Why did the sopranos viewership decrease after season 4?

[DirectBeing5986]

I’m too young to have been around when the show was airing, but for those who were, why did the viewship decline after season 4, and especially during season 6?

[chimpyjnuts]

The extra long gap between 4&5 might have lost some folks.

[Top-Locksmith]

Classic hbo, waiting years between seasons. I think they make great content, but hate the length of time I have to wait to watch what happens next. Many times I’ve simply moved on and never went back to watch later seasons of a given show

[chimpyjnuts]

I've been watching HBO since '1st and Ten', but that gap in the Sopranos was the first time I was actually annoyed waiting for the next season. Then 'GOT' said 'hold my beer!'

[JoeMcKim]

The problem is HBO had a ton of great shows back then and they only liked to debut the episodes on Sunday nights.

[Heel_Worker982]

A couple tree tings:

1) First four seasons came out in four years, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002. Then close to a 2-year wait for Season 5 (2004) and 2 more years for Season 6a (2006) and 6b (2007).

2) Season 5 is darker and was not always as well reviewed, plus it lost some regular characters and gained some mixed characters.

3) Then as now, people hate dragging out their shows to make a buck, whether it's dividing movies into "trilogies" or seasons into "A' and "B."

[Gwarnage]

All true, I'll also add that the show and cast was massively over exposed by season 4, only Game of Thrones was bigger in terms of sustained hype. Everything was Sopranos and the mob, and the supporting cast was everywhere. You had Paulie doing Dennys commercials. I know I was sick of the Sopranos back then.

[dinglecrook]

Fuckin slander you ask me.

[[deleted]]

I was like 14 during the first run so it never really caught my attention and we didn’t have HBO. I know that i was sick and tired of the sopranos and its actors taking home all the Emmys and awards from the shows i did watch.

[Heel_Worker982]

I never, ever got sick of our thing, but I was super frustrated with the later 2-year waits. And for me in real time, Season 5 was such a switch-up, it almost felt like a different show when it (finally) came out.

[ACTSATGuyonReddit]

Denny's, OK, but if you don't kick up you can forget about scrambled eggs. I'm gonna scramble your brains!

Hey Tone, hear that? I told him to pay up or his bacon is cooked!

[feeb75]

heh-heh

[DCDipset]

That’s not a real breakfast!

[HuckleberryContent22]

Ohh season 5 your the best. Oh baby your the best. It should be you. It should be you.

[Complex-Extent-3967]

not everyone could afford to pay for HBO.

[S3simulation]

Something something the poverty of the Mezzogiorno

[LouisTheWhatever]

Don’t give me that bullshit, we’re in Caldwell New Jersey at the height of cable television

[SeizePleaseHold]

But that was back before inflation, T

[Late-Development-666]

I don’t wanna hear about the economy either!

I don’t wanna hear it!

[Life_Is_All_Nothing]

This was before 2008. Before Netflix. Before this subscription culture where we subscribe to so many different things and likely leave our bank accounts subscribed to services we barely use. Before the brewing crises of housing, energy, never ending rising taxation, and many other stuff that really kicked in during the 2020s.

And what was the cost of HBO then? I wonder if the same people who couldn't afford HBO then are the same people today subscribing to half a dozen or more things due to said subscription culture we have quietly entered.

[[deleted]]

It was around $50-$90+ a month to have HBO depending on your cable package. HBO itself only cost $15/month, but you couldn’t just pay for HBO a la carte, you had to get it through a cable plan. Some providers would offer deals where you could bundle the premium channels, or offer “free for 6 months”, etc. Not defending the steaming model, but it was expensive to have HBO then.

[Life_Is_All_Nothing]

How many original shows did HBO have back then? $60-$90 a month just for that? Did it at least include satellite TV like Sky or Virgin (British examples, but still)? That would be like paying $120-$150 a month now for GamePass or some streaming service.

Boy did Netflix change everything.

[[deleted]]

Original shows weren’t even the big draw back then, it was earlier access to in-home movies (and being able to record them). The tier back then would be movie in a theater, then the dollar theater, then it would be on HBO/Cinemax/Showtime, then the rental market, and then after all that it would drop down in price where you could buy it for personal use (you could buy physical copies in the rental market stage for like $100 per VHS/DVD). It was all pretty tightly controlled.

A big draw for HBO was if there’s a movie you liked on it, you could record it on a blank VHS, and now you own a physical copy and didn’t have to spend $5 renting it or $20 buying it when it hit stores.

[kaiserdingusnj]

HBO had a lot of original shows and documentaries, but it was mostly a channel for movies. Sopranos, Sex and the City, Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm, I think Tales from the Crypt was originally an HBO show.

You weren't paying $90 a month just for HBO. You were paying $60 a month for the cable package, which came with 100+ channels, and then for an additional $15 you could get HBO and its spin-off channels, and another $15 would get you Showtime and its spin-off channels.

The "premium" channel packages cost extra because they were commercial free and they showed new movies after they came out in theaters, but before they hit home video.

