BREAKING BAD vs MAD MEN

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its like the sopranos vs the wire except on basic cable

Poll Results

OptionVotes
BREAKING BAD 61
MAD MEN 51
sure, what the hell: NEITHER 6


an0n (Lamp), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 05:37 (fifteen years ago)

both shows have done three seasons and while on the whole mad men probably has better, for longer, last season of breaking bad puts it over the top imo

an0n (Lamp), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 05:39 (fifteen years ago)

Mad Men. I just finished season 1 of breaking bad and I like it (a lot) but Mad Men's scope and scale wins out.

akm, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 05:40 (fifteen years ago)

Vampire Diaries

latebloomer, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 05:58 (fifteen years ago)

Breaking Bad Men

latebloomer, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 05:58 (fifteen years ago)

breaking bad is good but the subject matter doesn't interest me as much as mad men.

DâM-EdnA-FunK (get bent), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 06:01 (fifteen years ago)

Breaking Bad Vs Weeds is a better comparison since they explicitly deal with the same subject. Obviously BB is better than Weeds though so maybe that's not fair (and I like Weeds).

akm, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 06:29 (fifteen years ago)

breaking bad, I think

no, mad men

no, breaking bad

ugh

alberto cat6ador (cozen), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 06:56 (fifteen years ago)

breaking bad is good but the subject matter doesn't interest me as much as mad men.

This.

kenan, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 07:05 (fifteen years ago)

Breaking Bad Vs Weeds is a better comparison since they explicitly deal with the same subject.

Except it's not a good comparison at all since Breaking Bad is a well-written show and calling Weeds "uneven" is being very nice to it.

kenan, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 07:10 (fifteen years ago)

If you've only finished season one of BB seems not in a great place to compare the two. BB has got better and better.

For me it's too hard to pick, the shows are too different.

I see what this is (Local Garda), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 07:11 (fifteen years ago)

I'm kind of amazed that anyone could be more interested in the subject matter of Mad Men, but whatever floats your boat...

Matt Armstrong, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 07:14 (fifteen years ago)

TS: Dying of cancer v. dying of soul sickness

kenan, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 07:25 (fifteen years ago)

More people have seen Mad Men, so I think it will win, but it doesn't deserve the crown. And I like Mad Men a lot, but...

Jouster, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 07:56 (fifteen years ago)

"Desperate but amazingly good-looking people" outperforming "desperate people who look like Brian Cranston." Shockah.

kenan, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 07:59 (fifteen years ago)

And to be fair, Brain Cranston is dying of soul sickness faster than Don Draper is.

kenan, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 08:01 (fifteen years ago)

this is actually really really hard. Before BB Season 3 I would have said MM, but now I'm not so sure. I'm gonna wait and see how S4 of MM unfolds before casting a vote...

Simon H., Wednesday, 21 July 2010 08:22 (fifteen years ago)

You do not have the luxury of that much time.

kenan, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 08:41 (fifteen years ago)

need to catch up w/ breaking bad

I’ll put you in a f *ckin Weingarten you c*nt! (history mayne), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 08:48 (fifteen years ago)

Dunno how Breaking Bad manages to feel more involving than Mad Men, given the subject matter, maybe it's because you're allowed much more inside the characters' heads in Breaking Bad, in Mad Men you feel like more of an onlooker.

Also Breaking Bad is much funnier, so Breaking Bad wins.

Matt DC, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 09:11 (fifteen years ago)

Funnier? Really?

I see what this is (Local Garda), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 12:50 (fifteen years ago)

breaks my heart bad to do so but i voted mad men even tho i feel like breaking bad is more 'my show' - they are both v v good

ice cr?m, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 12:55 (fifteen years ago)

If the questions is, "Why?" you answered it very badly.

kenan, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 12:57 (fifteen years ago)

MM has taken me aprox 20% deeper into ~thinking abt stuff~ but BB is 10% more my sort of thing as far as 'raw artistic expression and cultural truthfulness' so MM is around 10% better imo

ice cr?m, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:07 (fifteen years ago)

Funnier? Really?

