# Breaking Bad = Best Show In The History of The World {open SPOILERS}
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 17, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663 "2011-02-17T03:25:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/1 "2011-02-17T03:25:02Z")
Okay, okay… maybe that’s a bit much.
But then again, maybe it’s not.
I have just discovered this show and I have watched 31 out of 33 episodes in two days. I LOVE THIS SHOW.
It is brilliant, just brilliant. Amazing on every possible level.
Most recent “How much do I love this goddamn show?”: the opening sequence of episode 12, season 3: wendy the streetwalker montage to The Association’s “Windy”.
Don’t forget, [you better call Saul](http://www.bettercallsaul.com/)!
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### Author:  [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/2 "2011-02-17T03:29:23Z")
You still haven’t seen the best two episodes in the series. 😃
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### Author:  [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/3 "2011-02-17T03:29:24Z")
The best show ever is The Wire. That is the only acceptable answer. Breaking Bad is very, very good though.
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### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/4 "2011-02-17T03:47:21Z")
> [@brickbacon](#):
>
> The best show ever is The Wire. That is the only acceptable answer. Breaking Bad is very, very good though.
I tried. I found too many people completely unintelligible.
I’ll have to watch on DVD with subtitles.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/5 "2011-02-17T03:59:14Z")
I’m with you on Breaking Bad, definitely one of the best shows ever.
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### Author:  [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/6 "2011-02-17T04:50:05Z")
Sorry, this game was already won by South Park back in 1997. Try again when Breaking Bad hits 14 seasons. 😃
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### Author:  [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/7 "2011-02-17T04:52:14Z")
> [@Superhal](#):
>
> Sorry, this game was already won by South Park back in 1997. Try again when Breaking Bad hits 14 seasons. 😃
I’m sorry. Lisa Simpson is waiting to talk to you with a machete.
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### Author:  [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/8 "2011-02-17T04:53:55Z")
> [@Lakai](#):
>
> You still haven’t seen the best two episodes in the series. 😃
Yeah, I was gonna say, if you love the series this much now, give it two more episodes…
I’d say it’s currently top 5 shows ever and if it manages to keep up the quality for a few more years has serious consideration for best show ever.
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### Author:  [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/9 "2011-02-17T05:21:13Z")
Why does it have to keep going and stay great in order to qualify? 3 seasons of greatness is plenty.
But now that I’ve watched the last two episodes…
JULY?!?!?!
FIVE MORE MONTHS?!?!?!?!?
WAH!!!
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### Author:  [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/10 "2011-02-17T13:54:12Z")
Guys, not gonna happen. Season 4 will be the last, precisely because the producers WANT it to be remembered as the best show ever and want to stick to their original blueprint which was for 4 seasons of story,most likely ending with Walt’s death. Too many shows have got run into the ground because someone got greedy and kept the show going after it ran out of steam. Agreed tho, best show ever.
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### Author:  [@iamnotbatman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamnotbatman)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/11 "2011-02-17T13:58:49Z")
Well, it’s no _Deadwood_, _The Wire_, _Dexter_, _Sopranos_, or _Curb Your Enthusiasm_. But I agree it’s really good.
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### Author:  [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/12 "2011-02-17T15:19:38Z")
Once (ok, I had to repeat it several times) I read famous essay Tolstoy wrote on Shakespeare. The outcome of a general analysis of Shakespeare works, and _King Lear_ in particular, as per Tolstoy is that he is at a loss to understand all that praise for the old master. Where exactly do Shakespeare characters fail is the following excerpt which I shall refer to as _the law_:
[QUOTE=Tolstoy]
Dramatic art, according to the laws established by those very critics
who extol Shakespeare, demands that the persons represented in the play
should be, in consequence of actions proper to their characters, and
owing to a natural course of events, placed in positions requiring them
to struggle with the surrounding world to which they find themselves in
opposition, and in this struggle should display their inherent
qualities.
