Sage Rat, almost no one on the show could be called “nice guys”, but they were well done characters – good points/bad points, flaws, some showed growth, etc. – which is why I liked them. “Like” is the wrong word. I liked them as characters even though I didn’t like most of them as people.
None of them stayed the same – they all changed, or tried to. I think that’s the sign of good characterization.
Major Colvin.
Call me weird, but my favorite character was Stringer Bell.
I think Breaking Bad has a shot at being the best ever if it manages to go 5 or 6 seasons without a drop in quality. At least top 3. Too hard to say yet.
I do think the acting has a shot at being the best ever. Bryan Cranston is consistently amazing - who the hell knew that the dad from Malcolm in the Middle is the best actor on TV? He should win the emmy for best actor up through 2 years after the show ends.
Breaking Bad is my favorite show of all time. I say this, of course, not having viewed a lot of other series (like The Wire), but having loved The Sopranos, Lost, and some old faves like ER and such… Breaking Bad grips me in a way like none of the others. Perhaps it’s Walt’s genius and respect for science/chemistry. Perhaps it’s the clever way the show hanesses chemistry to making crime become a science. Perhaps it’s the actors, the writing, the direction. I dunno… I can’t help but wait with bubbling anticipation for each new episode. So many times this show surprises me and blows me away, and they haven’t dropped the ball yet.
BTW: I love his new lab technician and their repertoire. I’m such a geek it makes me giddy. Especially the coffee scene and the celeration of their first batch. So good.
Everything about it makes me thankful I don’t watch shitty TV shows. Having good taste is so awesome.
Yes, isn’t it? Let us all congratulate ourselves!
Harrumph!
I haven’t seen Breaking Bad, but this thread is making me want to. As for The Wire, I’m a white person, so of course I like it.
That said, though, it really works on a lot of levels. As a cop show, it has some brilliant moments: watching Cool Lester Freaman figure out a crime is just pure pleasure, for example. The political machinations were fascinating. The school scenes were so horribly realistic that I, a beginning teacher in a semi-rough school, was literally curled up in the fetal position on the couch watching in appalled fascination during much of that season. The dialog was lovely (it was the Fuck scene in the first season that convinced me they were great writers, and I’m halfway joking). Omar was pure awesome, and if that’s wrong, I don’t want to be right. The characters may not have been all that likable, but they were completely fascinating.
And the expository writing was the best I’ve ever encountered. There’s a scene early on in which a dealer realizes some other dealers don’t know how to play chess, so he explains it to them by analogizing it to their criminal enterprise. It completely works on the level of character-building in an interesting scene–but at the same time, its narrative purpose is completely the opposite of its in-story purpose. What’s really happening is that the author is explaining the criminal enterprise to the viewer by analogizing it to a game of chess. It was brilliant.
That scene is easily one of the best of the entire series.
“Bunny” Colvin.
And no, you weren’t supposed to like Avon Barksdale, and you were supposed to be driven nuts by Jimmy McNulty.
Still, you’re not always supposed to like characters, you’re supposed to be intereted in them. The characters of the major drug players in the show, for instance, are all unlikeable, but they’re all INTERESTING. Avon Barksdale and Stringer Bell aren’t the thoroughly evil drug lords of Lethal Weapon movies; they’re real people, and it’s the differences between them that cause them to come into conflict. It’s fascinating to watch their different approaches to dealing with their wealth and power; Avon is loathe to be anything more than the street hood he started out as, while Stringer longs to be a major player. Both have strengths and weaknesses that trip up their strengths. And they’re dramatically different from Marlo Stanfield, who’s inherently smarter than either but is probably the show’s most genuinely evil character.
What I find curious is the claim that “The Wire” portrays the criminals as “idiots, drunkards, and druggies.” Well, um, no, it does not. Avon Barksdale is none of those three, nor are Stringer Bell or Marlo Stanfield or Proposition Joe or D’Angelo Barksdale or Bodie or Chris or Cutty or any number of crooks. Some crooks are stupid; for the most part they don’t get anywhere because stupid crooks don’t get anywhere. In fact, the show’s most clear-cut dumbass is Herk, a cop.
I think season 1 and 2 of Breaking Bad were up there. But so far, to me, it seems to have dropped the ball in season 3. It’s much less humorous than it used to be. The best parts of season 1 were the bumbling trial and errors of learning the drug trade. Season 3 has been too much about Skyler, which I don’t really care for.
My friend thinks that Walt will give up getting her back, find a new girl, and try and make his own drug empire. I really hope he is right.
My guess is that’s pretty much how the series will progress. Much like Walt taking over at Tuco’s level, he will soon take over at the chicken guy’s level too.
That’s a pretty high level – do you think Walt would ever realize exactly what he’s into with this? Right now his biggest danger is that he’s pretty much oblivious to how much danger he’s in because of his work. He’s sort of always looked at it like a business, with “product” and “branding” and all that. I’m still not sure how much he grasps the murderous disputes that come along with the position he’s in. We’ve seen that he’s capable of being, and that he’s “grown” into, a ruthless killer. But can he wake up in time to be as proactively menacing as someone like Gus must be*, or will he continue to get lucky as things happen around him?
*Gus appears to be a major badass, and you think he’d have to have done something incredible to have the clout and respect he enjoys. Perhaps, though, he is a guy sort of like Walt, who has managed to amass enough of an “empire” that money (and the potential to make it) keeps him safe while he verbally bluffs (and/or mentally outmaneuvers) his way through meetings with very menacing psychopaths.
Gus is shrewd, cunning, and incredibly careful. He’s of very high intelligence, and I think he likes Walt because he sees a little of himself in him. But Gus puts his “trade” before anything else. Whereas all Walt wants is to provide for his family and practice great chemistry.
See how Gus turned the twins around in their motive?
A few years ago, I wrote to Bryan Cranston asking for an autographed picture because I thought he was phenomenally talented on Malcolm in the Middle and destined for much more if anyone was paying any attention at all. I thought it would make a fun birthday gift for myself - we had both hit the same age milestone at about the same time. (I have the picture, in which he’s wearing the shirt he wore in the Hal’s Dentist episode.) Then Breaking Bad happened. After his first Emmy win, I sent him a congratulatory letter. He sent back a letter thanking me, mentioning a similarity between the name of one of the characters on the show and my own name. I doubt he is still able to answer his own letters anymore.
He wrote and directed a movie called Last Chance (1999) starring his wife and himself, which is available on Netflix. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m sure the acting will again be noteworthy, no matter how the movie is.
I think Gus doesn’t like Walt one bit, but is doing what he needs to do to get the product. I think he’s a good judge of character, and therefore sees Walt exactly for what he is, a very flawed man. But I could be wrong.
I would like to see a series about how Gus pollo-guy got to be where he is. Except that Giancarlo Esposito’s quiet portrayal of Gus might be a little too low-key to sustain a series.
Ah, but has Gus always been so quiet and low-key? As troub says above, he earned that level of respect somehow, so who knows what he could have in his past. Maybe he’s a raging madman who only manages to keep the facade of self-control through superhuman effort. Maybe we’ll see that facade crack on BB. Hey, I even know what the episode could be called: “Gus Gone Wild.” 
Eh. Breaking Bad is undeniably good, but it’s a little too slow to be the best show ever. There’s a fine line between a show taking its time and letting the viewer savoring what it’s offering and simply being tedious and belaboring. Breaking Bad misses that line too often to be the best show ever.
But yeah, Bryan Cranston is outstanding. I didn’t watch much Malcolm in the Middle, so I know him as the dentist Tim Watley on Seinfeld. Talk about a totally different character!