My Spoiler Free Review of the pilot

[ProfessorChaos]

bass, do you follow breaking bad or mad men? i get the impression based upon your preferences for detail-oriented, intellectual, and gripping dramas with great character development, you'd love both of them. actually, i can't recommend those shows enough to anybody. if i was stuck with only one channel the rest of my days, it'd be AMC. hands-down.

[bassman]

Seen a few episodes of each, but never really been able to get sucked into them because I didn't start from the beginning. I may have to pick up the dvds and start that way...

[ProfessorChaos]

trust me, dude, you won't regret it. i was skeptical of both, having heard so much hype. but after catching a marathon of BB prior to the start of season 3, i was hooked within the first 2 episodes. same thing with MM. i own all seasons of both shows, and am anxiously awaiting each show's new seasons rolling out...which unfortunately won't be till next summer for either one. and the critics agree: mad men has won best drama 3 years running, jon hamm has had academy award nominations for his role, but breaking bad's bryan cranston has beat him for 3 consecutive years for best actor, aaron paul from BB beat out MM's john slattery this year for best supporting actor, and BB has been nominated a couple of times for best drama. i think mad men got like 17 nominations last year alone. and these awards are nothing like the bullshit popularity contest grammy's we were discussing in the "kanye is a dumbass" thread, these are well-deserved accolades. give them both a shot, i guarantee you'll thank me.

[kidgloves]

bass, do you follow breaking bad or mad men? i get the impression based upon your preferences for detail-oriented, intellectual, and gripping dramas with great character development, you'd love both of them. actually, i can't recommend those shows enough to anybody. if i was stuck with only one channel the rest of my days, it'd be AMC. hands-down. I think at one point is was just you and me keeping the Breaking Bad thread going mate. Superb show. Part of the reason I was pumped for TWD was that they are using BB crew inc directors.

[ProfessorChaos]

*fist-bump* i knew you'd back me up, kg. it really is worth of all the praise it gets, same can be said for mad men. you follow that show as well? and yeah, when i heard AMC was handling TWD, it had a huge nerdgasm. and they did not disappoint! as for BB, man those last 2 episodes this past season were both fucking crazy....both walt and jesse crossing the line to defend each other like that....my god, those two characters and their relationship is probably the best dynamic i've ever seen on television.

[kidgloves]

Stopped reading there, just in case (I know you said spoiler free, but I have a quarantine 1st, ask questions after the pilot attitude at this point ). I'm psyched you still seemed psyched, sir! Thanks for sharing your thoughts and I look forward to reading all the way through them the Monday after next It's safe to read. Just impressions and loving praise. Go ahead and read it.

[MoonSylver]

actually, i can't recommend those shows enough to anybody. if i was stuck with only one channel the rest of my days, it'd be AMC. hands-down. I love AMC's line up, but I wish they didn't show SO MANY DAMN COMMERCIALS. I've watched movies where the show 10 min of movie, 10 min of commercials, rinse & repeat. Tried to watch the New Yers Day "Stooge-a-thon" & turned out in frustration. They were taking 10-15 min SHORTS & stretching them to 1/2 hr+ By doing commercial, 5-10 min of short, commercial, 5 more min of short... They're giving us TWD & I know you gotta pay the bills, but DAMN, it seems like a bit much...

[ProfessorChaos]

you watch BB or MM? cuz that's where the true gold lies at. yeah, they show good movies, but even without their film selection, i'd still chose them over any network out there. need to get into rubicon, it's gotta be worth checking out if it's as half as good as the rest of their original shows. and really, TWD is going to blow the fucking doors off the zombie genre as we know it. as i said in another TWD thread, romero may have provided the spark for the living dead mythos, but AMC, darabont, and kirkman are about to burn this motherfucker to the ground. another way i put it that equally fits is that romero put the ball in motion, and darabont and crew have taken off with the ball like forrest gump in his first college football game, not even bothering to stop at the goalline and taking it further than we thought imaginable.

