Once again, Breaking Bad was recognized for the top-quality writing and content that I've come to know from this incredible AMC TV series. Last night Breaking Bad won the 'Best Drama Series' award from the 2011 Writers Guild Awards.
And I'm not one bit surprised.
Breaking Bad stars Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, RJ Mitte, & Anna Gunn in a series about a high school chemistry teacher who learns he has terminal cancer, and turns to making and selling meth as a means to leave something behind for his family to survive financially, once he's passed.
At least that was the plan. Of course, Mr. Perfection himself, Walter White (Cranston), ends up creating the most perfect crystal meth ever seen. Which in and of itself, is the problem.
If you are like I was, my premise was, so what and who cares about a story about a meth dealer. Despite peers who have seen it, telling me how awesome the show is. Because you know, we all have different scales of what's good and not, I didn't give some of my peers credence enough. And that splash promo image from the first season just didn't pull me in. (Though later, makes perfect sense!) Shame on me. Then I noticed that my brother-in-law's Netflix had Breaking Bad on the service, so I checked out the first episode.
After the first few episodes, I was hooked and ripped through every available episode I could get my hands on. Breaking Bad is an incredibly well written dramatic series that creates viable characters worth caring about and story lines that are hard to not want to learn where they go.
It's so good, that despite seeing the first season, I still went and bought it from Amazon for the Blu-ray special features/extras.
Breaking Bad is written well enough to have netted Bryan Cranston three Emmy's for Lead Actor in a Drama Series, 3 Satellite Awards for Best Drama, 1 TCA award and numerous award nominations. It netted Aaron Paul Best Supporting Actor in the Saturn awards, and an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor.
Breaking Bad comes from the mind of Vince Gilligan, whose credits include the movie Hancock, and the TV series' The X-Files.
Imagine if you will, this chemistry teacher whose been screwed over by past business partners, finds himself sick enough to consider this life of crime, and while his product slowly generates the attention of customers and distributors, well, don't forget that his brother-in-law is a DEA agent. Yea... no stress there. And I'm talking about the viewer!
All the characters are incredibly fused with a believable amount of depth that's introduced in wonderfully organic steps. Each of them, at one time or another are put through impossible and life-changing events. And it's all done in a believable fashion.
Walter White (Cranston) is fun, because he's 90% 'beaten by life,' 5% 'does what he has to' for his family, and there's this 5% streak of ass-kicker that is awesome to see step up.
Jesse Pinkman (Paul) is an incredibly annoying and lovable meth head who knows better, is smart enough to know better, but can't seem to get away from leaning on his addictive habits. He likes referring to his friends and peers as 'Yo,' 'bitches,' and also shows an obscure level of respect to 'Mr. White.'
A great quote from one episode, from Jesse, who can't seem to kill a fly: "Yo, that fly's got skills." In reference to its ability to evade his untrained swatter hands.
And despite how annoyed these two are with each other, there's an incredible sense of loyalty between the two... even if it's from a distance.
The sad news is that with 4 seasons in the books, the 5th and final season will go into production starting in March of this year (2012). It seems sad but if they stick to this 5th season being its final season, it's good to see they don't out-stay their welcome and wear the story line too thin. And I can't wait to see how this gets wrapped up, because there are some interesting and inevitable directions the story line can go.
But then time and time again, the writing is surprised me. And I'm looking forward to what ever it is they come up with. Oh, and this show introduced me to what can only be called wonderful cinematography by Michael Slovis (CSI, Fringe, & 30 Rock), as he makes the landscape of Albuquerque, New Mexico look incredible. If you can imagine that.
In case you didn't catch it, Breaking Bad is a Cinema Static recommended watching title. In fact, it's made most other television programming just tolerable. Gads, I hate when that happens.
And I'm not one bit surprised.
Season 1 still of Bryan Cranston in Breaking Bad
Breaking Bad stars Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, RJ Mitte, & Anna Gunn in a series about a high school chemistry teacher who learns he has terminal cancer, and turns to making and selling meth as a means to leave something behind for his family to survive financially, once he's passed.
At least that was the plan. Of course, Mr. Perfection himself, Walter White (Cranston), ends up creating the most perfect crystal meth ever seen. Which in and of itself, is the problem.
Aaron Paul in Breaking Bad
If you are like I was, my premise was, so what and who cares about a story about a meth dealer. Despite peers who have seen it, telling me how awesome the show is. Because you know, we all have different scales of what's good and not, I didn't give some of my peers credence enough. And that splash promo image from the first season just didn't pull me in. (Though later, makes perfect sense!) Shame on me. Then I noticed that my brother-in-law's Netflix had Breaking Bad on the service, so I checked out the first episode.
After the first few episodes, I was hooked and ripped through every available episode I could get my hands on. Breaking Bad is an incredibly well written dramatic series that creates viable characters worth caring about and story lines that are hard to not want to learn where they go.
It's so good, that despite seeing the first season, I still went and bought it from Amazon for the Blu-ray special features/extras.
Breaking Bad is written well enough to have netted Bryan Cranston three Emmy's for Lead Actor in a Drama Series, 3 Satellite Awards for Best Drama, 1 TCA award and numerous award nominations. It netted Aaron Paul Best Supporting Actor in the Saturn awards, and an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor.
Breaking Bad comes from the mind of Vince Gilligan, whose credits include the movie Hancock, and the TV series' The X-Files.
Dean Norris as the Brother-in-Law in Breaking Bad
Imagine if you will, this chemistry teacher whose been screwed over by past business partners, finds himself sick enough to consider this life of crime, and while his product slowly generates the attention of customers and distributors, well, don't forget that his brother-in-law is a DEA agent. Yea... no stress there. And I'm talking about the viewer!
All the characters are incredibly fused with a believable amount of depth that's introduced in wonderfully organic steps. Each of them, at one time or another are put through impossible and life-changing events. And it's all done in a believable fashion.
Anna Gunn as Mrs. Skylar White in Breaking Bad
Walter White (Cranston) is fun, because he's 90% 'beaten by life,' 5% 'does what he has to' for his family, and there's this 5% streak of ass-kicker that is awesome to see step up.
Jesse Pinkman (Paul) is an incredibly annoying and lovable meth head who knows better, is smart enough to know better, but can't seem to get away from leaning on his addictive habits. He likes referring to his friends and peers as 'Yo,' 'bitches,' and also shows an obscure level of respect to 'Mr. White.'
A great quote from one episode, from Jesse, who can't seem to kill a fly: "Yo, that fly's got skills." In reference to its ability to evade his untrained swatter hands.
And despite how annoyed these two are with each other, there's an incredible sense of loyalty between the two... even if it's from a distance.
Breaking Bad, season 4 cover art
The sad news is that with 4 seasons in the books, the 5th and final season will go into production starting in March of this year (2012). It seems sad but if they stick to this 5th season being its final season, it's good to see they don't out-stay their welcome and wear the story line too thin. And I can't wait to see how this gets wrapped up, because there are some interesting and inevitable directions the story line can go.
But then time and time again, the writing is surprised me. And I'm looking forward to what ever it is they come up with. Oh, and this show introduced me to what can only be called wonderful cinematography by Michael Slovis (CSI, Fringe, & 30 Rock), as he makes the landscape of Albuquerque, New Mexico look incredible. If you can imagine that.
In case you didn't catch it, Breaking Bad is a Cinema Static recommended watching title. In fact, it's made most other television programming just tolerable. Gads, I hate when that happens.
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