The Sopranos ranked first in "Rolling Stone"'s list of the 100 greatest TV shows of all time. In March 2018, New Line Cinema announced that they have purchased a film detailing the "Sopranos" background story, set in the 1960s during the Newark riots. Titled "The Many Saints of Newark", it is written by David Chase and Lawrence Konner and will be directed by Alan Taylor. David Chase had worked as a television producer for more than 20 years before creating "The Sopranos". He had been employed as a staff writer or producer for several television series, including "", "Switch", "The Rockford Files",
The Sopranos New Jersey organized crime family when Chase was growing up, and partly on New Jersey's DeCavalcante family. He has mentioned American playwrights Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams as influences on the show's writing, and Italian director Federico Fellini as an important influence on the show's cinematic style. The series was named after high school friends of his. Chase and producer Brad Grey pitched "The Sopranos" to several networks; Fox showed interest but passed on it after Chase presented them the pilot script. They eventually pitched the show to Chris Albrecht, president of HBO Original Programming, who decided to finance a