You're in for a ride. It is something special. You'll soon have the hots for Dr.Melfi (and her armchair) and the baked ziti will become a mainstay at meal times. The clothes are just perfect, not a natural shoulder in sight, it's all 'flick-knife fashions' as you'd expect. As a study in deranged masculinity it is pretty wonderful, and Tony, well Tony, is just a magnificent beastly creation.

Season 2 is actually often quite tedious but it improves after that. One of the few contemporary tv series worth a watch. The Wire is good too. Both can be found dirt cheap online and in charity shops. That's about it for me for contemporary dramas.

I finally started rewatching my Hill Street Blues box sets last night. I have seasons 1 and 2. The Hispanic officer (whose name I forget) often wears Brooks or similar BDs (it's from 1981 so of course the days of subtly beautiful soft collars). I'd love to get more seasons. I also wish I had a box set of the Sweeney. We had proper tv in those days.

Quite a co-incidence.  We were just talking about buying 'Hill Street Blues', a favourite of mine circa 1984.  As for 'The Sweeney', I watched episode after episode with a large gin and tonic in my hand while my wife was in hospital during the winter of 2019.  Very variable.  Try 'The Sand Baggers', early episodes of 'Callan'.  But 'Hill Street Blues', yeah, wonderful.

A glimpse of loafers with a fringe, I think (what do you call those? kilties?) on Tony Soprano when he's taking Meadow for her 'Ivy League' interviews in Maine.

We have; at least twice.
Gulped down Series One very quickly, watching up to four episodes in an evening.  Now awaiting Two and Three. 
Having sat in a few of those sessions myself over the years, I can fully relate to Tony Soprano and his mood swings. 
Time to sit down and watch 'The Godfather' and 'The Godfather 11', plus 'The French Connection' again.
If you haven't seen it, 'The Friends Of Eddie Coyle' is worthwhile.  The novel is even better.

Loved the opening music to the Sopranos by Alabama 3. It always set me up for watching each episode. I thought the Sopranos was the best thing I had ever seen on TV and then I watched 'Breaking Bad'. I ended up binge watching BB. Just fantastic.

'We're the Sweeney son and haven't had any dinner'

While we're on the subject, has anyone seen 'The Irishman'?  I began to take against the De Niro movies a few years ago after being quite keen from a young age.  His mannerisms began to grate on me somewhat.  A pity, because I still think 'Casino' is a pretty good piece of movie-making (Sharon Stone is outstanding). 
'The Godfather', though, is still out there on its own: that score, Pacino, Keaton, the whole atmosphere of it.  Caan is magnificent: eating dinner in his undershirt (vest, I suppose, to us).  Then there are the old-timers, like the great, hulking Sterling Hayden and slimy Richard Conte.  Wonderful.

I was pleased as Punch to hear Grace Slick's voice in the episode where Tony (as a boy) witnesses his father kicking several shades of shit out of someone.  A look at Jefferson Airplane performing 'White Rabbit' on some American (I guess) TV show in 1967 reveals Grace to have been a very sexy, cheeky little madam.  And the others look rather cool in their hippy get-up.  Better Grace than Nico.

Me too. She's still my type (i.e. as she was back then) and she had some nice outfits.

Let's be careful out there.

I've not seen Breaking Bad so I don't know if it sustains the quality of its better episodes, but as I said earlier, a lot of season 2 of the Sopranos is pretty bad. (Fortunately it gets a lot better in later seasons.) And that's supposed to be the best series ever. So generally speaking I prefer films to series.