BREAKING BAD vs MAD MEN

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.

I don't like it when Mad Men grasps for profundity without any substance. Watching Breaking Bad is like playing multiplayer Goldeneye with someone who is much better than you and being dazzled by their brilliance and inventiveness. BB puts its cards on the table and wins a lot more than Mad Men, is more of a high-wire act. Sopranos seems somewhere inbetween

I'm not kidding!

the initial blood-spatter shot in the lawnmower-foot-removal scene is very funny but it was a) only a couple seconds and b) immediately followed by material that dramatically undercut the lolz (Joanie applying the tourniquet etc. Although they went back to it for laughs with that "he'll never golf again!" line)

Sopranos pwns both these shows imho but you probably could've guessed that

Sopranos had a couple of terrible seasons though.

nah

yes. yes, definitely

All the horse racing stuff. so boring

no way - that included the gumar who burned itself plus painting of Tony that Paulie stole = GOLD

burned HERSELF argh

Could I possibly ask that this thread revive stay /relatively/ spoiler free so I can participate a bit more?

boring

I'm right where you are soda so I gots no spoilers

omgggg someone put a spoilers tag on this fucking thread

SPOILER - it gets good

^ like

shakey mo you are stupid

whoah dude don't hold back

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.

mb this is why i can't stand them

i was going to go to wiki and post anything significant that had happened in the last season of both but it seems a lot of effort

Really? That's interesting to me. Not that I intend to convince you otherwise, but how would you have them be?
xp
assuming you're not just trolling

walter white walks in, he is actually a cop, his son is holding a snowglobe with a tiny meth lab inside it

xp err i think i hate mad men for other reasons entirely and the associations with the visual style make me somehow transitively dislike breaking bad, which is much better

do you hate mad men for the reason that it is a terrible show?

that's certainly part of it

lol there is some ridiculously hamfisted/cartoonish shit at the beginning of S3

haha Shakey Mo is gonna watch hours of TV and then post about how shit he thinks it is (even though he will enjoy it) just to prove a point. And he still won't win

that's so sad

I like Breaking Bad's cartoonish tendencies.

I can like/enjoy things and still acknowledge lame elements of same. I contain multitudes

Just want to chime and point out that many seasons of Sopranos (while still good) were comparatively mediocre and redundant. Show went on for 4/5 seasons too long in my bit.

I'd only really consider rewatching the first three.

jere burns –- wynn duffy from justified

I'm so old I keep saying "Hey! It's the gigolo from Dear John!"

Krysten Ritter just died. Sad! Also, a plane exploded. Exciting!

Could I possibly ask that this thread revive stay /relatively/ spoiler free so I can participate a bit more?

― baking (soda), Wednesday, July 25, 2012 5:39 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Dude, you kinda crack me up sometimes.

so far for season 3 I'll say any scene with Odenkirk is gold and any scene with those two stupid hitmen is worthless

oh look they are slowly walking away from an exploding truck! I think I saw this in an action movie once

my wife also pointed out (correctly, imho) that this show is way worse with female characters than Mad Men or the Sopranos.

What, you didn't like that scene where Jane hit Jesse in the back of the head with a steak?

Apology Girl was okay but I don't think she was very well-drawn as a character. fairly one-dimensional, mostly a plot device to move Jesse from incompetent junkie to competent partner. I mean as soon as they started shooting up my first thought was "welp, guess she'll be dead in a few episodes"

there's just not a lot of depth given to the women - junkie, the mother who becomes a whore, high-strung shoplifter - that's about it.

who... who is 'the mother who becomes a whore'

a cliché archetype that's who

It's definitely a show about men, but I don't think it's "way worse" than the Sopranos or Mad Men.