As is often the case when a show becomes unassailably good, a lot of critics are doing just that of late: Assailing the quality of Breaking Bad. It’s part of the culture we live in, and I totally understand it. It’s the job of television critics, bloggers, and feature writers to deconstruct television shows, pick them apart at the seams, and often split them open in order to reveal their flaws. I know that Alan Sepinwall, for instance, is on some sort of crusade against the eight-episode mini-seasons, arguing that it’s forced Vince Gilligan to move the narrative too quickly. Matt Zoller Seitz over on Vulture is tore apart the “Dead Freight,” arguing that it was an wholly implausible episode.
I get that, in part because I also like to deconstruct episodes, although I am inclined to give more leeway to Vince Gilligan to account for the dramatic liberties one needs to take because THIS IS TELEVISION and not real life, so I’m not expecting everything to be completely plausible or paced along with the same glacial rhythm as reality.
That said, while I can deal with the nitpicks, I absolutely positively draw the line at some guy writing a manifesto on all the many ways in which Breaking Bad is completely “overrated.” That’s precisely what Jim Salant — himself a former meth addict — did a few weeks ago over on GQ, arguing that Breaking Bad is the most overrated show since Mad Men and that it is “too flawed to enter the small pantheon of television that qualifies as art.”
Uh. Bullsh*t.
I won’t go into all of Salant’s arguments for why Breaking Bad is such an overrated show (you can read the entire piece here), except to say that Salant takes issue with Gilligan’s fast-forward techniques, thinks Breaking Bad is rife with cliches, finds Walter’s character development unbelievable and contrived, and basically calls out the show for not being original enough.
The issue I have with anyone calling Breaking Bad “overrated” (and Salant also calls Mad Men overrated) is this: If Vince Gilligan’s show is overrated, then what isn’t? To be clear, Salant doesn’t call Breaking Bad a bad show, he’s just calling it overpraised, but that’s a very cynical and troubling perspective. It also illustrates my problem with the word “overrated”: If a show is great, shouldn’t we all be praising it, especially a show that — at its height — only reaches 3 million viewers. Is Salant suggesting that collectively, the Internet should get together and decide upon a predetermined level of praise to give it that’s commensurate with his perception of the show’s quality? How do we temper our enthusiasm for a brilliant, compelling, dark, and complex show so that it doesn’t reach into his subjective sense for what is overpraised?
“Overrated” is a mean-spirited troll’s word, a useless term that only serves to denigrate a person’s enthusiasm. That word should never be applied to a show like Breaking Bad because no one should ever be made to feel ashamed for loving the most breathtaking show on television as much as we do, especially on the basis of a few perceived flaws that are as contrived as Salant believes Walter White’s actions are. You know what? F**k that guy, and f**k anyone that suggests to you that your love and dedication to one of the best — if not the best — show on television should be more restrained because he happens to have a problem with Gilligan’s use of flash forwards. Haters gonna hate, critics gonna nitpick, and douches are always going to find a way to piss in your Cheerios.
Screw ‘em all. If anything, Breaking Bad and Vince Gilligan aren’t lauded enough for creating the most compelling hour of television very single week it’s on the air.
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Until I can think of a one reason not to trust the opinion of a guy who thought that doing meth was a great idea, I’m going to have to agree with him.
To say nothing of thinking that writing for GQ is a great idea.
How can you call a show, that HASN’T won the Emmy for Best Drama Overrated? It would be one thing if it won the past 3 seasons it was nominated……actually no it wouldn’t be one thing…..fuck this meth nerd.
This is a bigger indictment against the Emmys than it is against Breaking Bad.
I have a problem with people taking offense when things they like are called overrated. Everything is overrated by the people who love it and underrated by the people that dislike it. I like Breaking Bad, it’s one of my favorite shows on TV right now, but it is, in fact overrated. I know multiple people who describe it as the best show ever, and that makes it overrated to me, because there are other shows I have loved and enjoyed more than Breaking Bad.
You, yourself, even suggest that it is the best show on television. Taste is subjective, so by simply making that claim, you are overrating the show. There is always going to be somebody that disagrees.
“Everything is overrated by the people who love it and underrated by the people that dislike it.”
This is only true if you believe there is a true score somewhere in the middle. But like you said, taste is subjective, so there’s really no way to observe that true score, if it even exists in the first place.
He’s overrating it based only on your opinion or the opinion of others who feel the same as you. If he believes it is the best show on television and calls it that, then he isn’t overrating it for himself or similarly-minded people. There is no true metric for this topic that makes anyone right or wrong.
