M Night Shyamalan names his favourite TV show of all time: “Everybody watched it”
Twist-heavy cinema may have built his career before moving away from his tried-and-trusted methodology, which almost destroyed it completely, but M Night Shyamalan has always been open to exploring new creative avenues.
Sometimes it doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact he’s responsible for two of the 21st century’s worst blockbusters in The Last Airbender and After Earth, but it was a sizeable and embarrassing setback he was quick to learn from once he was forced to pick up the smouldering wreckage of his own reputation.
Deciding that the best way to get ahead was to bet entirely on himself, Shyamalan’s recent reinvention as a mid-budget auteur who crafts original stories he funds out of his own pocket has been a breath of fresh air. Sure, some of the lingering criticisms remain as valid as ever, but it’s a damn sight better than the Airbender trilogy he was originally planning on making.
On the small screen, Shyamalan directed the pilot and executive produced Wayward Pines, which played right into his hands as a sprawling puzzle box mystery thriller. His second episodic adventure reached the end of its natural lifespan after four seasons in 2023, with the psychological nightmares of Servant once again finding the filmmaker playing in his favoured sandbox.
When it comes to his own personal favourite TV shows, though, it turns out Shyamalan is cut from a much more conventional cloth. It wouldn’t really surprise anyone if he worshipped at the altar of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks, but as he revealed to The Independent, he’s never found anything better than one of the greatest ever made.
“My favourite show is The Sopranos,” he admitted. “Movies would have never let him to that ending. There would have been repercussions. They would have stopped promoting it a certain way and would have said, ‘Hmmm, we tested it and it’s not doing so well, half the audience hates it’, that kind of stuff.”
It goes without saying opinion on the finale of The Sopranos split opinion right down the middle, but Shyamalan knows a thing or two about a polarising conclusion, so it makes sense that would be the series he holds nearest and dearest to his own heart. He praised the way “it was up to [David] Chase to decide that ending,” a sentiment reflected in a few contentious climaxes of his own.
He’s hardly in the minority suggesting The Sopranos is the benchmark the rest of the small screen’s offerings will never be able to catch, with Shyamalan obviously enamoured by creator and showrunner Chase taking a massive swing in the final stretch. It may or may not have come off depending on who gets asked, but he does at least deserve some semblance of credit for thinking outside of the box.
