When Breaking Bad made its debut in 2008, it showed the promise of developing into a stylish and high action drama competing with the more muted Mad Men that debuted a year prior. Many, including myself, didn't really anticipate the degree to which the show would improve and consistently deliver some of the greatest television this side of The Wire. If you don't know the story, it follows Walter White, a underachieving chemistry teacher diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. In conjunction with his regret concerning what his life began, Walter turns to cooking and selling methamphetamines to leave money for his family after his death. But of course, with a plan like that, nothing could go right.In this post, I'll be giving some reasons not only why it's the best show, but also why it's not even close:
The acting is the best on television. It speaks to the shows acting powerhouse when four actors from the show are nominated for Emmys in the same year. Other shows do have their share of acting chops, with Jon Hamm and Michael C. Hall deserving all the consistent praise they receive, but Breaking Bad has asked so much of its characters, with many cases asking for changes that made a previously reprehensible character sympathetic and vice versa; all without seeming forced. Aaron Paul's development as Jesse Pinkman should be pointed to as a seemingly one dimensional character developing steadily until essentially becoming a deuteragonist. It's rarely done well without the right acting, and Breaking Bad nails it.
It takes some pretty brave risks. Breaking Bad is never afraid to upset, unsettle, depress and surprise its audience. Like all shows, it is bound to fall back on some cliches, but they never determine anything in Breaking Bad. Instead the show is not afraid to let you hate its character, leading them down darker and darker paths that make it harder for the audience to root for them and instead they watch slack-jawed like a slow car crash. Dexter serves as the antithesis of this type of development. The character Dexter undergoes traumatic and horrifying events but even as a serial killer main character, the writers never venture to make him a dark and hate-able character. Instead they are content to "reset" the character and leave little in terms of development. Walter White, on the other hand, seems to be an experiment in the descent of a character. Without giving too much away, Water does some pretty horrible things in the shows first two seasons and yet he seems like a scared man compared to what he becomes towards the later season. And we all get to see it happen.
It's damn beautiful.
There's not much to say besides look at that video and tell me you didn't feel something in that heart of yours. The show is stylish, sometimes to the point of showing off, but as a lover of everything composition I couldn't care less. Other shows surprise me with their cinematography; I expect it from Breaking Bad and it still amazes me.
It has never disappointed. With the show winding down to its final 8 episodes, many theories and predictions are floating around. It's rare that a show has never made a misstep big enough to derail an episode/season but for a show to be consistent across its entire run would be something to behold. I can't say it's perfect, but with a near flawless first half of its last season, the show is all but putting off its inevitably rock bottom conclusion.
So that's your reasoning. If you can come up with a compelling reason for any other show on TV, I'd love to hear it, I just may not be pleasant about it.
Wow, how iconic is that picture? I've spent the better part of 10 years claiming to be the resident expert on The Simpsons and I stand by that for the most part. However, when it comes to making a Top Whatever, I can not help but feel like I'm disrespecting the show. Any top 5 I can construct is made up of masterpieces of animation and comedy, yet I never feel as if I've done the show justice, and any episode left out is utterly unjustified. That said, I'm going to attempt it, knowing full well I'll have other fans at my throat for leaving out X episode. I'm trying my best. Here goes:
5| Deep Space Homer
Wow, this actually proved to be the hardest episode to rank as the 5-10 area has so many episodes to choose from that they are virtually interchangeable, but "Deep Space Homer" won out just for possessing some of my favorite all time moments in The Simpsons. It features your average "Homer gets a new job" plot line that is featured on the show taken to a ridiculous degree when Homer is allowed to become an astronaut purely for being a "blue collar slob" and somehow getting NASA's number. Favorite moments and quotes:
- Kent Brockman's eagerness to turn in his fellow humans and the speed to which the news broadcast has a picture of ants conquering us never fails to make me laugh. Homer: Stupid carbon rod. It's all just a popularity contest! Bart: Wow, did you actually get to see the rod? Bart: Wow, my father an astronaut. I feel so full of...what's the opposite of shame? Marge: Pride? Bart: No, not that far from shame. Homer: Less shame? Bart: [smiling] Yeah...
