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Author Topic: Breaking Bad Season Premier  (Read 5940 times)
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seltaeb1012002
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« on: July 15, 2012, 06:56:33 PM »

Let's go Heisenburg

http://www.justin.tv/bambammovies?utm_campaign=live_embed_click&utm_source=gotcrazygood.com#/w/3433049296
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Chocolate Shake Man
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« Reply #1 on: July 15, 2012, 07:24:29 PM »


Christ. I haven't seen a single episode of this show and I need to get on it.

I do love Mad Men though.
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seltaeb1012002
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« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2012, 04:37:04 AM »

Christ. I haven't seen a single episode of this show and I need to get on it.

I do love Mad Men though.

Breaking Bad's so good. I just watched all 4 seasons on Netflix over the past few weeks. I didn't think I'd be able to find anything that could compare to The Sopranos or Dexter, but this is it.

Haven't seen Mad Men yet, I'm gonna check it out for sure.
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guitarfool2002
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« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2012, 09:12:59 AM »

Oh yeah! Terrific show. The premiere was great, it felt like watching a pot just starting to boil, and waiting for it to erupt...but this show's pace is really unique. It keeps you waiting for something big to happen, and you don't realize the normal dialogue, the everyday scenes, are already where the main points are being revealed.I do hope Jesse's character develops beyond what it was last night, he seems to have lapsed back to high school in the way he followed Mr. White last night, but maybe that's his way of showing loyalty to the guy who can now obviously call the shots even for Mike, his former nemesis.

I heard somebody say White was "Little Caesar" in this season, that doesn't sound good.

That opening scene at the Denny's...still confused a bit but what a way to bring in mundane dialogue, an everyday normal trip to a Denny's for breakfast, and use it to open a season. Man, that was good!

AMC has three of what I think are the finest-scripted shows on television:

Breaking Bad: It got better and better, unlike other shows where the diehard fans swear by "the earlier episodes" as the real classics. Not this one...I actually can't wait to see how White develops into the ringleader.

Mad Men: I was on board from episode one, season one. Now it's hipster cool to talk up this show...damn...I'm just glad the show itself didn't fall victim to believing it's own hype, even though the first episode of this last season had obvious scenes geared toward the crowd who would expect certain things from the show's image rather than letting it play out as it has since season one. That ended very quickly, and the last season was terrific, with some really powerful scenes that you just can't forget. I think it struck a great balance between characters, too...and no one overstayed their welcome.

The Walking Dead: Some fans of the comics are down on it, some fans think there weren't enough zombies in the last season...I think it is a terrific character study about how a group thrown together through no choice of their own, of different backgrounds and highly individual life experiences are suddenly thrown together out of necessity, and how the roles they are forced to play affect them and those around them. It is a very, very well written character study, and it actually disappoints me a bit when fans get upset over the lack of zombie killings, or whatever. That's one facet of the show for one group of fans, yet there is so much more in that show worth watching!

Notice they showed an extended trailer preview for Walking Dead's new season before Breaking Bad. I can't wait. Maybe because I have never read the comics and it's all new stories for me, I'm enjoying it.

AMC is doing great things with original drama on television. It almost makes up for the way they butcher classic movies with the goshdarned inane commercials interrupting the film every 10 minutes or so. Don't watch The Godfather 1 or 2 on AMC, it's an exercise in frustration. Or a course in how to butcher a classic... Smiley

Mad Men, of the three, is my favorite. There isn't a better drama on television. I hope they continue to do what they do now in spite of the new fan base that grabbed onto the superficial parts of the show.
« Last Edit: July 16, 2012, 09:15:33 AM by guitarfool2002 » Logged

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Alex
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« Reply #4 on: July 18, 2012, 10:36:10 PM »

I still haven't seen Breaking Bad, but I did love Bryan Cranston as the dad on Malcolm in the Middle.
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« Reply #5 on: July 22, 2012, 09:40:21 PM »

Every season starts a bit slow, so I thought the premier served it's purpose.  That cold "flash-forward" opening really has me intrigued though.  Can't wait to see how everything develops, I'm sure it'll be epic just like past seasons.
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« Reply #6 on: August 03, 2012, 12:29:49 PM »

I still haven't seen Breaking Bad, but I did love Bryan Cranston as the dad on Malcolm in the Middle.

