Emily Nussbaum, writing for The New Yorker:
There was a time, just a few years ago, when a movie actor could not take a TV job without it seeming like an admission of failure. Doing so was embarrassing, a sign of desperation—not merely because TV fame was chintzier, and the Hollywood status lower, but also because no one thought that TV acting itself could be much good. There were beloved TV stars, of course, but they were performers, not actors, lacking gravitas. It was a littler screen and a littler art.
James Gandolfini changed all that.
The Sopranos is one of my favorite shows of all-time. James Gandolfini is the reason why.