Yeah totally, I find Breaking Bad darkly hilarious. Mad Men is funny as well but it feels like it's mostly channeled through the less prominent characters, but the Breaking Bad central pairing of Jesse and Walt bring the lols pretty consistently. I'm only at the end of S2 though.

Matt DC, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:09 (fifteen years ago)

yeah BB is totally way more abt the lolz, closest comparison imo: the cohen bros

ice cr?m, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:12 (fifteen years ago)

have only watched a handful of episodes of one and it was Mad Men, but i kind of dislike it to a degree that I voted for Breaking Bad even though i haven't seen it, neither just didn't seem to cut it.

some dude, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:18 (fifteen years ago)

Dunno how Breaking Bad manages to feel more involving than Mad Men, given the subject matter, maybe it's because you're allowed much more inside the characters' heads in Breaking Bad, in Mad Men you feel like more of an onlooker.

Also Breaking Bad is much funnier, so Breaking Bad wins.

― Matt DC, Wednesday, July 21, 2010 5:11 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

prob cuz BB is a fast-paced thriller at heart while MM is more opaque and contemplative

al-goreda (s1ocki), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:29 (fifteen years ago)

Mad Men, though I've only watched the first season of Breaking Bad. But even pitching S1 of BB against S1 of MM, I'd still definitely vote for the Sterling Cooper lot. Breaking Bad's really really good, but season 1 of Mad Men is probably my favourite first season of any US TV show I can think of, bar Twin Peaks.

Born too beguiled (DavidM), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:29 (fifteen years ago)

they're both great, but there was something that kept me glued to MM that i haven't found in BB. apparently it's got even better. i guess i really hated cranston's wife was one thing. but there were some amazing eps and i want to get back into it.

I’ll put you in a f *ckin Weingarten you c*nt! (history mayne), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:32 (fifteen years ago)

they both have alliterative names which is cool, might all come down to whether you like B or M better

ice cr?m, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:33 (fifteen years ago)

only one had a serge gainsbourg song named after it am i right

I’ll put you in a f *ckin Weingarten you c*nt! (history mayne), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:34 (fifteen years ago)

initials MM

al-goreda (s1ocki), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:35 (fifteen years ago)

i think on the whole BB is FUNNER... mad men can get boring at stretches. both are pretty good at mixing it up and being fairly unpredictable, which is nice

al-goreda (s1ocki), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:35 (fifteen years ago)

I voted Breaking Bad because Cranston and THE TENSION. Also I like Albuquerque more than New York.

Sensational Howard (admrl), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:54 (fifteen years ago)

Love Mad Men though of course. Maybe I'll have a different answer in 12-13 weeks. Probably. I hope so.

Sensational Howard (admrl), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:55 (fifteen years ago)

Also it's not such a stretch when you make it more about Walter, Jr./Flynn vs. the annoying Draper kids.

Sensational Howard (admrl), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:56 (fifteen years ago)

I don't really like Mad Men.

he does NOT have the training (HI DERE), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:56 (fifteen years ago)

That's because you're in Boston (or thereabouts)

Sensational Howard (admrl), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:57 (fifteen years ago)

I think

Sensational Howard (admrl), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:57 (fifteen years ago)

eh, I think really it's more that I am not at all interested in the story

I acknowledge that it's well written and well acted, but I never want to watch it.

he does NOT have the training (HI DERE), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 13:59 (fifteen years ago)

It's entirely possible that it's a white people thing.

Oh yeah, I went there.

kenan, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 14:00 (fifteen years ago)

nah, I have too many friends who aren't white who love the show to run with that line

(although sometimes I feel that way)

he does NOT have the training (HI DERE), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 14:01 (fifteen years ago)

Seriously, though, I doubt the pre-civil-rights 60's has much romance unless seen from a perspective of white privilege, and a ton of it at that. Mad Men's nods to that don't make that different, they just make that nodded-to. You know?

kenan, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 14:03 (fifteen years ago)

Certainly, the ladies of Mad Men trample all over the ladies of Breaking Bad

Sensational Howard (admrl), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 14:04 (fifteen years ago)

that's not very nice of them

he does NOT have the training (HI DERE), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 14:04 (fifteen years ago)

jesses new gf is fn smokin

ice cr?m, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 14:05 (fifteen years ago)

"Nice" never got anyone an Emmy.

