Who can’t stand Breaking Bad?

OH got the 1st and 2nd series recently. Initially I was interested, but after the first few episodes I couldn’t stand the characters, they made me cringe, they were all horrible! I can’t stand to watch it now, I just find everyone in it repulsive. OH says that the writer intended it that way, but still….

I realise I’m in the minority here and people do love it, but I just can’t stand it!

Don’t mind Breaking Bad, I’ve only seen season 1 though.

I did hate Gavin and Stacey. Julia Davis’s character and her husband were good, but most of the rest were annoying. Stacey was just horrible, a manipulative, lying, guilt-tripping pain in the backside who led the poor sap Gavin on a merry dance with him travelling across the country to see her whenever she threw another strop.

I think the fact that the characters are multidimensional makes it more interesting. Far more like real life.
Two of my favourite series’ are Breaking Bad and The Wire. In both the good guys are not all they’re cracked up to be – and the “bad” guys have human, likeable qualities too.

I have to say that I found no grounds on which to sypathise with the characters in BB. Unlike a show like Mad Men, which explores in much more varied terms, the complexity of human beings, I find BB wholly unsatisfying. Good quality; just unsatisfying.

Not seen it. Is it good?

seasons 1 and 2 were ok, but it’s season 3 that it it really took off IMO. the characters had developed a bit, they all had back stories that you knew about and the story started playing on those interactions. still completely horrible characters though – like the sopranos, unlikable people in a well told story

I watched BB to the bitter end, it was good tv but not Wire or Sopranos good. I just didn’t like any of the BB characters, which makes it a bit difficult to get properly engaged.

Watched series 1, it was ok. I’m not a big fan of Bryan Cranston though, so haven’t bothered with any more.

I lost interest midway through series 2. I found the the plot dull and Walters family started to become more annoying.

I’ve started watching it again after the news of the final episode and season 3 is great.

I’ll reserve judgement until I have seen it all, but IMO the wire still reigns supreme as the best TV drama.

At the moment, I’d still rank The Sopranos, Mad Men, Spiral and The Killing above BB.

I am struggling with BB, the Wire got me hook line and sinker in the first 5 minutes. Ray Donovan could go either way at the moment.

Never watched it. Don’t really wanna watch it in case I like it and end up wanting to watch the whole thing.

I got 5 episodes into series 1 and found little to make me want to watch a sixth episode. In answer to your OP, you’re not the only person.

Sticking with Coronation St, me. 🙂

I think that is what is great about Breaking Bad, it keeps playing with you, just as you start to feel any empathy for Walter White, he does something else despicable and then they slowly start to build up your empathy for him again with is illness or that he is trying to do right by his family, only for him to do something even worse.

With Jessie, he is the kind of person intentionally that you should hate, a loser and drug dealer who gets his mates killed, yet you feel for him due to the fact that underneath it he has a good heart and gets sucked in deeper and deeper by Walter.

That’s why i loved it and think that it is really clever, at times you like the people you think you hate and visa versa.

I think that it really does get really good in Season 3 especially the ending..

I’d still rank The Sopranos, Mad Men, Spiral and The Killing above BB.

Generation Kill

I’m still playing catch-up. Currently early into S4 and I’m well and truly hooked. The way the characters change, develop and then completely break with what you’ve begun to relate to. Brilliant!

The slightly twisted point of breaking bad was that you weren’t meant to like the characters or what they did but you still rooted for them. It’s a fascinating series in that respect.

I find it hard to believe that anyone couldn’t like Saul Goodman

Indeed, which is why they are currently filming a Saul Goodman based prequel 🙂

ndeed, which is why they are currently filming a Saul Goodman based prequel

Yep, should be great. So many characters in BB could potentially have their own spin off series…. Most of the characters in fact.

It’s a bit like Sons of Anarchy. Almost nobody is a person who, once you get past whatever the current storyline is, you would choose to associate with if they were real. Even the “nicest” characters are people you’d want to avoid as if your life depended on it; which it might.

Got about 4 or 5 episodes in to season 1 of BB got the rest of season 1 and 2 on DVD but haven’t found it compelling enough for me to bother with the next episode. Might get around to it during the winter.

