Discover the most popular TV show the year you were born

1999: The Sopranos

Here is a show that isn’t just considered one of the best shows ever, it’s widely considered the best television show of all-time. The show first premiered on HBO in 1999 and ran for six seasons until 2007. The show focuses on Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano, who lives in New Jersey with his wife Carmela, and his children Meadow and A.J. The series often showed how Tony struggles to balance his life of crime with his life as a father, and also featured the issues his family and colleagues face from the repercussions of Tony’s decisions.

The Sopranos started out strong right away. Critics have praised the show for its groundbreaking storylines, and its incredible writing and acting. It dealt with mental illness, mafia culture, and family dynamics in a whole new light, one that hadn’t been attempted before. Tony Soprano wasn’t the type of mob boss we were accustomed to, but instead just an ordinary man who lived his day-to-day mob life in New Jersey. The ratings reflected the critical response, too. It consistently drew in big numbers, rarely attracting less than 3 million viewers per episode.

Much like Seinfeld, it would take forever to go through all of the show’s accomplishments over the years. It raked in pretty much every award possible, from Emmys to Golden Globes, to Peabody Awards, and everything in between.