This is why this whole discussion is pointless for any reason other than simply having the discussion.
I think that was the point I was trying to make.
Fair enough.
Read that a while back, was hoping it would get ignored. It was the writer’s first post for GQ. For the most part critics are stupid though
Yea Dustin why would you even bring to light an article written three weeks ago by someone who isn’t even a critic. His original assignment was to describe how realistic the show portrays the meth trade because he himself was a meth addict. Why even give the guy his due. It’s your typical takedown piece that is inevitable when a show becomes this acclaimed.
Somebody has an opinion I disagree with! Let’s write a post shitting on them. I’ve seen two seasons of BB, and I don’t really feel the need to watch the others because the show never really clicked for me. Why don’t you ask me if I’m just doing this for the attention?
One could argue that all anonymous posting on the internet exists solely for the attention.
NOW LAVISH ME WITH +1s!!!
Fair enough. My name is Christopher Daniel crocker Boulding, I am just about to enter grade 12 at south delta secondary school, I live in a single parent household in tsawwassen, British Columbia, Canada. I work at the local grocery store four nights a week so if you would like to get to know me as a human being, you could try there. I used to post here quite regularly, but ever since this site stopped appreciating other opinions, I rarely check back.
Oh, and I don’t give a fuck about +1s
+1
It’s fine if you don’t like a show; I didn’t like Lost and have never seen an episode of The Wire (although I do want to watch it). If that GQ guy just wrote an article on why he doesn’t think Breaking Bad is as good as everyone else does, that would be one thing, but since there is no universally-agreed-upon way to rate television shows, that guy is implying that everyone who likes Breaking Bad is being duped, and his “rating” of the show is a lot more valid than anyone else. I guess you can say that a show that wins an Emmy is overrated if you don’t think it’s the best show on TV, but other than that you’re just making a whole lot of assumptions.
Thanks for the information SMoC, now I’m going to steal all your healthcare and sell it on the black market.
JJJS: but is it not a little overboard to call him “a titanic douche-nozzle”?
Trolls gonna troll.
BRING BACK MATT!
I guess we all get angry about something stupid every once and a while.
If heaping an inordinate amount of praise on Breaking Bad is wrong, then I dont wanna be right.
I like how because this dude was a meth addict it gives him some kind of special insight to realistic meth cartels. I am willing to bet if I found a current meth addict and sat them down to watch this show they wouldn’t be diagramming what is so unrealistic about the show like John Madden with a teleprompter. I’m kinda addicted to chewing tobacco, but that doesn’t mean I am an expert on the tobacco industry.
“If Vince Gilligan’s show is overrated, then what isn’t?”
Uh, many shows that don’t constitute half of the posts on this site? And, yes, by that I’m referring to Here Comes Honey Boo Boo
Breaking Bad falls into the same category as The Wire for me.
Shows I haven’t seen but probably should since white people seem to enjoy them a great deal.
That’s right. I mean, when have white people ever lied to you?
You know what’s REALLY overrated? The Beatles.
Oooh don’t cut yourself on that edgy opinion there!
You had a good reason
For takin’ the easy way out
The Rolling Stones, imo
Of course he calls Breaking Bad overrated now that it is finally getting the recognition that it deserves. Lets not forget that it has taken five years for this to happen…
On another note: Help this starving Chemistry student by buying an awesome BrBa/Coca-Cola mashup T shirt:
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Thanks!
TL;DR
But I draw the line when people say Breaking Bad is better than The Wire.
The Wire was great, and was easily my favorite series ever, until we reached season 4 of Breaking Bad. Maybe it’s the pretty colors Vince uses in his shots. Maybe it’s Skylar’s huge tits. Maybe it’s Walt Jr.’s sweet new ride.
Whatever it is, BB > The Wire.
People tear things down to make themselves look better. Like that twit that had to deconstruct the chase scene in “The Dark Knight” – you could almost hear him flipping through his “Movie Making 101″ handbook. This is the sort of impotent criticism I hate the most, as if movies, books and TV shows should be written according to laws of story structure – measured and weighed to exacting proportions. In art, I think you should be given some leeway. I read “On Moral Fiction” too (Gardner is one of my favorite authors and “Grendel” one of my all-time favorite books), but that doesn’t mean I have to take it as gospel and pat myself on the back for reading it. I’ll save the back-patting for things like…oh, maybe not ever doing meth?
Is “Breaking Bad” overrated? To some people, almost certainly. Doesn’t make it a fact any more than it is the best show in the history of everything (sorry, Dustin).