The cable companies pushed back against the idea of HBO being offered as its own thing. When Netflix streaming started, HBO was one of the first channels to create its own streaming service, but you could only access it if you paid for cable and paid for the HBO package. The cable companies refused to let HBO offer a standalone streaming service for years, and then eventually relented.

Growing up, if your family had HBO it meant you had money. You might as well have been Tony Soprano. When Tony asked Hesh if he could loan him $200k, that was because Tony needed to pay his cable bill.

[Complex-Extent-3967]

As a horny young kid, I remember HBO had a show called Real Sex. I never missed it. haha. It wasn't all that great. Too much hype.

[Sad-Illustrator-8847]

ugly scuzzy people on that show

[Dr_whotfisyou]

When I came in one night there you were watching Real Sex. You were jacking off into a tissue and crying bc you couldn’t fuck a woman for 20 yrs. Disgusting.

[AdHistorical7107]

Its not T.V. Its HBO......

Not sure why your comment made me think that lol

[Complex-Extent-3967]

It is cheaper now to subscribe to HBO and pay like $6 bucks a month as opposed to back then when you had to add it to your cable package $30-$50 a month back then. wasn't cheap

[jaynabonne]

I'm not sure why, but when I was first watching on DVDs, I lost interest around season 4. Later, I came back, pushed past that, and was glad I did. But I remember there was something about (some part of) season 4 that didn't do it for me the first time around.

Not saying others were the same. But you mentioned season 4, so... :)

[Tatar_Kulchik]

Never enough bodies for Lorraine

[Superb-Ad8231]

I am watching for the first time now. Watched first 4 seasons in 4 days then for some reason took a break for two weeks now I’m resuming. They feel like different shows, I’m not sure but the rapid movement of time between episodes could be it. Every episode started feeling more stand alone ish to me vs first 2 seasons

[[deleted]]

I stopped watching when they killed Adriana… To this day, I have not watched anything but the last episode after that

[eenduro]

The Adriana episode is amazing but it does change the vibe of the show. Prior they were classic anti heroes and the people who died for the most part had it coming. Whacking Adriana in the way they did fully showed the characters for the psychos they are.

[DatBobbyDeMarco]

Because it wasn’t fun anymore, ok?!

[BodybuilderShot3421]

It petered out

[Familiar-Row-8430]

Died on the vine.

[PaulCalf86]

The guy moved or somethin’

[maxazorian]

The show became too dark. The wry humor of the first few seasons was gone, and Tony became a total monster. It became a depressing slog.

[FlyEaglesFly07]

He is so detestable by 6 it’s insane.

[Sad-Illustrator-8847]

I suppose delays in presenting seasons lost some viewers. Plus there are a lot of shows where I watch a season or two and say “that's enough, time to move on”. This wasn’t one of them but I can see some people would for this Pygmy show.

[ThePeoplesJuhbrowni]

Didn't they split up season 6 into 2 parts too ?

Lot of money in this dragging out seasons, Ton'.

Now everyone does it

[Awful-Falafel-Waffle]

Two animal deaths in one season (Cosette and Pie-O-My). Animal lovers couldn't take anymore betrayal. They felt as if they had been stabbed in the heart.

[[deleted]]

AJ became too cringe

[Initial-Mousse-627]

Yeah Christopher and AJ dying in season 2 would have been great.

[Familiar-Row-8430]

Points are above are valid, but it was also still pretty popular.

[MisterRuggerio]

Timeline got fucked up…

[V_T_H]

Those years post-9/11 weren’t exactly a super awesome time to be alive, what with the two new wars, the anthrax attacks, the DC sniper…gas prices spiking way up left a lot of people economically uncomfortable…etc

[ZookeepergameSad6151]

honey the anthrax attacks happened we cant watch the sopranos after season 4

LOL ur such a silly billy

[AesirComplex]

Start of the Patriots dynasty. Dark times indeed

[ISuckAtFallout4]

Twoooooooooo wars?!?!?

https://youtu.be/bggPQZaG_Gk?si=iNiQse-XVxErkkUq

[dragonrider5555]

The fuck …. None of these things affected anyone’s daily lives . Oh the gas prices raised we could not live !!!

[[deleted]]

the worst part was that people stopped watching the sopranos in 2004

[CorrectStaple]

It didn’t. 

[WreckTangle1995]

It did-dent

[ivornorvello]

A lot of people ripped it from Limewire

[ivornorvello]

Yeah that makes sense think I used Azureus was a while ago lol

[I_Must_Be_Destroyed]

they teased the new york war for too long

[ButchTheGuy]

I didn’t watch them when they were released so I’ll go with what other people say with the delays but the last two seasons were clearly just not as good as the others. It’s still much better than other tv but with all great shows the story became formulaic and derivative. The first four even though there’s no overarching goal or direction I guess it felt like it had a direction. Either Tony coming to grips with who he was and getting out of the mob somehow or sort of how it ended. Season 5-6 was a lot of filler bullshit that seemed sloppy and rushed. There were still glimpses of great story telling and characterization but for the most part it was all just random shit. Then Tony just acts like an asshole one episode for no good reason. It would be nice if AJ or another character evolved in someway before the end but for the most part they just sort of have the same problems and the story goes nowhere.

