Posts with tag BryanCranston
Posted May 7th 2008 9:27PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free
All I can say after word came out today that they
AMC renewed Breaking Bad is FINALLY! What the hell took so long? Every bit as critically acclaimed and amazing as the already renewed
Mad Men, this meth and cancer dramedy defies description and blows away expectations. After the strike-shortened seven episode first season, AMC has committed to a full thirteen-episode run for its sophomore effort; no word yet on when the new season will film or air.
Bryan Cranston is a veritable tour de force in the role of Walter White, the high school chemistry teacher who begins producing meth to procure the funds necessary for his family to get by after he dies. Aaron Paul is equally strong as his half-witted cohort in crime, and the two of them are the grimmest comedy duo since ... well, maybe ever. Each week the series surpassed expectations by getting better and better, and that was only seven weeks. I can't imagine nearly twice that!
[via
Ain't It Cool News]
Posted Mar 10th 2008 8:42AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Breaking Bad
(S01E07) Well, I have to say that while this finale did establish a certain status quo, albeit a highly precarious one, it was by no means a satisfying series ender. Thus, I fully expect that AMC will renew this amazing show for a second season post haste. Did you here me, AMC? Whatever you need to do to secure these actors and get this ball rolling. And maybe give us at least 13 episodes next time, eh?
Continue reading Breaking Bad: A No Rough Stuff Type Deal (season finale)
Posted Mar 3rd 2008 12:53PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Breaking Bad
(S01E06) I hadn't even realized how quickly this season has gone by until the closing moments told me that next week was the season finale. That's way too soon, and yes I understand there was a pesky writer's strike which played havoc with production schedules. But
Breaking Bad is just too good of a show that's just starting to find its groove. Bryan Cranston just constantly blows me away with his performance, and Aaron Paul continues to find ways to turn what could be a very one-dimensional, archetypical street thug into a complex personality.
Continue reading Breaking Bad: Crazy Handful of Nothin'
Posted Feb 25th 2008 10:41AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Breaking Bad
(S01E05) This episode served as a bridge in our larger story to the next chapter of both Jesse and Walt's lives. In the previous installment, Walt withdrew from the sordid world of drug trafficking and focused on his family, revealing his cancer and looking at the varying options available to him. Meanwhile, his erstwhile partner Jesse had a bad drug reaction and sought refuge in the home of his parents, which didn't turn out as well as he had hoped. Here they both continued their efforts to move on with their lives, to varying degrees of failure.
Continue reading Breaking Bad: Gray Matter
Posted Feb 18th 2008 12:41PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Breaking Bad
(S01E04) This episode was about calming down and reassessing one's life and family. We got to see Walter open up and share his cancer with his extended family, albeit reluctantly and only done really because Skyler couldn't handle it alone. Walter, in fact, remained incredibly stoic, silent and passive about his impending fate. He also stayed true to his original vision, which was not to leave his family with a mountain of debt.
As for Jesse, we finally got to meet the rest of the Pinkman clan and they're nothing like you'd expect - or they're exactly like you'd expect - and yet somehow they appeared to have a profound influence on where Jesse's life is heading and what he wants to do about it.
Continue reading Breaking Bad: Cancer Man
Posted Feb 11th 2008 10:03AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Breaking Bad
(S01E03) "I thought we were going to Cold Stone Creamery." Walt, Jr. with Hank
With this episode we come to the conclusion of what would be considered the "First Act" of the
Breaking Bad saga. I have to say that I was very impressed with this conclusion, and with the opening arc. Cranston continues to dominate the screen with his tragic portrayal of a desperate man who's health is clearly failing more and more with each passing moment. Hard decisions are made, and the hardest and best decision he's made yet looks to be the one the episode ends on.
Continue reading Breaking Bad: ...and the Bag's in the River
Posted Jan 28th 2008 4:45PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Breaking Bad
(S01E02) "Is this going to be on the murder?" -- question asked by a student in Walter White's class, or at least how he heard it.
Things are starting to unravel fast for our "odd couple" of meth makers. Last episode left them with two dead bodies in the back of a wrecked RV filled with meth ingredients. How could it get worse? Well, what if one of those dead bodies isn't so much ... dead that is? The boys haven't sold any drugs yet, Pinkman's house is falling apart and White's marriage may not be far behind. Cranston's getting well deserved raves for his stellar performance, but as with most buddy comedies, and let's face it this is becoming a very dark comedy, it takes two great actors to pull it off, and Aaron Paul's Pinkman is an amazing foil for Cranston's White.
Continue reading Breaking Bad: Cat's in the Bag...