4| Homer at the Bat
This seems to be the point at which The Simpsons really hit it big in terms of their reach when they pulled 9 major league baseball players to guest star. It also marks the first point where the show edged out The Cosby Show in ratings. But is it funny? Amazingly this episode juggled 9 guest appearances with Homer's story to hilarious and well balanced effect. Each major league player has their own quirks written in by the Simpsons staff. From Daryl Strawberry's fantastic portrayal as a massive suck up to Mr. Burns to Wade Boggs' insistence that Pitt the Elder was England's greatest Prime Minister. Ultimately, this episode has a multitude of facets in play and even lets Homer end up as the hero, in typical Homer fashion. And all of it adds up to a virtually flawless episode.
Favorite moments and quotes:
Mr. Burns: I've decided to bring in a few ringers, professional baseballers. We'll give them token jobs at the plant and have them play on our softball team. Honus Wagner, Cap Anson, Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown...
Smithers: Uh, sir?
Mr. Burns: What is it, Smithers?
Smithers: I'm afraid all of those players have retired and, uh... passed on. In fact, your right-fielder has been dead for a hundred and thirty year.
Carl: [matter-of-factly] Hey, Homer's choking again.
Lenny: Isn't there a first-aid chart around here somewhere?
Carl: Somebody scare him.
Charlie: That's for the hiccups.
3| Marge vs. the Monorail
Well this is one of the few episodes penned by Conan O'Brien and still remains one of the best of the series. It pretty much has all you could want in a show: a fantastic one time character in Lyle Lanley, a perfect musical number, a great use of a celebrity appearance with Leonard Nimoy as an annoying, always in character Spock, and a high laugh per minute ratio. The episode seemed to be an especially outwardly strange premise during a time when the show tended to not be overly ridiculous but with this episode, it opened the show up to a plethora of situations and served as how to do a fantastic one correctly. Really, it seems to really possess everything that could make it a number 1 entry and for any other show it would be.
Favorite moments and quotes:
Bart: True or false: You can get mono from riding the monorail?
Marge: Homer, there's a man here who thinks he can help you.
Homer: Batman?
Marge: No, he's a scientist.
Homer: Batman's a scientist.
Marge: It's NOT Batman.
2| Last Exit to Springfield
Usually the choice for the greatest Simpsons episode of all time and with good reason. It contains some of the most quotable lines and iconic scenes in all of The Simpsons' history and anyone that knows the show, knows this episode practically word for word. So why does it only make it #2? Because believe it or not there is one that I find slightly funnier. We're getting to the decimals in terms of score. I'm thinking this is a 10.12/10. It does contain Homer's best and most well known battle with his own brain that the show does like no other. I dont know what else to say about this episode other than, if you haven't seen it, watch it now and watch it often. Good day
Favorite moments and quotes:
Mr. Burns: This is a thousand monkeys working at a thousand typewriters. Soon, they'll have finished the greatest novel known to man.
[reads a page]
Mr. Burns: All right, let's see... "It was the best of times, it was the BLURST of times?" You stupid monkey.
Homer: [answering the door] Who is it?
Voice: Goons.
Homer: Who?
Voice: Hired goons.
Homer: Hired goons? [opens the door]
Goons: [take Homer away]
And all this leaves is...
1| Homer Goes to College
Wow, ok, so after much toil and self reflection, I decided to just go with what episode I could watch at any time, laugh at almost everything, and quote in any situation. This won out, barely. It is not the most heartfelt episode, nor is there any lesson or commentary to be taken from it, but what it is is 23 minutes of rapid fire, perfect comedy. Homer takes on his stupid persona but it is never used for cheap laughs and only emphasizes his focus on what he expects college to be like, including his insistence on hating the world's coolest dean, which may be my favorite Homer. The episode also benefits heavily from repeated views, and it just shows how intricate Conan O'Brien's writing for the series was. Everything from Homer's casual familiarity with the people sent to clean up nuclear meltdowns to his desire to roll things up and throw them off a bridge, this episode specializes in the absurd. It doesn't necessarily follow a particular pattern and Conan has even mentioned that he included "bee jokes" in the episode for the purpose that he "thinks bees are funny." And I think we can all agree that yes, yes they are. All in all, I don't think I regret this choice, but who knows, I might in a minute or two.
Favorite moments and quotes:
Homer: Dean, I'm really sorry about the running-you-over prank.
Dean Peterson: Prank?
Homer: And all those other pranks were my idea, too. *I'm* the one who should be expelled.
