Breaking Bad - Season 4

[Temis the Vorta]

Ah-hah! Now that Hank is back on the scent, that gives the series a good core dramatic conflict, and that should keep me interested for now. I have no idea whether, or when, Hank will stumble across the truth about what Walt's been up to, or what the consequences would be.

If Hank realizes his rehabilitation is being funded by Walt's meth business, will he still rat him out? What if Hank starts to really make serious progress, with the hopes of walking again? For him to pull the plug on that would be very difficult.

There's no suspense in Walt's rise to being a drug lord - we know that's where he has to go, just to defend himself from Gus, and he isn't going to lose and get killed by Gus, because he's the main character!

There's no suspense in Jesse's meltdown, because it's gotta lead to some spectacular blow-up (maybe something suicidal). But he'll survive and stay with the show. There's an outside chance that the writers might kill off Jesse, but it doesn't seem likely that they'd want to lose the character.

Skyler and the other characters aren't going to be embarking on new trajectories, so they'll just follow along with the main plot - no suspense there either.

Everything but Hank's storyline is an exercise in waiting for the inevitable. I find it really hard to maintain interest in a story without surprises.

 

[Harvey]

Well, according to a video someone here linked to (I think) the writers had planned to kill of Jesse during the first season, but halted those plans when the writer's strike limited the number of episodes they could produce.

On the other hand, the pre-season advertising strongly emphasized the conflict between Walt and Jesse, and we haven't seen anything like that as of yet, so there's still a long way to go before any regulars are offed, I think.

It is a little disappointing that Giancarlo Esposito has been relegated to being a completely off-screen presence since the premiere, though. Gus is a terrific villain.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

The actor playing Jesse has gotten critical attention and some awards nominations (including Emmy iirc), so that makes it far less likely that they'd kill him off, although of course they'd be fools to admit it in public. Not a good strategy for salary negotiations.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Wow, I had no idea there was such behind the scenes turmoil. Is the show's future in doubt?

LA Times.

Hollywood Reporter.

...negotiations for a fifth season of the acclaimed Breaking Bad were going sideways and that the show was being shopped elsewhere just in case everything imploded. (Breaking Bad creator Gilligan has said recently that he thinks the show should end after five seasons -- it's currently in Season 4). The Times reported that AMC had asked that episodes on Breaking Bad be cut from 13 to six or eight -- a request that spurred the search for a backup channel.

Apparently AMC is blowing the budget on that overrated bore-fest Mad Men and causing budget disruptions for Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead.

AMC should tackle the no-brainer first -- extend Breaking Bad to a fifth and final season. That way you've been a fine steward for two brilliant series and nobody can ever take that away from you. Since announcing the succession team at The Walking Dead was met with approval, AMC can consider that fire doused. But lingering in the distance is how to fix The Killing and, one would hope, get future episodes (if not the pilot) of Hell on Wheels upgraded.

Because as it stands, if Hell on Wheels doesn't work creatively, it will look like AMC gave series to showrunners better equipped for network telelvision than to extend a brand of greatness, which AMC is pushing.

Yikes. They need Hell on Wheels to be a critical and ratings hit. The premise has great potential, they can't waste it. As for The Killing, well, there are plenty of other cop shows on TV...

 

[Harvey]

Well, AMC played hard ball on Mad Men, their other critical darling. Still...I hope everything gets resolved.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Not hard-ball enough, if Frank Darabont walked away from TWD because he wasn't getting the budget his show's ratings deserved. Is AMC a charity?

Already there were rumors that Darabont left The Walking Dead because AMC wanted to give the series less money per episode than it did in Season 1 -- despite being AMC's highest-rated series. You can imagine that Darabont might have been thinking about getting a bigger budget given the ratings and thus pissed off to find out that The Walking Dead might be used to subsidize all the money paid out to Mad Men, the world's most gorgeous and written-about loss-leader.

