, and it has gotten me very interested in the idea of episodic writing. On a side note, I was very surprised by the show on a visual scale. For some reason I had always thought of television, especially back then when long form dramas were starting to become really big – as a medium where the creators place all their efforts into the writing of the show – leaving the visual aspects almost as an afterthought, that it was only until more recently that shows started to pay a lot more attention to the visuals. However, when I watched The Sopranos, I really did see a distinct visual style. David Chase happens to be a full blown cinephile, and it comes out in the decisions that he makes both as a show runner in general and when he actually directs an episode. Although sometimes overbearing, it is nice to see a show care enough to shoot close-ups in extreme angles, to vignette frames or freeze the frame.

What I was really taken aback by was, of course, the writing. Pretty much every episode from a writing standpoint felt very strong, and it got me to think about what the writing process is like for a long form TV show. It was interesting to me because I started to think about the differences between shows (and writing) that focus heavily on either plot or character/story. To me, although there is a healthy balance of plot and character, The Sopranos really does feel like a show that focuses more on character. I had not realised this the first time that I had watched The Sopranos when I was very young, and I find it very interesting that the show was so immensely popular given that, not in any bad way whatsoever, not that much actually happens in terms of plot.

It’s interesting because usually these shows end up gaining a very specific audience, one that is more dedicated to the show and would push away a casual viewer. I had finished watching Mad Men not too long before this, and that was a show that, unsurprisingly given Matthew Wiener’s involvement with The Sopranos, was very heavy on character as opposed to plot. When I hear things about Mad Men, it always seems like the type of show that has a more specific dedicated fan base, and one that people sometimes can’t get into because ‘nothing happens’ in the show.

What I am trying to say, and what is really so interesting to me about The Sopranos and it’s reception is that, essentially it is a character driven show that takes a lot of risks – something that should result in a tailored and niche audience. But that’s obviously not that case, it’s one of the most popular shows of all time. So what is David Chase’s secret? How did he get people to tune in every week, how does he get the casual average TV watcher to sit down and watch a 20 minute, highly stylised dream sequence that asks more questions than it does provide answers? Maybe I’m trying too hard to find an answer to something that really is simple, because as David Chase said – “I just wanted to make something entertaining”.