The Sopranos: Ranking Every Main Character Worst To Best
The Sopranos Characters Ranked: Running down New Jersey's finest.
The Sopranos secured its status as the de facto greatest TV drama of all time through great plots, daring darkness, and a distinct world view among many other aspects, but more important than anything else is its deep cast of amazing characters.
The show is full of guest and recurring stars, but the core cast alone is stacked with some of the greatest creations in TV history. The main characters of The Sopranos are varied in most ways, but all make up a great piece in the puzzle of this inimitable show.
It’s tough, therefore, to say that one of the main characters of The Sopranos is the “worst”, but if we’re tasked with doing so, there are undeniably some characters that stand out more, contribute a greater amount to the overall story, or otherwise entertain us in a way lesser characters don’t quite manage.
Each of these characters has plenty to offer, but when it comes to The Sopranos, the weight of expectation can mean that an otherwise very good character can’t help but pale in comparison to some of the others.
15. Artie Bucco
Artie is that one guy in a friendship group who gloms onto the tougher kids to keep himself insulated - the Richard Hammond of The Sopranos, if you will. The restaurateur and wannabe Casanova starts the show as an important connection to Tony’s life pre-mob, but his efforts to carry himself like a gangster while staying out of any real trouble make him a grating presence.
A walking midlife crisis, Artie can’t help but fall in love with the various young women he employs at Vesulvio. More often than not, these women are involved with the mobsters who frequent the restaurant, and frequently result in humiliation for Artie.
His nadir comes when he gets involved loaning money to an acquaintance. He tries to handle his business like his good pal Tony, but ends up making a major fool of himself, and a botched suicide attempt leaves him in debt to the mob and firmly in Tony’s bad books.
It seems the writers run out of Artie material as the show rolls on and becomes increasingly serious; with all the other drama going on, Artie’s self made problems seem impossibly minor.