Here's why the promising mobster series Falcone only lasted for one season. The Sopranos debuted in 1999 and followed Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a mobster who starts taking therapy for his panic attacks. The series is now considered one of the greatest TV shows of all time, thanks to its superb performances and writing. It's also credited with helping create the so-called "Golden Age" of television, and helped usher in higher quality TV dramas in the years that followed like Breaking Bad.
The Sopranos came to an end after six seasons in 2007, though a prequel film titled The Many Saints of Newark is set for release in 2021. It didn't take long after the show's arrival for critics and audiences to recognize its quality, and in 2000 another series arrived on CBS attempting to tell another complex tale of life in the mafia. Falcone is a mob series that revolves around Joseph Pistone (Jason Gedrick), an FBI agent who goes undercover in Brooklyn under the name Joe Falcone, with the lines between his real-life and mob life starting to blur the deeper he gets.
Falcone is based on the memoir Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia by the real Joseph D. Pistone, who spent years undercover with the mob under the alias Donnie Brasco. The book previously formed the basis for the 1997 film Donnie Brasco starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino. Alongside lead Jason Gedrick, Falcone co-stars Titus Welliver as gangster Sonny and Amy Carlson as Maggie Pistone, Joe's wife who is increasingly feeling the strain of his mysterious double life. The mob series was first set to air in 1999 but was pulled following the Columbine High School massacre due to the pilot featuring shooting scenes.
When Falcone arrived in April 2000 reviews naturally compared it to The Sopranos, but in largely negative terms, though performers like Welliver received good notices. The show received lukewarm ratings following its debut that only got worse as it progressed, and it was quickly apparent it wouldn't be returning for a second season. The network felt the overexposure of mob movies and TV at the time hurt its reception, with audiences feeling the themes were played out.
Falcone also felt like a tamer version of The Sopranos, and the links between the two were made even clear by the presence of Lillo Brancato Jr. (A Bronx Tale) in both shows, with the actor playing Matthew Bevilaqua in the latter. In 2009, Lillo Brancato Jr. would be sentenced to ten years in prison for his role in a robbery that led to the murder of off-duty police officer Daniel Enchautegui. While Falcone had potential the mob series felt somewhat doomed coming out next to a juggernaut like The Sopranos, which is a major reason viewers didn't seem to give it a chance.