BryanCranston-related stories
Posted Jul 16th 2009 2:44PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, The Simpsons, Watercooler Talk, 30 Rock, Awards, Emmys, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free, Mad Men, The Big Bang Theory
Now that the excitement has died down, I've been scouring
the complete list of nominations. Here's a few observations... Then, let me know what you think.
-- Why bother with the Outstanding Mini-Series category? There were only two nominees worthy of a nomination. Exactly how many mini-series are even produced anymore? This is an outmoded TV format. Kill the category.
-- What's going on with the writers?
30 Rock dominates the comedy category and
Mad Men dominates the drama category. What are the chances that the lone nomination in each category wins? I'd say slim and none. I call for limitations; only two episodes per series. Writing is such a subjective thing anyway. If you like
30 Rock's scattershot humor, you're more likely to vote for it compared to a traditional sitcom like
Big Bang Theory. The latter should have snagged a nom for
The Lizard-Spock Expansion episode.
Continue reading Some random thoughts on the Emmy nominations
Posted Jun 19th 2009 11:01AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Interviews, Casting, Emmys, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free
On July 16th when the Primetime Emmy nominations are announced, one name that is likely to appear in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series is
Aaron Paul. As Jesse Pinkman on AMC's
Breaking Bad, Aaron has done amazing work, revealing a character as fascinating as he is flawed.
His performance this past season on
Breaking Bad has generated lots of talk about an Emmy nomination, but not to be overlooked is the fact that Paul is also doing great work on HBO's
Big Love. On that drama, his character, Scott, is the antithesis of Jesse. It's a testament to Aaron's skill as an actor that I didn't recognize him at first from
Big Love when I watched
Breaking Bad. A search of
his IMDB listing was one of those 'ah-ha' moments. Recently, I had to chance to speak with Aaron, and we started with the jaw-dropping season finale of
Breaking Bad.
Continue reading Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad: The TV Squad Interview
Posted May 31st 2009 11:22PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: 24, House, Lost, Episode Reviews, Emmys, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free, Mad Men
(S02E13) Cause and effect, random selection, grief, life and death... "My father is my hero, he's just decent."
Breaking Bad covered all that and more in the season finale, setting up Walter White's life after successful surgery that bought him more time. The question was this when the end credits rolled, what will that life be for the New Mexico science teacher after all that's come before?
Anyone out there who thinks they know is lying because only creator Vince Gilligan has a handle on what's been going on and what's to come. What we do know after watching the season finale is this:
Breaking Bad is as good as any other drama currently on television, and that includes
Lost, Mad Men, House, 24 and the other potential Emmy nominees for Outstanding Drama Series.
Continue reading Breaking Bad: ABQ (season finale)
Posted May 28th 2009 5:03PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Web, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free
Something from AMC's brilliant
Breaking Bad has found its way into the real world. And no, I don't mean 34 pounds of pure crystal meth so fine it could make your toes curl into sheepshanks.
During last Sunday's episode, Walter's son created a very touching web page for his ailing father that solicits donations for his cancer treatments. Walt was very touched by the gesture, but objected to taking charity from strangers. Of course, that changed when Walter's legal partner in crime Saul saw it as a way to launder his drug money to his family without them getting wise to his deeds.
That website actually exists on the web at
SaveWalterWhite.com.
Continue reading SaveWalterWhite.com joins the real world wide web
Posted May 20th 2009 2:06PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Watercooler Talk, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free
A few weeks ago, I got to speak with
Bryan Cranston about Breaking Bad winning a Peabody Award. In the course of that conversation, Bryan told me that writer/creator Vince Gilligan had considered killing the character of Jesse Pinkman at the end of last season. This was a bit of shock to me, but according to Bryan, what saved Jesse was Aaron Paul's performance. "He has this puppy dog quality even when he's doing the most despicable things," Bryan told me.
Well, as I watched
Breaking Bad the other night, it occurred to me that Jesse's days might be numbered. In fact,
Jason alluded to the possibility in his review; those two dead bodies lying under blankets that have been beside the White pool in the season-long foreshadowed crime scene could be Jane and Jesse.
Continue reading Will Walter kill Jesse on Breaking Bad?
