Mary McNamara: 'The Sopranos' was just another mob drama. Then 'College' changed everything

It only took an hour, on Feb. 7, 1999, for American television to change completely.

That day was the premiere of "College," the fifth episode of HBO's new drama "The Sopranos," and the world would never be the same. Every antihero and embattled family, every dark-as-night comedy and humanized-monster serial that made television the preeminent art form of the 21st century, can trace its roots directly back to "College." So too can many of the problems the TV revolution eventually unleashed.

For an hour, audiences watched open-mouthed as New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) took his spoiled but essentially sweet daughter, Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler), on a college tour, only to glimpse, at a gas station, an FBI informant who put several of his friends in jail. What followed was a horrific