All I know is I enjoy the hell out of it, and for a show that is claimed to not have an arc set in place, I marvel at how well the writers get themselves out of corners they’ve painted themselves into. If only “Lost” could have done that…
I dunno if I would say this is the greatest TV show (I felt more connected to the characters on Lost, and I think Luther is a more powerful show). I’m not gonna say it’s terrible television by any means. But it does have its issues; pacing being the biggest one. The show moves so incredibly slowly through the first two seasons, there were some episodes where I wondered if anything happened at all.
here’s the thing. writers are entertainers too. the more people that read them, the more money they stand to make. if you are a good writer, or a good debater, then you can take any position and make it plausible while picking the other side apart. whether you believe it or not.
Also, yall should probably wait to give anything GOAT status until it’s actually over.
What happens if the last 8 episodes are nothing but skylar? ew.
of course not. the most over rated show is Mad Men.
Oh look, it’s the weekly Breaking Bad article where Dustin bitches about a show that only has another 8 episodes before the series finale.
Hopefully, these articles will end with it.
I suggest we all read a book this weekend.
let’s also remember that while perception and enjoyment are subjective, there is also a matter of QUALITY. Saying Breaking Bad is the best show ever may be a little over the top in it’s personal bias (I say this while simultaneously agreeing with that statement), I think it would be naive to simply dismiss the argument and analysis by saying “it’s all subjective”. The performances by everyone in this show are PHENOMENAL and I don’t think anyone would even try to dispute it. The writing, which so many people fail to even recognize when it comes to TV, is spectacular in its ability to transport us, week in and week out, to a fully realized and exceptionally fleshed out microcosm that takes us on a roller coaster of bravura storytelling. As far as the pacing goes, I think Vince Gilligan has captured the slow burn of Walt’s transformation so well, that every look, every word, no matter how it is delivered, keeps me on the edge of my seat. Looking at all the forethought and inside inferences and foreshadowing that go in to this show ([www.uproxx.com]), it would be downright stupid to dismiss this show as anything but outstanding.
Yeah, yeah, it’s all subjective and that’s YOUR opinion, blah blah. Jersey Shore is the Best show EVA!!!!
What about all of the shitty/annoying characters?
I agree completely with the GQ Critic, and would go a little further too. The first three seasons of the show were painfully drawn out for no reason at all – The first two especially, ONE thing might happen in the entire 47 minute episode, and it’d be at most, a 15 minute scene – So everything else was faux-dramatically paced and amounted to nothing. Walt has been developed to be a do-what-it-takes-while-sometimes-making-weird-decisions-and-sometimes-we’re-reminded-he-survived-cancer guy. He drives the main plot, but everything other than cooking/protecting the meth is usually filler that doesn’t add to his character or improve the story in any way.
Jesse has been a boggling character altogether. He’s got millions, has friends still? Maybe? Had a girlfriend with a kid he loved, a big house in an okay neighbourhood, and mostly anything a standard American male could want out of life. Why does he keep cooking? He’s been injured, or put into positions that he’s nearly died multiple times for….why? He has everything he needs. He provides relief, but his actions haven’t made sense since season 4. Jesse could stop any time and not too much would be affected business-wise, though Walt might need a second hand to help set up the lab in each house is all.
Hank drives the side-story, but increasingly became the most irritating male character in the show during the 3rd and 4th season. He’s an asshole, he’s angry, he hates his wife, he uses people, and I haven’t cared for his life at all, other than pushing the side-story with the DEA. Everything other than the DEA part of his life is just an awful experience.
Especially the wives. Holy fuck. Can they just…not exist? All Walt’s wife has to do is help Walt raise their son, and run a 99%-legitimate business that is THRIVING, but she acts like the weight of the world is on her shoulders. Walt is also raising their son, and works damn near day and night to make sure he can produce as much meth to sell FOR HIS FAMILY WHEN HE DIES. That’s ten times as much weight as Skylar has. She needs to sit down, and SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP, run the business and get on with life. I get that she’ll be left with some problems when Walt dies, but she should recognize what he’s doing and maybe thank him once? Almost none of it has affected her directly, she just forces the drama, and I’m so sick of it. Though she’s not nearly as bad as…
…Hank’s wife. I tune her out so much I don’t even know her name. Hank seems to hate her, everyone else barely tolerates her existence in the room (TWO scenes I’ve enjoyed so far of Skylar were literally, and the other was metaphorically telling Hank’s wife to shut up), and she only has detracted from the story since day one. She doesn’t shut up, she rarely knows what she’s talking about, she’s dumb as a door-knob on top of all that, and she’s boring as hell. Her character can stop existing altogether and nothing would change.