Sensational Howard (admrl), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 14:06 (fifteen years ago)

The ladies of Mad Men have to prove that they can keep up with the imagined woman of 2009 or 2010.

kenan, Wednesday, 21 July 2010 14:06 (fifteen years ago)

Both shows are to be applauded for achieving much more than might be suggested by their apparently tired basic premises. Pretty sure I groaned when I first heard them each described. But certainly The Sopranos is the ne plus ultra of that.

Sensational Howard (admrl), Wednesday, 21 July 2010 14:12 (fifteen years ago)

At least, I would think. Neither series was close to finished when they did this. (Wouldn't be 118 votes...28-5 for Mad Men.)

clemenza, Saturday, 17 April 2021 01:56 (four years ago)

eight months pass...

S4 of Breaking Bad, third time through. Just sort of happened: my brother-in-law was just starting, watched a couple of episodes, had lots of time to kill over Christmas, kept going.

More later, but I've noticed an episode common to a few series: the dark-night-of-the-soul episode, where one or more characters (who may or may not be drunk or medicated) talk deep into the night as they work through some crisis. In Breaking Bad, it's S3's "The Fly," an episode I don't love--one of S3's weaker ones, I'd say--but didn't mind as much this time, mostly because of Walt's great speech where he tries to figure out the exact moment when he should have died. In Larry Sanders, it's "Arthur After Hours," the night Artie bumps Ryan O'Neal and ends up getting drunk and hanging out with the custodian. And, the most famous example, Mad Men's "The Suitcase," Don ducking the call from California about Anna Draper. There must be others--didn't think it warranted its own thread.

clemenza, Thursday, 30 December 2021 04:23 (four years ago)

Bottle Episodes?

Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 30 December 2021 04:31 (four years ago)

In the middle of my first Breaking Bad re-watch after binging the show in 2015. Just finished S4E2 I think.

DT, Thursday, 30 December 2021 04:44 (four years ago)

Finished yesterday. I know the overwhelming consensus is that Better Call Saul is the better series, but if I had to choose, I'd go with Breaking Bad. I'll readily concede that BCS is the more consistent series--BB really hits a lull in S4 where Walt and Jesse's break-up-to-make-up theatrics get a little tiresome--and by gradually turning Skyler into a zombie, the show essentially loses one of its best characters the last season or so. And there are other things that nag here and there; Vince Gilligan seemed to have learned some traps to avoid by the time he launched BCS.

But Breaking Bad regularly moves me in a way that BCS doesn't. Things like Walter and Jane's father in the bar, the scene I mention above from "The Fly," Hank talking about his summer job cutting down trees, Skyler and Marie reconciling. Saul is obviously a much more shaded character in BCS, but this time it really hit me that I enjoy him more in BB; his wry exasperation with Walter and Jesse produces one great line after another (including--forget the context--"Uncle Miltie proportions").

I'll probably watch El Camino a third time before the new season of BCS (plus the most recent BCS episode--rewatched the entire last season over the summer, so I won't do that again). And then, when that finishes, I'll look at the online timeline I found and finally put everything together in my head.

clemenza, Tuesday, 4 January 2022 00:26 (four years ago)

If I didn't think the results would be so lopsided, I'd start a Hank Schrader/Hank Kingsley/Hank Kimball poll. Kingsley would blow past Schrader going away; except for older posters, Kimball would elicit little more than "Who?" I think they're all great.

clemenza, Tuesday, 4 January 2022 00:30 (four years ago)

two years pass...

Looks like almost three years, so I started a rewatch tonight (4th time). Did anyone ever call attention to the great (in context) last line of the first episode? "Walt--is that you?"

clemenza, Monday, 19 August 2024 01:17 (one year ago)

four weeks pass...

