10 Reasons The Sopranos Is Still The Best TV Show Of All Time

So great it necessitates an entry of its own. Whether or not this is The Sopranos’ finest hour is up for debate, but as a piece of TV it’s hard to beat. A season three episode centred primarily around Paulie and Christopher getting lost in the woods, it’s so inventive and joyous it could easily have existed as its own movie.

It’s a simple fish out of water story - two inner city gangsters stranded in the snowy wilderness with no idea how to take care of themselves - but with three years’ character development to lean on, it’s all the more effective. Old school Paulie and new blood Christopher have been getting on each other’s nerves for some while, and in the vast outdoors they have nothing to do but needle at one another

There’s a superb B plot with Tony and his current mistress, but Pine Barrens is best remembered for the pitch perfect comedy of two career criminals squabbling in a New Jersey forest. It’s the kind of standalone episode other shows have since attempted, but none have perfected like The Sopranos.