At home with The Sopranos

I've been watching, very belatedly, Season Three of "The Sopranos". One of the most impressive things about these sprawling HBO dramas is not the extremes of behaviour portrayed. It's the everyday stuff the characters do, particularly the daily acts of shabbiness of which we're all capable. In "The Telltale Moozadell" it's Carmela Soprano's birthday. Her teenage son buys her a DVD of "The Matrix". He sort of apologises for not wrapping it but then says it's more personal that way. Then daughter Meadow comes home from University announcing that she's booked her mother in for a special all-day beauty treatment at a smart new salon. And to keep her company she's booked herself in as well. Oh, and she's put it on her mother's credit card. Now that's family life.