Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

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Skykid
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

Post by Skykid »

charlie chong wrote:skykid be smokin dat meth..
towards the end x files was actually unwatchable.
your superfluous verbosity will never change that
Lol, "superfluous verbosity" :lol:

It was absolutely unwatchable by the end. The X-Files has probably the worst finale in TV history. So bad it's legendary. Breaking Bad most certainly has it beat there. In-fact, I write off the entire last two seasons as all the writing staff jumped ship after the seventh - it was Fox that forced the continuation because money.

That doesn't mean I couldn't name a better episode of the X-Files for every single episode of Breaking Bad. Great writing and directing doesn't go out of date, ponies do.

EDIT: Sorry matey, I missed this:
GaijinPunch wrote:
I know how much you like BB, and I enjoyed it too, but I gotta call a spade a spade. For all its entertainment value I know I'd never watch it twice because there's so much dead space in it it's like staring at a blank wall - nothing happens.
I always call a spade a spade. Then and now, there's a handful of X-Files episodes (a quarter?) that were just meh. Maybe nature of the beast for something that had more episodes per season, but them's the facts. Even if it was consistent from Season 1-7, seasons 8 and 9 were pretty fucking awful. You can't say Gilligan was cashing in on ratings for filler on BB, but totally ignore the last two seasons of X-Files. The heart and soul of the show said he was fucking leaving and they still tried to ride the cash cow. Not to mention 90% of episodes ended the exact same way. I'm like halfway through season 3 watching one here and there on Hulu, and w/ 5 minutes to go, I always find myself saying, "here it comes, the Deus Ex Machina sweeping it under the proverbial government rug". Now that's creative!
A quarter duff ones may be right, I wouldn't be sure unless I did some quick calculations eps x 7 seasons. I don't count 8 & 9's existence.
BB's Deus Ex Machina issues are slightly more pronounced, don't you think? It has its moments, but most setups are very clunky and there's little to nothing you don't predict because from the cues. Not the same level of drop as Krychek walking out of a bathroom stall feeling "like a new man".
The XF wrap ups aren't really an issue: if something wasn't brushed under the government carpet at the end of each show, it would have invalidated the show. :)
Bar the running plot thread that surfaced possibly 4 - 5 times out of a 24 eps season, it's a self-contained single story entity, a la Twilight Zone/Outer Limits with one of the most impressive writer/director teams assembled for one TV project: Rob Bowman, Vince Gilligan (Pusher, Paper Hearts, Drive), Darin Morgan (Jose Chung's From Outer Space, Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose) Glen Morgan and James Wong (Home, Beyond the Sea), Frank Spotnitz (Tempus Fugit, Tunguska) Howard Gordon (Nisei, Firewalker) -

- to name a tiny handful, not including Rob Bowman and Carter. Even Duchovy had some impressive writer/director credits with eps like The Unnatural (that weird one with the baseball team, if you remember.)

Anyway, I didn't provide a criticism to have a pissing match over two shows. People get upset because I state something as fact... well that's how you have conviction in an argument. Lawyer's don't walk into courtrooms and say "Hmm, maybe you're right" to the opposition.

Everyone manages to get all butthurt that any criticism is levied at all - crit I think is reasonable - and happily ignore all the positive stuff I said about it.
If you folks think I'm the only person in the universe who happens to think the TV nation has slightly overrated a decent show, yer on crack ese.

" Seasons 2, 3, and 4 were so slow that they could easily have been condensed down to one season.

I could go on, but the OP nailed a lot of it already. The show is ridiculously overrated, and another great example of how fans just like latching onto trends because it makes them feel important."
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Edmond Dantes
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

Post by Edmond Dantes »

Skykid wrote:The XF wrap ups aren't really an issue: if something wasn't brushed under the government carpet at the end of each show, it would have invalidated the show. :)
No, it really wouldn't have. Pretty much any episode that doesn't involve the myth arc would've been better served by NOT pulling the "Govt covered up everything" card at the end--especially when half the stand-alone episodes actually don't involve the government and there's quite a few that don't even involve paranormal or sci-fi stuff. (Just off the top of my head: "Hell Money" is an episode that really should have had a different ending).
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Skykid
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

