My wife and I watched through The Sopranos recently. One episode per week, the way it was “meant to be viewed.” We were both incredibly frustrated with exactly what you describe here: single-episode manufactured drama to keep viewers coming back for the next week. Entirely too often the writers would conjure some conflict at the beginning of an episode only to resolve it at the end with nothing changed. When this happens in any other television we call it “filler” and it is fine to be skipped. I thought Seinfeld was supposed to be the show about nothing, but my god the Sopranos spent an awful lot of time not developing the characters at all.

Also, how many fucking times did they get away with using a dream sequence to reveal something to the lead character?? It’s lazy writing.

3/10 show. James Gandolfini gave a great performance, Tony Soprano was a boring character.