The Sopranos

David Chase broke each script shot-by-shot at the script stage, a feature-film practice rare in network television. Episodes closed mid-conversation or on a non-resolution beat, training the audience out of the network button. James Gandolfini plays Tony Soprano, a New Jersey mob captain in panic-attack therapy with Lorraine Bracco's Dr. Melfi. Edie Falco is his wife Carmela, the most morally implicated character in the show. Eighty-six episodes ending June 2007.