It is every bit as smart as you would expect something from Chase to be. It's built more on the limited-run model of British television than standard network fare. [9 Jan 1999, p.1E]

No, The Sopranos is not the equal of Scorsese's masterpiece ["Goodfellas"], but it manages to bring a new spin to the words "dysfunctional" and "family," and it deserves its place alongside other HBO gems like "The Larry Sanders Show" and "Sex and the City." [9 Jan 1999, p.C1]

Along with the material, Mr. Gandolfini is so good that viewers will sympathize even as they shudder. [9 Jan 1999, p.1C]

By getting the details so right on something so peculiar and particular as this, The Sopranos actually opens a clear window onto modern incarnations of family and mortality and ambition. [9 Jan 1999, p.E05]

This is sophisticated television that assumes there is an intelligent audience for well-written, off-center, ambitious entertainment. David Chase has created a contemporary mob masterpiece. The Sopranos, make no mistake, is the first truly great TV show of 1999. [8 Jan 1999, p.1D]

Gandolfini and Falco are excellent, as is the supporting work of Imperioli and others. And that grande dame of troupers, Marchand, is so coldbloodedly plausible as Livia that her eyes are ice and you can almost hear her heart freezing over. [8 Jan 1999, p.F1]

It's a bumpy, wild ride that has all the dark humor, surprising twists and sudden outbursts of violence of a "GoodFellas" or a "Casino" high praise and tough comparisons, but The Sopranos lives up to them. [8 Jan 1999, p.116]

It's an absurdist comedy about criminal behavior and suburban life that gently mocks its targets while taking its characters and their emotions seriously. [9 Jan 1999, p.23]

It's a great show, the best new series of the year. It's so - dare I say it? - original. It catches you off guard. Basically, it's everything I'm always looking for in drama. It's beautifully written, authentic, without the plastic Los Angeles look. The acting is marvelous. It's funny in a darkly comedic way, involving as a soap opera, and quirky. I never quite know what's going to happen, even though the subject matter is by no means unprecedented for television. [10 Jan 1999, p.D35]

The series has some potent black humor and good acting, especially from Nancy Marchand as the mobster's mom and Edie Falco as his wife...But a gangster's midlife crisis is a weak, unpalatable premise for a series. The Sopranos makes an offer you can refuse. [10 Jan 1999, p.F1]

Home Box Office has telecast several of the most scintillating series of this decade, notably The Larry Sanders Show, Oz, Arli$$, and Sex and the City. You can safely add The Sopranos to that glittering gallery. [10 Jan 1999, p.F01]

I'm not a huge fan of Mafia stories, but after watching several episodes of The Sopranos, I'm hooked. This is not the same old drama foisted on viewers by the networks. The Sopranos, created by David Chase ("I'll Fly Away"), has depth, dark humor and even a latent charm. The characters, unavoidably stereotypical at times, are believable and honest. [10 Jan 1999, p.G-5]

In the self-doubting Tony, his sullen kids, not-so-patient wife, querulous mother and incompetent business associates, Chase may have accomplished what seemed impossible -- he's created something new in the Mafia-movie genre. [10 Jan 1999, p.TV6]

Combining dark comedy and psychological drama, the show achieves a fresh tone to match its irresistibly winning concept. [8 Jan 1999, p.E1]

The Sopranos would have benefited from the editing required by network time and content restraints, which would have made the rambling episodes tighter and cleared them of their worst blood and exposed-breast excesses. [8 Jan 1999, p.8E]