GeneralMcFaiL wrote:The Godfather for the new era of TV for me will always be The Sopranos... that opened the door for shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men etc..
There have been a few breakout shows over the years and THE SOPRANOS is one of them.
Not counting the anomaly exception of Lunch's original TWIN PEAKS, I think THE X-FILES really first imploded the rules of standard TV series (soon followed by the creators' MILLENNIUM though it was more of niche show).
And in the late "90s, HBO kinda reinvented television shows that would be adult, smart, deep and against the current of Hollywood conservative codes with SEX AND THE CITY and then THE SOPRANOS, SIX FEET UNDER, you name them... With the "non-comedy" shows, TV almost became "cinema", series were now shot and written like films... and good films! The best contemporary writers have quickly migrated or emerged from TV.
Now already 18-20 years later, countless shows and changes later, here we are...