Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone.
IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: April 2, 2000
PROGRAM ORIGINALLY AIRED ON THIS DATE: The Sopranos, “The Knight in White Satin Armor” (Season 2, Episode 12) [Watch On HBO Go or Amazon Prime Instant Video]
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: The first season of The Sopranos was an absolute sensation, and for good reason. It put HBO on another level when it came to prestige television, it began the avalanche of cable TV dramas and the so-called “Golden Age” of television, and in Tony Soprano it had maybe the most iconic character on all of television. But what ended up hooking me was the Season 2 arrival of Tony’s sister Janice.
Janice was impossible. Sneaky, manipulative, perched precariously on the border between insincere hippie naturalism and the Jersey chick she was raised as. She and Tony had a wonderfully complicated relationship; she was there to commiserate with him about what a monster their mother could be, but she was never above turning around and using Livia to get one over on Tony. Janice wasn’t a hugely popular character like Tony; by some strange coincidence, viewers never supported women who exhibited similar characteristics to Tony. They just supported Tony.
Anyway, the high point of Season Two came in the season’s penultimate episode, when Janice finally had her fill of Ritchie Aprile. Janice and Ritchie were an effed up pair, for sure. He was a gangster recently sprung from jail who kept insisting that he wasn’t coming after Tony even though he was totally coming after Tony. Janice basically started dating him to piss her brother off (and maybe to make her own power play). Ritchie held a gun to her head during sex once. That was creepy.
The relationship kept on throughout the season, with Janice playing Lady Macbeth and Ritchie being a pot constantly set to boil.
This was all leading up to the moment when Janice — in defense of gay rights! — told Ritchie to shut it, and Ritchie responded by punching her in the mouth. Which was probably a mistake.
[You can watch “The Knight in White Satin Armor”on HBO Go or Amazon Prime.]
Joe Reid (@joereid) is a freelance writer living in Brooklyn. You can find him leaving flowers for Mrs. Landingham at the corner of 18th and Potomac.
Like what you see? Follow Decider on Facebook and Twitter to join the conversation, and sign up for our email newsletters to be the first to know about streaming movies and TV news!
