Deadwood is not necessarily the greatest TV show of all time (although, if you wanted to, you could make a pretty compelling argument to that effect), but it’s probably my favorite.
By those standards, from my personal perspective, Deadwood is the TV equivalent of Magic Johnson.
I’ve never actually seen The Wire, but I’ve heard how uniquely remarkable it is from so many people that I have to assume, without having ever seen it myself, that it’s really, really great.
By those standards, The Wire is Oscar Robertson.
Then there’s The Sopranos, which has had its flaws over the years but is undeniably an amazing show, and the fact it came along when it did is pretty much the reason why HBO is so great and why all these other great shows have come along since.
By that measure, I’m not sure if The Sopranos is George Mikan or Wilt Chamberlain or Dr. J or Michael Jordan or what. But it’s amazing, and none of these other shows would exist without it.
I bring this up because the final season of The Sopranos starts Sunday night. And because if you’ve watched some or most or even all of the series to this point, you really should watch this to get caught up.
Enjoy. And feel free to take this discussion (Extras is Caron Butler for obvious reasons, etc and so on) as far as you’d like.