On the other hand the Wire had us watching 3 and 4 episodes a night as we were fully engaged in the story and wanting to know what would happen.

I’m not sure if enjoying is the right word but I’m 2 series in and certainly fascinated… I don’t think it’s as great as the hype but then what is? (apart from oz)

Do wish the White family were a bit less irritating though, so far all the Skylar and Junior stuff just feels like a distraction.

stilltortoise – Member
I got 5 episodes into series 1 and found little to make me want to watch a sixth episode. In answer to your OP, you’re not the only person.

ditto

Do wish the White family were a bit less irritating though, so far all the Skylar and Junior stuff just feels like a distraction.

It doesn’t stay that way. Stick with it. 😉

I’ve found exactly the same thing.. with every american television series evr

Never seen it, so can’t say if I can or can’t stand it.

Actually, never seen any of the shows mentioned in this thread so far. Including corrie (excepting 5s max when channel hopping).

Never seen Game of Thrones either, which must have been popular, judging by forum activity. And Dr Who. And…

never seen it.

other programmes that I’ve never seen include but not limited to:
24, Game Of Thrones, Dexter, Burn Notice, The Wire, The Sopranos, Gavin & Stacy, The Killing, Mad Men…

by the time I’ve found out about most of these they’re already two or three seasons in

I wasn’t going to bother with Game of Thrones, I assumed it’d be cheese on a stick (albeit quite possibly a stick being held by a bunch of nekkid wimmin). But it’s actually pretty damn good, very well crafted.

GOT is well worth watching, overall. I too thought it would be cheese on a stick, but was pleasantly surprised by the minimal cheese content. Lots of storyplot going on, and little filler.

Was quite disappointed by Dexter – the first couple of seasons were good, but it got dull, it should have been half as long overall. Not a fabulous ending TBH either.

Maybe I should try The Wire – seems to be well liked.

I really liked breaking bad although I hated pretty much all of the characters but I’m miserable :p

mrmonkfinger – the wire is really good!

I never got passed the first couple of episodes of breaking bad, dexter or homeland. Nothing about the characters connected to me or grabbed me in anyway.

From the sopranos, west wing, the wire and deadwood television overtook film as a greater medium allowing for deeper more complex characters. But some of the latter series just seem to have a superficial veneer of that quality and fail to really deliver.

Currently on Series 1 Episode 3 of BB… the pilot was superb, but the next two episodes make for pretty grim and harrowing viewing. I’m going to stick with it, as I can’t bear everyone in my office banging on about how great it is, but I’m having a having a hard time convincing the wife!

The Wire however..I really don’t get the hype about that show. I found it completely boring and slow and couldn’t understand a word anyone said!

Mad Men and Californication were great.

I sort of drifted in and out of BB, my wife loved it, i pretty much totally bypassed the third season. The final season was very good.

For me nothing comes close to the wire, watched it from start to finish 4 times now. Season 2, the docks is one of the bleakest studies of modern america there is, stunning TV.

I’ve just started on game of thrones. My word, they’re not shy are they.

Phew, I’m not alone. It’s like a support group.

Seriously though, “best TV show ever”?! It’s not even the best thing on TV right now (Game of Thrones, Great British Bake Off, Grand Designs). As for series, The Wire, Sopranos, Generation Kill all knock it into a cocked hat; Deadwood is slightly better IMO, and Homeland just edges it.

My problems are:
– none of the characters are at all likeable. They don’t have to be ‘good’ (look at Tony Soprano), but the viewer doesn’t find themselves rooting for anyone, or wanting anyone in particular to come out of it alive.
– They’re all annoying as funsticks. “Waah waah waah” from Pinkman, “I won’t cook, I won’t cook, I won’t cook” from WW, just some kind of background whining noise from Skyler.
– They’re inconsistent within the show’s world. WW just veers from one stance to another, and back again, with no particular catalyst, reasoning or justification that the viewer can see. It makes it tough to follow, or to care about the characters.
– The plots are just so repetitive. Without wanting to give too many spoilers, it’s really just a repeating cycle of interactions. By the final season you just want them all to shut up and go away, preferably in a big gunfight.