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Edmond Dantes wrote:
Skykid wrote:The XF wrap ups aren't really an issue: if something wasn't brushed under the government carpet at the end of each show, it would have invalidated the show. :)
No, it really wouldn't have. Pretty much any episode that doesn't involve the myth arc would've been better served by NOT pulling the "Govt covered up everything" card at the end--especially when half the stand-alone episodes actually don't involve the government and there's quite a few that don't even involve paranormal or sci-fi stuff. (Just off the top of my head: "Hell Money" is an episode that really should have had a different ending).
Oh that one's solid. :)

Isn't that where the Chinese agent dude wakes up inside an oven at the end and gets burned alive? IIRC it's really well directed that one... like most, tbh.
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Edmond Dantes
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

Post by Edmond Dantes »

Yeah, that's the one.

The problem was that the ep didn't involve the government or anything that would need covering up... it was basically, some people rigged a contest so they could scam body parts out of poor people. This was revealed to the very people being scammed, so you'd think they'd be pissed, willing to testify and maybe even lynch-mob the scammers (who I didn't get the impression were more than just a couple of guys). It literally made no fucking sense that the scammers somehow got off and then later kidnapped the detective. It only happened because Chris Carter decided every episode had to have a downer ending, whether it made sense or not, and that is NOT the way to create good stories.
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Skykid
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

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Edmond Dantes wrote:Yeah, that's the one.

The problem was that the ep didn't involve the government or anything that would need covering up... it was basically, some people rigged a contest so they could scam body parts out of poor people. This was revealed to the very people being scammed, so you'd think they'd be pissed, willing to testify and maybe even lynch-mob the scammers (who I didn't get the impression were more than just a couple of guys). It literally made no fucking sense that the scammers somehow got off and then later kidnapped the detective. It only happened because Chris Carter decided every episode had to have a downer ending, whether it made sense or not, and that is NOT the way to create good stories.
Well they were great stories, and that's that. I remember it pretty well that one, kind of horrifying subject but a superb ending (why he wakes up in the crematorium isn't really important - it's a spiritual retribution for destroying the table with the lottery vases on them.) Wiki says it pulled 5 million more viewers that BB's finale, and that was for a random episode in the middle of a random season that would qualify as a basic quality standard. Considering it's not even recognised as anything special as an episode, obviously it was doing something very well indeed.

EDIT: And here it is, for your viewing pleasure. Like little movies, weren't they?

http://www.tubeplus.me/movie/1495296/Th ... ell_Money/
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Edmond Dantes
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

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My mom has the entire series on DVD (she has terrible tastes, you see). If I ever want to see it again I'd rather borrow those than visit some website.

Last use I ever had for X-Files was proving to myself that there were worse things than Equestria Girls.
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Skykid
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

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Edmond Dantes wrote: Last use I ever had for X-Files was proving to myself that there were worse things than Equestria Girls.
You always have shown yourself to be a vastly intelligent man of distinguished tastes. Glad to see you haven't let the side down.
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Hagane
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

Post by Hagane »

Skykid wrote: Seasons 2, 3, and 4 were so slow
2, definitely. 3 and 4? Crazy talk. Both of them are excellent seasons.
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Skykid
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

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Hagane wrote:
Skykid wrote: Seasons 2, 3, and 4 were so slow
2, definitely. 3 and 4? Crazy talk. Both of them are excellent seasons.
2's the worst for pointless dragging, mos def. 3 is marginally better, but it's still got a lot of waiting around and strung out nothing in the middle bookended by good episodes. 4 is better again, but there's still several lull points.

I didn't write that quote btw.
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

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All of the first four seasons were slow. There were extreme bursts of action and drama, but yeah as I said, BB is basically a slow burn through and through... a very slow burn, which is why it didn't really appeal to a lot of people when it was starting.

It's just when Season 5 came along and all hell broke loose when more people started to really notice and give the show a chance.

Not sure if I mentioned this before, but my favorite analogy for the show is that the first four seasons are like a person taking their time to carefully place and meticulously line up a set of dominos on a floor... and then Season 5 is just tipping that first domino and watching all the rest rapidly fall one after the other on cue.
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

Post by GaijinPunch »

heisenbergman wrote:All of the first four seasons were slow. There were extreme bursts of action and drama, but yeah as I said, BB is basically a slow burn through and through... a very slow burn, which is why it didn't really appeal to a lot of people when it was starting.

