Breaking Bad

[ranchlandsselling]

I'm not sure where it ranks for me.

Breaking Bad
Shield (I forget about this one all the time)
Battlestar
Lost (it was dumb at times, but the characters became like people you knew)
West Wing

I don't get the Wire... I watched it as it always felt like it was about to peak or become climactic but it never did. Which I don't get. Each season kind of ended. I never grew attached to a single character.

Ah well

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Bertuzzied

^ummm thats kinda sad.

Takes being a nerd to an all new level.

[MikePatton]

Not sure if its been mentioned but Vince Gilligan said in the insider podcast that he thinks that Ozymandias is the best episode of breaking bad. Also mentioned that the flashback scene was shot on the last day of shooting. So it was probably 1000x as nostalgic for the cast as it was for us.

[MikePatton]

Originally Posted by ranchlandsselling

I don't get the Wire... I watched it as it always felt like it was about to peak or become climactic but it never did. Which I don't get. Each season kind of ended. I never grew attached to a single character.

The Wire is not for everyone. With the amount of love it gets on the Internet you would think it's impossible to dislike but it's such a unique viewing experience. You just never know.

Anywho... Breaking Bad, bitch!

[trackercowe]

I think The Wire is the best television show ever, while Breaking Bad just might be the most entertaining show ever (if the finale ends on a high note).

After that there is The Sopranos, The X-Files, and Lost. Probably my top five dramas right there. I liked Band of Brothers as a mini-series, but there are plenty of better war movies out there. Not sure the same can be said about The Wire or Breaking Bad.

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by trackercowe

I think The Wire is the best television show ever, while Breaking Bad just might be the most entertaining show ever (if the finale ends on a high note).

After that there is The Sopranos, The X-Files, and Lost. Probably my top five dramas right there. I liked Band of Brothers as a mini-series, but there are plenty of better war movies out there. Not sure the same can be said about The Wire or Breaking Bad.

The Wire isn't HD. All of Breaking Bad is! Winner to the 720p.

[Erick Estrada]

Breaking Bad isn't a show for everyone (lots of people don't like it) so I have a hard time accepting it as best show ever.

[Mathalete]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Breaking Bad isn't a show for everyone (lots of people don't like it) so I have a hard time accepting it as best show ever.

That could be said about every show, though.

[Table 5]

Personally, I think the best tv show ever is Seinfeld. I know that people aways think a show has to be serious or filled with drama to be good, but writing smart, layered, comedy for a decade is incredibly hard.

And it has the best casting of all time. Never mind the leads, the list of amazing characters on that show is staggering. Newman, Puddy, Bania, the Costanza and Seinfeld parents, J. Peterman, Steinbrenner, Uncle Leo, Mickey, Whatley (!), Jackie Chiles, Bookman etc etc etc.....they are all just amazingly cast actors and they are all classics in their own right.

Breaking Bad is fantastic. But I've seen every Seinfeld episode at least 20 times, and Im happy to keep watching them whenever one comes on the show. I know what's going to happen, and yet I still want to watch.

[dirk diggler]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Personally, I think the best tv show ever is Seinfeld. I know that people aways think a show has to be serious or filled with drama to be good, but writing smart, layered, comedy for a decade is incredibly hard.

And it has the best casting of all time. Never mind the leads, the list of amazing characters on that show is staggering. Newman, Puddy, Bania, the Costanza and Seinfeld parents, J. Peterman, Steinbrenner, Uncle Leo, Mickey, Whatley (!), Jackie Chiles, Bookman etc etc etc.....they are all just amazingly cast actors and they are all classics in their own right.

Breaking Bad is fantastic. But I've seen every Seinfeld episode at least 20 times, and Im happy to keep watching them whenever one comes on the show. I know what's going to happen, and yet I still want to watch.

Even look at how many cast members from Breaking Bad were on Seinfeld as well...... Walt, Saul, Skylar just to name a few.....

[Mathalete]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Personally, I think the best tv show ever is Seinfeld. I know that people aways think a show has to be serious or filled with drama to be good, but writing smart, layered, comedy for a decade is incredibly hard.

And it has the best casting of all time. Never mind the leads, the list of amazing characters on that show is staggering. Newman, Puddy, Bania, the Costanza and Seinfeld parents, J. Peterman, Steinbrenner, Uncle Leo, Mickey, Whatley (!), Jackie Chiles, Bookman etc etc etc.....they are all just amazingly cast actors and they are all classics in their own right.

