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Jan. 15th, 2012 11:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
in_the_blueYou guys tend not to watch the shows I watch. Between (now all on hiatus) Boardwalk Empire, Breaking Bad, and Hell on Wheels, I sometimes feel like I'm adrift on my own little raft of no one else watches AMC unless it's Mad Men* in an ocean of TV. Not that I'm complaining, because really, I've been in the disenchanted-and-neary-divorced phase of my relationship with television the past few years.
* I know Boardwalk Empire is HBO.
So I don't expect any grand renewals on my love affair with TV, not to the point where I have to watch something every night. BUT. Since Battlestar Galactica is over and its spinoffs have been downgraded to web-only affairs, I will say that Hell on Wheels and Breaking Bad are my favorite things on TV right now.
Like Battlestar, my favorite thing about both these shows is the writers' attention to characterization. In Breaking Bad we get some of the most unintentionally badass characters ever, and I do mean EVER, mixed right in with those who are intentionally badass. There's Walt, who respects the chemistry so much that he's able to cook the purest meth ever, and then on the other end of the scale there are people like Tuco or Gus who take respect in a whole different direction. The first three episodes of the show are incredibly hard to take and I almost stopped watching, but I'm so glad I didn't. It's been an incredible journey with these characters. The show's creator, Vince Gilligan, said next season will be the last because he (paraphrasing) has to get Walt out of his head.
I don't blame him. Walt's a great character, and Bryan Cranston against all odds is like... TV's best actor. No more light comedy, although Breaking Bad has plenty of funny moments (the kind where we tell ourselves we shouldn't be laughing but can't help it). The whole cast is superb. Giancarlo Esposito, before he went to Once Upon a Time to be a magic mirror-slash-newspaper editor, did some of the most beautiful acting with nothing more than subtle facial expressions since... Tigh with his one eye. I do have to say, though, that while I am so excited for the final season, which starts this summer, I do breathe a sigh of relief after every episode. If it was on more frequently, I don't know that I could take it. It's not a show I want to marathon, put it that way.
Hell on Wheels, what can I say. I almost didn't watch it. My younger sister told me about it, said she was so excited for it and that I ought to check it out. I was drawn to it mostly because Colm Meany is one of the leads, and despite its incredibly badass opening scene I found the first couple episodes a little slow. I am so glad I kept with it, though. I love love love the character development on this show (I'm not surprised it shares some of its writing staff with Breaking Bad). Sometimes it's predictable, but damn if the acting isn't so fucking good in it. The cinematography is gorgeous, just spectacular, and the directing seems to be really tight and well-focused. Part of me wants to cry because 10 episodes isn't enough for a full season, but they left us with a hell of a cliffhanger tonight. If the show hadn't been renewed just before Christmas, this would've been the end of it and I can actually see how it could have worked that way.
There are some things in the show that might not be quite historically accurate, at least not to the degree I'd expect, but I'm not getting the sense they did it to put modern sensibilities and political correctness into a 19th-century setting. I think they did it to finesse the whole concept of societal change. I'm not sure change happened during the Reconstruction as dramatically as the show presents, but it might have. Disclaimer: I wasn't there, not that I'm aware of. Not in this life.
I want the soundtrack to this show. I want the show out on DVD like... yesterday. I'm afraid if I gobble it up too fast it'll make me sick, it's that rich and layered. All the actors in it (I can't start naming names because the list would be too long but okay, Anson Mount and Common and Dominique McElligott and Edddie Spears and Robin McLeavy and see, I told you the list would be too long) are absolutely wonderful. I'm a fan of all of theirs now. My sister stopped watching after the first episode or two, which I think is an absolute shame. But then I remind myself our taste in shows doesn't always coincide like it did with Breaking Bad.
Who out there's watching?
* I know Boardwalk Empire is HBO.
So I don't expect any grand renewals on my love affair with TV, not to the point where I have to watch something every night. BUT. Since Battlestar Galactica is over and its spinoffs have been downgraded to web-only affairs, I will say that Hell on Wheels and Breaking Bad are my favorite things on TV right now.
Like Battlestar, my favorite thing about both these shows is the writers' attention to characterization. In Breaking Bad we get some of the most unintentionally badass characters ever, and I do mean EVER, mixed right in with those who are intentionally badass. There's Walt, who respects the chemistry so much that he's able to cook the purest meth ever, and then on the other end of the scale there are people like Tuco or Gus who take respect in a whole different direction. The first three episodes of the show are incredibly hard to take and I almost stopped watching, but I'm so glad I didn't. It's been an incredible journey with these characters. The show's creator, Vince Gilligan, said next season will be the last because he (paraphrasing) has to get Walt out of his head.
I don't blame him. Walt's a great character, and Bryan Cranston against all odds is like... TV's best actor. No more light comedy, although Breaking Bad has plenty of funny moments (the kind where we tell ourselves we shouldn't be laughing but can't help it). The whole cast is superb. Giancarlo Esposito, before he went to Once Upon a Time to be a magic mirror-slash-newspaper editor, did some of the most beautiful acting with nothing more than subtle facial expressions since... Tigh with his one eye. I do have to say, though, that while I am so excited for the final season, which starts this summer, I do breathe a sigh of relief after every episode. If it was on more frequently, I don't know that I could take it. It's not a show I want to marathon, put it that way.
Hell on Wheels, what can I say. I almost didn't watch it. My younger sister told me about it, said she was so excited for it and that I ought to check it out. I was drawn to it mostly because Colm Meany is one of the leads, and despite its incredibly badass opening scene I found the first couple episodes a little slow. I am so glad I kept with it, though. I love love love the character development on this show (I'm not surprised it shares some of its writing staff with Breaking Bad). Sometimes it's predictable, but damn if the acting isn't so fucking good in it. The cinematography is gorgeous, just spectacular, and the directing seems to be really tight and well-focused. Part of me wants to cry because 10 episodes isn't enough for a full season, but they left us with a hell of a cliffhanger tonight. If the show hadn't been renewed just before Christmas, this would've been the end of it and I can actually see how it could have worked that way.
There are some things in the show that might not be quite historically accurate, at least not to the degree I'd expect, but I'm not getting the sense they did it to put modern sensibilities and political correctness into a 19th-century setting. I think they did it to finesse the whole concept of societal change. I'm not sure change happened during the Reconstruction as dramatically as the show presents, but it might have. Disclaimer: I wasn't there, not that I'm aware of. Not in this life.
I want the soundtrack to this show. I want the show out on DVD like... yesterday. I'm afraid if I gobble it up too fast it'll make me sick, it's that rich and layered. All the actors in it (I can't start naming names because the list would be too long but okay, Anson Mount and Common and Dominique McElligott and Edddie Spears and Robin McLeavy and see, I told you the list would be too long) are absolutely wonderful. I'm a fan of all of theirs now. My sister stopped watching after the first episode or two, which I think is an absolute shame. But then I remind myself our taste in shows doesn't always coincide like it did with Breaking Bad.
Who out there's watching?
