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TV: Entourage - the final 2 or 3 episodes; Breaking Bad Season 3, ep.1-5

Might be the perfect contrast - Entourage is clearly the worst show on television and Breaking Bad has at least a decent claim at being the best show on television. My order of existing shows: Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, 30 Rock/Parks and Rec/Louie (all tied for 3rd for different reasons), Justified. I can't think of any others worth mentioning...I suppose I ought to mention Mad Men, but I don't watch it anymore.

Entourage is a shallow, soulless, pointless examination of what it means to be a guy in in the entertainment business, except for every guy in the entertainment business fucking hates the show. I've already wasted too many letters on the show.

Breaking Bad is awesome. It is a good example of how you are able to do challenging things only once you've built up enough goodwill from your audience. In the beginning of season 3 Jesse Pinkman does nothing but spend time grieving his girlfriend. I found it very moving. A similar plot point was used in The Killing in the first season with the Rosie Larsen parents grieving for the entire first half of the series. It works in Breaking Bad because we've spent so much time for Jesse and seen him fail in so many pursuits and then have his one glimmer of hope snatched away from him - and partially from his own doing. We are moved by him calling her cell phone and listening to her voice message. On the flipside, in The Killing, we are basically introduced to these characters as grievers. We have no history with them. We cannot feel for them anymore than we feel for a person on the news who lost someone to a victim of a crime. There is no tragedy for the audience. It is awful story telling. This is why The Killing is a horrible show and Breaking Bad is a great show. It is the difference between how Aaron Rodgers does a quick slant for 8 yards on first and 10 vs. Alex Smith doing a quick slant for 8 yards on 3rd and 10. One is a great play. The other is a useless play. But they are the same play.