[/QUOTE]
Now, even before I read the above, for a long time, since entering high school I think I had a hunch, a feeling, some sort of precognition of _the law_ – to me very small number of novels qualifies, and dramatic TV shows even less.
Anyways, when I saw Braking Bad series I remembered _the law_ (Tolstoy, being who he is, was a very rare writer who was capable of putting _the law_ in words) and realized that my excitement about Breaking Bad, my totally unrestrained admiration comes from the ongoing realization that this is one of those rare storytelling works that does not break _the law_. At all! And I watched the whole series 4 times already.
What further confirms this show to be so tight and consistent is, as per Tolstoy, following corollary _the law_:
[QUOTE=Tolstoy]
[…] the most important, if not the only, means of portraying characters: individuality of language,_i.e._, the style of speech of every person being natural to his character.
[/QUOTE]
Some of the scenes in the show are quite long and pacing is slow but you don’t even notice because part of the individuality of the language is that not every character has to be \*snappy \*(you know, the new mantra for having a dialog that is not boring which then means that characters are interesting). Breaking Bad shows that language and the dialog do not need to be \*snappy \*to be worthy of praise. In fact, it is individuality of the language spoken by a character that is the true value in this show, the glue that keeps everything together. And Breaking Bad does not shy away from this and sticking to this corollary is what makes the whole show keep in line with _the law_.
So, yeah, I’m a big fan.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/13 "2011-02-17T16:55:47Z")
I still will say that Battlestar Galactica(the recent one) is the best show of all time. However, please remember that I actually like the ending.
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### Author:  [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/14 "2011-02-17T17:02:18Z")
Breaking Bad is phenomenally good.
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### Author:  [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/15 "2011-02-17T17:25:19Z")
> [@newcomer](#):
>
> Anyways, when I saw Braking Bad series I remembered _the law_ (Tolstoy, being who he is, was a very rare writer who was capable of putting _the law_ in words) and realized that my excitement about Breaking Bad, my totally unrestrained admiration comes from the ongoing realization that this is one of those rare storytelling works that does not break _the law_. At all! And I watched the whole series 4 times already.
The law sounds like one method by which writers can do something that’s at the heart of good storytelling. They have to show who the characters are, instead of just telling us. The method described above, of putting characters in positions requiring them to struggle, shows us the qualities of the characters.
In really good shows, all situations of struggle show us something about the characters struggling. Most bad shows forget this principle, especially in action or sex scenes. You can tell if a show is bad when an action scene comes up for no reason other than the fact that some writer felt the show needed more action. Not the case in Breaking Bad, where all the action is there for a reason, and tells us a lot about the characters involved.
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### Author:  [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/16 "2011-02-17T18:17:48Z")
I agree that **The Wire** is the best show in the history of the world. Inarguably.
But **Breaking Bad** is clearly better than every other show mentioned in this thread, with the possible exception of **The Simpsons**.
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### Author:  [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/17 "2011-02-17T18:26:02Z")
Yeah, add me to the chorus proclaiming **The Wire** as the best ever, but **Breaking Bad** is up there with **Deadwood, The Sopranos** and **The Shield** for position #2.
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### Author:  [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/18 "2011-02-17T18:29:48Z")
At moments I think it is but then I see repeats of The Wire, Deadwood, The Sopranos and I question it.
One way or the others it’s up there with the very best ever made. A small and elite group.
The last two episodes in the last season where simply amazing though. As a two episode grouping I think they are my fav of all time.
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### Author:  [@clarkstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clarkstar)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/19 "2011-02-17T18:58:05Z")
this is one of the few shows i ever watched where i really got involved with the characters. i got really mad when the wife started screwing her boss. sad, i know lol
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### Author:  [@nivlac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nivlac)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/breaking-bad-best-show-in-the-history-of-the-world-open-spoilers/571663/20 "2011-02-17T19:05:09Z")
Welcome to the Breaking Bad Appreciation Club! Great series. But the best ever, I wouldn’t go that far.
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