Breaking Bad is fantastic. But I've seen every Seinfeld episode at least 20 times, and Im happy to keep watching them whenever one comes on the show. I know what's going to happen, and yet I still want to watch.

I agree - Seinfeld is my favourite as well. Still entertaining 15 years after it has gone off the air.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Mathalete

That could be said about every show, though.

Well not exactly. The ratings for Breaking Bad have been pretty mediocre over the years. This last season has obviously done very well but past seasons it's been pretty burried by lesser fare. Heck even a new show that caters to a smaller demographic like American Horror Story brings in higher average ratings (not counting these last few episodes of BB).

I think what you have is that the people that watch the show absolutely love it but the majority of watchers have found it too hard to get into. I find it hard to call a show that a vast majority couldn't get into the greatest of all time as the truth is the show is an acquired taste.

Seinfeld is unquestionably the greatest show ever not only because it was brilliant but because it was universally loved. Also it's aged very well as it's still watchable today which you can't say about the majority of programs that are over a decade old.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Well not exactly. The ratings for Breaking Bad have been pretty mediocre over the years. This last season has obviously done very well but past seasons it's been pretty burried by lesser fare. Heck even a new show that caters to a smaller demographic like American Horror Story brings in higher average ratings (not counting these last few episodes of BB).

I think what you have is that the people that watch the show absolutely love it but the majority of watchers have found it too hard to get into. I find it hard to call a show that a vast majority couldn't get into the greatest of all time as the truth is the show is an acquired taste.

Seinfeld is unquestionably the greatest show ever not only because it was brilliant but because it was universally loved. Also it's aged very well as it's still watchable today which you can't say about the majority of programs that are over a decade old.

Ratings have nothing to do with how good a show is...nothing. Ratings have to do with how accessible a show is. Procedural Dramas (where a case is solved in an hour) get high ratings because they require zero commitment from their audience. Miss an episode...who cares. They also require zero engagement from their audience, they are passive.

Shows like Breaking Bad, The Wire, Mad Men and the Sopranos require their viewers to actually engage the material. What's so amazing about the Sopranos is that it worked on two levels, it was totally accessible by people who just wanted to sit back and enjoy and it was able to be dissected by more hardcore fans.

Duck Dynasty gets like 11 million viewers and I dont' think it makes it GOAT.

[Red]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Ratings have nothing to do with how good a show is...nothing. Ratings have to do with how accessible a show is. Procedural Dramas (where a case is solved in an hour) get high ratings because they require zero commitment from their audience. Miss an episode...who cares. They also require zero engagement from their audience, they are passive.

Shows like Breaking Bad, The Wire, Mad Men and the Sopranos require their viewers to actually engage the material. What's so amazing about the Sopranos is that it worked on two levels, it was totally accessible by people who just wanted to sit back and enjoy and it was able to be dissected by more hardcore fans.

Duck Dynasty gets like 11 million viewers and I dont' think it makes it GOAT.

Ratings show how popular it is. For whatever reason that may be.

BB is good, but it has had its really slow moments. I myself was ready to give up after season 2.

The show is huge right now because it's about to end. Lots of hype. Is it the best ever? Let's see how people talk about it 5 years from now.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by trackercowe

I think The Wire is the best television show ever, while Breaking Bad just might be the most entertaining show ever (if the finale ends on a high note).

After that there is The Sopranos, The X-Files, and Lost. Probably my top five dramas right there. I liked Band of Brothers as a mini-series, but there are plenty of better war movies out there. Not sure the same can be said about The Wire or Breaking Bad.

Personally, Breaking Bad is my favourite, but in the past, I wasn't much of a TV guy. I never watched The Sorpranos or The Wire. I had the DVDs for the 1st season of The Wire and only watched a few episodes. I had trouble getting into it. My wife already saw them all though, and I can't stand watching shows alone.

Lost was a weird one for me. I watched the whole series and was addicted like a lot of people, but critically speaking, I really don't think it was a great show after the 1st couple of seasons. There was so much fluff that it could have easily been condensed. The ending also underwhelmed. It was exactly like what many people predicted it would be after the 1st season in spite of the creators denying that it would be that.

I'm currently at various stages of watching:

Breaking Bad,
Sons of Anarchy,
Walking Dead,
Boardwalk Empire,
Game of Thrones,
Dexter, and
True Blood

I would rank those in that order from favourite to least favourite (but I like them all). Granted, besides Breaking Bad, I am at least a season behind on all the others.

[Mathalete]

Originally Posted by Red

Ratings show how popular it is. For whatever reason that may be.

BB is good, but it has had its really slow moments. I myself was ready to give up after season 2.