Not very accurate, since a "loss-leader" is something you take a loss on in order to make money on something else that it brings in. Mad Men helped establish AMC's brand but now it has other shows that it can maintain the brand image with. Darabont had every right to expect that if his show gets better ratings than Mad Men, it deserves a bigger budget. TWD gets more than twice the viewership of Mad Men, and (this is what really counts), over three times the demo score.

 

[stj]

The demographics are incomplete. How do Walking Dead and Mad Men score in the +100K demographic?

Only USA, TNT and Disney regularly have series with ratings that don't pale in comparison with networks. Their best would be borderline, but most cable series are nowhere near even borderline. Most HBO and Showtime series are the same as Mad Men, very popular with a certain income level/social stratum but low rated. I think Sopranos was exceptionally high for cable, and Dexter seems to be getting up there. Starz doesn't get critical acclaim but doesn't get particularly high ratings either, I think. Of course, the premium channels in effect have their shows to attract a person to pick up the channel.

AMC isn't premium but their movie packages cost money. The ratings they get are presumably pretty low, which implies the revenues are low too. I suspect the real problem at AMC is that the revenue stream from the rest of their programming is falling very, very short. I also suspect that this is a problem for all networks (except maybe CBS,) because of the economic depression. Marginal players like AMC are going to go to the wall first. When the pond starts drying up, the fish don't die because they're stupid. The business reporters are trying to blame the victims for their woes I think.

Marie's behavior, lying and stealing for thrills and some peculiar kind of satisfaction, parallels Walt's underlying motives. I'm not sure whether the producers have brought it back as character continuity (it's an appropriate development for Marie as the character was written before, after all,) or as an intentional parallel, a kind of shout out. I suppose it's even possible they mean it to be a kind of ironic contrast, poor stupid Marie who's got no good reasons like good old Walt and is such a pathetic loser for doing it.

On truth it's Walt who doesn't have good reasons (Skylar is right, he could be safe if he took out Gus by going to the police, Walt values the money above his life.) And it's Walt who is the pathetic one, driving away his family, even his surrogate crime family, Jesse, for money.

Jesse, who went up against two dealers for shooting a kid, hates Fring. Jesse vs. Fring is the real action right now. On the wagon, Jesse is fairly shrewd, so the melt down means Jesse vs. Fring is too unequal to generate much heat.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Zombie fans are well known for their consumption of luxury automobiles and high-end champagne.

However, it is a bit confounding that AMC can make shows as good as Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and The Walking Dead - which regardless of the cost of the acting and writing talent, look pricey to make - and survive on relatively puny ratings. If they can do it, then why aren't the broadcast networks doing the same? Does AMC's cut of basic cable subscription revenues really make up the difference?

For that matter, Falling Skies on TNT is in the same boat. It's TNT's best-rated show with 4M viewers, but creating convincing-looking aliens must cost more than your average cop show.

 

[stj]

The Closer is TNT's best rated show. I don't know if Rizzoli & Isles are doing better in the ratings than Falling Skies. But it's got Kyra Sedgwick who's probably pretty pricey by now. But, then, I think the thing is, that AMC's model doesn't fit the impoverished ad market right now, hence the problems with Breaking Bad. I don't think anything is going to help the marginal players.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

After watching the episode again, anybody notice Mike coughing? I think there will be a possibility he'll develop some health issues, maybe lung cancer. That's where Walt and him start bonding and will eventually lead to Gus' demise.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Falling Skies is TNT's highest rated show

After several weeks chugging along at a 1.4 adults 18-49 rating, TNT’s Falling Skies went up to a 1.5 adults 18-49 rating to go along with 4.3 million viewers (the most since the premiere). Even at a 1.4 rating it would’ve been TNT’s top show with adults 18-49, and it was also TNT’s top show with adults 25-54, ahead of both Rizzoli & Isles and The Closer in the week’s live plus same day DVR ratings.

TVbythenumbers dosen't list the total viewers for all those shows but as we all know, the advertisers only care about the demo.

I can see why Falling Skies would be doing better in the demo, with subject matter that skews young compared with old-lady shows like Rizzoli & Isles and The Closer.

