Monsters of Television

Well, it’s finally happening. I’m watching the first season of Breaking Bad.

I’ve never been particularly excited about the series, despite all the positive word of mouth and critical praise heaped upon it. I cannot explain the lack of excitement (I remember that when I heard the premise, I said, “Oh. So it’s Weeds. But with a guy. Who has a cancer. Hijinks ensue.”), but it was just never much of a priority for me, despite how really superb I think Byran Cranston is in anything.

But here I am, caving to peer pressure, like I was told never to do. I decided to split the difference in the normal way of covering a show for a DVD First Watch. I didn’t care for the season summary approach I took with Mad Men, but the Supernatural episode-by-episode approach was taking me forever to watch and then write about (I did finish season 1, by the way. Reaction: HOLY CRAP, GUYS. THAT’S INSANE. IS THE IMPALA OKAY?!).

Instead, I’m borrowing a page from Maureen Ryan’s playbook as she watched season 3 of Breaking Bad: After each episode she watched, she did a brief list of responses and thoughts about it and then went to the next one. Mine may be in paragraph form as opposed to a bulleted list, but the thought process will be the same: I’ll watch an episode, write some brief thoughts, and then go to the next one.

I should be able to get through all seven episodes today (update: I did not), so either check back here every hour or so for thoughts on the episode I just watched, or keep an eye on my Twitter feed for when I update this entry or have to take a break.

Here we go. Read more »