The Best TV Show on HBO Max Isn’t The Sopranos, It’s This 7-Year-Old Drama (& Steven Spielberg Loves It)

One of the biggest draws of the HBO Max streaming platform is that it gives subscribers access to all six seasons of the critically acclaimed crime drama The Sopranos. Critics and audiences have credited it not only as HBO’s best show but also as one of the best TV shows. While The Sopranos has undoubtedly earned its prestige and continued popularity on streaming, in a post-Sopranos world, there’s a new heir to the HBO throne: Succession.

Released in 2018 and consisting of four fantastic seasons, Succession transports viewers into a meticulously and intricately crafted world of elitism, capitalism, and dysfunctional family dynamics. In addition to boasting a bold premise and impressive craftsmanship, even some of the greatest filmmakers of this generation, including Steven Spielberg, can attest to Succession‘s quality.

The Sopranos and Succession Are Two Sides of the Same Coin

Two Razor-Sharp Commentaries on Family and Humanity

One reason The Sopranos and Succession stand out in the TV landscape is that they’re both quite similar at their core. While they feature very different premises, characters, and periods, both are prestige TV shows that seek to poignantly depict family and the human condition. The Sopranos is a crime drama, and a surprisingly psychologically astute story about Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a man struggling to balance his conscience and morals with his life as both a crime boss and family man. It gained attention for making the most distasteful man into someone audiences found they couldn’t help loving and rooting for. Darkly comedic, sharp, and thoughtful, The Sopranos wasn’t quite like anything else on television.

Years later, Succession took a daring stab at a similar problem: how to make a story about the ultra-wealthy and elitist intriguing, watchable, and capable of evoking sympathy from viewers. Centering on the Murdoch-esque Roy family, it tells the tale of Roy Logan (Brian Cox), a powerful but pitiful figure who has attained massive wealth through conglomerate Waystar RoyCo but paid the price of extreme loneliness and lack of human connection. The biggest tragedy, though, is the family dynamics his actions have fostered as his four adult children grapple for the coveted title of “heir” to their father’s business and wealth.

Like The Sopranos, Succession features razor-sharp writing, phenomenal performances, and dark humor to paint a mesmerizing portrait of family and power. In some ways, though, the show feels more relevant and tragic than The Sopranos. Rather than the main anti-hero being a mobster and Mafia boss, the main antagonist and tragic figure in Succession is a businessperson who wields power and influence rather than guns. Viewers may not get mob conflicts and revenge killings, but the show packs just as much tension, paranoia, and explosive emotion into conference rooms and boardroom meetings.

Succession Earned Steven Spielberg’s Approval

And a Shelf of Awards and Honors

While not a definitive measure of quality, it always helps when a show or movie gets the approval of an esteemed filmmaker, which is what Succession received from Spielberg, one of the greatest directors of all time. Spielberg has written letters of praise regarding esteemed projects. He once wrote to Craig Mazin with praise for Episode 3 of The Last of Us, “Long, Long Time.” Succession producer Mark Mylod received a similar letter from Spielberg, confirming that the director not only watched the series but also approved of it, especially Succession Season 2, Episode 5, “Tern Haven.”

“Tern Haven” is one episode that masterfully uses a common setting–a dinner party–and turns it into a mesmerizing thriller as tensions rise to an excruciating level. Several days after the episode, Mylod received a letter. In an interview with Vanity Fair, he recalled, “I was really proud of the episode, and it was well-received critically, but a couple of days after the episode aired, my doorbell rang at my apartment in Brooklyn, I went downstairs, and a young man handed me this beautiful envelope, handwritten with my name on it. I took it upstairs and opened it up, and it was a letter from Steven Spielberg saying how much he loved the episode. I think he said, ‘Directing a dinner party is like fighting a bear—and you won.’”

While Spielberg is most well-known for his film work, he has served as executive producer on several successful TV shows, including Masters of the Air. He also seems to have impeccable taste in the small screen, with most of his recommendations aimed at the most critically acclaimed shows and episodes. “Long, Long Time” earned recognition from the Directors Guild of America Awards and Emmys, while Spielberg has also recommended the well-regarded Mad Men and The Bear.

Between them, Mad Men and The Bear boast an astounding 37 Emmy wins and 10 Golden Globe wins. Given its strong showing during awards season, Succession also hardly needs Spielberg to prove its high quality. Across its four-season run, Succession scooped up 19 Emmy wins and nine Golden Globe wins. One thing that sets it apart is that it consistently grew, with each season upping the quality and standards even higher.

By Season 3, the show broke the record for the most acting Emmy nominations in a year, with the cast accumulating 14. Kieran Culkin, Cox, Matthew Macfayden, and Sarah Snook each earned an Emmy for their performances, while creator and showrunner Jesse Armstrong took home four Emmys for his writing. It’s rare for a show to offer so many performances that are truly for the ages, but Succession pulled it off. Whether it’s Cox’s tragic, broken portrayal of Roy, Culkin’s depiction of the provocative and traumatized Roman, or Snook’s intelligent and entitled Shiv, every performance is brilliantly and beautifully layered and executed.

Why Succession Is HBO’s New Most-Prized Show

Its Success Is Already Cemented

A show’s success is not determined solely by its number of awards or Spielberg’s approval. The biggest draw of Succession is that it built upon the shows that came before it, created something new, and boldly, humorously, and darkly reflected society. The Sopranos pioneered the idea of driving storytelling with morally reprehensible yet oddly endearing characters, while Succession took the idea to another level. It tackled an anti-hero who was most relevant in today’s day and age: a billionaire with political and social power to whom relationships and life itself are nothing more than transactions.

As far removed as Logan may seem to the average person, Succession is an eerie warning about humans’ susceptibility to corruption, primarily through power and wealth. While many shows, including The Sopranos, establish a god-like quality in their main antagonist, around whom the world seems to revolve, Succession added a twist by demonstrating how the power of these individuals lasts even when that individual is incapacitated and physically weak.

It explores more layers of the human condition by not just studying the wealthy, lonely billionaire, but also his four morally dubious children who struggle with failure, self-destructive habits, and the crushing pressure of trying to prove they have what it takes to be Logan’s successor. It captures familial conflict and the wider generational conflicts between millennials and boomers. While The Sopranos pioneered prestige drama, Succession perfected it for the modern era. It’s a perfect blend of family drama, political commentary, and relevance, creating a quality TV show that feels simultaneously timely and timeless.

Considering that HBO, through shows like The Sopranos and The Wire, became known for prestige TV, Succession honors that groundwork and legacy but also works hard to evolve the genre with its political relevance and determination to use corporate power, greed, and dinner parties as the medium to paint a complex story of family and power. Succession entertains and challenges viewers to think deeper through humor, satire, and thoughtful depiction of human nature.

Like The Sopranos, Succession also effectively reflects the anxieties of the time. The Sopranos delved into the anxieties of a changing world and the perceived decline in tradition. In contrast, Succession delves deep into modern anxieties of capitalism, corporate greed, generational conflict, and the pressure to cultivate success and a legacy. However, it also effectively explores near-universal anxieties and feelings. The Sopranos and Succession are both valuable in their own way. Still, Succession is a must-see for modern viewers as it beautifully evolves the latter concepts and seamlessly transitions to a contemporary setting. Ultimately, Succession is more than just a successful, modern TV show; it’s the defining show of the era.