Breaking Bad : Does any show come close to Breaking Bad ???

Its been a long time since it has ended, miss it terribly!!! and the shows I have watched which came closest (yet far) to BB for me were:

Better Call Saul
Game of Thrones
Narcos
Bloodline (some episodes)
Ray Donovan (some of it)
Girlfriend diaries

ANY OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS ???

I like shows with a somewhat clear narrative (did not like I Robot for example, found it too open-ended)

Thanks!!!

I know many people say The Wire Tried but Could not get into it Too many characters???

The Americans!!! I love Game of Thrones, it's my #2 favorite show of all-time but I do think The Americans is closer to Breaking Bad in terms of story structure and the scope of the character development. Closer even than Better Call Saul and Narcos - both of which I love by the way. I feel like I've been lobbying for this show way too much already lol (sorry y'all) so I'll just quote myself from another thread where I was talking of it.

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It has great characters and there's a lot of emphasis on them struggling internally with what they are doing - something I always appreciated the most about Breaking Bad - but there's also tons of fast-paced sequences and action [ETA: Great montages too haha, BB and BCS are masters at the art of montage and The Americans definitely measures up.] Of course the struggle the characters on The Americans (they are KGB spies, the show's set in DC in the early-1980s) go through is in many ways more understandable even though they do awful things.

I think the recent-ish shows that are most "like" BB are The Americans and House of Cards [A/N: Definitely recommend this one as well] but I prefer The Americans. I love the setting and the balance the show manages to strike, much of it is the main characters but there's also tons of scenes taking place at the FBI, at the Rezidentura (the Soviet embassy in DC), sometimes in Moscow. The Russians are actually presented as human beings, who think about the Cold War and fear things like nukes just like the Americans do. And everyone who speaks Russian for more than two sentences actually sounds native, hallelujah. [A/N: The last bit is a bit of a dig at Breaking Bad, its inability to convincingly pull off non-English speaking dialogue was a bit odd for a show of its overall quality. The Americans definitely doesn't have that problem and it really helps it feel more authentic.]

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Do you even know what honor is?
- A horse.

Thanks.
I will give it another try. I quickly watched it once and it seemed a little gimmicky but after your suggestion, I will try it again!
THANKS

Hope you'll like it. :)

I am anxious for season 5 of The Americans because S5 seems to often make or break a great TV show Breaking Bad's the only show I can think of that has really gotten better every season and where the last season is the best. An unfortunate number of shows were like that until season 5: The Wire, Game of Thrones, Lost All got better every season but had an underwhelming season 5 - although GoT did bounce back with season 6. Thus far I think every season of The Americans has been better than the one before, I hope that continues in season 5 and 6 (which has been announced as the last. Which is good, it's nice to know they won't stretch it out past the story they have to tell.)


Do you even know what honor is?
- A horse.

Rectify is a very different show, but its quality is equally good, and I would argue that its secondary characters receive more finessed development than those in BB. However, I wouldn't recommend you watch it based on your preference for "clear narrative" and stories that are not "too open-ended." I would highly recommend it to those who love ambiguity in characterization, and to a certain extent in narrative, and who enjoy the many pleasures of a relatively slow pace.

"You must not judge what I know by what I find words for." - Marilynne Robinson

Though not on the level of bb, sopranos shares some similarities with bb in terms of character development and a dark atmosphere. Sons of anarchy is pretty good too. Both have straight forward narratives and are fairly unambiguous.

According to the writers guild, the sopranos is the best written TV show of all time. I see a lot of similarities in that both focus on the criminal and family lives of its lead and develop a colorful cast of characters. In some ways I like each better, but if you like good crime sagas it's hard to inagine you wouod not at least enjoy the sopranos.

The wire is a great show but is more of a fly on the wall type of show. You never get invested into the characters as much as you do the stories.

Ray Donovan you mentioned already - great show

Boardwalk empire has an uninspiring lead character (for me) but is amaZing in every other aspect. Great blend of history and fiction

The shield has one of the greatest characters in the history of TV as its lead and the first few seasons were amazing

The Writers Guild list is a publicity event deliberately mimicking AFI's best movies list. Neither are authoritative.


"You must not judge what I know by what I find words for." - Marilynne Robinson

This is definitely true. I dont agree with many of their rankings and would never cite it as the be all and end all

My point was that the sopranos is widely recognized for its brilliance in its writing (as well as its acting, etc)

One thing about the sopranos though is it is self indulgent at a better call Saul level - all of the dream sequences, therapy sessions, etc. Either that will add to your love of it or it wil annoy you

I like the therapy sessions of The Sopranos. It's a good framing device for the story. Apart from that there's precious little I like about the show, the characters are either whiny (all the Soprano family-family members, Christopher, Adriana) or underdeveloped (the family) and the storylines are often way over the top. I only saw until season 4 though.


Do you even know what honor is?
- A horse.

You got farther than me! I couldn't stand Tony right in the pilot. I think I made half of S1. As for The Shield, I've never gotten past the pilot. All that macho posturing. Nails on a chalkboard for me. I loathed the main character. Recently I tried again, and same feeling. Perhaps he gets easier to take, or at least more interesting, but life is too short. Just not my cuppa.


