# My Review of the First Episode of Breaking Bad (Long) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 6, 2011, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362 "2011-09-06T05:54:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/61 "2011-09-07T06:36:34Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > …And my lonely quest to find new TV that doesn’t suck continues… Why not just quit searching for good? Seems like you’re just wasting your time. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/62 "2011-09-07T06:37:52Z")
I always thought _Burn Notice_ was essentially _Magnum P.I._ crossed with _MacGyver_, and a refreshing return to simpler T.V. formats. Sure, it’s got the token season arc stuff in it, but it’s more-or-less “adventure of the week”. Maybe give that a go. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/63 "2011-09-07T06:38:18Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Yes, I am heavily biased toward 70’s shows. **With good reason.** **\** Which is what I’ve been very directly driving at this whole time. What’s the “good reason”? ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/64 "2011-09-07T10:50:20Z")
To be fair to the OP, it’s season 4 and Skyler and Walt Jr. are completely useless and if they both died no one would care much. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/65 "2011-09-07T12:05:40Z")
I don’t mind that someone doesn’t like something, I have nothing invested in shows like _Breaking Bad_ that require me to demand others like it. What I find weird is when you pick it apart by saying things like the “RV romp makes no sense” when really it wasn’t that fantastical at all, he was in a panic, have you ever been in a panic? If not, let me guarantee you that you don’t behave in a rational manner. Basically you applied a hyper-critical lens on _Breaking Bad_ and then you mention shows like _Gunsmoke_ and _Bonanza_ which honestly have massive faults in all the areas you mentioned _Breaking Bad_ as having faults in. Some episodes of those shows are absolutely unwatchable, and I enjoyed both shows growing up. The writers of those shows were pumping out episodes like there was no tomorrow, and many of them had the characters doing things that “didn’t make sense” or had uninteresting moments. I guess for me if you had just said “I don’t like Breaking Bad because I prefer cheap, easy to understand stuff” that’d be fine. But when you criticized Breaking Bad many of the faults you found with it can be readily found in any number of the shows you mentioned enjoying. That suggests to me that there is really some other reason you don’t like Breaking Bad. If I had to guess it’s because you just don’t like having to think or do anything other than look at the surface when watching TV. I’m not criticizing that, I had someone tell me once they didn’t like any movie where they didn’t have to think about it. I responded that I like those movies but I also really like stupid action films like _Escape from New York_ and _Commando_ because they are fun. I don’t think there is anything _wrong_ with disliking a more intense cerebral drama, but if that’s the reason **just say that** , don’t post some review picking nits that I could do with probably 100+ of Gunsmoke’s hundreds of episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/66 "2011-09-07T12:08:31Z")
> [@marshmallow](#): > > To be fair to the OP, it’s season 4 and Skyler and Walt Jr. are completely useless and if they both died no one would care much. Walter Jr. is necessary as a concept, and so is Holly for that matter, but not so much as physical actors. The kids are one of his big concerns when it came to his not having anything to leave behind, his concern about how college was going to be paid for, 20+ years of child rearing costs for Holly and etc. So it’s important Walter has kids, but as characters they are only of minor importance. Skyler was a good source of tension and conflict for the first two seasons, but I’d say in S3 and S4 she has mostly become superfluous. She kind of reminds me at this point of Rita on Dexter, she served a purpose early on but became kind of a drag on the show eventually. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/67 "2011-09-07T12:10:50Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Which is what I’ve been very directly driving at this whole time. What’s the “good reason”? Yeah, I mean for me if it’s just “I like those shows more” I’m totally fine with that. If it’s just “stuff like _Breaking Bad_ and _Mad Men_ aren’t my cup of tea” I’m fine with that. You like what you like, period. In the realm of music I have certain tastes, some people have had me listen to stuff before sure I’d love it, when I don’t they get upset and demand I explain why. I can’t, all I can say is “I like what I like, and I don’t like that.” But the OP here isn’t just saying that, there is a strong suggestion there is some **objective** reason shows like _Gunsmoke_ and _Bonanza_ are superior to shows like _Breaking Bad_ and _Mad Men_. If there is genuinely such a reason I’m interested in knowing what it could possibly be, because based on the OP’s review pretty much every problem he had with _Breaking Bad_ I could find serious instances of the same problem in any number of _Gunsmoke_ episodes. I loved _Gunsmoke_ and watched it a lot growing up, but you’re in crazy land if, like me, when you watch it on TV Land or something you don’t find episodes where you’re just like “they really just phoned this shit in.” ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/68 "2011-09-07T18:20:27Z")
