It’s a bit dated today, but the underlying tale is a true classic and great.
I consider Breaking Bad to be the all-time greatest TV drama. But I do not expect everyone to agree. I have several copies which I’ve loaned to friends, inviting them to watch the first few episodes, but not to worry if it doesn’t grab their interest.
Why did it grab mine? Many reasons: it was indeed well done, by all involved. We’ve entered a new era when cable shows have the artistic freedom and budgets of Hollywood movies. Etc.
But I think one feature that applied to a segment of the public (which included me) was an identification with the protagonist in ways that aren’t possible with most crime dramas. Normally, when I see two murderous drug thugs face off on screen, I’m limited in how much I can identify with either of them. I didn’t go that route. I went to college, pursued my math/engineering career, etc. Walter White tried those things, but still found himself, at fifty, in a truly pathetic, desperate situation. This made it easier for me to understand why he made such insane decisions (although we later found more about him indicating that he’d always had some hidden flaws).
Walter White became an anti-super-hero for science nerds. As I watched those horrific situations turn into a monster, it was hard not to root for that shrinking shred of humanity left in him. But still, I totally accepted that he should die for his crimes.
Regarding your first sentence: I can’t believe that anyone would come away from watching the entirety of BB with that idea.
Regarding your second sentence: that was left uncertain (in the wake of the lottery ticket Walt left, Skyler may have gotten some breaks from the prosecutors, especially after they find what happens to Walter). But if you’re right, your first sentence doesn’t make much sense. And even if the Whites got to keep the money, it was small solace for the realistically-portrayed hell on earth brought by Walter onto his family. I sure wouldn’t trade places with them, or with Jesse Pinkman.
Yeah, that’s how I feel about it. From some valid perspective, everything you and I enjoy is crap. It doesn’t make either of our tastes bad.
That said: If you don’t like Blue Cheer’s Vincebus Eruptum, you probably need instructions in order to know how to rock.
*The Message: Being Bad Ain’t Good
Breaking Bad features a main character turning to evil (surely, there’s a catchier term for that – perhaps “shattering naughty”?) by getting into the meth business. Walter White’s drug shenanigans cause the deaths of over 270 people, including an innocent child and, eventually, himself. There is no way to make the show’s “crime be bad” message any clearer than that.
The Fuck-Up:
Most of the deaths on the show were only tangentially related to Walter’s actions. And even then, the series went out of its way to show how understandable and relatable his thought process was. Ultimately, Walter even admits that crime made him happy. And why wouldn’t it? It finally gave him a purpose in life, and let him secure money for his family’s future. We’d even argue that he died happy, because he was surrounded by what he most cared about: evidence of his own genius and power.
In the end, it was through breaking bad that Walter White overcame his despair and became a free, self-actualized, confident man with millions of dollars who died doing what he loved. We should all be so lucky; therefore, we should all start cooking meth. Apparently.
*
Dogs
All true. Beck spoke to me from the first listen (where I was paying attention). Santana has never spoken to me - I respect his playing but never listen to him.
Love Bela Fleck - heard an interview with him and his wife lately - maybe on NPR’s On Being?
Love Richard Thompson and agree that he is a physical law as a player, like Chet Atkins or T-Bone Walker.
Good choice. I might have gone with Astral Weeks myself, but I can see that taking a little more time to get into. My addition would be Pet Sounds (Beach Boys).
And I drool over Santana and wonder why he’s never mentioned in the short list for greatness. I think my difference between him and Beck is that I find Santana melodic and Beck a series of notes. That’s an extremely clumsy description, but I find it hard to describe music.
As for Morrison, remember when records had sides? When you played one side of an album over and over? The A-side of *Moondance *is that ultimate side.
Steely Dan. They are musical geniuses. Their lyrics are great, the singing is great, and the playing is obviously stellar. I meet people all the time who put them down and not one of them has an utter clue as to what they’re even talking about.
Bacon. And I agree with Hamlet as well.
I don’t run into folks who dismiss them much, but agree with your nomination. They carve a line that it seems like no other band has really carved through jazz/pop/rock/soul.
Surprised to see the drive-by comments about Breaking Bad. Might be worth its own thread. Count me amongst the teeming hordes who rate it as some of the best TV I have seen. Is there some backlash buzz I should be aware of?
Bugs Bunny. If there are people out there who don’t like Bugs Bunny, I don’t want to meet them.
I don’t understand why someone would actively dislike Steely Dan either. Even if they’re not to one’s taste there’s no denying the talent or their contribution to music; no one sounds like Steely Dan.
In the same way I don’t care for the music of Adele I don’t care for the music of Steely Dan.
??
I have no idea how to compare the two except there are similar instruments used and the songs are sung in English.
Funny - I just read CoMC a month or 2 ago, and had to force myself to finish it, skimming much of the last couple hundred pages. Just so long an boring. The first 3d was pretty good. Even kept me up to the part in Rome. But the revenge part was so long and drawn out, his wealth and strategies so boundless and incredible. Could have used a good editor!
Well, I have the same reaction to people who think that Quiot Riot and Black Sabbath sound the same. Seriously, I was told this by someone the same age as I. But the fact is, if someone doesn’t have enough interest in them to listen closely and find the differences, they’re just both loud and raucous rock bands.
Similarly, if you didn’t like both Adele and Steely Dan, they’re both smoothly produced pop music with a jazz/adult contemporary feel. At the end of they day, that’s what they both are.
If someone has no love for David Bowie, I’m probably going to have a hard time having much of a conversation with them.
One reality check would be is it possible to imagine Adele covering a Steely Dan song. (Or even more: can you imagine the Dan covering Adele?)
It isn’t, and you can’t.
I guess this points out why I use the Dan for a yardstick. They are always a whipping boy for genrifying “experts”.
If the Dan and Adele are interchangeable all I got to say is
“Don’t take me alive”
No comparison meant. I just find both of them fairly boring and uninteresting. I was just trying to think of another artist I couldn’t care less about and it’s not because I think they’re untalented. Hell, Alan Parsons is talented but his music is shit.
But according to you I’m wrong about SD.
I had a point somewhere. 
Meh, if you can’t imagine Adele covering a Steely Dan song, you lack imagination. That’s not my problem. They’re both smooth pop with a jazz influence. To someone who’s not interested in the genre, they’re both interchangeably bad music.
And Dan is a yardstck of what, exactly? Whether someone is really a hardcore yacht rock fan? I like bits of their music, but that’s almost always down to the performance of a particular studio musician that they hired, and weren’t necessarily going to hire again (e.g., Elliott Randall). Other than that, they don’t offer anything to me.