Breaking Bad Most Looked Forward to New Show of January
But that's just by me, there are no stats to back this up. I am looking really forward to this, however.
And so is Ken Tucker at Entertainment Weekly:
Walter White (Malcolm in the Middle's Bryan Cranston) is a weary high school chemistry teacher with a bad mustache, a middle-aged, suburban drone. Until he's diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
This sets him free. Or free enough to get into the crystal-meth business in order to raise enough money for his wife (Deadwood's Anna Gunn, nicely grumpy) and cerebral palsy-afflicted son (RJ Mitte, nicely smart-alecky) to live on after he croaks, and for him to have a few thrills while he's at it. Walt partners with grungy teen meth-head Jesse (Big Love's Aaron Paul), who's trying to launch his own tweak factory.
They gave it a B+.
You can imagine that there are a lot of comparisons to Weeds, but most of the reviews I've read certainly indicate that Breaking Bad is no comedy. Or at least a comedy with extremely dark overtones.
Not enough of Breaking Bad was available for preview to decide whether the supporting cast will eventually satisfy as much as Weeds regulars like Elizabeth Perkins, Kevin Nealon, Tonye Patano, and Justin Kirk, but Cranston’s Walter is already a winner. He reminds me of Robin Williams’s Tommy Wilhelm in the film version of Saul Bellow’s Seize the Day, back in 1986, when Robin Williams was still wonderful to watch.
And here's some of the cast differentiating the show from others.
This Sunday on AMC.