The show is huge right now because it's about to end. Lots of hype. Is it the best ever? Let's see how people talk about it 5 years from now.

I haven't found Breaking Bad to be slow, but it's all subjective - as is the discussion of Breaking Bad's legacy.

The show does seem to alienate some fraction of the population. However, as corporatejay pointed out, there is a level of engagement that is very high along with the other shows he listed.

I think giving it 5 years is a great point. For me, it has surpassed Six Feet Under as my favourite dramatic series (with Seinfeld still the runaway winner as my favourite tv show).

I don't think the show is only garnering attention because it's ending. I would be just as amped over the past few episodes if there was another season next year. What impresses me the most about the show is how the quality of the show increases every season. Six Feet Under was an amazing show, but the third and fourth seasons sagged in quality in my opinion. Breaking Bad has been building a story from the very first episode, and unlike Dexter that has a somewhat anti-climatic storyline in the final season, the last batch of BB episodes have focused on ideas that have been simmering for just about the entire series.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Red

Ratings show how popular it is. For whatever reason that may be.

BB is good, but it has had its really slow moments. I myself was ready to give up after season 2.

The show is huge right now because it's about to end. Lots of hype. Is it the best ever? Let's see how people talk about it 5 years from now.

Actually ratings matter. If only a small minority of the poplulation claim something is the best that the vast majority of people dislike it's hard to accept that claim as valid. I akin BB popularity as more of a cult thing. Small group that is highly devoted to it. All of us that follow it know it's a very high quality show and I have tried many, many times to get siblings and friends to check it out but most of them can't get into it. I just have a hard time saying it's the best when it's only me that see's the beauty in it because as much as I wish everyone loved what I love accessibility matters if you proclaim something as the best.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Actually ratings matter. If only a small minority of the poplulation claim something is the best that the vast majority of people dislike it's hard to accept that claim as valid. I akin BB popularity as more of a cult thing. Small group that is highly devoted to it. All of us that follow it know it's a very high quality show and I have tried many, many times to get siblings and friends to check it out but most of them can't get into it. I just have a hard time saying it's the best when it's only me that see's the beauty in it because as much as I wish everyone loved what I love accessibility matters if you proclaim something as the best.

Disagree. A TV show that gets good ratings has less to do with how good it is and more to do with how it least offends people.

Would you say the same thing about Top 40 music?

Twilight is probably the most popular book series of the last decade, is it the best? What about 50 shades of Grey? Dan Brown?

[polak]

If ratings had anything to do with quality of content than Big Bang Theory, Hunny Boo Boo (or whatever) and Keeping up with the Kardashians would be some of the greatest shows of all time. Rating have absolutely nothing to do with it as you cannot compare shows like Breaking Bad, which require a high level of commitment from viewers to shows like Big Bang Theory which are 22 minutes long, have very little to no character arcs and tell you when to freaking laugh.

Since we're all listing our favorite shows, here are mine:

1. Breaking Bad
2. Community (although season 4 is a huge blemish on an otherwise perfect record)
3. Entourage
4. Californication

My list might look crappy but I don't watch much TV and I rarely find serious shows to be satisfying because of most of them never close of their arcs or they don't develop characters enough. Honestly Breaking Bad and Californication are the only dramas I have been able to stay committed to.

If Californication could ever break their repetitive story that seems to repeat every season it'd be far and away my favorite show ever. It's got everything. Well written dialogue, it pulls off comedy and drama perfectly, it develops it characters well and has a great cast. Unfortunately it just seems to always revert back to the same basic story. Hank has a new project, struggles, finds a new love interest, pisses off his daughter, figures it out, rinse repeat. Although with in that basic premise there are some amazing smaller stories and great episodes.

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Personally, I think the best tv show ever is Seinfeld. I know that people aways think a show has to be serious or filled with drama to be good, but writing smart, layered, comedy for a decade is incredibly hard.

And it has the best casting of all time. Never mind the leads, the list of amazing characters on that show is staggering. Newman, Puddy, Bania, the Costanza and Seinfeld parents, J. Peterman, Steinbrenner, Uncle Leo, Mickey, Whatley (!), Jackie Chiles, Bookman etc etc etc.....they are all just amazingly cast actors and they are all classics in their own right.

Breaking Bad is fantastic. But I've seen every Seinfeld episode at least 20 times, and Im happy to keep watching them whenever one comes on the show. I know what's going to happen, and yet I still want to watch.

My wife doesn't like Seinfeld. Seinfeld therefore cannot be the best tv show ever.