Posted May 18th 2009 11:01AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free
(S02E11) After last week's episode, I thought we might have a moment where Walt came back to Jesse and said that it was back on. He'd got the passion for cooking in his soul and he couldn't shake it out. It's really starting to make me worry more about those foreshadowing opening sequences we've seen with body bags and destruction. Explosion at the White house? Is his family going to be collateral damage?
We didn't get any further on the foreshadowing sequence in the opening segment, instead we got something equally devastating in the here and now. If you're going to get into drug distribution, you have to learn to expect collateral damage. When that damage came it was perfect that Walter didn't even recognize him by name.
Continue reading Breaking Bad: Mandala
Posted May 4th 2009 12:40AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free
(S02E09) When a cancer patient awaits the results of a PET-CT scan, the anxiety can be overwhelming. Walt deals with that anxiety by preparing for the worst, which in his case means cooking. And cooking in mass quantities, though even he wasn't prepared for just how massive it turned out to be. As for poor dumb Jesse, I'm just waiting for his whole life to fall apart again.
Jesse is a nice guy, but he's not that smart and he has the absolute worst luck of almost anyone on television. So now that he's getting into this semi-serious relationship with the landlord/neighbor, I'm just waiting for something horrible to happen to him or her or both. It's inevitable. Nobody suffers like Jesse suffers. Well, except for tonight. There was a whole lot of suffering going on from everybody. I'm sure Skinny Pete was suffering too, wherever he wound up. As for Bob Odenkirk up there, well he barely appeared, but I like his character so much on the show I'm featuring him anyway!
Continue reading Breaking Bad: 4 Days Out
Posted Apr 20th 2009 4:15AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free
(S02E07) The episode opened with a video by Mexican cousins
Los Cuates de Sinaloa; the song is our episode title. It looks like the boys were hired to pen a tune that explains exactly what is going on in the drug community now that White and Pinkman are peddling their blue meth. The video is produced like something you'd see on Latin MTV (sort of) in Spanish with English subtitles. It also goes on to tell us that White, as "Heisenberg," has gained notoriety of the not-so-great sort in the drug cartel world further south. It was a unique if strange way to open the episode, as well as provide exposition on White's growing infamy.
As for Walt, one of the benefits of his newfound career in drugs is that he's a much more aggressive taskmaster in the classroom. No more timid Mr. White; Walt's apparently becoming a badass in all walks of his life. Or at least much bolder than he was. Meanwhile. Jesse is finding out that it's a lot tougher to be the badass everyone thinks he is when he doesn't have the self-confidence to be as hardcore as his image.
Continue reading Breaking Bad: Negro y Azul
Posted Apr 2nd 2009 9:45AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals, Breaking Bad, Reality-Free
Yesterday was a sad day for many TV fans.
Guiding Light was cancelled after 72 years of continuous broadcasting (radio and TV). Even people I know who don't watch soaps, were upset by the end of this program.
That said, it's with some real glee that I tell you that
AMC has picked up Breaking Bad for a third season. It's not just that the Vince Gilligan's show is one of the best dramas on television – it might be the best! – it's the fact that renewing the program for year number three restores my faith that idiosyncratic, unusual stories like
Breaking Bad can find a place to thrive and survive on the tube.
Continue reading Breaking Bad is renewed for a third season
Posted Mar 23rd 2009 12:33PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S02E03) "Waffle House is good." --Jesse PinkmanI just love it when a plan comes together. It's a damned shame that old Walter White is dying because he's pretty good at this whole criminal behavior thing. Sure it helps that he's brilliant, but after the shootout last week, I was wondering how he and Jesse were going to get back into town and what they were going to do about their respective situations. Namely that Walter had been missing for a few days and that Jesse's car was at Tuco's place.
I guess I needn't have worried. But just as I was a little saddened to see the Tuco storyline wrapped up so quickly; if only because Raymond Cruz was just amazing to watch in the role; I was a little surprised that things got wrapped up in a nice, neat little package by the end of the hour. No bow though, as there are some residual issues outstanding, Skyler's mistrust in particular. I guess I get worried that things are moving too quickly, but I really need to just sit back and trust the writers. After ten episodes, I'm more engrossed in this story than almost any other on television right now.
