Here's more about The Sopranos, which you specifically asked about. “The Sopranos,” which arrived on HBO in 1999, established a new benchmark, verisimilitude; in the fifth episode, we saw the Mob boss Tony Soprano strangling an informant. . . . “True Detective. . .reinvents the procedural form using a unique, layered story structure which braids multiple time periods and employs occasionally unreliable narration. “Fargo” ’s “Season One Is a Triangle,” Structure is the new Tony Danza. [In the old days of television, when four networks dominated the industry, the survival standard was clear. A show thrived by attracting a huge audience, and it attracted a huge audience by being diverting yet comforting. You just needed that actor everyone liked, Tony Danza or Ted Danson]"
What's that passage from? Yeah, I've seen all of those shows, along with most of the critically acclaimed "prestige TV" series.
The Sopranos is generally considered the original inspiration for the genre.
From what you quoted, that essay sounds like it's about the growth of the "prestige TV" era in general. I doubt anyone outside of an academic environment is currently writing essays specifically analyzing TS the way we did here with BBM. But that's what Donald Glover was suggesting people would do with
Atlanta.I don't really get the "structure is the new Tony Danza" thing. Was Tony Danza ever really that popular? I thought he was pretty schlocky even back in the day. (Ted Danson was and is pretty popular, and he's still starring in a TV show.)
But then I guess I don't even know what they mean by "structure." Is it, like, narrative complexity? The good series these days do have that, but they don't necessarily have huge audiences, especially because they're almost all on cable.
Who's the Boss probably attracted 10 times their audiences, although many series today are at least 10 times better.