BREAKING BAD vs MAD MEN

going by first 3 seasons, this could be correct. but s4 of mad men's been sooo good so far...

why make these shows fight each other when they are both getting trounced in cable ratings by RERUNS of NCIS?
they need to combine forces somehow. like go on tour together.

these shows need to strive to be more like One Tree Hill.

if that's the show with the guy getting a liver transplant and the nurse drops the liver and it's eaten by a dog, and the camera zooms in for a closeup for his crestfallen face, i'm afraid it wins in terms of 'OH SHIT' moments, but still, getting beaten by NCIS?

i cannot believe breaking bad won.

I cannot believe only six people voted for neither.

totally forgot all the weird dreamlike dark-lit long-haired-cranston ~flashbacks~ in season 1 of breaking bad

ilx getting it wrong again

Shouldn't have been this close

prefer 'oh shit' to slow burn tbh - at least when it comes to multiple-season serial dramas.

I think there's plenty of slow burn in BB as well. It's a slow burn tension.

upcoming amc zombie show > both

I love both of these shows.

I think what MM has in "slow burn" stakes that marks it out are these amazing uplifting slow-burns as much as grim ones, moments where characters turn a corner or figure something out about someone else or just man the fuck up a bit, but it's all done so subtly.

Like, the relationship between Pete and his wife over the course of season 2.

Which isn't to say it's better than Breaking Bad which is just kinda repeatedly amazing to watch.

The TS I actually have in my head is really Mad Men versus Deadwood - the similarities and differences of which are more productive to think about IMO.

Maybe a TS between Breaking Bad and Big Love, though in that case Breaking Bad would win comfortably I think (I love Big Love too though!).

Shouldn't have been this close

― progressive cuts (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, September 1, 2010 5:31 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

didn't you say you'd only seen one ep of 'mad men'

would anyone change their vote now that mad men s4 is over? i wouldn't.

surprised breaking bad took this though since there's like twice as many posts on mad men season threads as the whole breaking bad thread

to me its a show about people having to face up to their own bullshit.

makes it sounds way more boring than BB, which it is

fascinating insight.

"mad men is boring"

so fuck

oh ffs

i didn't say MM is boring, why you abusing quotes like that :(

It is a bit more boring than BB, but so are most other narratives ever.

oh come on "a bit?"

well, I say that MM is boring.

fascinating!

better poll would be Wonder Years vs. Mad Men

what's the typical time frame for a season showing up on Netflix? shouldn't season 4 be available very very soon??

Okay, I just started watching this show. I've been mainlining (heh) it; I'm halfway through the second season. Krysten Ritter just died. Sad! Also, a plane exploded. Exciting! So much happens.

Glad you liked the plane because I would consider it a rare low point of BB. Not that it isn't exciting.

Anyway, I envy you, man/dude/sista. I wish I had that much good stuff still to watch. Enjoy it!

surprised no one has compared the experience of watching BB to its drug of choice--season 3 in particular is a rush.

my thoughts on the plane crash/up through season 2 in general

- stupid f/x
– it's weird cop-out for the pair of body-bags and artsy floating head in the pool, but i figured they'd be a cop-out anyway
- sound design was great
- didn't realize it was the season finale, thought it was just a Kool Thing chucked in the middle of the episode
- good symbol
- derailed Walt's death wish/fetishization
- sober jesse is good jesse. aaron paul is a weird lookin' dude. it was odd to see the group leader in rehab was jere burns –- wynn duffy from justified

it was perhaps a bit clumsy but i liked the gesture of extending Walt's trail of destruction to almost cosmic levels. it's like he broke something in the fabric of the universe and hell rains down on everyone.

so everyone has a symbolic wardrobe color...what's walt jr's? hank's is...i dunno, orange?

guess it extends to more than just wardrobe, ie marie's car, interior decorating

The symbolism is really well-executed. There was A Thing with breakfast/plates/spoons in S2 that never got heavy-handed but came to fruition during the OD scene. It's nice to see somebody executing that kind of formal skill well.

me and soda in the same place of BB

idea that this is better than Mad Men is ludicrous tho

Not really, though. It is better! Not by much, but definitely better.

they're both good, stop ranking everything

you using the word ludicrous there is ludicrous

but the poll

I feel like we were comparing more than ranking

I think it's very apparent that MM and BB are of the same network. There's a real high-gloss house-style to both that cares a lot about color timing, geometric composition, percussive exegetic scores, pacing, etc., that goes even beyond the thematic likenesses of the shows.

BB goes for cheap laughs/shocks a lot more and just lacks the depth and scope of MM imho

Are you sure you are not confusing being cheap with being enormously gratifying and entertaining and fun?

well it definitely ditches versimilitude for gratuitous gore/grossness at multiple points (Skyler's death being a rare exception - but then Walt's single tear was a bit cryingeagle.gif imho so one step forward two steps back I guess). this isn't necessarily a negative but it does make me take the show, I dunno, less seriously than Mad Men.

ok

mostly I approach it as a schlockier/sillier version of Sopranos

otoh nothing in Mad Men is as funny as Odenkirk is in this show

Skyler's death?

xp - haha, ok you're kidding, I see

There was real depth and scope when that guy got his foot cut off by a lawnmower in the office.

the themes tackled in BB are maybe not as diverse as MM and it isn't as "serious", but don't know why that makes it a lesser show automatically.