"Breaking Bad"

[jimslip]

There's just too much brilliant stuff to watch at the moment, mostly foreign it would see, just seen the post about The Killing and can't wait to see that. At the moment we are watching on Netflix one of the best series I have EVER seen, "Breaking Bad" about a chemistry teacher turned Crystal Meth dealer. The depth, dimensions,dynamics, acting, story lines, filming, lighting etc etc is astonishing in this massive series. Sadly it would be impossible for a British TV series to hook up a chemistry teacher and a scumbag drug dealer into a dynamic, interesting, relationship, without dragging in stereotypes of class, snobbery, wealth, politics, political correctness and tweeeness into the mix. It would be cringe making. It makes you wonder how on Earth our TV producers still have the gall to declare that British TV is the "Best in the world!".



trailer:

[Gentleman]

Glad you're enjoying it, I don't know how many seasons netflixs shows but the present season is shaping up nicely.

Still not sure whether to cheer Walter on or boo him.

If you're looking for great USA drama try "the shield" "OZ" and "sons of anarchy" which is currently airing.

[Peter]

Yep, love the show, watched them all (anybody thinking of watching, you really need to watch from season 1, episode 1 to 'get' it.)

Final few are out next year, good TV, whereas the best we can offer at the moment is stuff like 'Hunted' (canned after one series) but such stuff is dogged by BBC political correctness (men and capitalism= always bad, women and socialism = good)

I've recently re-watched La Femme Nikita (The TV series, all 96 episodes) and that stood up to the test of time very well. Good stories can be told on a budget when people know what they're doing.

[Flat_Eric]

I have the complete "Oz" and "The Shield" on DVD. Like you say, both quality shows. I'm also enjoying the 'zombie apocalypse' series "The Walking Dead" immensely.

I bought the first season of "Boardwalk Empire" on DVD recently and have started getting into that. It's a bit of a slow burner but is very well done and has a very authentic period feel to it. To use the hackneyed cliche, Steve Buscemi steals every scene he's in.

British TV can't hold a candle to the dramas coming out of the States. As said above, even the better Brit stuff is still mired in political correctness (token ethnics & gays always shown in a "positive" light, highly intelligent go-ahead women running things, evil/incompetent/corrupt men etc.)

- Eric

[Peter]

Flat_Eric wrote:

I'm also enjoying the 'zombie apocalypse'
> series "The Walking Dead" immensely.


Yep, the new series has shaped up nicely after the dismal second series, where they hung around the farm, talking about their feelings for most of the time. But the producers listened to viewer feedback (imagine the BBC doing that!) and started giving the audience what they wanted.

[Gentleman]

Boardwalk is brilliant as well and the period details are incredible.

[Flat_Eric]

Peter wrote:

> Yep, the new series has shaped up nicely after the dismal
> second series, where they hung around the farm, talking about
> their feelings for most of the time. But the producers listened
> to viewer feedback (imagine the BBC doing that!) and started
> giving the audience what they wanted.


I enjoyed series 2 as well but I take your point, the zombies were a bit thin on the ground at times and instead we had all the "relationship" stuff going on during those 'quieter' spells. The reason the farm featured so heavily was (apparently) due to budget cuts and internal politics, but hopefully that's been resolved now.

From what I've read, viewing figures in the States have been very good so far for Season 3, so hopefully the show will run for some time - provided they don't fuck it up by killing off all the best characters for "shock" effect and letting it get stale.

- Eric

[andy ide]

Great to see that Breaking Bad's finally reached the same kind of tipping point in the UK that The Wire did. Share the love. It's sublime. Best moment -- "Stay out of my territory" in Season 2. 'Walter Mitty meets Scarface' indeed.

Here's a great mash-up of Seasons 1 and 2 that someone did on YouTube. It's pretty spoiler free. "I... am... the one who knocks"!

[Peter]

andy ide wrote:

Best moment -- "Stay out of my territory" in
> Season 2. 'Walter Mitty meets Scarface' indeed.


Best line for me, "Smoking Marijuana, eating cheese doodles and masturbating, NOT PLANS IN MY BOOK"


[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img84/3350/timetocook.jpg[/IMG]

[andy ide]

I just love the trajectory of his character development. Some people didn't like the way it went in Season 5 but I thought it was great, totally credible.