The 4 Best Dramas Of The Last 25 Years

the deafening metronome of mortality

I've never "gotten" Breaking Bad. The bleakness/meanness/dry humor in the initial five or six episodes was, to my tastes, toxic. It felt like self-consciously Important Television, and I've resisted going back... although I know I'd probably find things to like in it. Is it worth it? Are the episodes (as discrete units, and not strictly as they contribute to the season drama) enjoyable? At least as of the halfway point of the first season, didn't like any of the characters, I don't get off on suburban nihilism (or whatever the tone was), and I wasn't really concerned or hopeful about the outcome. If I re-tried the show, would I find more in it to like?

Probably lot. I, like many others here, absolutely love it, but your tolerance for the bleak and nihilistic has to be fairly high. The first season is a shining beacon of happiness and ease compared to a lot of later eps. I rewatched the very first three epsiodes recently and was surprised by how light and goofy it all was in retrospect.

Probably not, sorry.

Breaking Bad is absolutely worth it. Arguably the best show (sort of) currently on television. And as I said elsewhere, I never would've imagined saying that during the first season (which I thought was fine but nothing mindblowing).

what makes a 2-hour story so much better than a 90-hour one?

Leaves more time for baseball and fucking.

I agree with you Deric, but even as a massive fan you have to concede it's not for everyone.

And I'd argue that it isn't all bleak nihilism. There are actually a number of episodes where not a lot "happens". People sitting around and having long conversations in the living room and whatnot. Plus the show definitely has a sense of humor throughout.

Oh, yeah, chap. Not for everyone. You pretty much need to have the stomach to watch a relatively sympathetic character become increasingly evil and the collateral damage caused by that transformation along the way.

what makes a 2-hour story so much better than a 90-hour one?

also, concision aka narrative economy; usually yields better results than sprawl.

Sopranos hands down

Yeah, I'll take the narrative economy of Norbit over the sprawl of The Wire anyday.

Tell it to dickens. Wait, bad example. Tell it to Eliot. Scratch that. Tell it to, uh, Proust or, well...

I've only seen a couple of episodes of the Sopranos and it seemed kinda corny to me. Is it actually kinda corny, or is that quality something that goes away if you watch more of it and get immersed in it?

whenever I feel like I might vote for The Wire, I remember this episode of the Sopranos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7vBbEG0zH0

Sopranos always reminded me of a Barry levinson film

the only recent show I can think of that left me as cold as Mad Men is How I Met Your Mother

I've never watched The Wire or Breaking Bad, so out of this list I have to vote The Sopranos by default

Two of the shows on this list I obstinately refuse to watch because their fans are so offputting.

my biggest impediment to being interested in Buffy is that it just LOOKS terrible/stupid/goofy

xp

remy - i hadn't thought of it before, but yes, that's what it reminded me of - and i'm not a levinson fan.

The Sopranos also has a sense of humor about itself that I could see coming off as corniness if you just saw bits and pieces of it (particularly if you just tuned in when Little Stevie was onscreen). It's something of a heightened reality, but it's also dead serious when it needs to be.

Buffy is decent enough while it's on but I can count on one hand the number of episodes that made me want to actively seek it out to watch.

http://i217.photobucket.com/albums/cc287/colmprunty/angel5.jpg

seriously can't see myself watching anything involving this as a character

I'd replace Mad Men w/ Deadwood and then vote for it. As it stands now, The Wire.

Another point in its favor. xp

well duh Shakey, if you completely averse to the baseline premise of the show there's sort of no point in pursuing it (see: me + Mad Men)

it's not the premise, it's the depiction

It's funny that most of the distaste in this thread is either "I watched a couple episodes/scenes and didn't dig it" (which, with respect to shows of this nature, is equivalent to "I read a few random pages in the bookstore and didn't dig it") or "Ugh, how could I watch something that those people enjoy?!" (which...is kinda adolescent, if you'll forgive my saying so).

that is funny

I'm laughing.

Deadwood would have been all time if it didn't just suddenly stop.

Sopranos for me because i take it be a fairly heartbreaking account of searching for meaning/spirituality in a landscape devoid of that possibility.

Breaking Bad is the most fun to watch though.

fwiw I've watched the entirety of 3 out of 4 (just haven't gotten around to Breaking Bad)

xp

well I watched like a dozen episodes of Breaking Bad before I lost patience so in my case it's more like putting the book down 1/5 of the way in and not getting back to it in a timely fashion.

kind of interesting comparison to be made between the respective nihilism of the Sopranos and Seinfeld. "no learning, no hugs!"

"I watched a couple episodes/scenes and didn't dig it" (which, with respect to shows of this nature, is equivalent to "I read a few random pages in the bookstore and didn't dig it")

this is a completely valid way to evaluate a book you are considering reading, btw

I mean...it's fine if long-form narrative shows aren't a thing that you care to engage with, but I don't feel the need to go into I Love Baseball threads and be all like, "Yeah, I've watched a game or two. Seems pretty stupid, guys in dumb costumes running in a circle. YAWN."

I'd watch guys in dumb costumes run in a circle

Leaves more time for baseball and fucking.

Yeah, but what do you fill your time with?

Deadwood would have been all time if it didn't just suddenly stop.

This, totally. It just kept getting better and better.

i just started watching Deadwood last week, and for some incomprehensible reason, whenever Timothy Olyphant comes on screen, I think he is David Cross for a split second.

And, to chap, if you've gotten far enough in the first season to get to the scene where Walt calmly, rationally tells the rest of his family his reasons for not wanting to get chemo, and you still feel nothing for any of the characters in the show, then yes, by all means bail out and don't look back.

It's not me who hasn't watched BB, I'm a big fan! I was just playing devil's advocate as to why some people might not like it.

just started watching 'the sopranos' - re: the corniness, ehh a little but the milieu portrayed in the show is one i identify with kinda so i'm maybe willing to overlook it a bit. i'm fairly wrapped up in it so far though.

i watched four or five eps of 'breaking bad' and am undecided if i want to pursue it any further tbh, i can only take so much bleakness

devoured 'the wire' and 'mad men' all in one summer - at this very moment i'd vote the former in this poll, given the above two caveats. i didn't start feeling invested in MM at all until about halfway thru s2

"I watched a couple episodes/scenes and didn't dig it" (which, with respect to shows of this nature, is equivalent to "I read a few random pages in the bookstore and didn't dig it")

this is a completely valid way to evaluate a book you are considering reading, btw

Fair enough, but it's the difference between simply deciding to not read the book and feeling as if you're qualified to judge the merits of the book that...kinda makes up the DNA of ILX, I guess. The defense rests, yer honor.

d'oh, i guess i meant remy bean

i did like that scene eric just described tho

i'm definitely more willing to overlook corniness in a tv series than in a movie.

"I watched a couple episodes/scenes and didn't dig it" (which, with respect to shows of this nature, is equivalent to "I read a few random pages in the bookstore and didn't dig it")

i see nothing wrong with this approach to TV shows, films or music at all. time is precious/money/life is too short/you don't have to eat yer broccoli/etc.

(for the record, i try to give TV shows at least one season before i give up on them for good. i gave mad men 3 seasons, even though somewhere in the middle of the 2nd season i realized that i just didn't give a fuck what happened to any of these characters and life was too short/too many other good shows on/certain "Mad Men" fans get on my nerves etc.).

life is also too short to let other people's fandom annoy you