Finished up last night. I won't scroll back, so I'll no dout end up repeating myself, but: mostly great, so many unforgettable episode-closing scenes, and I remain in the minority (I'm guessing) who think it's better than Better Call Saul. But I find the way it ends--the last two episodes--less satisfying (Badfinger excepted) than Mad Men, The Sopranos, The Americans, Friday Night Lights, Six Feet Under, or almost any famous prestige or whatever show I've seen. I don't like the brutalization of Jesse, the murder of Andrea, or the improbability of the contraption Walt rigs up to kill Uncle Jack's crew. I don't like losing Hank for the last couple of episodes, although I know that was inevitable. There's just so much Walt near the end, at a point where he really is a creep, even when he's sort of doing the right thing.

clemenza, Wednesday, 18 September 2024 17:16 (one year ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06t_KP7y8Ao

Charlie Hair (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 18 September 2024 17:47 (one year ago)

Funny! I take it by implication they'd already tested a few things that didn't pass muster--"magnets," I bet.

clemenza, Wednesday, 18 September 2024 18:04 (one year ago)

Wonderful performances, a lovingly-crafted show in general, but “Breaking Bad” is still basically gourmet schlock. The finale is dumb, bloody wish-fulfillment for the mooks who still identified with the poor beleaguered murderous antihero. It was always gonna be that.

thewufs, Wednesday, 18 September 2024 20:14 (one year ago)

I think most of the way, the series does a good job of undermining/deflating Walt's "woe is me" rationalizations, primarily via Skyler (best example being her great "I have to protect this family from the man who protects this family" line). The last couple of episodes, first in Walt's admission that he really did everything for myself, then in the way he saves Jesse, it's like there's a last-minute effort to ennoble him. I guess the best you could say is that the show leaves that ambiguous; he's both hopelessly selfish and capable of doing the right thing.

clemenza, Thursday, 19 September 2024 00:53 (one year ago)

"did everything for himself"--one day, far into the future, I'll author an error-free post.

clemenza, Thursday, 19 September 2024 00:54 (one year ago)

I think it’s simply that Vince Gilligan’s crowd-pleasing instincts won out at the end of the day, and unfortunately the loudest contingent of the BB crowd was the Walter White fanboy chucklefucks.

thewufs, Thursday, 19 September 2024 01:24 (one year ago)

He pulled the rug out from under WW and then got scared and tried to force it back under him. Which emblematic of his whole approach, and one reason why this intensely watchable show starts to break down on rewatch, whereas something like the Sopranos or Deadwood never stops getting better.

thewufs, Thursday, 19 September 2024 01:41 (one year ago)

still bothers me that Gilligan never found a way to get Neil Young's "Albuquerque" on either BB or BCS.

Western® with Bacon Flavor, Thursday, 19 September 2024 01:53 (one year ago)

Never thought about that--would have been perfect for Walt's trek home at the end. He did make sure to nab "Crystal Blue Persuasion" and "Baby Blue."

clemenza, Thursday, 19 September 2024 01:59 (one year ago)

i'd love to see a recut of the BB finale with 13th Floor Elevators "It's All Over Now Baby Blue" instead

Western® with Bacon Flavor, Thursday, 19 September 2024 02:00 (one year ago)

That's good too--even the other guy's version would have fine--but I do think "Baby Blue" was both sublime and a complete surprise.

clemenza, Thursday, 19 September 2024 02:02 (one year ago)

I think it's possible to find Walter heroic and likeable (in some ways) without being a "fanboy chucklefuck"! He's a fictional character, it's 100% okay to like fictional characters who are bad. Although - I'm glad I didn't encounter any of that awful online stuff until after I'd finished watching the series.

Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 19 September 2024 13:32 (one year ago)

Agree the finale is too neat and the Jesse torture storyline is risible, though.

Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 19 September 2024 13:34 (one year ago)

The torture, murdering Andrea right in front of him, it seems so unnecessarily punitive for a character who actually does become a better person through the course of six seasons (and who was so caring of kids the whole way). (I'm treating him like he's a real person rather than a fictional character, but that's to the show's credit--a well-drawn character does start to feel like someone you know.)

clemenza, Thursday, 19 September 2024 14:33 (one year ago)

I've started a first-ever rewatch of BB because my partner never saw it. Possibly interesting experiment in that we watched BCS together already, however we've only watched S1 of BB so the connections aren't v strong yet (and she didn't even remember Krazy-8 or Tuco; obviously when Saul, Mike and Gus show up it will be more interesting).

Anyway, in some ways so far BB is better than I remembered — when I watched it it was at peak hype and I was skeptical despite watching the whole series — and while I was previously strongly BCS>BB I'm not as sure now. For one thing, BB is funnier than I thought. It seems deeply obvious to me now that Walt & Jesse are partially modelled on a classic mixed-opposites comedy duo, but I don't remember thinking about that much the first time (this is perhaps embarrassing in retrospect). And just in general there is a strong current of slapstick/farce that is more apparent to me now. Possibly the meth context seemed so much grimmer to me back then that it overrode my sense of humor or I found it kind of gross to be doing slapstick in that world? I guess I'm more jaded now lol

That said I again found the first season weirdly paced; the pilot is brilliant, but then it feels like you're stuck in Jesse's basement for a long time. It picks up after that, but for a short season of a generally intense show that little stretch, even if it's only like two eps, is a bit of a slog. Also there are moments where Jesse strikes me as almost offensively unrealistic, like presenting a Mike Judge character as real or something, and yet it kind of works? But overall so far it's benefiting a lot, like Mad Men did too, from not watching it through a screen of grandiose acclaim (much less toxic fanboy nonsense).

rob, Thursday, 19 September 2024 15:02 (one year ago)

oh yeah another classic complaint re S1: I had to reassure my partner that Hank and Skyler get more depth over time. Extremely obvious observation: Cranston really made the show viable

rob, Thursday, 19 September 2024 15:07 (one year ago)

Jesse famously one of those characters who was not supposed to be part of the main cast (was gonna be killed off in those first few eps somewhere irrc), but they realized they had something with his dynamic with Walt, so makes sense that he was more of a caricature at the outset.

The iconic image in all the ads from the first season was Walt standing in his tighty whities outside the RV, so the marketing team at least was tuned in to the humor as a selling point. Also the obvious predecessor to BB subject matter-wise was Weeds, which was an outright comedy. But agreed that BB much funnier than you might expect, part of the magic of the show is how it sustains this precarious balance of humor, tension, and style that by all rights shouldn't work.

Lavator Shemmelpennick, Thursday, 19 September 2024 15:33 (one year ago)

the whole tonal arc of breaking bad was it started out as an almost absurd comedy about a teacher who makes meth and winds up being one of the bleakest things ever. i agree about the final stretch of the Jesse storyline, i generally these days have a problem w/feel-bad tv series, which is a bit different than tv shows where bad things happen to characters we like. the Andrea thing felt like an unrealistic moment that only existed to show you how far Gilligan was willing to take things, and while i recognize it was only a character it kinda showed to me that these characters just existed as pieces to be taken off the board for shock points rather than making it logical. by contrast i kinda feel like Hank's final moments were more earned and a logical result of Walter's villainy and duplicity.

omar little, Thursday, 19 September 2024 16:03 (one year ago)

I always thought the pilot was odd because it kind of had to set up the whole premises of the show, I suspect it was written before everything else hence why it feels a lot different in tone. There’s some frontal nudity in it too isn’t there? Idk it probably should’ve been like 3 episodes in total.

frogbs, Thursday, 19 September 2024 16:08 (one year ago)

The show does an amazing job with Hank. He starts off as a one-note, racist clown--some of his byplay with Gomey is funny--but after the Tortuga incident and then his shooting (and difficult recovery), I think he becomes a nuanced character you empathize with. (If you can't get past the early Hank, fair enough.) I also really like how both Mike and Hank come to see Jesse as a decent person, significantly more so than Walter.

clemenza, Thursday, 19 September 2024 18:13 (one year ago)

(Also add Hank's brutal beatdown of Jesse to the key events that change him.)

clemenza, Thursday, 19 September 2024 18:16 (one year ago)

Yes always thought so about the portrayal of Hank changed dramatically but naturally during the course of the show.

