I do enjoy “Mad Men” but my show-that-ruined-other-shows for me was The Wire, which made other police dramas unbearable. I used to find “Law & Order” passable, for instance, but the solve a crime every episode shtick just seems lame now. I watched the first season of “The Shield” and while it seemed like they were trying to break out of the villain/issue of the week mold, it was also over-wrought and predictable.
I’ve also only watched the first season of “Breaking Bad” but will watch the rest eventually. The first episode is the best series opener I can remember. I don’t particularly dislike any of the major characters. Jesse was a dick but they showed more about him and now he just seems like somebody who screwed up a lot. Tucco is a dangerous psycho, of course, but I don’t dislike him the way, for instance, people hate Betty Draper. I really don’t get that, incidentally. Betty doesn’t seem any worse to me than Don.
I’ve seen several recommendations for “The Walking Dead”. It’s pretty far from what the OP was asking after but it probably bears a mention in a thread about shows that don’t suck.
Yes I am curious about the swimming pool and the eye and the stuffed toy, etc. And I steeled my resolve to not click your spoiler, but wlll return to this thread (or possibly another) when I’ve reached that point of discussion.
Oh yeah, the stuck-in-the-desert episode was awesome; my favorite quotes so far are “Wanna cook?” and “Stay out of my territory.” Both from Walt.
Perhaps I need to find myself a **Breaking Bad **thread and stop hijacking this one.
Okay, so my husband is recuperating from surgery and watching every available season of Mad Men from bed. I’m sort of watching half of them, and I have one question he can’t answer.
What is UP with that creepy ten-year-old kid that keeps hitting on Betty Draper?
Well, in a factual sense, he’s the son of a divorced (gasp!) woman who recently moved into the Drapers’ neighborhood. Betty baby-sat for him once while his mom went to volunteer for Kennedy.
Why he hits on Betty is anyone’s guess. Mommy issues + she’s pretty?
It doesn’t get better. By Season 4, the kid is getting my vote for Future Serial Stalkers of America, and Betty isn’t going to be nominated for Mother of the Decade by Better Homes And Divorces magazine.
He’s just got a crush on her. When I was a kid I had them, long before I even knew what sex was. She’s obviously unhappy all the time, I think even a kid could pick up on that. Then you have this comic book idea that the hero, who every little boy ever thinks is what he’s supposed to be, should rescue the girl. Of course I never barged in on anybody in the bathroom or asked for their hair anything quite so creepy. I think my method was to throw things at them. Incidentally, that tactic does not work. Not at all.
As long as we’re discussing compelling TV, I’ll put in a word for Justified, an FX series about a deputy U.S. marshal (Tim Olyphant, who was also on Deadwood) who reluctantly returns to his home turf in Kentucky, and finds it hard to draw a line between his job and his personal life. Highly recommended!