When I see Cranston's character "gettin' all gangsta" on BREAKING BAD, I can't help but flash back to the MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE episode where he did that totally ridiculous roller-disco dance to "Funky Town" by Lipps Inc.
The man is a definitely a versatile actor.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2012, 12:30:54 PM by GreatUrduPoet » Logged
guitarfool2002
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« Reply #7 on: August 27, 2012, 09:12:46 AM »

Anyone watch it last night? What a great surprise to hear The Monkees' "Goin Down" used as one of the music video segments.

I have to credit AMC for continually finding great songs to include on their original programming, and introducing those songs on shows loike Mad Men to newer audiences who may not be as familiar with the Beach Boys, Monkees, etc until hearing them on these episodes.

In 1,000 years I never would have imagined hearing "Goin Down" on any regular TV show apart from something concerning The Monkees.

Love that song, always have, and it's awesome to see it getting more attention from Breaking Bad fans who have been going online to find out what that song from last night's episode was. I love it!  Smiley

Next week's episode...anticipation is through the roof at this point.
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« Reply #8 on: August 27, 2012, 09:33:35 AM »



I have to credit AMC for continually finding great songs to include on their original programming, and introducing those songs on shows loike Mad Men to newer audiences who may not be as familiar with the Beach Boys, Monkees, etc until hearing them on these episodes.

AMC have absolutely nothing to do with it. Those decisions rest solely on the creators and musical directors of those series.
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guitarfool2002
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« Reply #9 on: August 27, 2012, 09:58:59 AM »

It's nitpicking but AMC does pay the bills and ultimately signs the contracts and paychecks which sustains those people who work on these shows. It's the same way that HBO receives some credit for putting their shows like The Sopranos and others on the air when networks wouldn't touch them, and allowing some level of creative freedom to do what they do. The track record of AMC shows featuring somewhat obscure songs like this one on Breaking Bad is much greater than that of the bigger non-cable network programs. The relative obscurity of some of these songs for a number of people watching the shows can be confirmed by looking at the comments posted on various YouTube song clips and the show's or AMC's fan forums after a song has been played in an episode. Not that it doesn't also happen on network TV, but 2012 alone has seen a handful or great music/video moments on AMC's original programs.

So yeah, I credit AMC for making it possible to not only hear these songs but to also have shows of such high quality that would feature just the right songs at just the right moments in the story and the people to put it all together. Or songs which just sounded great over some cool video sequences, whatever the case... Smiley

I just think it is great to see that many more people who saw and heard something like "Goin Down" last night exploring the music even further, when in all honesty a song like Goin Down may never have crossed their radar screen if it had not been on the show and if they had not looked it up online immediately after. That, to me, is fantastic.

And it also completely removed any, and I mean ANY, preconceived notions of The Monkees as a group or the bias against them as a manufactured band and it became a song that if someone didn't know who performed it or what it was, they could get into it and decide on the merits of the song alone, combined with the Breaking Bad video images on screen, if they liked it or not. We haven't often seen the Monkees *music* treated that way by a lot of mainstream outlets, although that situation has improved in the past decade or so.

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« Reply #10 on: August 27, 2012, 10:31:01 AM »

So yeah, I credit AMC for making it possible to not only hear these songs but to also have shows of such high quality that would feature just the right songs at just the right moments in the story and the people to put it all together. Or songs which just sounded great over some cool video sequences, whatever the case... Smiley
 

I kinda think that makes as much sense as crediting RKO for the greatness of Citizen Kane, or Capitol for Pet Sounds, but alright.
We agree on the greatness of Mad Men. I feel that what you noted about the "hipster" (as if this weren't the absolute definition of a hipster board itself) moments in the season premiere were entirely on purpose, intended to give the more surface-oriented members of the viewing audience what they wanted, before pulling the rug out from underneath them. Weiner is just as canny and devious as Don Draper.
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« Reply #11 on: August 27, 2012, 11:15:34 AM »

Going back a few hundred years, a good number of great musical works and visual art wouldn't have survived to be enjoyed by a more general public audience had it not been for the various patrons or benefactors or sponsors of those at the time, and beyond to include museums and galleries and orchestras and the like.