"You must not judge what I know by what I find words for." - Marilynne Robinson

I've never gotten to The Shield, it's not on my Netflix or any other streaming service I have so I never bothered looking out for it. But macho posturing is very not my thing, so going by that, I'd probably not like it.

I actually started out liking Tony quite a bit. He was established as a pretty awful person from the get-go but I thought he could make for an interesting character nonetheless But I bored of him because it was just same old all the time. Then I thought maybe I'd like Christopher since I've seen so many people compare him to Jesse - but he basically has all of Jesse's bad qualities and none of his good ones so eventually I simply couldn't stand him (I probably liked him the least of them all.) I think the only characters I actively enjoyed were Dr. Melfi - until she went nowhere fast - and Pussy who actually seemed to have a character arc, something most of the characters lacked.


Do you even know what honor is?
- A horse.

I know what you mean about Tony. He's got charm, and intriguing contradictions. Just didn't work for moi. I think part of the obstacle for me is that I don't like gangster/mafia stories. A claustrophobia sets in.

Reflections on GoT. Until this summer, I hadn't seen it past the pilot. I binged all 6 seasons. Enjoyed it a lot more than I thought, given that I hated the pilot! (I do try to be fair) I'd been so turned off by the gratuitous female nudity, the rapey shyte. Anyway, it was a facinating lesson in the difference between weekly viewing and bingeing. Because when you binge you eliminate structural rhythm - the idea that the space between episodes is as much an influential quality on one's experience as actual content. So by about S5 a sense of repetition was starting to creep in. "What battle is this now? Oh, right." By S6 it was full bloom. I was noticing large-scale patterns much more than when viewing weekly.

As time wore on, of the main characters by S6 I was pretty much watching for Tyrion. I began to fast-forward through Dragon Lady's adventures. Bingeing, I really noticed how repetitive and relatively uninspired they were. Beyond her looks, for me she doesn't compete as a character. I mean, next to Cersei she's kind of nothing. I find it disappointing that Tyrion is now integrated into her storyline. I hope he improves it, rather than it reducing his impact. I find the Hound, a secondary character, much more interesting than Daenerys. His and Arya's relationship was enjoyable. Not thrilled about Arya's Many-Faced God adventure; its treatment didn't seem to live up to my sense of its potential. I like Jon Snow, yet the White Walkers to me are kind of meh. Zombies, basically.


"You must not judge what I know by what I find words for." - Marilynne Robinson

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I'd been so turned off by the gratuitous female nudity, the rapey shyte.

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Yes, I can see how this is a turn off for many people. I find it hard to view Game of Thrones objectively since I've been watching it since the beginning, read all the books years ago including all the companion pieces: Dunk & Egg novels, the history of Westeros and The Known World, everything I could find like map collections and sh-t I'm way too deep down the rabbit hole. George RR Martin has a specific writing style where he uses point of view characters to get the story across, and due to who he uses as PoV I simply rolled my eyes through all the gratuitous female nudity and rape in the early GoT seasons because I knew deep down the story doesn't treat its female characters as random tokens and that was bound to change. If anything it's the able-bodied, high-born males who GRRM treats as interchangeable or disposable though this is more obvious in the books than on the show from the very beginning.

I re-watched the show this summer as well in a bingey way and I agree the Daenerys scenes blend in together. She was one of my favorites in the beginning, but I'm not a huge fan anymore. Jaime's my favorite in the books (his storyline post-season/book 3 is very different in the books than on the show) and Cersei on the show.


Do you even know what honor is?
- A horse.

I'd recommend trying out The Shield again. I never liked the Pilot a whole lot myself since they tried a bit too hard to make Vic out to be this high school-ish alpha male type, but he does become more tolerable and layered later on. You'd probably certainly appreciate the more tragic and Shakespearean tone of the later seasons (namely seasons 4-7.)

Thanks. I'll give it a whirl. Hopefully I'll encounter those layers soon!


"You must not judge what I know by what I find words for." - Marilynne Robinson

Thanks.
Yes, of course I already saw The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire

I meant recommendations of shows SINCE Breaking Bad ???

Shows that have come close since? In no particular rating order


-Fargo (surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet)
-The Americans
-Orphan Black
-Mr. Robot
-Homeland
-Billions
-American Crime Story (1st season was fantastic IMO)


-Halt & Catch Fire
-Luther
-The Night Of
-Westworld (too early to really tell but worth checking out)

Hmmm
Saw Fargo, Billions, Halt&Catch, Night Of (great)

Will try Americans Is Luther good??? And will check American Crime

Mr Robot seemed too random

Hate Homeland Totally unrealistic.

Thanks!!!

Short answer: No lol

Game of thrones
Prison Break season 1
Band of brothers

Banshee
Justified
Orange is the new Black
Prison Break
Sons of Anarchy

The Shield (like other poster said, Vic's alpha attitude gets grating quite a bit but he's still a polarizing character and the rest of the cast are great.)

Mad Men
Wentworth


All just as good.