David Chase, the producer of The Sopranos originally planned to make the story into a feature film, but after talking it over, opted to convert it into a series. It became one of the most successful television shows of all time, achieving viewership numbers for the premium channel HBO rivaling free over-the-air networks. Commercially, the series outearned every other television show in history.

On this day, January 10th, in 1999, the first episode of The Sopranos aired to 3.5 million viewers. It was immediately lauded by critics and fans alike, and by the  middle seasons of the series, each episode was drawing in an average of 9 – 10 million viewers.

The series owed its tremendous success to a complex, emotional storyline and well-defined characters. As the New York Times reviewer Stephen Holden noted after the conclusion of the first season: “’In forcing us to empathize with a thug whom we watch committing heinous acts, [it] evokes a profound moral ambiguity … ‘The Sopranos’, more than any American television in memory, looks, feels and sounds like real life.”