Breaking Bad

[Carol Newquist]

I agree with you, Ian, and with Mulebone. When it's all said and done, it's still "stupid tv." Still, I like Breaking Bad. Is it a contradiction to hold both views? I don't know. Maybe...maybe not, but I do.

[IanEye]

enjoy your views then Carol, both of them!

[Luther Blissett]

I wish there had been more exposition on the role of the corporation in the international drug trade. There wasn't enough for me.

[smiths]

what are your views I + I ?

I for I am mystifeyed

[IanEye]

you have to end this


to get to this

*

.



“It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress...”


.

[Carol Newquist]

More on the Puritanical Parade and moralizing angle.

I've been doing a lot of historical reading the past couple of years and one book I've read explored America's cultural roots. At the center, front and center actually, is Puritanism....but not in the way you'd think. Puritans were Punishers, first and foremost. They were every bit as brutal, punishing and tyrannical as the British Crown they claimed was oppressing them. If you read the history, they became a formidable tyranny in England before heading West across the pond for a Kingdom they could call their own. They were homicidal and genocidal in every sense of those terms. If you didn't assume the role they prepared for you, they would punish you until you did, and if you didn't, more often than not, they'd eliminate you.

That's America in a nutshell. The name of the book is Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America (America: A Cultural History). It's not an easy read because it's immersed in fact, but it's worth the read because it goes a long way in explaining what's going on in American Culture these days. Beneath the glitzy, or not so glitzy, veneer, these cultural traits, especially the negative ones, still lurk and Gilligan & Crew have brought them front and center with this show. Gilligan's managed to make Puritan moralizers out of the majority of his audience. They've prosecuted and condemned Walt to death for his "sins." Even a tabloid such as Rolling Stone which was/is supposed to be the icon of counter-culture moralizes as well, or better than, Cotton Mather on a fine winter Sunday.

http://www.amazon.com/Albions-Seed-British-Folkways-Cultural/dp/0195069056

[Carol Newquist]

I wish there had been more exposition on the role of the corporation in the international drug trade. There wasn't enough for me.

I agree, Luther, that would have been an interesting angle to pursue, and had they extended Breaking Bad to seven or eight seasons, that may have been possible from a time perspective, but as we all know, the closer you get to the truth, the more restraint that's applied. It's quite possible Gilligan considered this approach as one dimension of the show and Sony and/or AMC nixed it. Even if Gilligan didn't consider it, if he had, there's a strong possibility he would have received serious pushback. Afterall, Sony and AMC are corporations and corporations don't like to denigrate themselves....and I say "themselves" since corporations like to believe they're persons.

[smiths]

analysis like this of Television using only Television clips could become a science I,

Teleology

now that's progress ...

(incidentally, is 'Lost' worth eyeballing?)

[Carol Newquist]

(incidentally, is 'Lost' worth eyeballing?)

I liked it.....but came to it late via Netflix after the series had run its course on ABC. It deals with some very deep, trippy existential issues......Inception-like material. I don't want to give anything away, but to put it succinctly, I didn't know anything about it prior to watching except to say people raved about it. Wow, was I surprised. I never thought a major network would offer something of this caliber....and I'm not sure they have since. Also, I have to imagine it was over most people's heads considering the audience. Overkill, thankfully for the few of us.....but for the rest it's like a V8 Cadillac with duel exhaust for the 90-year-old blue-hair who doesn't drive over 30 mph.

[Spiro C. Thiery]

^^
I'd be surprised if someone hasn't already written a PH.D on this topic, but I think of substantial effect and interest is the modus by which one watches television drama--particularly one with a predominant story arc.

It is the "coming to a series late" factor that has made me ponder this: I wonder what percentage of viewers still see the whole series one episode per week through to the end vs. clusters of episodes in one sitting. And there would there be such qualitative difference for one who does not have to wait several months to see the concluding sequence of episodes.

TO THE OP:
For me, the final episode is as much about Gilligan's redemption as it is W.W.'s. Not that Breaking Bad's creator left his cast feeling abandoned the way some of the Twin Peaks' cast had felt, but the method of the TV drama, especially when subject to network pressures, is much the same regardless of the show we are talking about: the main guy/gal produces a pilot and a few early episodes with a very hands on approach; the contributors are usually a small circle of people who are on the same page. Eventually the staff expands to match the success of the show and you get people writing episodes who cannot help but not be entirely clued into the vision of the creator.

