• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, August 29, 2024

A new documentary about the making of “The Sopranos” revives a time in TV history that is gone with the wind.

Call it the HBO Era, a period of years starting in the 1990s and lasting well into the 2000s. 

HBO had already begun establishing itself with well-regarded, scripted original series (“The Larry Sanders Show” serving as the best example) before “The Sopranos” came along in 1999.

But there was something about this show that catapulted HBO into a stratosphere it had not reached before.

The story of the show -- its creation, production and its position in the history of television -- is told in a two-part documentary coming to HBO and Max on Saturday, September 7.

The documentary -- titled “Wise Guy David Chase and The Sopranos” and directed by Alex Gibney -- tells the story of the show through the story of Chase, the series’ creator, who set new standards of production quality with the show, and redefined the meaning of “show runner.”

In the documentary, Chase is interviewed by Gibney on a re-created set of the office of psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi M.D. 

The office was the site of some of the show’s best-remembered scenes, where Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) treated her most challenging patient, North Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano, played by the late James Gandolfini, the standout star of the show.

Bracco is one of the documentary’s many interview subjects. Other cast members include Edie Falco (pictured above), who played Tony’s wife Carmela; Michael Imperioli (Christopher Moltisanti); Drea de Matteo (Adriana La Cerva); and Steven Van Zandt (Silvio Dante).

Also interviewed are cinematographer Alik Sakharov, and writer-producers Robin Green, Terence Winter and Frank Renzulli.  

The documentary comes 25 years since the show’s premiere. The documentary is an HBO production, and so was “The Sopranos,” which means Gibney and his team had access to whatever they needed in terms of archival material.

The film includes clips from the series, early audition videos from cast members and archival interviews with Gandolfini, the late Nancy Marchand (who played Tony’s mother, Livia Soprano) and the late Tony Sirico, unforgettable as Paul “Paulie Walnuts” Gualtieri.

The documentary comes 25 years after the premiere of “The Sopranos” on January 10, 1999, on HBO.

The show ushered in an era in which HBO became the TV equivalent of the Roman Empire. “The Sopranos” was a big reason for this. 

The show set new standards in production. It was “hand-crafted” in a manner that was unusual, if not unheard of, for TV shows at the time.

Chase and his producers took their time setting up scenes and camera shots -- more of each than was customary for TV shows at the time. 

The show used top cinematographers who gave the show a cinematic sheen that was also noticeably different from other TV shows.

“The Sopranos” soon emerged as the most talked-about TV show of its era. That led to a phenomenal increase in HBO subscribers -- kickstarting new subs in a way no other HBO show had ever done before.

HBO became wealthier. And that meant that the channel and its owner, Time Warner, could pour more money into quality, prestige productions.

The list of legendary HBO dramas series that immediately followed “The Sopranos” is long and well-known. It includes “Six Feet Under,” “The Wire,” “Carnivale,” “Deadwood” and “Big Love.”

Comedies in those years included “Sex and the City,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Da Ali G Show,” “Entourage,” and “Flight of the Conchords.”

“Wise Guy David Chase and The Sopranos” includes interviews with Chris Albrecht, former chairman and CEO of HBO, Carolyn Strauss, former president of HBO Entertainment, and possibly other “former” execs and decision-makers from a time when HBO was king of the TV universe.