I’m totally OK (obv) with having a preference between them. The reasoning is just so ridiculous imo, felt worth responding to
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I don’t understand how it’s ridiculous. When you don’t know the ending, you get all the benefits you describe (with respect to seeing how everything goes down) plus the additional suspense. It’s barely debatable.
Huge animation news. Pantheon, previously relegated to AMC+ and pirating sites has been picked up by Netflix and will be streaming in November.
This is my highest of high recommends. Short two seasons with a solid conclusion. Its unlikely Netflix commissions a third season but it isnt needed with how solidly season 2 ends.
If you have not seen it, please check it out
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Seems relevant to the core demo around here
https://x.com/BillSimmons/status/1856799448267198644?t=SjbtrMvPZ77oWuQQKsF2cQ&s=19
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So there was no point you thought Walt was gonna die right? Which means a hell of a lot more based on what he got himself into compared to Saul
Well, Walt did die.
The could have given him some sort of Hollywood ending where he, Skyler and Jr. live happily ever after.
But I guess that’s a fair point. In a show called “Better Call Saul”, if they’re killing Saul, it’s only at the very end.
It wasn’t just Saul though. We know where Mike, Saul and Hector end up. And we know that Kim and Saul don’t get a happily ever after. I somewhat agree with Melkerson’s point. There’s limitations to what they can do with a show like this since we know the fate’s of some of the main characters.
Rewatching BB after BCS, they definitely made Saul much more one dimensional in BB. I remember reading that he was only going to be in one episode but they liked the character so much they kept him around.
That aside though, BCS is still a masterpiece.
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I don’t really think that “what’s going to happen?” is inherently more compelling than “how on earth is this going to work out in the way that I know it will?” Even when you’re spoiled on the result, a well-constructed show will write itself into scenarios where even the eventual result that you know to be true feels downright impossible, and seeing how well (or, in negative cases, how contrived) the path to that result is executed can be as good as anything in TV or film.
By all means, I think that some works thrive on being mystery boxes where the ultimate resolution is probably where the work lives or dies, but that’s just one approach. I don’t know why it would necessarily be the singular best one.
(All of that said, I desperately wish that compliments for BCS could exist without the proponents overreaching into “better than BB” territory. But maybe we can take baby steps and just convince people not to pretend that it had a GOAT-level TV theme song.)
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Columbo literally unwatchable ITT
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Breaking bad has not aged well. It was one of the first prestige tv series and tv has gone on to greater heights since then. Plus you see shit like this and you’re like wtf was it all even for
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I mean it came on the air after The Wire and The Sopranos (and Six Feet Under) had wrapped or were wrapping multi-season runs, I don’t really think it’s in that first batch. What are these post-BB series that achieved noticeably greater heights?
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BB started right as the Wire was ending and a year after The Sopranos ended. It definitely benefitted from people looking for their next fix.
I’m not sure if BJ is leveling on his take that BB didn’t age well or not but I think it aged fine. It’s still the #1 show on IMDB with an insane 9.5 score.
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Some obvious noms for post-BB new heights are:
Succession
Black Mirror
Dark
Severance
Mad Men
Chernobyl
Game of Thrones(if you exclude the last season or two)
BCS
True Detective S1
The Last of Us
Fallout
Narcos
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Granted that there are shows on that list that I haven’t seen (though I’ve seen more than half), but Mad Men is the only one I’d take particularly seriously. And Mad Men doesn’t really work as a post-BB show because they were contemporaries and peak Mad Men aired while BB was still happening.
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Dark is possibly the greatest show of all time. If you haven’t watched it, you should. If you are saying it doesn’t compare to BB, well then I disagree.
I also forgot about Shogun and The Bear. I’d put those in there somewhere.
My personal rough/without thinking about it too much T10 for reference:
- Sopranos
- The Wire
- Dark
- Breaking Bad
- Mad Men
- Better Call Saul
- The Bear
- Shogun
- The Office
- Peaky Blinders
Honorable Mention: Peep Show
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All of the shows on your list are great, but they’re not obviously better than BB.
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Fair enough. There has been a lot of good/great prestige TV since BB. That’s the only point I am making. I actually disagree with BJ on basically his whole post as I do think BB holds up well on rewatch and it is clearly one of the greatest shows OAT.
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I am one of the bigger Severance slappies you’ll find, but to put it on a list of the greats after one season is a big reach.
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