In and along the way the creator comes back for an episode or two. Or not. In and along the way, the writing staff produces segments of varying quality.

What I think was strong about Breaking Bad is that it maintained the quality by way of "slow tension" and how the show was no stronger than many others is the extent to which the staff knew they were wrapping things up. For me, the last season, especially the last half season, was forced into rapid pace mode. It lost the slow tension and ability and freedom of episodic focus with only a casual eye as to where it was headed; they felt they had to think forward all the time, particularly with only eight eps left.

Unlike many fans of the show, I didn't like Ozymandias on any level. It felt forced to me. But though I am trying to quantify that here with my drivel, I admit to these things being a matter of taste.

All that said: Gilligan redeemed himself with the final ep. Given that he gave himself only forty minutes or so to do it, it was a slow burn wherein even the seemingly monumental moments were deliberative and worthy of comparison to the show's original concept.

[kelley]

speaking of shitty tee-vee, it seems there's always a precedent:

http://www.popmatters.com/column/175612 ... mber-1974/

Retro Remote
Back Away Slowly, Walter White, Sgt. Suzanne 'Pepper' Anderson's Got Her Own Big Gun
By Kit MacFarlane 3 October 2013
Police Woman, “Smack” (6 December 1974)

Appreciation of television as an artistic medium may seem to have reached new peaks of mainstream acceptance, but it can still get pretty lonely out here in the realm of cathode-ray, pre-Sopranos, prehistoric episodic TV obsession. Most popular commentators seem to vaguely accept that David Chase didn’t actually invent the TV drama in 1999 with The Sopranos, but mostly in the same way that people accept that the ancient Mesopotamians had battery technology: it’s plausible, but far from certain and, even if true, it’s not like they knew how to use it for anything good.

The benefits of “vintage” episodic TV analysis can therefore be few and far between; it has all the economic drawbacks of devoting the bulk of your time to art and literature, but with none of the associated cultural capital. Were I to spend my days wasting away in front of blank sheets of music paper, I have no doubt I’d be swooned over as a starving artist like Sydney Chaplin in Charles Chaplin’s tragic Limelight (1952), but my own profound cultural pursuits – such as extracting a two-second clip of Sally Struthers saying “That was gross!” from an episode of All in the Family – are met only with scorn. Even Canadians reject my efforts to turn every conversation topic towards Sgt. Preston of the Yukon (with Yukon King, swiftest and strongest lead-dog!) and, no matter how many hints I drop, nobody will buy me the Twilight Zone “Henry Bemis Book Replica” playset, complete with fake books and “actual” glasses (broken lenses optional) from classic 1959 episode “Time Enough at Last”. Philistines.

But every now and then a gem from television’s history turns up that threatens to disrupt the modern television environment in the same way that a mislaid glowing power cube threatens to disrupt the foundations of the universe itself in every superhero movie, ever.

While fans lament the passing of dearly-loved series Breaking Bad, from the depths of television history comes the Breaking Bad urtext, the undiluted original source, the secret that Vince Gilligan hoped you’d never discover.

Unassuming high school chemistry teacher faced with insurmountable medical expenses turns to manufacturing illegal drugs to make ends meet? Sorry Breaking Bad, Angie Dickinson and William Shatner got there first in Police Woman episode “Smack” (6 December 1974).

Score 1 for vintage TV.

Police Woman was spawned from the highly-praised anthology series Police Story (1973-1978), but with a more commercial recurring cast and story focus. Its opening credits are a thing of beauty, assuming your idea of beauty primarily involves the height of ‘70s TV chic. A siren (though not as cool as the weird siren noise in Ironside) leads us into a nice, percussive piano beat.

Things start off pretty nicely with “starring Angie Dickinson” (a credit that’s welcome at any and all times) as Dickinson does some stern-faced gun-firing, but any hoped-for feminist credibility drips away pretty quickly as her legs and cleavage make a prominent appearances in between shots of her face in various stages of wig-wearing and/or terror. Is that a stewardess’ uniform she’s wearing before a shot of some brass knuckles flying towards the camera?


