Time on Screen: The Sopranos, “Mr. Ruggerio’s Neighborhood”

On this episode of Time on Screen, Zach is joined by Asher Rapkin, co-founder of Collective Horology. We return to the small screen this week to focus on what might just be as close as we’ll ever come to a consensus pick for the greatest television show of them all, The Sopranos. Zach and Asher reminisce about catching the series as it aired (they’re both kind of old) and acquiring those iconic DVD box sets, another collecting rabbit hole altogether. Then they dive into “Mr. Ruggerio’s Neighborhood,” the season 3 premiere that originally aired in the spring of 2001, setting the table for what some fans argue is the best single season of the show. This episode, which tracks an FBI team as they attempt to plant a listening device in the Soprano home (the “sausage factory”), is uniquely obsessed with time, and has what is easily one of the show’s great watch spots on Agent Harris. His Timex (with an Indiglo dial) is sneakily great character work, drawing a clear line between Tony and life of ill gotten gains, and the more humble means of the government employee just doing his job in trying to take him down.

To stay on top of all new episodes, you can subscribe to The Worn & Wound Podcast — now available on all major platforms including iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Spotify, and more. You can also find our RSS feed here.

And if you like what you hear, then don’t forget to leave us a review on iTunes.

If there’s a question you want us to answer you can hit us up at [email protected], and we’ll put your question in the queue.

Show Notes

• Asher’s wrist check: Armin Strom Gravity Equal Force P.03 for Collective
• Zach’s wrist check: IWC Pilot Chronograph 41 Ceratanium
• The Ringer’s Sopranos Episode Ranking 
• Not Fade Away
• The Many Saints of Newark
• Breakdown of the Sopranos finale