Before there wasThe Sopranos, there wasOz, an HBO original with a 93% onRotten Tomatoesthat you should check out if you haven’t yet.The Sopranosis one of the greatest TV shows ever, and for people like myself, the undisputed greatest show ever. It’s hard to find a single fault with the series.
It’s the series that people point to as the progenitor of the “prestige” era of television. WithThe Sopranos, HBO proved that long-form storytelling could be as well done and as engrossing as any studio movie. No longer was “TV actor” a punchline. The thing is,The Sopranoswasn’t HBO’s first prestige series.
HBO’s Prison Drama Oz Defined Prestige TV
It wasn’tThe Sopranosthat kicked off the era of prestige TV and made a name for HBO as the home of can’t-miss TV; it wasOz, a series following the inmates of Oswald State Correctional Facility. The series premiered in 1997 and ran for six seasons until 2003.
This series premiered two years beforeThe Sopranosand has all the hallmarks of what would come to be considered “prestige” TV. The story is gritty and real; it features a huge ensemble of characters who behave more like real people than sitcom characters, and deals with some heady topics.
Oz Was HBO’s First-Ever One-Hour Drama Series
Ozwas HBO’s first-ever one-hour dramatic TV show and can be credited with popularizing the format on the network. Now, we wait in eager anticipation for the nextone-hour original drama series announced by HBO, but at the time, it was far from the norm. The series soon proved what you could do with that length, however.
Ozstars a fantastic ensemble including J. K. Simmons, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Lee Tergesen, Harold Perrineau, Dean Winters, Edie Falco, B.D. Wong, and Christopher Meloni, among many others.
The series is set in the experimental facility of Oswald Correctional, a place called Emerald City. It’s an extremely controlled environment with a carefully balanced ratio of prisoners from various racial and social groups. Of course, this leads to more personal levels of warfare and chaos, which the show covers in great detail.
Why The Sopranos Fans Will Love Oz
Ozhas not aged perfectly in every way, shot like a ’90s TV show, and with some absurd storylines that can be hard to swallow, but there’s so much to like about it that you can overlook those minor failings, particularly if you’re a fan ofThe Sopranos. Both shows are fearsome looks into the worlds and mindsets of criminals.
There’s nothing particularly heroic about the characters in both series, and bothOzandThe Sopranosare unafraid to hold the camera on terrible, catastrophic acts of selfishness until it’s almost hard to watch. Both series can also be incredibly funny, with Shakespearean tones that fans will find moving and captivating.
