Granted, I’ve only seen the pilot, but I wasn’t THAT impressed. Maybe it gets better later on, but I found what I saw sort of boring. I don’t think it’s much better than Lost or Dexter.
I’d say the best TV shows ever are The Twilight Zone, The Simpsons and Star Trek. Maybe Doctor Who too, though I haven’t seen much of it. I’m not saying BB isn’t worthy of some praise as the acting and characters are pretty good, but I think it’s somewhat faddish like the X-Files and will be forgotten relatively quickly.
Do you think people rave on too much about it, or is it every bit as good as everyone says it is? I might give it another chance, but the pilot didn’t really entice me to watch any more. Game of Thrones had a pretty boring pilot too, but got better so maybe I just need to give it another shot.
I’d suggest giving it at least a half a season to see (at least) the beginning of the transformation before writing it off. If you don’t get to the point where Walt shaves his head, you haven’t given it a fair shot.
Don’t get me wrong, it really isn’t for everyone one. But the big complaint I hear is ‘it’s too dark’ not ‘it’s too boring’.
Breaking Bad is a great show, and I loved it, but IMHO it went too often for thrills at the expense of credibility.
Personally, I think The Sopranos is still the best show I’ve ever seen.
The Twilight Zone, The Simpsons, and Star Trek are all good for what they are but overall are very different kinds of shows. They are episodic rather than extended dramas. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to compare them.
Part, a large part, of the brilliance of BB is how Walt get’s out of impossible situations by using his brain and scheming and never giving up. Imagine Capt Kirk or The Doctor as a criminal mastermind and you get BB.
BB didnt have the same level of brilliant acting or writing as The Sopranos. It wasnt groundbreaking. It didnt have a huge personality like James Gandolfini to anchor it. It was derivative.
It was a Sopranos knock off without the brilliance of Gandolfini or David Chase. Whats so shocking about that. Had there not been The Sopranos this should would not have been imagined.
I agree that BB wasn’t as groundbreaking as The Sopranos. I really did think The Sopranos would change Television drama forever. It hasn’t, but it has had it’s influence. BB too often verged on melodrama. It’s still a brilliant watch. I wouldn’t dare suggest it’s the best show ever, but it’s difficult to point to many shows that are better.
If the op believes BB isn’t worth the viewing im not going to tell him differently. If he wishes to miss out on the wonderful rollercoaster that is BB then he should go watch something more mediocre. There is plenty to chose from.
I watched BB fairly late and if you are watching multiple episodes in a short time frame, it does feel a bit slow (get on with it already!). PLus, you keep yelling at the screen: “drop that screw up Jesse already”. Still a very good show, but for me not in the top 3 or anything.
But seriously, it may not be your cup of tea, but it’s easily my favorite show and the show I consider to the best show of all time (well, that I’ve seen).
And like others have said, I suggest watching maybe the first season, at least. Just one episode of ANY show won’t reveal its greatness that quick.
Uh, well, those are talk shows…They don’t really have a plot, yanno, unless you consider “I was impregnated by my aunt’s lover’s brother’s cousin’s dog” to be a plotline.
Talk shows are pretty different from TV shows that are fictional and have an actual, preplanned/made plot.
Liking Breaking Bad isn’t compulsory. I know lots of people who don’t, and even more people who I can’t imagine would. That doesn’t affect my opinion of those people at all.
I don’t try to talk people into liking it. If they don’t like it, nothing I say will change their minds, and if they do like it, they don’t need me to tell them why.
If you gave it a shot and didn’t like it, hey, life goes on. And, sure, maybe I could tell you to watch a couple of seasons before giving up on it. But I actually think the pilot is a pretty good litmus test. If you watch the pilot and don’t at least think “huh, this is interesting”, then you probably won’t get hooked.
But yes, it is the best show ever. That’s just an objective fact.
What makes it stand out the most, IMO, is the complexity of the characters. Look at the BB episode threads, or threads where we discuss how evil or otherwise Walt or other characters are. There was a thread recently (maybe still going) where we were listing the most despicable characters on TV. The thread was mostly just a list, but as soon as a BB character was mentioned, it immediately threatened to break out into debate, character analysis, and philosophical musings about what makes someone evil. That sort of thing just doesn’t seem to happen with any other show.
I’ve seen Walter White called the most complex character ever to appear on TV. That’s probably about right.