Totally. I hate to draw assumptions, but it seems apparent that the issue isn’t with any particular show. She beat up on **BB,** because that was the pilot show I asked her to watch, then dared her to not watch the second. 90% of viewers, would likely be anticipating what’s going to happen next, yes? Well, rather than just say, yeh… maybe I can appreciate it as a fine work of TV, it’s just not my thing, so I’ll pass on watching the 2nd episode. Ok, that’s totally fine. But instead she wrote a review heavily slanted to the negative, to an absurd degree; hyper-focusing on aspects of the show that have, at best, very thin barring on the entertainment value at large. Criticism is subjective, sure, but it seemed so overwhelming and idiosyncratic to me that it seemed she was actually constructing imaginary bricks from whole cloth to build a wall in her “defense” that the show is somehow objective crap. Just say _you don’t like fiction, unless all plots and story is tied up in that one episode, then the characters and past events are completely reset for the next, as if it never happened._ There’s still plenty of shows that are written like that. I’ll just say it now… I really don’t think she can enjoy anything, for whatever reason, that has no sentimental value for her, or at least is close enough in formula to those very shows. Of course, the craft of television changes over decades, but to hold resentment for it, is utterly baffling. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/69 "2011-09-07T18:35:13Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Just say _you don’t like fiction, unless all plots and story is tied up in that one episode, then the characters and past events are completely reset for the next, as if it never happened._ There’s still plenty of shows that are written like that. Unless it’s a “routine detective show starring Smug Annoying Bastard with his “Damn White Boy, You Crazy!” Black Friend” I think Two Many Cats should just stick to reruns of Laugh In and Mama’s Family. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/70 "2011-09-07T19:01:45Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Totally. I hate to draw assumptions, but it seems apparent that the issue isn’t with any particular show. > > She beat up on **BB,** because that was the pilot show I asked her to watch, then dared her to not watch the second. 90% of viewers, would likely be anticipating what’s going to happen next, yes? > > Well, rather than just say, yeh… maybe I can appreciate it as a fine work of TV, it’s just not my thing, so I’ll pass on watching the 2nd episode. > > Ok, that’s totally fine. > > But instead she wrote a review heavily slanted to the negative, to an absurd degree; hyper-focusing on aspects of the show that have, at best, very thin barring on the entertainment value at large. > > Criticism is subjective, sure, but it seemed so overwhelming and idiosyncratic to me that it seemed she was actually constructing imaginary bricks from whole cloth to build a wall in her “defense” that the show is somehow objective crap. > > Just say _you don’t like fiction, unless all plots and story is tied up in that one episode, then the characters and past events are completely reset for the next, as if it never happened._ There’s still plenty of shows that are written like that. > > I’ll just say it now… I really don’t think she can enjoy anything, for whatever reason, that has no sentimental value for her, or at least is close enough in formula to those very shows. Of course, the craft of television changes over decades, but to hold resentment for it, is utterly baffling. And yet you aren’t upset “_at all_” that I don’t like _Breaking Bad._ What bricks of whole cloth? I said the characters were uninteresting to me. They are. I said I found the show’s climax motive unconvincing. I did. I am not going to call _Breaking Bad_ “a fine work of TV” because it didn’t hit me that way. I’m sorry you disagree with me. By the way, I’m glad to be back. Thank you Mods for giving me a second chance. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/71 "2011-09-07T19:02:16Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Which is what I’ve been very directly driving at this whole time. What’s the “good reason”? The OP likes hacky, sentimental shows with “very special episodes”? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/72 "2011-09-07T19:25:02Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > I guess for me if you had just said “I don’t like Breaking Bad because I prefer cheap, easy to understand stuff” that’d be fine. But when you criticized Breaking Bad many of the faults you found with it can be readily found in any number of the shows you mentioned enjoying. That suggests to me that there is really some other reason you don’t like Breaking Bad. If I had to guess it’s because you just don’t like having to think or do anything other than look at the surface when watching TV. So. If I don’t like _Breaking Bad_ I must not like thinking too much. Nice. No, I can give television plots a lot of leeway. If I find the program entertaining. This program to me was not entertaining. End of story. I don’t care to watch multiple episodes of a show I don’t enjoy because I am assured the show turns into a masterpiece as it goes on. Perhaps the objective difference between contemporary television and what came before is actual entertainment value? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/73 "2011-09-07T19:35:53Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Perhaps the objective difference between contemporary television and what came before is actual entertainment value? Couldn’t be. I find contemporary TV vastly more entertaining than television from the past. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/74 "2011-09-07T19:48:21Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Couldn’t be. I find contemporary TV vastly more entertaining than television from the past. How nice…for you. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/75 "2011-09-07T19:59:44Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Which is what I’ve been very directly driving at this whole time. What’s the “good reason”? The good reason is those shows entertained me. I don’t find most of today’s TV fare entertaining enough. The comedies are not funny. The dramas tend to be too slow to be interesting. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/76 "2011-09-07T20:17:25Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > The good reason is those shows entertained me. I don’t find most of today’s TV fare entertaining enough. The comedies are not funny. The dramas tend to be too slow to be interesting. How sad…for you. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/77 "2011-09-07T20:18:22Z")
The pilot for Breaking Bad is one (if not THE) best pilots I’ve ever seen. It’s exciting, unexpected, beautifully filmed, and most of all, by the end I was dying to know what was going to happen. I love BB so much that I envy people who haven’t seen it because they still get to see it for the first time! If it’s not your thing, no problem, but objectively there are no big gaps or criticisms that can be made about this show being poorly written, directed, or acted. It is simply phenomenal, and you should keep watching. However, if you hate it, don’t watch it. You will be in the small minority of people who thinks it’s crap, but that’s your issue. It really is that simple. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/78 "2011-09-07T20:18:31Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > How sad…for you. Yes, it is, isn’t it. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/79 "2011-09-07T20:28:21Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > The pilot for Breaking Bad is one (if not THE) best pilots I’ve ever seen. It’s exciting, unexpected, beautifully filmed, and most of all, by the end I was dying to know what was going to happen. I love BB so much that I envy people who haven’t seen it because they still get to see it for the first time! > > If it’s not your thing, no problem, but objectively there are no big gaps or criticisms that can be made about this show being poorly written, directed, or acted. It is simply phenomenal, and you should keep watching. However, if you hate it, don’t watch it. You will be in the small minority of people who thinks it’s crap, but that’s your issue. It really is that simple. I didn’t say it’s crap. I said it was uninteresting and unconvincing. I don’t care to watch any more because as Truman Capote said of the book _Valley of the Dolls_ “Just how many bowls of rotten stew do I have to eat?” People get over it. I don’t like this show. Nor do I care for most other contemporary television. Yes, I understand the programs. It’s not that I don’t want to think. I just don’t find them to be entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362/80 "2011-09-07T20:48:54Z")
\*\*Two Many Cats: \*\*Have you ever watched _Deadwood_ or _The Wire_? If so, I’m just curious what you thought of them. If not, give 'em a shot. They’re not new shows - both are over and done with - but if you don’t like either of those, I don’t think any other modern TV shows will do it for you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-review-of-the-first-episode-of-breaking-bad-long/595362.md?page=5)