It’s easy to pick apart the logic behind the credits sequence: Police Woman has Dickinson (as “Pepper” Anderson) in a variety of costumes and in various stages of threat – an underlying narrative of “attractive woman in dangerous situations (and clothes)” rather than actually, y’know, being an active “police woman”. But while that’s a valid criticism, it’s important to remember that this is still the underlying logic behind plenty of modern credits sequences: female leads still frequently parade costumes and are defined strongly by sexuality. It’s easy to roll our eyes at Police Woman‘s overtness, while ignoring the fact that it’s just a clearer glimpse at the logic still operating today. That doesn’t make it OK, it just means that we shouldn’t use the obviousness of the past as a way to make ourselves think we’ve made unquestionable progress (are you listening, Mad Men?).

Dull Earl Holliman then shows up to let us know that he’ll be doing all the real, manly work. The following entrance of Charles Dierkop (as Royster) and Ed Bernard (as Styles), however, delivers the peak of ‘70s-ness, as the two burst through a door into freeze-frame, letting us bathe in the brown colour scheme, leather jackets, open shirts, moustaches and, for Royster, a suavely off-centre cap. Superb.

As obvious as this rushed pseudo-feminist reading of the opening titles may be, the fact that Dickinson is so passive and relies so heavily on her experienced partners (in the first season anyway, since that’s all Retro Remote has seen) does make Police Woman substantially less exciting than it promises to be. The series seemed to be off to a good start when Pepper responded to a police officer dying in her arms with some honest emotional distress (Retro Remote finds the currently trendy tough-woman character as mind-numbingly dull as the historically ubiquitous tough-man character), but her reasonable emotional response is turned into a surprisingly snivelling portrayal that ultimately needs to be reined in by the tough male cops: “could I have tomorrow off?” Pepper sobs, only for “tough” Holliman to undercut her by reminding her that the crook’s won’t be taking time off. (Pepper should probably be asking for a lot more time off – trauma is a serious issue – but the show isn’t following that path…).

Still, Police Woman is at least a step towards a series with a central female lead, though far from the first, of course. Dickinson isn’t even the first eponymous police woman, with Beverly Garland helming Decoy aka Decoy Police Woman (1957-1958).


But back to “Smack”. While there’s a nice precursor to Breaking Bad to be found, it’s still just a nugget in the broader setup. Pepper – needing to try out a new costume – is assigned to a high school. Dickinson was over 40 at the time the series started (a reminder that age is yet another issue in modern media that has yet to be properly dealt with), but given how “young” she consistently plays the character – combined with the show’s unsurprising obsession with her sexuality – I almost expected her to be undercover as a student rather than a teacher. In any case, the viewer doesn’t have to wait long for the show to exploit some “in costume” sex appeal, not even to the opening credits: undercover as a physical education teacher, the pre-credits episode teaser makes sure we know that Pepper is going to be doing some bending and stretching (for some reason out on the training field in tight jeans and a trendy cap).

The episode proper begins with mild-mannered chemistry teacher William Shatner witnessing a student fall to their death one night on the school football field; the next day the fuzz show up and start asking questions about drugs. That fills about four long minutes before the shows gets back to Pepper stretching (“now touch that fence with your butt!”) for a full minute or so. Three more minutes and Pepper reveals that she’s scheduled to teach Sex Ed the next day. Quelle surprise.

Shatner gets questioned but is distant…

Shatner gets questioned but is distant. Suspicious. Pepper tracks down another police woman to go undercover as a student; her colleague/ boyfriend tries to talk her out of it but eventually changes his mind because whatever, everything will be fine. Uh oh. Shatner gets the shakedown from some shady type. Pepper pays him a visit and he’s drunk, starting out at about a 7/10 on the Shatner acting scale and edging up towards an 8 as the drunken tears and despair kick in. Mystery! Post Sex Ed the next day, Shatner puts on the moves and they head out for dinner at a restaurant that Shatner has clearly selected so that the décor matches his perfect chocolate brown ‘70s suit. Smooth.

A murder later and Shatner’s in the questioning tank, spilling the beans on his Breaking Bad origin story: “I was a chemist in his [the drug baron’s] lab, making and refining drugs… it was for my wife, she needed to be on a kidney machine most of the time, it cost a lot of money.” He may not quite be Walter White – the chronology’ of his start date’s a bit out of whack – but the key parts are all in place. Alas, if the Breaking Bad finale hadn’t already aired, the stage could be set for the perfect chem-teacher-turned-drug-manufacturer showdown between Bryan Cranston and William Shatner.