Dean Peterson: Well, I'm touched by your honesty. And, who knows, perhaps I've been a bit of an ogre myself.
Homer: Yes you have.
Bernie: Duh, Homer, why are we down here?
Homer: Aw, geez. I told you, Bernie: to guard the bee!
Man: [whining] But why?
Homer: Aw, you guys are pathetic. No wonder Smithers made me head bee-guy.
and of course:
Well, that's all I got for now. I'll let you know it took everything I had to construct this list. It may not pretty, but dammit, it's honest.
In retrospect, the early '90s can be pointed to as an inspired time for television. Seinfeld had just begun and The Simpsons was entering its golden age and its standard for which cartoons are judged by. But it can be argued that just as much of what we see today on television can be traced back to a show that barely made it through two seasons before its cancellation. Twin Peaks was a seemingly odd pairing of co-creators David Lynch and Mark Frost. Lynch was known primarily for his surrealist and horror tinged films such as Eraserhead and Blue Velvet, and it seemed like prime time TV was his last move. Fortunately for the show, Lynch's more fantastic tendencies were tempered by Mark Frost's more traditional approach to television and their end product was Twin Peaks.
Set in the titular small town of Twin Peaks, the show immediately throws the viewer into the town after the tragic murder of a popular high school student, Laura Palmer. When Agent Dale Cooper (played fantastically by Kyle MacLachlan) arrives to investigate the crime, he along with the viewers find that many of Twin Peaks inhabitants carry dark secrets, including Laura Palmer herself. To many viewers, the show appeared to be a classic mystery intertwined with a soap opera backdrop, and the shows ratings skyrocketed on this pretense, but as the show continued, it became less focused on the murder plot line and began to focus more on the idiosyncratic characters, losing many of the viewers interest. It was in the shift that the show's daring moments confused most while fascinating a cult fan club. Lynch's influence became more apparent as the show plunged in to surreal dream sequences that featured a small man speaking backwards and an evil presence hilariously only known as BOB.
The surreal set of one of Agent Cooper's dreams
The show eventually made it obvious that its more melodramatic moments were borderline parody of soap opera culture and its murder plot line a vessel to focus on the evils of a small town's inhabitants. Unfortunately for the show, its network ABC began to pressure Lynch and Frost to reveal Laura Palmer's killer to pull up the show's waning ratings. Lynch was adamant that he never wanted to reveal the killer while Frost felt otherwise. The result was the killer revealed mid Season Two, and left the show with little other plot lines to bring to the forefront. This left the show scrambling for something to keep their audience's attention and proved to be a particularly aimless low point for the show. Though it began to reach its previous levels of brilliance by the end of the second season, audience interest had long left and Twin Peaks was not renewed for another season, leaving the show's finale cliffhanger unresolved and the show thrust into obscurity.
Why you should watch this:Twin Peaks boasts one of the most unique approaches to its characters that I can say I have never seen since. Dialogue is often hilarious and off kilter and acting mistakes are frequently and intentionally left in. One instance of this comes in this unplanned appearance of a llama mid scene (take note of the old lady laughing in the background of the scene):
Moments like this litter the series and highlight the lighthearted approach Lynch and Frost take to the series' writing. These moments are juxtaposed with scenes of daring cinematography and even horror movie influence. This creates a thoroughly unique viewing experience that is very much dissimilar from any show since. Yet Twin Peaks' influence on television can not be denied. It's almost impossible to watch an episode of Lost and not see elements of Twin Peaks seeping through; such as the long, complex story lines that stretch over seasons and often go unresolved. As recently as 2010, the USA Network show Psych dedicated an entire episode to Twin Peaks under the name "Dual Spires." Many of Twin Peaks' cast members returned for cameo appearances and the episode was littered with nods to the show. Ultimately, if you're a fan a television and want to dive in to a show that can amaze, enthrall, confuse and terrify, Twin Peaks is prepared to deliver.
Welcome to At the Drive In, everyone. I'm your host, Dan. You've stumbled upon a place where if you're a fan of movies and television, you'll feel right at home. A couple times a week (hopefully more), I'll be walking you through my thoughts on several fantastic TV series and movies both past and present. As a passionate fan of cinema of both the big and little screen, there won't be a shortage of topics. So kick back and enjoy the ramblings. -DD
