Breaking Bad: Television Rarely Gets THIS Good.

So, I don't like to be referred to as a "television junkie." I think somebody who is a television junkie is somebody who likes ALOT of crap. It's like that commercial where the dude reached the end of the internet. What fucked up shit did that guy sift through?

So I am not "television junkie," rather I am television snob. Out of all my interests, TV is the one thing I truly feel I am a holier-than-thou-up-your-own-ass-stuck-up snob. With all of my other interests I have a generally open attitude. I can enjoy a can of Key Light as easily as I can enjoy a delicious double IPA. I like my art movies, but not above an awesome action movie or silly comedy. I'll see BB King (affordability pending, hint hint Mr. King) and have just as good of a time as I would moshing to In Flames.

Not with TV. Oh sure, I used to be hooked on junk, but when it comes to my television, I demand a little bit more. Don't get me wrong, I'll watch silly cartoons and Cops, but I barely enjoy them, they're just on for noise anymore, or yucks if the Cops episode is particularly entertaining. For me to enjoy a television show, to truly be sucked in, I demand a higher standard.

It's not easy to please me with television. If you're not the Wire, than you should be reaching for it. Sorry Entourage, Sorry Heroes, Sorry 24, but if you want me to savor your flavor, don't insult my intelligence, don't lead me down a road with plot holes and questionable shark jumping, and for christ sake, be funny! Looking at you Entourage, get to work.

Which brings me to the inspiration behind this rant, the most recent episode of Breaking Bad.



If you don't know about it, you're truly denying yourself the best that television has to offer right now. That's right, it's not Lost, it's not House, it's not Idol, my friend Breaking Bad is best thing on television right now.

Russell was very astute in describing this show, watching somebody's nightmare. He could not be more correct. The most recent episode left chills with me that I haven't felt since Rear Window, chills that I won't be able to shake for quite a while. I was able to be scared again, be afraid again. The storytelling in Breaking Bad is so patient, yet so fearless.

The premise is that Walter (Bryan Cranston, a name you will hear again come awards time, I promise you) is a very smart chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with cancer and is going to die soon. So he partners up with one of his old students, and begins making and selling meth.

It's a pretty gutsy premise for any network not having the letters "H," "B," or "O," but I suppose after FX treated us with some good old fashioned raunch with shows like Nip/Tuck, a cable network carrying it is not out of the question. Enter AMC. A network who hit out of the ball park with Mad Men, has a real ace in the hole with Breaking Bad, and since they've already renewed for it's third season, AMC has proven to be a network that not only values television quality, but seeks to redefine it. Look out HBO, you don't have The Wire or the Sopranos to cover your ass any more.

I can not stress this enough, all television can be this good. It doesn't have to be Tila Tequila or a 17th incarnation of Law and Order in order to relevant. It doesn't have to be able to show boobs in order to be edgy. Original, groundbreaking television can exist anywhere, whether it's on network*, cable, or premium. So get cracking you purveyors of televised entertainment.



* - Don't believe me? Do yourself a favor and pick up the first season of Friday Night Lights, than kick yourself for not watching it because you though it was going to be a silly, network OC. Yes, a show that good actually exists on a major network!



Today's Command Image: Uncle Sam Command!