There may be no show in the history of television that changed the art form more than The Sopranos. It ushered in an era of brooding antiheroes and complex, serialized storytelling that still thrives today, with an ever-growing roster of imitators (a few worthy, many not).

When the show debuted on January 10, 1999, Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz were fledgling TV writers at Tony Soprano’s — and creator David Chase’s — hometown newspaper, New Jersey’s Star-Ledger. They quickly became obsessives — early to the hype, exhaustive and insightful in their analysis. Twenty years later, Sepinwall is Rolling Stone’s TV critic, while Zoller Seitz holds that title for New York magazine.