Breaking Bad doesn't deserve to sit at the table with The Sopranos and The Wire

[Kill Dat Noize]

See I didn't care enough about Carmela becoming an independent woman to be drawn in by the whole spec house thing plus it wasn't actually her being self-sufficient because she ended up needing Tony's help anyway. And that Carm/Rosalie in Paris stuff was time that could have been better spent pretty much on any other character.
Also I never said anything about AJ's scenes in general...his scenes with Tony especially were very worthwhile.
But storylines where AJ was the central focus were ass.

again i don't know what to say. is it possible you just didn't have as much of an interest in the non-mob related stuff? because otherwise i don't see why you couldn't bring yourself to care enough about arguably the show's 2nd lead character.

 

[Kill Dat Noize]

"The Sopranos" is in my top 3 but c'mon son. There was mad scenes where the show spun it's wheels....probably more than any other show listed here. I don't hold it against the show, it was basically an experiment at the time because heavily serialized story telling was relatively new, and they had to fill in the episodes some how.

Fred.

go on...

 

[Jello Biafra]

again i don't know what to say. is it possible you just didn't have as much of an interest in the non-mob related stuff? because otherwise i don't see why you couldn't bring yourself to care enough about arguably the show's 2nd lead character.

I liked Carmela but her storylines were not good. As i said before...characters you like can be saddled with terrible storylines. Not everything is golden and The Sopranos had a whole lot of subpar storylines.

 

[Jello Biafra]

go on...

I could answer this but since you posed this question to Fred I will step back.

 

[Kill Dat Noize]

I liked Carmela but her storylines were not good. As i said before...characters you like can be saddled with terrible storylines. Not everything is golden and The Sopranos had a whole lot of subpar storylines.

what didn't you like about her storylines?

 

[Jello Biafra]

what didn't you like about her storylines?

A lot of them seemed ridiculously superfluous and devoid of any real forethought. I would place the Furio flirtation at the top of that list. Nothing about that storyline made a lick of sense and only served to diminish an interesting supporting character in Furio.
Edie Falco always brought it with her acting but the writing for her in storylines that positioned her as the central figure were lacking.

 

[hex]

go on...

I don't really understand the point because you're just gonna say it was character development or "an insight into the character" or whatever. AJ Soprano in general. Dude is the prototype for completely superfluous side characters like Walt Jr. and Marie. Or the kids from "Homeland".

Fred.

 

[Kill Dat Noize]

A lot of them seemed ridiculously superfluous and devoid of any real forethought. I would place the Furio flirtation at the top of that list. Nothing about that storyline made a lick of sense and only served to diminish an interesting supporting character in Furio.
Edie Falco always brought it with her acting but the writing for her in storylines that positioned her as the central figure were lacking.

why wouldn't carmella fantasize about her pig of a husband's big, strong, burly co-worker with the accent and the pony tail?

and how does furio become LESS interesting just because we got to see what the man is actually like when he's not bashing someone's kneecaps in? if anything it makes him MORE interesting, MORE layered.

 

[Kill Dat Noize]

I don't really understand the point because you're just gonna say it was character development or "an insight into the character" or whatever. AJ Soprano in general. Dude is the prototype for completely superfluous side characters like Walt Jr. and Marie. Or the kids from "Homeland".

Fred.

walt jr was a glorified plot device but to say the same about either AJ or the daughter from Homeland means one of 2 things:

a) you're watching a different show from the rest of us
b) you only focus on the things you wanna focus on

 

[Jello Biafra]

why wouldn't carmella fantasize about her pig of a husband's big, strong, burly co-worker with the accent and the pony tail?

and how does furio become LESS interesting just because we got to see what the man is actually like when he's not bashing someone's kneecaps in? if anything it makes him MORE interesting, MORE layered.

It ruined Furio because it resulted in his being written off the show and as a story it was one big anti-climactic pile of bullshyt. If you are going to go there with Carm being unfulfilled in her marriage (as evidenced by the prior flirtation with the priest) then the logical culmination of this storyline would have been her and Furio boning and then the fallout afterwards. Instead everyone realizes what a bad idea it is after an interminable waste of air time and the storyline just fizzled out.

 

[Kill Dat Noize]

It ruined Furio because it resulted in his being written off the show and as a story it was one big anti-climactic pile of bullshyt. If you are going to go there with Carm being unfulfilled in her marriage (as evidenced by the prior flirtation with the priest) then the logical culmination of this storyline would have been her and Furio boning and then the fallout afterwards. Instead everyone realizes what a bad idea it is after an interminable waste of air time and the storyline just fizzled out.

what are you talking about? carmella did wanna fukk furio. the whole season was basically her trying to come to terms with it. and furio caught feelings for her too. only reason it didn't happen was cause furio knew being with carmella would cost him his life and so he thought the best thing was for him to runaway and never look back.

and that "anti-climatic" storyline culminated in arguably the best episode of the entire show. the season 4 finale, "whitecaps".

 

[Brandsdale]

in terms of second tier shows that classifies as:

-Mad Men
-Power (arguably)
-Boardwalk Empire
-Walking Dead
etc.

Breaking Bad from 2008-now still won Emmy awards and stands as the highest rating dramatic series fam. I won't go out on a limb and say its better than The Wire (im a stan) but it's in the same greatness. storyline, character development and always kept you on the edge of your seat

Both shows equally gave me near fatal heart attacks

 

[Jello Biafra]

what are you talking about? carmella did wanna fukk furio. the whole season was basically her trying to come to terms with it. and furio caught feelings for her too. only reason it didn't happen was cause furio knew being with carmella would cost him his life and so he thought the best thing was for him to runaway and never look back.

and that "anti-climatic" storyline culminated in arguably the best episode of the entire show. the season 4 finale, "whitecaps".

You know this is a fruitless exchange, right? Any criticism I give will be dismissed by you completely because you seem to have The Sopranos on this pedestal where every second of every episode was pure TV perfection.
I disagree with you.
And I argue that the Whitecaps episode and every Tony/Carmella scene in it could have happened and been just as impactful if the Carmella/Furio flirtation thing never happened.

 

[Kill Dat Noize]

You know this is a fruitless exchange, right? Any criticism I give will be dismissed by you completely because you seem to have The Sopranos on this pedestal where every second of every episode was pure TV perfection.
I disagree with you.
And I argue that the Whitecaps episode and every Tony/Carmella scene in it could have happened and been just as impactful if the Carmella/Furio flirtation thing never happened.

how else will you learn the errors of you ways?

 

[hex]

walt jr was a glorified plot device but to say the same about either AJ or the daughter from Homeland means one of 2 things:

a) you're watching a different show from the rest of us
b) you only focus on the things you wanna focus on

AJ and his entire character arc was never well received. Ever. To claim otherwise is some internet history rewriting bullshyt.

Likewise with "Homeland". You exist in an alternatve universe where Dana Brody isn't seen as a WOAT character contender. Meanwhile I'm in the real world where the character was written off the show:

http://www.thewrap.com/homeland-gets-return-date-with-no-dana-brody/

I guess you'll stop watching "Homeland" since they cut out such an integral part of the series, right?

Fred.