Category Archives: Television

All ‘Breaking Bad’ Things Must Come to a (Hopefully Good) End

I love Breaking Bad. When I started watching it on Netflix I blew through all of the episodes in probably a week or two. Its intense and compelling story of meth cooking and drug dealing is itself a drug, and I’m an addict.

This is why I was so bummed when it didn’t win any Golden Globes this past weekend. Bryan Cranston, especially, I thought deserved to win best actor in a television drama series. Granted, I haven’t really watched Homeland (don’t kill me) or any of the other shows with actors up in this category except for Mad Men (and mm, Jon Hamm – I would have been okay with his beautiful mug winning too), but I still find it hard to imagine that anyone could have done anything better than Cranston’s gritty, complex, and oddly endearing performance.

With only half a season left, Breaking Bad is soon sadly coming to an end, but I think it is a testament to Vince Gilligan’s expertise at what he does that this series does have an end in mind. Rather than just trying to take the show as long as he possibly can, stringing us all along, it’s actually going somewhere. This is an important thing to keep in mind for anyone who is devising, writing, running, directing, or producing a television series. In the end, you don’t want to leave things hanging or bore your viewers with an aimless overarching narrative. Despite the serial nature of the medium, you still have to have a complete story and a conclusion in mind.

In this article Vince Gilligan discusses the difficulties of concluding the series. It’s definitely an interesting read. Let me know what you think of his comments and his process. How do you think it should end?

Ten Things on Vince Gilligan’s Mind As He Writes the Final Episodes of Breaking Bad
Denise Martin @ Vulture

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“We’re not gonna please everyone, we’re not gonna please everyone … This is what I keep telling myself so I can sleep at night,” Vince Gilligan laughed last month, even though he wasn’t exactly joking. When he spoke to Vulture, he was putting the finishing touches on the story for the third to last episode, getting very close to tackling the series finale (the show’s last stretch of eight episodes airs on AMC later this year).

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The Stupidity of the Winter Hiatus

I don’t know about you, but with the Golden Globes last night (although I didn’t get a chance to watch them live and have yet to sit down and watch a recording), pretty much marking the official return of good TV to TV after the winter hiatus, I am pumped.

I always thought it was incredibly stupid that during breaks from school and work there was nothing new on TV. This article explains how the holidays, traditionally seen as a low-viewership period of time, may actually offer a lot of potential to television networks, and they should take note.

How do you feel about the winter hiatus? Do you use it as a break to catch up on shows, or do you too, feel like you’re wasting away with nothing to watch?

Wasting Away in the Winter Hiatus
Liz Medendorp @ PopMatters

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Recently we were back in that time of year when TV hits a dry spell: the infamous Winter Hiatus, when no new episodes are aired from about mid-December to mid-January. If you’re anything like me, you’re anxious for things to start up again, growing bored out of your mind watching the only things available to you: reruns, holiday specials you’ve seen dozens of times, and drawn-out New Year’s Eve shows. Why must we endure this dearth of good television precisely during that time of year when pretty much everyone has time off?”

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Last Night’s Midseason Premiere of ‘Elementary’

It was a unique idea–not the revamping Sherlock Holmes part, but the making Watson a woman part–but I’m not so sure how well it is working for the TV series Elementary. Although the midseason premiere that aired last night does finally seem to break the show out of its formulaic case-of-the-week mold, Lucy Liu’s performance as Watson still leaves much to be desired.

Jonny Lee Miller, on the other hand, plays a great Holmes. He’s the snide, self-absorbed, distinctively British genius we all want him to be. But the Watson-Holmes relationship is simply not as compelling as it is in Arthur Conan Doyle’s original creation. I don’t know if this is because of the gender dynamics (I hope to Odin they don’t end up trying to give them a romantic relationship–*gag*), or if the writing of their dialogue is just poorly done, or if Lucy Liu simply doesn’t have the capacity for the kind of humor required of the character. No matter the cause, Watson just falls flat and is a mere accessory to Holmes in this adaptation.

With all of the many versions of Sherlock Holmes out there, Elementary is definitely not at the top of the list. And especially after seeing Martin Freeman’s rendition of Bilbo–maybe the only saving grace of The Hobbit–I’m very tempted to start watching Sherlock, if only because I’m dying for a Dr. Watson who is anything more than bland and boring.

‘Elementary’ May Be Graduating to the Next Level
Liz Medendorp @ PopMatters

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“Observe and deduce” is his mantra. And the midseason premiere of Elementary reveals precisely how this directive applies not only to Sherlock Holmes (Jonny Lee Miller), but also to viewers at home. Upon entering a horrific crime scene, with all 12 pints of the victim’s blood pooled on the floor, the detective’s expression is peculiar, almost amused. The observant audience member might deduce that his response has special significance for him, that indeed, this is no ordinary crime scene.

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