How many great films would be even more of an influence outside the Sundance and indie circuits if a major studio put more of their distribution and promotions weight behind it to get that many more people in a position to actually go to the theater and watch it? Or how many great films or albums have languished somewhere because they didn't have the weight of a Capitol or RKO (and future owners) behind it?

Above all, the artist or visionary creates and is responsible for the work, I agree hands down, along with the creative team around that artist when it's a TV show. But suppose the Mad Men team had everything in place for a pilot, and all they had were the networks to pitch and ultimately decide to pick up the series for a season? There would be no Mad Men, no Breaking Bad, etc. if not for a network who took a chance on the shows like AMC, therefore we can enjoy the artistic choice of putting a song like Goin Down in a prominent scene on the show. Or if it were up to a network, not only would a dark comedy ultimately about dealing in the meth business never reach the screen, but if it did it would be focus-grouped to death where they'd need to find a more handsome guy to play the lead and all of that crap, they'd have little of the gritty or disturbing scenery which makes that show so startling, and they'd probably substitute a more bland anonymous singer-songwriter track or canned commercial soundtrack library music for Goin Down when the Breaking Bad producers would go in with the (more expensive) request to use the original Monkees track.

Mad Men - consider that they paid one of the highest license-usage fees in television in order to feature a segment of "Tomorrow Never Knows" on that episode this year. And it was brilliant, it *had to be* the original song for that scene and that episode to work, and they were willing to pay for what amounted to about a minute of music. Would NBC do that for a Beatles song to be used in a drama appearing in their lineup? They'd simply find a cheaper way around it, and the impact would be that of a blunt knife trying to carve a turkey.

Mad Men's recent season picked up so much steam, it actually topped in my mind a few of what I considered the pinnacle of previous seasons. With several characters we saw more of what was more at their core instead of the workplace persona and image. I definitely think they knew exactly what they were doing appealing to the broader, less-invested audience who saw the hipness quotient and saw a buzz around the show's style and vibe and latched on. Don't get me wrong - that's awesome, I think it's great that more viewers get into the show no matter how, it's fun to post a picture on their site of someone "Drapering" in a chair, harmless interaction from fans who get something different from watching the show - it's all good. But the creators and producers were smart when they saw folks throwing Mad Men costume parties, and saw articles about what drinks to serve and what food to feature at such parties, that they'd play it up a bit. They had to, they did, and after something I'd consider a necessary indulgence into celebrating what was created in a lot of folks' minds around the surface image of that show, they got down to business and had some truly compelling scenes. I think any doubts I had about that first episode playing up the image too much were erased in the scenes which were ultimately about the characters, one specific moment out of many was the Howard Johnson restaurant scene where a lot of pent-up emotions and marital/interpersonal problems came bursting out all at once, almost by accident and it just happened to be in a 60's groovy-designed restaurant where it all poured out. The scene could have been a retro-fueled "Check out that cool restaurant from the 60's!" kind of audience participation, but the character struggles and the plot made you forget you were seeing a note-perfect recreation of a 60's icon that many families remember vividly.

After the first Mad Men episode last season, I admit I was worried they had started to believe their own hype and image, but I did like Jessica Pare's song and I knew the writing had not yet switched to auto pilot. I was right - and can't wait for the next batch of episodes.
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« Reply #12 on: August 27, 2012, 11:26:08 AM »

Yeah, I agree with all that.
The only thing I would add is that Weiner has had to battle AMC on many points during the series run, including product usage, song choices, number of main characters, etc. So it hasn't all been rosy. But nevertheless the network deserves a lot of credit for keeping the show going, through a few seasons where it was mostly a cult-critical hit.
I love the parallel-story structure of the episode you mentioned. Clearly, a debt was owed there to the postmodernist Tarantino-style, which of course is really an influence from Kurosawa's Rashomon and Kubrick's The Killing. The diner story was also influenced to a great degree by Sluizer's brilliant film The Vanishing. But these type of influences are made invisible by the distinctive style and context of Mad Men itself.
Mystery Date, Signal 30, The Other Woman and Commissions And Fees were my favorites of the season, overall.
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