Unfortunately, while it’d be nice to ride Breaking Bad‘s momentum, use “Smack” as a rallying-cry for an increased focus on pre-Sopranos TV, and make Gilligan hand back his Emmys in an internationally-broadcast spectacle of contrition, the sad fact remains that “Smack”, and Police Woman itself, isn’t really that great. Television history is full of amazing artistic content that was though-provoking, relevant, creative, stylistic, you name it. This just isn’t the particular place to look for it. The ‘70s was a rough decade in US TV, but still not without its high spots (Lou Grant being a personal favourite); but TV history is too complex to reduce to simple “eras”, and ‘70s cop shows certainly aren’t representative of anything other than ‘70s cop shows.

The real relevance of “Smack” to Breaking Bad is, of course, essentially non-existent. I’ll eat my off-centre ‘70s-style cap if the episode actually had any influence on Gilligan, and it doesn’t even draw any particular resonance out of its “good guy forced bad” story – Shatner disappears completely right after he spills his Walter White backstory.

But the point isn’t really that it has any substantial connection to Breaking Bad; too often discussion of immensely popular serialised television can seem a bit solipsistic, discussing its series as something apart from or substantially above the history of its medium. The past, when it’s summoned, is something that’s been “moved on from” rather than providing a foundation for all that followed. Breaking Bad is no more or less a part of television history than any other text – whether Decoy or Police Woman – and Retro Remote is blithely happy to try to hijack the momentum of its finale to give some passing attention to a moment of TV history with a touch of resonance.

Besides, we never find out what happened to Shatner’s version of the chem teacher drug cook. That’s some Breaking Bad history waiting to be retconned. Can we have a Shatner vs Cranston cook-off, please?

[Carol Newquist]

I'd be surprised if someone hasn't already written a PH.D on this topic, but I think of substantial effect and interest is the modus by which one watches television drama--particularly one with a predominant story arc.

It is the "coming to a series late" factor that has made me ponder this: I wonder what percentage of viewers still see the whole series one episode per week through to the end vs. clusters of episodes in one sitting. And there would there be such qualitative difference for one who does not have to wait several months to see the concluding sequence of episodes.

I think you're right, someone most likely has written their dissertation on this, or something similar to it. I think it definitely had an effect on me and my interpretation (in fact, if it wasn't available streaming, I never would have watched it....it didn't appeal to me when I saw advertisements for it when flipping channels), although I'm not a marathoner. It took me about a month and a half to go through the entire Lost series, and I came to Breaking Bad late as well...after the third season, so I experienced Breaking Bad both ways. Commercials versus no commercials also has an effect....commercials screw up the rhythm which is crucial with the building and holding of tension.

I will note that often I had difficulty falling asleep if I tried to retire in too close proximity to Breaking Bad on Sunday nights. No doubt it was the effects of the adrenaline rush, or the thousand analytical thoughts running through my circuits. I got to the point where I would pop 10mg of slow-release Melatonin a couple of hours beforehand to mitigate the effect.

I know, that's nuts...it's just a stupid TV show. Oh well, what can I say?

[DrEvil]

(incidentally, is 'Lost' worth eyeballing?)

NO!
(Disclaimer: I hate flashbacks. It's a crutch for people who can't write good characters or dialogue.)

@Carol: I think the main reason people started hating Walt was because it became clear he was a raving psycho, destroying everyone around him. He bombed a nursing home, had 10 witnesses executed, covered up the murder of a 10-year old, let Jesse's girlfriend choke on her own vomit, killed Mike, caused Hank's death etc.

Oh, and the spin-off money maker is already in the pipeline. "Better call Saul".

[IanEye]

(Disclaimer: I hate flashbacks.)

Oh, and the spin-off money maker is already in the pipeline. "Better call Saul".

It is my understanding that "Better Call Saul" is a prequel.

[Carol Newquist]

I have a title for the sequel: Breaking Good. Think about it....no one's managed to do it yet. There's always a first. This could be it. Jesse becomes an Episcopal Priest...or something along those lines. It wouldn't even make it past the pilot. It for certain wouldn't keep me up on Sunday nights like Breaking Bad did. I'd fall asleep in the first five minutes until Jesse drops the host and says "yo."