It's just when Season 5 came along and all hell broke loose when more people started to really notice and give the show a chance.
Dunno... I think it gained a lot of traction every season, and people appreciated it for the intensity even without the action. Slow, filler, whatever. Despite what Roger Eber... I mean Skykid says, it's part of the story... intentionally inclusive. And not to drag it out for ratings.
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

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Yeah, I definitely agree with you regarding BB not being drawn out for the ratings. I mean, if you look at it purely from a ratings perspective, it doesn't seem to make sense to end it when they decided to, considering their ratings were climbing steadily with each season.

When I say that the first four seasons were slow, that's not a negative statement at all. It seemed to me that Vince Gilligan had a clear vision for the show. It was a finite story with a beginning and an end, and he knew how he wanted to tell it. I feel like it was exactly the length that it needed to be considering its tone and pace and to develop its characters and tell its story. It's probably my favorite show of all-time. There's Battlestar Galactica (the 2004 series) also way up there, but yeah, I think I have BB at #1.
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

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Skykid wrote:
Edmond Dantes wrote: Last use I ever had for X-Files was proving to myself that there were worse things than Equestria Girls.
You always have shown yourself to be a vastly intelligent man of distinguished tastes. Glad to see you haven't let the side down.
*Totally missing the sarcasm* Why, thank you. *Goes back to wearing a monocle, sipping tea, and reading a first-edition Dickens novel.*

EDIT: Actually, in retrospect, I genuinely feel I need to apologize for that one. Declaring that X-Files is so bad its even worse than Equestria Girls is a low blow, even the Yakuza would reel at such blasphemy having been stated. Nothing can be worse than Equestria Girls.

Ergo I instead declare that X-Files is worse than Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. That feels more fair.
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Skykid
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

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GaijinPunch wrote:
heisenbergman wrote:All of the first four seasons were slow. There were extreme bursts of action and drama, but yeah as I said, BB is basically a slow burn through and through... a very slow burn, which is why it didn't really appeal to a lot of people when it was starting.

It's just when Season 5 came along and all hell broke loose when more people started to really notice and give the show a chance.
Dunno... I think it gained a lot of traction every season, and people appreciated it for the intensity even without the action. Slow, filler, whatever. Despite what Roger Eber... I mean Skykid says, it's part of the story... intentionally inclusive. And not to drag it out for ratings.
Don't you dare compare me to that hack, even in jest! :)
Edmond Dantes wrote:
Skykid wrote:
Edmond Dantes wrote: Last use I ever had for X-Files was proving to myself that there were worse things than Equestria Girls.
You always have shown yourself to be a vastly intelligent man of distinguished tastes. Glad to see you haven't let the side down.
*Totally missing the sarcasm* Why, thank you. *Goes back to wearing a monocle, sipping tea, and reading a first-edition Dickens novel.*

EDIT: Actually, in retrospect, I genuinely feel I need to apologize for that one. Declaring that X-Files is so bad its even worse than Equestria Girls is a low blow, even the Yakuza would reel at such blasphemy having been stated. Nothing can be worse than Equestria Girls.

Ergo I instead declare that X-Files is worse than Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. That feels more fair.
Why are you watching Equestria Girls?
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

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Boredom and to further convince myself that Pony sucks and any cartoon that's not anime isn't worth watching, are the main ones.
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

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Vince Gilligan answers answers questions regarding 4 Breaking Bad myths in 84 seconds.
Right here
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

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I keep up with the Something Awful Dexter thread because I'm still in shock, denial and confusion about how people were paid millions for this or for this...

What's worth sharing are these educational charts involving IMDB scores

Image

Image

----

Also if Dexter writers wrote Breaking Bad

Image
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

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I like if Sonichu writers wrote Breaking Bad

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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

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I enjoyed BB, but the last season has too much going on too quickly compared to the previous seasons. Understandable, as in theory there was another season...

I didn't mind the Fly episode; in fact, I thought it was quite interesting that a TV series took its time to do something like that.
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Re: Describe your boner for the Breaking Bad return...

Post by CStarFlare »

BryanM wrote: Dexter
This post made me google SA's Dexter season 8 thread and I've been reading for seven hours. I'm a third of the way done and there are seven more seasons.

I also want to read the Breaking Bad thread to find more of those images because SA is wonderful at visual comedy.
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