The Sopranos is a fictional television series about the Italian-American mafia in northern New Jersey, USA. The producer is David Chase. The first season premiered on HBO in North America on January 10, 1999. The series has been very successful since its launch and has even become a cultural phenomenon. The series has a wide audience base. Its groundbreaking use of realistic lenses to present mafia life, American families, Italian-American communities, a world dominated by violence and the gray area of morality has won many acclaims from audiences and critics. Like many other HBO series such as Six Feet Under and Sex and the City, The Sopranos is also mainly for adults, as its scenes contain a lot of bloody violence, frontal nudity, drugs and blasphemous texts. The Sopranos is led by James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco and Michael Imperioli. The main plot revolves around the various contradictions and conflicts between Tony Shapurano's (Gandolfini) family and the criminal organization he leads.