After Watching Breaking Bad

I'm one of those guys who generally misses big-name TV shows and catches up months and even years later.  Seinfeld, The Seventies Show, Law and Order, Friends?  Most I ended up watching three to five years after they ended.  That's mostly because of life overseas.

Today, after an entire month....I've finally watched all of Breaking Bad.  It ended around two years ago.  Yeah, it just wasn't on my must-watch list at the time.

So my five observations after turbo-viewing the sixty-two episodes?

One.  It is probably one of the best written and epic stories that TV ever produced.  I should point out....it wasn't the big three (CBS, NBC, or ABC) or the Cable thugs (Showtime or HBO).  It was an AMC production.  They didn't go over the top or hire four-star actors....they knew they could get decent actors....give them a great script....and they'd turn in four-star performances.

Two.  From the first ten episodes....I was all bought into Walt's idea and mission in life. I was all connected to Jessie maturing and getting clean one day.  By the final ten episodes....I hated Walter White immensely....his character was no longer a likable guy.  As for Jessie....somewhere along the bitter end....he wised up.  They leave you with a mystery on what happens to Jessie next.  Maybe in five years.....Jessie turns up somewhere in another show.

Three.  Breaking Bad is a great tool to lecture people on the business side of drugs.  There is a distribution system, a manufacturing system, an advertising system, a regulatory commission of sorts, a customer complaint system, and rich guys at the top who act as CEOs.

Four.  By the end...with about six exceptions....virtually every single character that you met along the way is dead.  Saul, the crappy but dependable lawyer?  He survives, and one might suspect him turning up one day....maybe in Mississippi or Jacksonville.  My favorite short-term character?  Jessie's heron girlfriend.  You could tell in the first five minutes upon introduction.....she just wasn't going to be around for more than five or six episodes.

Five.  The big three (CBS, NBC, and ABC) have a problem.  They can't produce shows like this.  The public will eventually figure this out.

After you sit and watch fifty-odd hours of this....you have a good idea of the meth world.....the characters involved...the business connection....and marginal amount of time you have to make money, then lose money.  Maybe in some way.....there's a great business side to Breaking Bad....showing the decision process and how a company can fail quickly on bad decision-making.

Worth watching?  Yeah.  Just don't get attached to any characters.....some get whacked pretty quick.