This month marks the 25th anniversary of HBO’s groundbreaking mafia drama The Sopranos, and in honor of the occasion, HBO’s Max streaming service has a whirlwind of events and goodies planned — everything from the release of never-before-seen footage from the show to events and much more.
Starting today, for example, The Sopranos: 25th Anniversary collection is available on Max. It includes 15 deleted scenes, three of which have never been released until now, as well as more than five hours of behind-the-scenes featurette content. That new content, of course, is in addition to all 86 episodes across the show’s six seasons being available to stream on Max.
Furthermore, in honor of the anniversary, some episodes of The Sopranos will be available to sample through select free on-demand platforms. Episodes one and two from the show’s first season, for example, are accessible right now on Max’s YouTube channel. Fans are also encouraged to follow @TheSopranos on TikTok, which is where they can relive each episode in 25-second chunks.
And that’s not all. Among other festivities planned to celebrate the series from creator David Chase, guests of the renowned New York City Italian restaurant Da Nico (from Jan. 11 through Feb. 4) can enjoy a special menu of Sopranos-inspired dishes, including Carmela’s Baked Ziti and Satriale’s Special Caprese. Also:
- For one day only, on Jan. 10, fans in New York and Los Angeles can enjoy the official Satriale’s pop-up, bringing an authentic Sopranos-inspired Italian sandwich from Ggiata in L.A. and Regina’s in NYC, right to their door. This item is available exclusively through Postmates.
- Max is also partnering with Alamo Drafthouse to host “Family Reunion” fan screenings in New York and Los Angeles on Jan. 10, marking the official anniversary of The Sopranos premiere. These special screenings will showcase the pilot episode, allowing fans to revisit the show’s beginnings. Sopranos actress Sharon Angela will host the L.A. screening, alongside Sopranos-themed concessions, trivia sessions, photo opportunities, and swag giveaways.
Max is also partnering with Robert Iler and Jamie-Lynn Sigler for a special 25th Anniversary edition of their podcast, Not Today, Pal. They’ll reminisce about their roles as Meadow and AJ on The Sopranos and answer questions from fans, and the full episode will be available on Jan. 18 via the HBO YouTube channel and all major podcast platforms.
These special treats are, of course, more than appropriate for a series that fearlessly changed the rules around what you could do with a TV show about a mostly bad guy. In fact, as I noted in an earlier post, a better way to say that is The Sopranos took the pre-existing rulebook governing what was then acceptable on TV and strangled it to death, the way a wiseguy might violently choke someone who’s gotten sideways with the New Jersey mob.
To quote myself, “The show was, among other things, funny, dark, and violent in a way that you didn’t realize TV could be. It offered commentary on the state of America. It also literally opened the eyes of a generation of future TV showrunners like Courtney Kemp, who went on to create Power for Starz, and Lee Sung Jin, who created Beef for Netflix. And what else can you say about the writing, which was absolutely next-level? When Tony Soprano delivered gems like “‘Remember when…’ is the lowest form of conversation,” it was a reminder that The Sopranos was basically modern-day Shakespeare delivered with an Italian accent.”