[kidgloves]

You know if you guys all download it and don't tune in on the night it airs, and the show gets crap ratings.... You can kiss it goodbye once they finish the episodes already budgeted. I have looked at the download file and I am sorry but a 300mb x264 is crap quality and I can hold out for 10 days to see it in glorious HD. If you guys wanna see this series continue I highly suggest you make sure to tune in and watch it on halloween night.... remember, no ratings equals no advertising dollars equals AMC pulling the plug which finally equals... no more Zombie TV show. I am glad you guys are excited and dig it, it makes me drool more and more, but as I said I wanna see the show succeed and if it is as good as Prof, and some others are claiming... I will be stoked and tuned in week after week. Again, download if you want, just make sure to tune in premiere night so the show gets ratings and AMC dumps money into more and more episodes. Sorry dad Gary you do realise that there are 5 other episodes in the series don't you. This leak will do the show more good than harm. The terrible quality means that some people, like yourself, won't watch it anyway whereas the people who have watched it will be busy telling other people how awesome it is and they will tune in on premiere night. This always happens with tv shows so don't fret too much. ---------- Post added at 07:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:59 PM ---------- *fist-bump* i knew you'd back me up, kg. it really is worth of all the praise it gets, same can be said for mad men. you follow that show as well? and yeah, when i heard AMC was handling TWD, it had a huge nerdgasm. and they did not disappoint! as for BB, man those last 2 episodes this past season were both fucking crazy....both walt and jesse crossing the line to defend each other like that....my god, those two characters and their relationship is probably the best dynamic i've ever seen on television. The episode where it starts with the Mexicans all crawling along the floor had me going WWWWWTTTTTTTTFFFFFFF. Some real surreal shit there. Jesse's trip on meth as ace as well. Can't wait for series 4.

[Ghost Of War]

Breaking Bad is probably the best show I've seen in the past few years, along with Sons Of Anarchy.

[ProfessorChaos]

well, wait till you see the walking dead, my friend.

[JDFP]

Breaking Bad is probably the best show I've seen in the past few years, along with Sons Of Anarchy. I concur with this. BB is amazing, but "Sons of Anarchy" is, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest shows ever made in the history of television. It is Shakespeare's "Hamlet" brought into the 21st century. I'll have to admit, while I find some of the characters in "Mad Men" to be fascinating (Don Draper, of course, and my favorite Mr. Sterling) I have to admit I wasn't able to get beyond the first season. The show is interesting -- but it's just too damned SLOOOOOWWWWWW paced. It takes forever for any freaking thing to happen. It's like a soap in many ways except there's more language and everyone smokes cigarettes. Plus,   I can't think of her name, but the girl who is Don's secretary in the first season who has the baby at the end of the first season -- my God I want to strangle her as she's one of the most annoying characters I've ever known in a television series . j.p.

[ProfessorChaos]

that would be peggy olsen. she matures quite a bit as the series goes on...and you may wanna put some spoiler tags on that, it's kind of a big part of her character and a total surprise when it's revealed what's going on with her. edit: and yes it is a slow pace at times. it is kinda like a soap opera, but i find the characters and their lives intriguing, so i can deal with that as it's part of the development of them and their situations. but you must recall, the show is about an advertising firm on madison avenue during the 60's, not a couple of meth manufacturers and violent drug cartels, or a gang of grungy bikers raising hell, so it's got a different vibe to it. i find it a fascinating look at life and society back then, with great settings, actors, and cinematography. it reminds me at times of a painting by norman rockwell or some other artist who captured great stills of life...except it's not all perfect, it's pretty fucked up in reality. for example, the train ride don takes to new york on his way to work each day when he's having a conversation with his daughter's teacher (this is from season 3). if you pause the screen, the autumn leaves, their style of clothes, and the train setting combined make it a very visually stimulating shot, something you'd almost see in a postcard or painting...but to know what's going on between the two of them, it's really not as perfect as it seems...make sense?

[JDFP]

that would be peggy olsen. she matures quite a bit as the series goes on...and you may wanna put some spoiler tags on that, it's kind of a big part of her character and a total surprise when it's revealed what's going on with her. You're right. My bad. It's corrected now. j.p.

[ProfessorChaos]

thanks. i'm trying to get people to tune in who are unaware, so something like that is a real kicker if you don't know it's coming. i also added a bit to the previous post, so check that out for further thoughts on what makes it such a captivating series.