Posted Jan 21st 2008 10:51PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Breaking Bad
(S01E01) "Tell me why you're doing this. Seriously."
"Why do you do it?"
"Money. Mainly."
"There you go."
"Nah, come on. Man, some straight like you, giant stick up his ass, all of a sudden at age, what, 60; he's just gonna break bad."
"I'm 50."
If your idea of a dashing leading man doesn't include a guy in his fifties wearing his Fruit of the Loom briefs and a lab smock, then you're not watching the right shows. Bryan Cranston is one of television's most under-appreciated actors. While Jane Kaczmerek was Emmy-nominated seven years in a row for her work on
Malcolm in the Middle, and was constantly talked about, Cranston only picked up three nods. It looks like he might have another chance at Emmy gold as his performance in
Breaking Bad is amazing.
Continue reading Breaking Bad: Pilot (series premiere)
Posted Dec 20th 2007 12:24PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Pickups and Renewals
AMC already has one critically acclaimed and Golden Globe nominated drama under its belt with the brilliant Mad Men. A second new series, Breaking Bad, hopes to follow that success, beginning in January. Malcolm in the Middle's Bryan Cranston stars as a high school chemistry teacher who turns to a life of crime in order to support his family after he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. If it's half as good as Mad Men it'll be twice as good as most of what's on TV.
But not content to wait around to see how Breaking Bad does critically and commercially, Variety reports that AMC has no less than four more shows in various stages of development, including two westerns. Westerns haven't been able to find success on the broadcast networks in years. Now by "Western" I'm talking the John Wayne/Clint Eastwood brand of Westerns with gunfights and saloon whores, not the likes of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, which did find an audience but was a very different kind of show.
Continue reading Mad Men inspires more scripted fare at AMC
Posted Apr 10th 2007 10:30AM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews
(S01E01/S01E02) I'm about to give you fair warning. In addition to being a husband, father, writer at TV Squad, and Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist I have also been in improv for 5 years. So, my review is may be slightly tainted.
That being said, I didn't think Thank God You're Here was an utter disaster. I also didn't think it was a laugh-until-you-pee hit, either. It was interesting to watch and mildly entertaining, even in those scenes where you knew the actors were waaaayyyy out of their element. And there was plenty of that.
Continue reading Thank God You're Here: Episodes 1 & 2 (series premiere)
Posted Dec 4th 2006 7:33PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Cable, Industry, OpEd, Celebrities
He's played the flustered dad on
Malcolm in the Middle. He's portrayed a dentist who converted to Judaism for the jokes. And he's also played Ted Mosby's egomaniacal boss. Now Bryan Cranston has signed on to play a role he seemed to be born to play: Beelzebub.
That's right. Cranston
will be playing Lucifer on the ABC Family limited-run series
Fallen. The series is a continuation of a movie that ABCF aired over the summer; in it, an 18-year old kid named Aaron struggles to come to terms with his new identity when he finds out that he is half-human, half-angel (I wonder which parent was the angel. If it's the mom, I'd love to meet her for coffee).
Continue reading Malcolm dad to play Lucifer in Fallen
Posted Sep 26th 2006 1:05PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, CBS, OpEd, How I Met Your Mother, Celebrities
Isn't it always interesting to learn who's going to guest star on your favorite show? I definitely like reading these press releases, mainly because I like hearing how some sort of high-profile guest is going to affect the chemistry of an established ensemble. It's especially important with sitcoms, because you never know if the guest's comic ability (if they have any) will mesh well with that of the show's cast.
But I don't think I'm going to have anything to worry about when Jane Seymour and Bryan Cranston guest on the Oct. 25th episode of
How I Met Your Mother. According to this
press release, Seymour plays a law professor of Marshall's that Barney hits on to help his buddy get better grades, and Cranston plays Ted's crappy boss. Seeing these two veterans with the younger (but no less experienced) cast should make for a pretty funny episode.
[via
The Futon Critic]
Posted Aug 26th 2005 11:00AM by Jen Segrest
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Cable
I have really enjoyed the show for the past few years but it's becoming harder to admit after the last two new episodes.
Last week's ep (which I just saw yesterday) was basically themed "Battle of the Reality Hasbeens" with
The Apprentice's famous witch queen Omarosa and a bevy of annoying, obnoxious, ignorant and nonsensical attitude-filled freakazoids like
Survivor's Jonny Fairplay (who I had never heard of before today). It was a painful two hours that found me fast forwarding on TiVo a lot. The fight for fifteen more minutes was never more desperate or sad. Mostly just sad.
Continue reading Celebrity Poker Showdown: the good and the bad
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