 

[sidious618]

I've found each episode to be incredibly satisfying so far. I'm very happy with the direction the show is going and the character examinations they've been doing.

 

[Joe Washington]

I've been loving each episode of Season 4. Yes, Walt and Jesse may not be dying any soon but that doesn't ruin the show's dramatic tension which posses a hypnotic pull to viewers like myself. And them not dying at the moment opens up possibilities of what those characters may be put through while alive such as Jesse's downward spiral or Walt living under the increasing pressure of the fear of Gus or Gus's increasing control of Walt's working environment.

I have this feeling that Gus will be killed by the end of this season since it has been mentioned more than once in interviews that this season's tension will be of Walt vs. Gus. Or it may be a misleading trick and Gus gets killed mid-season like the Cousins of S3 who got unexpectedly killed. After Gus is gone, Walt will either have to deal with the Cartel, the DEA, or both for the rest of the series.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I hope Gus doesn't die, just because it seems so obvious that he will.

 

[stj]

After several weeks chugging along at a 1.4 adults 18-49 rating, TNT’s Falling Skies went up to a 1.5 adults 18-49 rating to go along with 4.3 million viewers (the most since the premiere). Even at a 1.4 rating it would’ve been TNT’s top show with adults 18-49, and it was also TNT’s top show with adults 25-54, ahead of both Rizzoli & Isles and The Closer in the week’s live plus same day DVR ratings.

The advertisers reportedly care most about "the" demo but they care even more about live viewers. To my eye, the bolded portion concedes that both Monday shows beat Falling Skies in 25-54. Which isn't skewing that old at all. And they care even more about the demographics of household income, so much so that ratings companies find these ratings best kept confidential.

Ratings analysis is a kind of business journalism. Business journalism is a kind of swindle, where the money maker is puff pieces. As in the example above where they deftly compare apples and oranges to the benefit of Falling Skies. Most of it is a herd product very much like manure. Trying to take it seriously is like playing to beat the stock market oblivious to the all too well attested fact that random chance beats practically everyone. And random chance will produce the occasional exceptions too. Trying to turn this stuff into dramatic criticism or culture criticism is really silly.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

The advertisers reportedly care most about "the" demo but they care even more about live viewers.

Wrong. They care about live viewers who are in the demo and about time-shifted viewers who are in the demo, to a lesser extent but they definitely count. They do NOT care about viewers outside the demo, which is why the demo figures are all that need concern us.

The old-lady shows you seem so intent on defending are at a disadvantage in the ratings battle, but fret about them being cancelled or anything. Even attracting a less valuable demo, they're in no danger of cancellation.

 

[PKerr]

Well, AMC played hard ball on Mad Men, their other critical darling. Still...I hope everything gets resolved.

I with Temis on this.
I am currently TRYING to watch Mad Men and it's a snore fest.

IMO They should just drop it and put their budget into Breaking Bad and the Walking Dead.

 

[Chess Piece Face]

Mad Men is amazing. I have zero interest in either The Walking Dead or The Killing.

Breaking Bad this season is strange. It's compelling and boring at the same time. The writers have written themselves in this corner where it's obvious that Walt will take on Gus...so each moment is just biding time. Example, we know he's going to get the car wash, so we have to sit through this big thing of them getting that exact certain car wash where Walt used to work, so it will be oh so much more poignant when the end rolls around and someone that's one more ironic element or whatever when he falls.

Another example...we know Hank is going to get on the trail again, obviously. Why do we have to sit through a few moments of him protesting the lab notes? It seems like a few exercises in busy work.

That being said, the acting and writing in each scene is usually very compelling, so it keeps you being somewhat ok with the treading water that is going on.

Except for the Marie thing. We got the point right away. By the third scene at another house it was total eye roll time.

 

[Obiwanshinobi]

I wonder where Mike is taking Jesse. Rehab?

 

[Joe Washington]

I think next episode is going to be a major wake-up call for Jesse that'll push him from his downward spiral into a more active role in things.