Overall, the show is decent. Much like the GQ columnist said. It’s not bad, it’s just not as good as everyone says. The characters aren’t nearly as great as people think they are, and the story is driven painfully slow through most of the seasons. I keep watching it because each episode in season 5 feels like the next one is going to be good, and they are now – Because much is focused on Walt, Saul, and Mike.
Holy shit, then I recommend you don’t watch Mad Men then. Because if you think nothing happened in BB first two seasons, and your dislike for certain characters affects your enjoment of the show, than you will hate Mad Men.
I don’t watch Mad Men, and had no plans on doing so. Apparently you didn’t read what I said though, because I very specifically stated, ” The first three seasons of the show were painfully drawn out for no reason at all – The first two especially, ONE thing might happen in the entire 47 minute episode, and it’d be at most, a 15 minute scene”. I could accurately sum up what happened in each episode in one or two sentences from the first three seasons without missing anything. Even the Wikipages are scant, because not that much happens – That’s mostly because the character development doesn’t matter to the story that much, except for Walt/Jesse and the bad guys.
My dislike of certain characters is justified, and definitely affects my enjoyment. I’ve started fast-forwarding through parts that involve the wife, son, or Hank’s wife because there’s hardly any worthwhile happening to them, but luckily their scenes are often just amongst each other, and with Walt or Hank occasionally.
That’s because it’s not a procedural. It’s a highly serialized slow burn show much like Mad Men and The Wire. I was just stating that if you have issues with BB pacing and characters than don’t bother with Mad Men because the pacing on that show is zero. I understand your argument. Some people are fine with slow paced shows, some aren’t.
This kind of shit is expected Dustin. It happens everytime a show starts to get insane acclaim and recognition. Classic takedown piece. It happened with Mad Men, hell this guy took down the two most acclaimed shows in one article. It happened with GOT, Lost,etc. The thing for me is that obviously it’s subjective, but his arguments hold no weight. He refers to flashforwards as a sign of an unconfident writer. Why doesn’t he go tell Quentin Tarantino to rewrite Pulp Fiction the right way. This is a guy that all he has ever written was a memoir of how he was a meth addict and once shot meth into his dick. He’s not a critic, he was given the assignment to write about how realistic BB portrays meth addicts. Then he just decided to go further. To say that the evolution of Walt’s character is unrealistic holds no water because people react and evolve different than others. So now he’s a psychologist? He also refers to Justified as the best show on TV. And while I agree that it’s one of the best shows on TV, it is pretty obvious that this guy has a distaste for very buzzworthy and highly acclaimed shows. Justified is well recieved by critics, but it doesn’t have the acclaim or buzz of MM, BB, GOT, etc. Also, while Justified is a very entertaining show, it doesn’t have the emotional depth of the other three for my taste. I do agree though that Mad Men is overrated. It’s a great show, but if there is any show that is overrated right now, it’s Mad Men. There is no way it deserves to have a record 5 emmy’s for best drama series, but it looks like that’s going to be the case.
This is DUMB. Instead of listing why Breaking Bad does deserve the constant praise it gets, you just bitch and whine. That guy actually gave evidence as to why BB is overrated. And you know what? He was right. And you know what? BREAKING BAD IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE SHOWS. Haters gonna hate? Well idiots are always going to assume that just because they like something good, it must be GREAT. It’s not.
BB has flaws. It is not bad. It is good. It is enjoyable. People should watch it. But when people like you run around saying it is “the most breathtaking show on television”, the intelligent fans will go ‘no. no, its not. obviously. have you been doing meth? is it the only show you have ever seen?’
You’re confusing liking something with it being good. you shouldn’t be ashamed for liking Breaking Bad, hell be proud (it’s not jersey shore), but dont go around saying it is “one of the best — if not the best — show on television”. That is DUMB, I can’t stress that enough. To say something is ‘the best’ it must be backed up with facts, logic, evidence… Not feelings. DUH.
-_-
That’s exactly what I wanted to say. I’d rather someone give me examples why they feel something, rather than trash someone because they have an opinion. Whether it’s because he used to be a meth addict or he just rights for GQ. I mean, what the fuck is so special about this site. Everybody knows what GQ is.
FYI… Breaking Bad has debatably the most annoying main character in TV show history…Jesse! Outside of Walt, Mike, and the lawyer. I could care less about any of the characters. It also gets old hearing about how he’s gonna quit selling everytime shit goes wrong.
I do feel that everytime a new drama gets popular people start throwing out the “greatest show ever” talk