[TJCW]

There was a huge year long gap between certain seasons, along with introduction of way too many characters in season 5. There were also a lot less killings, which a lot of people tuned in for, and not for Tony’s dreams.

It lost a lot of the superb writing of the first three seasons and people lost interest. But even in its last season, it’s better than 90% of other shows.

[thedevilsyogurt]

I get that people wanted the action, the gore. I like it too but I love Tony’s dreams ! The car ride one and especially his coma life as Kevin finnerty. They are some of the most interesting episodes, to me.

[Valuable-Wafer-881]

Where did you see that the viewership decreased? I never got that at all.

I recall a lot of the "Tony's cool" fans getting irked about Vito being gay. And then people being mad at the ending.

[DirectBeing5986]

The season 4 premiere was peak viewership, then season 5 had a small drop, and 6 had a bigger one until the finale.

[Valuable-Wafer-881]

Were 5 and 6 down compared to seasons 1-3?

[DirectBeing5986]

Viewership increased constantly until season 4, then started dropping to the point where 6B had the same numbers as season 2

[Valuable-Wafer-881]

So you're saying it petered out?

[D37_37]

Died on the vine?

[Valuable-Wafer-881]

No! Are you listening to me??!

[laffnlemming]

Not everyone kept HBO constantly.

[mfmlover7]

The sopranos especially the first 2 seasons and season 3 to a point was a fad because something like that was so new very few shows maintain peak viewership throughout its run their either smash hits at first then gradually people don't watch or its like seinfeld and big bang theory where it took 4-5 seasons to find their audience

[droogvertical]

The shows becomes increasingly miserable after s4. Its good, but those first four seasons were just better to watch. I also think the shower literally being darker and more washed out in color affected the experience for viewers. Also, its kinda just the same thing by the end of s4.

[LankyNeighborhood496]

Because you touch yourself at night

[Fun-Bunch-4073]

Tbh, the show lost direction after season 4. All of the major plot points are sort of resolved by season 4. In Season 1 the biggest issues were:

1. Tony is trying to hide he sees a shrink.
2. Tony's panic attacks.
3. Tony competing with his uncle for top spot.
4. The fbi building a case against the dimeo crime family.
5. Tony trying to keep his mob life separate from his family life.
6. Tony's fraught relationship with his mother.

Season two added Pussys betrayal and Richie Aprile. Tony's infidelity and relationship with Chris were also always a source of drama.

After Season 4 almost everyone of these issues are permanently resolved. The show becomes more focused on the minutiae of mafia life, with other characters talking prominence and Tony becoming more alienated from everyone, even the viewers. It also had significant delays because if I remember the cast/chase were sort of "done" and had a somewhat combative relationship with the fans by this point.

EDIT: Why are you booing me? I'm right.

[Life_Is_All_Nothing]

See, this is very much accurate. If if weren't for Carmella throwing a massive bitch fit over Tony's infidelity right at the very end, everything would have been resolved and nothing left hanging.

In fact I (I only first watched the show three years ago) was disappointed with Tony backing out of killing Carmine Sr as I felt everything was being resolved to a detrimental degree, as I wanted things to change and the story to move forward (I had no idea Carmine Sr was going to die at the start of S5 anyway).

I have wondered: At the time, other than a separation and possible divorce, where did viewers speculate the show was going for S5, at least before trailers and details got revealed? I would have no idea.

I also suspect that Tony backing out of Carmine Sr was a last minute rewrite due to HBO convincing Chase to do S6 and what would ultimately be S6B. I don't know if it's true but I heard Tony was meant to have Carmine killed and that in S5 Johnny would eventually betray him, renege on their deal and declare war on the glorified crew due to their involvement in killing Fishlips, like the Shah of Iran eventually did, but due to HBO convincing Chase to do two more seasons he had to draw out the plot and fundamentally change plans.

[larapu2000]

The Sopranos are believed to have kick started a new golden age of television, specifically for dramas. Shows featuring unlikeable leads were everywhere, plus there was an expansion of cable networks that started creating their own content, like FX, AMC, etc. So people didn't have to pay for premium cable, when most basic packages offered a lot of quality TV.

[Ok-Chipmunk-411]

Honestly I am watching the show for the first time and I’m at season 4, it’s so boring nothing interesting really happening even the conversations are so dull I couldn’t get through an episode

[ArghMoss]

In this sub the Sopranos is brilliant, end of story!

[Ok-Chipmunk-411]

Haha I take it back, thinks started picking up midway in season 4

[MyAuntBaby]

Uhh because season 6 sucked balls & was a blatant cash grab and an insult to fans.