Shall we anticpate the AMC series "Breaking Bad"? I think I may.

gilligan's admitted several times that he's making it up as he goes along

When and if he has said that, he was making sly fun of the writers of "Lost," not actually admitting to being a bullshit artist who doesn't know where this is all going. The only writer I've ever heard honestly admit to that is Steven King. (Hmmm.)

I don't think so. He sounds pretty honest here

I'd love to be able to say that everything is pre-figured. I'd love to tell you I'm Bobby Fischer and I'm playing this game 20 moves ahead, but it's just not true. The writers and I, once we created the Cousins and put them into motion, the problem that we saw for ourselves was, "My God, how do we pay this off?" It's the exhilarating thing about this job and it's the terrifying thing about this job: We actively try to paint ourselves into corners at the end of episodes - at the end of seasons, at the end of scenes sometimes - and then we try to extricate ourselves from those corners. So far, so good. But one of these days, we'll probably paint ourselves into a corner we can't escape from.

doubt there are many, if any, shows where the writers had everything figured out from the start and then just filmed it. and i don't see why that would be any more entertaining either.

It won't necessarily make it more entertaining, but as "The Sopranos," "Lost" and "Seinfeld" proved, if you don't stick the landing it can cast the whole series in a bad light.

"Sopranos" stuck the landing perfectly.

This is why I find "Breaking Bad" more rewarding a watch than "Game of Thrones" - where the latter is literally following a playbook and every plot turn is predetermined (not that it's not fun in its own way), in the former, you can feel the writers agonizing over every plot decision and trying to make it all work in the most interesting way possible.

xp - OTM x 1000

"Sopranos" stuck the landing perfectly.

Yeah, no controversy there. Total consensus, etc.

It's harder to actually figure out which series finales were well-received and not hated. I think maybe The Shield (which I haven't even seen) is probably the only finale I didn't hear everybody frothing at the mouth over

Gilligan has also said that winging it on S3 was a deliberate response to having had every detail of S2 worked out in advance, as shown with the pre-titles on every episode there.

I don't know what "stick the landing" means.

Catch up:
http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/7679/b00005joza01ss500sclzzzzzzzv542744171cv6.jpg

It's harder to actually figure out which series finales were well-received and not hated. I think maybe The Shield (which I haven't even seen) is probably the only finale I didn't hear everybody frothing at the mouth over

one of the best - if not the best - series ending ever IMO

the best imo

The Shield is perfect because it actually manages to wrap up a 7 or whatever season chronology to some degree of satisfaction. There are plenty of more open-ended shows that end well, though.

yeah but those don't count, people don't really go crazy over those kinds of series finales

like people wouldn't whine that the "finale" of Law and Order OG ruined their collective watching over the last 20 years

trish: from gymnastics, where the gymnast does the big finish in his/her routine without a bobble or extra step that loses points

Ah, right. Thanks. That is not what I would have guessed from the context.

It's harder to actually figure out which series finales were well-received and not hated. I think maybe The Shield (which I haven't even seen) is probably the only finale I didn't hear everybody frothing at the mouth over

one of the best - if not the best - series ending ever IMO

― THIS IS SATIRE BTW (Simon H.), Sunday, July 24, 2011 10:50 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

could not agree more

good episode tonight, the cold open in particular really demonstrated how far gone Walt is.

loved the walking-to-the-house scene damn

"Go home Walt."

we were watching on a jumpy internet stream lol no tv

how much money did she offer to buy the car wash for?

$900,000 (rounding up)

ending of tonight's was fucking great, despite the set decorator really underplaying what a house where there's been a 3-day meth party looks like (and the screenwriter for that matter: that stereo is gone after that party, period). still just for tone it was A+

haha yeah I was kinda underwhelmed by that craaaazy party and the aftermath, coulda been out of a disney movie

a guy who's been tweaking for days + has access to firearms orders a pizza & it shows up unsliced = at least two people get shot in the balls iirc

I mean I dig that that's not where they're coming from but the party sort of showed a lack of awareness about what meth is like imo

but the whole pizza thing was just to explain how a pizza could fly on a roof, which was sorta genius

what was that whack-ass rap-metal song biting the 'Angel of Death' riff

“I think I’ve, like, got this cat, I think I’m supposed to feed it”

i'm amazed that this show can get away with some of the shot selection it gets away with - it doesn't really look like anything else on tv. the roomba tracking shot was so awesome

also love the really subtle character shading of mike the cleaner, andrea, etc; they're being given depth that they wouldn't have been given in seasons 1/2

a guy who's been tweaking for days + has access to firearms orders a pizza & it shows up unsliced = at least two people get shot in the balls iirc

i did love the bad tweaker logic to defuse the situation ("they pass the savings along to you!"), not the least of the reasons for which being that it's evidently a real pizza place

This episode really emphasizes how ridiculous the idea that Walt is turning into, or that his true nature always was this cold, calculating Heisenberg persona.

roomba-cam.

saul goodman - "six, seven, even eight figure settlements"..

also, i really dont want a reveal that hank's mineral collection has some relevant investigatory angle 2 it (i cant even guess what it could be tho)

i know im the only person in the world with this problem, but jesses inaccurate description of the stereo (cmon dude, aluminum cones are made out of aluminum) was really lazy writing/set dressing and totally irritated the shit out of me.

these are also the times that the wife is most likely to tell me to shut the hell up btw

lol that system seemed very much on the “high end” swap meet style level of components

jesse authoritatively not knowing what he's talking about shocker

can I just mention how gleeful I got when I saw badger's shape through the window

BADGER!

i'm amazed that this show can get away with some of the shot selection it gets away with - it doesn't really look like anything else on tv. the roomba tracking shot was so awesome

yeah that was excellent. also appreciated the eye-in-the-sky shot of Walt standing in the street in front of Gus's house like a dumbass. with the crazy long shadows of him and the light pole.

what a great episode.
And the carwash cam!

thought this ep was great - I guess I really have no idea what a meth party would *actually* look like, so playing that for lols in a John Hughes high school blowout sort sense was fine by me.

Any bb episode that contains ample amounts of Mike being Mike & comic relief via Badger & Skinny Pete, plus a new Better Call Saul commercial to boot is automatically going down as A+ in my book.

jesses inaccurate description of the stereo

yes. he also said it was "totally digital; it's got these vacuum pre-amps"

badger & skinny pete's dialog is pretty much the only thing that bothers me about this show. it's as if the writers have never actually met an actual young person, so they resort to lots of "ain't"s and forced slang like "pushin' flowers" or however skinny pete phrased his excuse for not staying longer. this complaint is somewhat mitigated for by the gratuitous early morning thong butt, however.

i thought jesse's description was great; it was obviously the same line of horseshit that the guy who sold it to him spieled!

also lol at "John Hughes high school blowout"; that's totally dead on

i agree w/ the slang complaint. jesse also said something like 'when i get back i want this party kickin like a sensei' that was so absurd and that no one ever has said

I love Jesse, Pete and Badger's relationship, it's kind of sweet. "Get me some scissors, I'll slice that pizza up for you real good."

Also I imagine Jesse's parties consist mostly of middle class kids dabbling, not full-on meth fiends.