The Sopranos is far and away one of my favorite shows. There are plenty of reasons why. The characters (except Janice), the realistic portrayal of a criminal attempting to provide a somewhat normal life for his family, the relationships between both friends and enemies. My list goes on and on.
One thing about the show that always disturbed me, however, was how easily I was able to sympathize with hardened criminals. Whilst watching the show, it was very easy to forget that, really, the main characters are the villains of their own story. They always make fun of the police trying to catch them or innocent bystanders that annoy them, but those are the good guys in the saga of Tony Soprano. I guess that’s another reason why people found the show so compelling. It made us root for the bad guys.