Continue reading Breaking Bad: Bit by a Dead Bee
Posted Mar 16th 2009 10:27AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Episode Reviews, Reality-Free
(S02E02) Nothing brings a family together faster than a crisis. With Walter missing without a trace, Hank gets the DEA team working on tracking down Tuco so he can help Skyler and Walt, Jr. find Walter. It seemed unlikely that Hank would have any luck tracking him down in Tuco's desert crib.
Tuco remained an unpredictable force and from the moment he let Walt and Jesse out of the trunk, it was anybody's guess what he was going to do to them. The revelation that he didn't know about Gonzo's death and believed his second in command was working with the cops just added to the paranoia. Feeding his fear only made Tuco more unpredictable.
Continue reading Breaking Bad: Grilled
Posted Mar 11th 2009 1:51PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Awards, Reality-Free
The
nominations for the Saturn Awards came out and as Claude Rains in
Casablanca said, "Round up the usual suspects."
Lost lead the pack with 11 nominations, six for
Heroes, and four each for
Battlestar Galactica and
Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Newbie sci-fi/horror like
Fringe and
True Blood also received nominations, as well as the outre
Dexter, Life on Mars, Jericho and
The Ghost Whisperer.
All those make sense to me. However, why did the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror films choose to nominate Bryan Cranston for
Breaking Bad and Kyra Sedgwick for
The Closer, as Best TV actor and actress, respectively?
Continue reading Strangeness in the Saturn Award nominations
Posted Feb 26th 2009 6:08PM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Video, Reality-Free
Bryan Cranston and Dean Norris have been on a collision course since the beginning of AMC's Breaking Bad. For the uninitiated, Cranston plays Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher with terminal lung cancer who turns to cooking meth to leave his family financially secure. Norris plays his brother-in-law Hank, who happens to be a DEA agent. Which made family get-togethers in Season One pretty interesting.
Season One pushed White's story to the brink of believability -- he took on drug dealers using chemistry in one of the most amazing scenes on television last year, and never quite found his way out of the meth trade, even as it became harder to hide from his family, including Hank. I'm curious to see how the story continues, whether they continue to push White further and further out, or if he gets a break somewhere.
This fake interview on Dailymotion, supposedly taped for the show's electronic press kit, isn't quite the ultimate confrontation between White and Hank fans may have in mind. For that, you'll have to tune in to Season Two, which premiers March 8 at 10PM. But it is an amusing bit of improv between the two actors.
Continue reading Cranston and Norris mix it up on Breaking Bad set - VIDEO
Posted Feb 24th 2009 1:02PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Contests and Giveaways, Reality-Free
On this Tuesday afternoon, we've got two copies of
Breaking Bad: The Complete First Season on DVD for two lucky, random commenters. The DVD is out in stores starting today.
To enter, leave a comment below before 5:00PM Eastern, Friday, February 27 simply telling us why you'd like to own this DVD set
. As always, we'll randomly choose two winners amongst the eligible entries. Some other details:
- To enter, leave a confirmed comment below stating why you'd like to own the Breaking Bad DVD set.
- The comment must be left before February 27, 2009 at 5:00PM Eastern Time.
- You may enter only once.
- Two winners will be selected in a random drawing.
- Two winners will receive a Breaking Bad: The Complete First Season DVD (valued at $29.95) and a Breaking Bad t-shirt (size L, valued at $17).
- Open to legal residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
Click
here for complete Official Rules.
Posted Sep 12th 2008 9:26AM by Brett Love
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Emmys, Reality-Free
Over at the L.A. Times, Tom O'Neil has put together two teams to predict the Emmys. One consists of writers who cover TV, including our pal from AOL, Maggie Furlong. The other is filled with award nuts, like O'Neil. The teams found a lot of common ground, with overwhelming agreement on Mad Men for Best Drama and 30 Rock for Best Comedy. They also seem pretty set on Glenn Close (Damages) for Best Actress, Drama and Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) for Best Actor, Comedy.
Those all sound like reasonably safe bets. Things get a little more interesting when you look at some of the other categories. Best Actor, Drama looks to be a three way race between Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Hugh Laurie (House), and James Spader (Boston Legal). All solid choices, to be sure, but the most surprising part of the category is that Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), who should win, only garnered one vote. Read on past the jump for more of the categories.
Continue reading TV journalists make their Emmy picks
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