O 'Tis Redding (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 19 September 2024 18:19 (one year ago)

There’s a scene in the fourth or fifth season, at the end of an episode, where Hank has a long monologue laying down all the evidence about Heisenberg. It’s so riveting - even though you basically know everything already! A great scene, a great piece of acting.

Chuck_Tatum, Thursday, 19 September 2024 18:35 (one year ago)

I mentioned that a few days ago on a different BB thread--one of the greatest scenes of the entire run. Obviously, don't watch this if you've never seen the show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiUmudjyuSw

The way he holds back the fingerprint till the last possible second, and that aw-shucks thing with his eyes at the very end--masterful acting.

clemenza, Thursday, 19 September 2024 18:41 (one year ago)

Jesse famously one of those characters who was not supposed to be part of the main cast

If I ever knew that I'd forgotten it, so thanks Lavator that is actually helpful -- I feel like his back story doesn't quite add up in S1, so it makes sense.

And yeah frogbs, the pilot is very pilot-y though usually I mean that in a bad way, but here it's just really self-contained and exciting (I don't recall nudity though, would be surprising for AMC, no?) in a way where the shift into normal episode pace feels kind of rough

Hank's arc is a real achievement, yeah

rob, Thursday, 19 September 2024 23:02 (one year ago)

I thought there was a moment where we see Jesse run out of an apartment building and we see a topless lady wave out the window. maybe I imagined that.

Hank I kinda figured was like Jesse, feels like they liked the actor enough to give the character more nuance and screentime. I also think it came out of a need to have one main character you could actually root for.

one of my favorite moments early on is when they go to Tuco's place and Hector is there. nothing about the Salamancas has been revealed nor has the overall tone of the show really, so Hector's character comes off as this bizarre Lynchian thing. you don't know if he's lost his mind or not. but you assume he's just a weird one-episode character. and then he winds up being very central to the entire plot.

frogbs, Friday, 20 September 2024 03:34 (one year ago)

and yes that scene with Hank is amazing, love how he goes Columbo at the end

frogbs, Friday, 20 September 2024 03:41 (one year ago)

You're remembering the woman from the first episode correctly--she's only on-screen for three or four seconds.

I never get tired of Lydia.

clemenza, Friday, 20 September 2024 04:15 (one year ago)

I thought there was a moment where we see Jesse run out of an apartment building and we see a topless lady wave out the window. maybe I imagined that.

No, it's there (although maybe only on the DVD/Blus): When we first see Jesse, we get a brief glimpse of the nude older woman he'd just been hooking up with. A weird footnote: The actress playing her, Linda Speciale, is probably most famous for starring as the 'Good Girl' in the early '80s Cult Teen Sex Comedy Screwballs.

Charlie Hair (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 20 September 2024 04:29 (one year ago)

i think BB really did a great job of flipping who you were supposed to be rooting for as the show progressed. at the start, you've got this cancer-stricken patient taking on major drug cartels and slipping under the police force. by the end, you want hank to catch his man and walt getting every awful thing coming his way.

Western® with Bacon Flavor, Friday, 20 September 2024 04:47 (one year ago)

not impt but I misread frog's post and for some mysterious reason thought he meant full frontal Walt

rob, Friday, 20 September 2024 12:25 (one year ago)

and yes that scene with Hank is amazing, love how he goes Commando at the end

nashwan, Friday, 20 September 2024 13:47 (one year ago)

three months pass...

I've not watched BB for some years, but my instinct is that BCS's subtler character study structure is no match for the sheer power of its parent show's bulldozing narrative drive.

