HBO executives were terrified that audiences would immediately cancel their subscriptions after the first season episode where Tony Soprano brutally strangles a mob informant while taking his daughter on a college tour.

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HBO executives were terrified that audiences would immediately cancel their subscriptions after the first season episode where Tony Soprano brutally strangles a mob informant while taking his daughter on a college tour. Series creator David Chase had to fight tooth and nail to keep the murder in the script, arguing that if audiences didn't realize the protagonist was a literal sociopath, the entire premise of the show was pointless. The episode became a massive critical success, completely redefining the modern antihero and proving that television audiences actually love rooting for utterly irredeemable garbage human beings. It paved the way for every morally bankrupt prestige drama of the last two decades, confirming that we all harbor a deep, repressed desire to watch terrible people do terrible things as long as it is accompanied by a decent soundtrack and high production values