Breaking Bad (2008-2013)

Breaking Bad is an American crime drama television series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. The show originally aired on the AMC network for five seasons, from January 2008 to September 2013. 

The main character is Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a struggling high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer at the beginning of the series. He turns to a life of crime, producing and selling crystal meth, in order to secure his family's financial future before he dies, teaming with his former student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). 

The show is considerably one of the greatest television series of all time. In 2013, it was also listed as the highest rated show of all time in the Guinness World Records, and by the end of the first season, it was already among the most-watched cable shows on American television, and the show received 116 awards and 192 nominations over the course of 5 years, including;

• 16 Primetime Emmy Awards
• 8 Satellite Awards 
• 2 Golden Globes 
• 2 Peabody Awards
• People’s Choice Award 

Walter White (left) pictured with Jesse Pinkman (right).

Personally, Breaking Bad is one of my favourite shows for a number of reasons. Initially, I began watching the show because of Bryan Cranston: I had been a fan of his work for years, but the idea of seeing him in a more serious role instantly drew me to the show. After watching the first few episodes, I was hooked, as the premise of the show paired with the powerhouse performances from the characters of the show made for an amazing viewing experience.

Not only did Cranston keep me watching, but Aaron Paul's supporting role, Jesse Pinkman, was incredible to watch. Their on-screen chemistry was unlike anything I'd seen, and I knew that the show would prosper shortly after becoming hooked. Initially, the relationship between them was similar to a father-son relationship, both learning from each other, growing as individuals together. Mid-way through the second season, Jesse had become more aware of what they were doing, and how wrong it was but Walter was in far too deep to think about quitting the meth business. Jesse became tormented by the things he had experienced since going into partnership with Walter, and it was from here that the true nature of the characters was revealed to the viewers: both echoes of the men the once were, but so far from themselves that it was beyond redemption. Gilligan's writing of the two characters and exploring their relationship and how it had morphed and changed over the seasons kept the viewers hooked.

When watching the show through, from start to finish, the character development of not only White and Pinkman, but the supporting characters changed a great amount over the seasons; Walter's decent into criminality and further distancing himself from the man he once. It was only when re-watching the earliest episodes that I saw the true extent to what had happened to his character and for that, I think Vince Gilligan's writing was truly brilliant. In addition to the brilliant characters, the script had to on par to achieve the anticipated success. 

The thing that made Breaking Bad so different from anything I'd previously seen was the story, as there were the events that occurred over the course of a single episode, however they were but a smaller fragment of an even bigger picture, and every episode added something new to the story. There was intense action throughout episodes, and the tension was gripping from start to finish which I feel attracted viewers and hooked them for the duration of the show's run: the action built up rather quickly, and it was fairly easy to get lost in the action of the show.

The true extent of Walter's insanity revealed in
'Fly' (Season 3, Episode 10)

However, there were periods in which the action would go from high-intensity, face-paced action, episode after episode to absolutely nothing: the action would completely die down, leaving the audience in anguish, begging to know the next piece of the puzzle. One notable instance of this would be the episode 'Fly': (Season 3 Episode 10) in the episodes building up to this, the action had just been building up, higher and higher to a point where fans were expecting an intense action and something epic and explosive to just whack them in the faces and change their fundamental ideology forever. Despite their hopes, the episode was slow and tenacious: the complete opposite of what was to be expected. The episode consisted of Walter White, who by now was far from level-headed, wasted an entire day attempting to catch a fly in his meth lab. The episode was brilliantly written and is unarguably some of Cranston's best work; despite the lack of action, the episode did a huge amount in terms of character development, as we witnessed the true extent to Walter's descent into madness. I truly believe that character development and gripping storylines are two fundamental aspects of great television, and in order to prosper you cannot have one without the other.

Breaking Bad isn't exactly limited to a specific demographic in the sense that the series was universally enjoyed by pretty much all that watched the show. Bringing a show similar to this to E4's demographic of 16-35 year olds would be a change from what they're used to but judging from the success of other original dramas (Skins, Misfits, Glue) I firmly believe that a new show like this would fit in rather well with the targeted demographic.