The thing I remember being most impressed with as the seasons unfolded was its fearlessness when it came to upending the status quo and raising the stakes, something very rare in long form TV. The Sopranos is of course brilliant, but is a pristine insect frozen in amber compared to BB's rampaging dinosuar.

My instinct is also that it won't hold up as well on a rewatch (very much unlike the Sopranos), but I'm certainly due one in the next few years.

chap, Saturday, 11 January 2025 15:39 (one year ago)

I feel like Mad Men hasn't had quite the legacy or cultural impact which may have been predicted at one point, though I certainly loved it for at least three or four seasons.

chap, Saturday, 11 January 2025 15:44 (one year ago)

The thing I remember being most impressed with as the seasons unfolded was its fearlessness when it came to upending the status quo and raising the stakes, something very rare in long form TV. The Sopranos is of course brilliant, but is a pristine insect frozen in amber compared to BB's rampaging dinosuar.

This is really otmfm and what I loved so much about BB. Every time I started to feel like I knew where things were going and settled in to watch them unfold, they would just kick into hyperdrive and get there immediately, pivoting in some new direction that prevented things from ever feeling stale. With the obvious exception being Hank figuring it out, which they kept as an insanely effective, agonizingly slow burn over practically the whole show (though then when he does finally figure it out, the way his interactions with Walt go immediately afterwards are a great example of the former approach).

I think BCS actually equalled the highs of BB in say seasons 2-3, when it was really its own thing with a major focus on the machinations of the legal world, doubling down on the character study structure that you note. But after Chuck died and they started having to focus on moving the drug plot forward and tying the threads together, with the clock ticking towards the end of the show, it became more of an inferior version of BB (though the peaks are still many and sublime).

These are just my recollections having never done a rewatch of either

Lavator Shemmelpennick, Sunday, 12 January 2025 18:57 (one year ago)

It really lost its way for at least a season after Chuck died, agreed.

As for the peaks you mention - the mall heist episode in the final season is as exciting an hour of TV as any BB produced.

chap, Sunday, 12 January 2025 19:56 (one year ago)

absolutely. really right from the beginning BCS was killer at those methodical, procedural stretches. With Jonathan Banks of course but also Odenkirk. Remembering when he was editing those documents to change the address on the Mesa Verde paperwork, it was almost like they were gleefully attacking the challenge of "how boring a series of actions can we make riveting if we film them beautifully enough and have them carried out by a maximally entertaining character"

Lavator Shemmelpennick, Sunday, 12 January 2025 21:04 (one year ago)

there's a very good recent podcast called Best Quality Vacuum where they're rewatching and critiquing BB episode by episode. Well worth a listen. Amazing to think the first eps of BB came out 16 years ago and to consider how much America and the world have changed since

the wedding preset (dog latin), Monday, 13 January 2025 17:07 (one year ago)

But after Chuck died and they started having to focus on moving the drug plot forward and tying the threads together, with the clock ticking towards the end of the show, it became more of an inferior version of BB (though the peaks are still many and sublime).

personally I dont think it was inferior at all. maybe because I found Jimmy/Saul to be a much more fun lead than Walter and Lalo to be a better villain than Gus. also the fact that it was not as heart-poundingly intense as BB was. though it did get there. I do agree though once they got to the "putting all the pieces together" stage it did become less compelling

frogbs, Monday, 13 January 2025 19:51 (one year ago)

Remembering when he was editing those documents to change the address on the Mesa Verde paperwork, it was almost like they were gleefully attacking the challenge of "how boring a series of actions can we make riveting if we film them beautifully enough and have them carried out by a maximally entertaining character"

been rewatching some of the Saul Goodman clips from BB and in one of the first ones where he's talking to Badger and mixes him up with a public masterbator he says something like "just a little transpositional error, nothing a little white out can't fix"...kinda wonder knowing these guys if the whole idea for that plot came from that line

frogbs, Thursday, 16 January 2025 15:04 (one year ago)

Amazing

Lavator Shemmelpennick, Wednesday, 22 January 2025 02:10 (one year ago)

three months pass...

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