TV: Better Show; Mad Men or Breaking Bad

[zombie kopitar]

Finally got around to watching both over the last few months. 2 of the higher acclaimed shows in recent years, both by AMC, so which do you prefer?

Click to read more...

 

[The Mighty Duck Man]

Breaking Bad probably wins big, and it's my pick too, but Mad Men is hella underrated, I find.

 

[Supermassive]

If you want visceral thrills and suspense, it’s BB. If you want better writing, costume and performances, MM.

BB was the far better week-to-week experience, but MM holds up far better over time.

Mad Men, I guess.

 

[zombie kopitar]

If you want visceral thrills and suspense, it’s BB. If you want better writing, costume and performances, MM.

BB was the far better week-to-week experience, but MM holds up far better over time.

Mad Men, I guess.

I feel like that is fairly accurate. I'm sure the weekly suspense of waiting to see what Walter White was up to was much more enthralling than Don Draper. But that being said there is just this haunting yet humorous stamp on the human condition that is so well displayed in Mad Men's writing and characters. I know which one I would re-watch again.

Apples to oranges, art isn't quantifiable and all that....but it's an interesting juxtaposition now that some time has passed and they are both basically now viewed in the binge era of television

 

[Finlandia WOAT]

Breaking Bad ainec

Though i never watched mad men.

 

[Shareefruck]

It's Mad Men for me, but neither are in the upper echelon of TV shows, in my opinion.

Breaking Bad is for the most part very shallow (albeit well executed), dramatic for the sake of dramatic, formula-driven content. Solid and meticulously produced but very overrated. It's primarily interested in keeping you hooked to see what bad-*** way Walt will use to overcome increasingly unlikely odds and keep you on the edge of your seat about who's going to live and die on a weekly basis. That's fine, but there's ridiculously limited reward to that, and the formulaic aspect of it cheapens its attempts at anything more, in my opinion.

While it's not the greatest thing in the world either, Mad Men, at its best, can be legitimately creative, charming, thematically thoughtful, and structurally adventurous show that tries to explore ideas and occasionally has inspired fun with creative decisions and writing. It feels a little less commercially manipulative and a little more tasteful/artful than Breaking Bad does (doesn't go all the way with any of that either, though). I respect that more.

Breaking Bad has much stronger execution, polish, and consistency in doing what it's trying to do, but what it's content to try to do isn't worth very much, in my opinion. It's mostly just an okay, well-made/conceived/performed, and very watchable but repetitive/formulaic guilty pleasure crowd-pleaser artificially posing as something more. Whereas I would call Mad Men a legitimately good but not really great show.

 

[SeidoN]

Breaking Bad by a wide margin

 

[The Macho King]

Mad Men big time.

 

[Le Barron de HF]

I was more entertained by BB personally, even with a semi-background in business, as stimulating as some MM episodes were, it was a lot of hit or miss for me.

 

[Babe Ruth]

Breaking Bad by a wide margin

yeah.. Breaking Bad (going away).

 

[GarbageGoal]

Only saw a few episodes of BB, but Mad Men was truly fantastic television.

 

[TP]

This is like trying to pick a favorite kid... I honestly don't know which I prefer.

I am currently re watching Mad Men, so I am leaning that way.

 

[peate]

Subject matter made me want to watch BB more, never really got into MM, only saw a few sporadic episodes.

 

[b1e9a8r5s]

I'll give a slight edge to breaking bad, but Mad Men was fantastic as well.

I imagine the voting will split down generational lines for what it's worth.

 

[zombie kopitar]

Though i never watched mad men.

Well give it a spin then get back to me pls

It's Mad Men for me, but neither are in the upper echelon of TV shows, in my opinion.

Well I wouldn't expect anything less from you But I agree with some points you make, though I still think they are both undoubtedly some of the best TV dramas ever made.

I was more entertained by BB personally, even with a semi-background in business, as stimulating as some MM episodes were, it was a lot of hit or miss for me.

That is true no doubt, I binged the living **** out of Breaking Bad when I had a cold. There is very little down time in the story telling, with the only exception being the start of season 5 (setting up the arc)
With Mad Men I did get a bit bored during season 4 and took a few weeks off. But it picked back up, and the finale season and series finale is just mater work on how to close a tv show. The character depth and arcs don't even come close in BB.
Breaking Bad ended well, but everything was played out at that point. Nothing came unexpected what so ever.

 

[frisco]

Mad Men is my all-time favorite show. BB is terrific, too, but it just wasn't as good as Mad Men.

My Best-Carey

 

[Shareefruck]

Well I wouldn't expect anything less from you But I agree with some points you make, though I still think they are both undoubtedly some of the best TV dramas ever made.

For the record, this isn't incompatible with the comment you're disagreeing with, for me.

I think Mad Men and Breaking Bad can be argued to be among the top 10 TV dramas created, but for me that isn't saying much, because I don't think that highly of acclaimed TV dramas in the grand scheme of how good television gets, and I don't think that there are that many exceptional ones (it kind of falls off a cliff after the top few, in my opinion, and almost all of them have glaring things that hold them back, for me). There are more TV comedies that I would consider brilliant than TV dramas.

I find that most TV dramas that are considered good just do (or try to do) something similar to the Breaking Bad thing of making you root for characters, be addicted to finding out what happens next, be shocked by big twists/moments that it builds up, and be concerned about who makes it out alive, with strong production values and solid writing within that limited framework, and with very detail feeling like it's primarily done in service of making you watch again next week. I get the "hook" of that, and I can get caught up into watching them as well, but I don't think it's worth very much, and it's not something I would want to raise on a pedestal, personally. Many of even the better ones tend to just feel like commercial machinery to me.

 

[The Shadow]

Band of Brothers is still my favourite TV show even though it was short

MM and BB are both great in their own way. If you’re in the mood a good story MM is the one. Give it time it will grow on you

 

[koyvoo]

Ya. Mad men takes more investment for payoff. Breaking bad has more instant gratification on an episode to episode basis. I can’t choose. I prefer the excitement and suspense of BB, while I prefer the dialogue and character development of MM.