basically, quality migrates to cable. >> "oz" comes on in '97. and it's set in this fictional penitentiary. wow. what a strange show that was. >> in "oz," sometimes the things you can't touch are more real than the things you can. for instance, fear, hatred, loneliness are more real to me than a shank and a soul. >> it was jaw-droppingly violent. it was a men's prison. it probably should be. but you know, it kind of announces the idea that hbo is going to get very serious about doing scripted dramas. >> it's finished. it's over. >> but hbo really, in my mind, comes to its own in 1999 with "the sopranos." ♪ ♪ woke up this morning ♪ got yourself a gun