Homeland, House of Cards or Breaking Bad?

[FUEGO]

Re: the collective distaste for meth and how it's ruining the country. One can make the same argument about the key product in House of Cards. Some say it's ruining the country, too.

[SumDay]

Yup, all three. Who says there's nothing good on TV anymore?

I've recently fallen in love with The Leftovers on HBO. OMG....

[Livefree]

Breaking Bad is an amazing series. The writing is terrific. I just started season 3 and it's hard to stop watching episodes.

[RunningBum]

Binge watched Breaking Bad. Will start on Homeland when I get back to Netflix, but right now I'm on Amazon and Sopranos. Tried House of Cards but didn't care for it. I know I'm in the minority, and I even like Spacey, but it just didn't hold my interest.

[Fermion]

I have not watched Homeland but Breaking Bad is probably the best show I have watched in at least 10 years. House of Cards is most excellent too (you might think that, I couldn't possibly comment).

Other great series of the recent past: Orange is the New Black, Fargo (scared of Billy Bob now), Luther (Alice is awesome), and going back a little more, Deadwood.

[LoneAspen]

Haven't seen the other two, but Breaking Bad was the best series I've ever seen. EVER.

When Game of Thrones ended it's season a year or so ago, I was trying to decide between Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. The votes were overwhelmingly in favor of Breaking Bad, so I bought the first couple seasons on Blu-ray and immediately got hooked.

Binge watched it until the next season started, and like with Game of Thrones, I HAD to be home to watch it when a new episode ran. I recorded it on DVR, too, just in case, but I made sure I was home on time when a new episode started.

Definitely give it a try.

[yakers]

DW says just do Orange Is the New Black


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[urn2bfree]

Breaking Bad was solidly engaging throughout. In fact, the main problem for me is it makes it hard to put up,with the far inferior products broadcast. Homeland started out engaging and descended into nonsense. House of Cards was similar but took longer to get into the silly. The problem with these shows and others (Walking Dead) is that they can start out really well, but it seems the writers really cannot maintain the interest without resorting to ever more unbelievable plot lines with characters behaving in ways that mostly just keep the show going rather than behaving in a way consistent with the character or with any human behavior.


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[daylatedollarshort]

I have not watched Homeland. Breaking Bad was spectacular and House of Cards is very good, but BB for us was really in a league of its own. I never thought I'd like a show about a meth dealer but it was really well done.

[Major Tom]

Breaking Bad is the only one of the 3 that I have seen. I binge-watched it all the way through, and had difficulty preventing myself from watching "just one more episode" in order to see what happened next. However, I can't say that I enjoyed the experience. In most series' that I enjoy, immoral or unethical behavior is usually counter-balanced by characters who rise above the depravity and give the viewer some sense of transcendence. Although there were a few quite likable characters in Breaking Bad, they weren't a strong enough influence to make up for the large degree of moral bankruptcy. Like one or two others who have said so in this thread, I found the series depressing. However, I did watch it through to the end, so perhaps that says something - about my inability to control myself, if nothing else

Go ahead and give Breaking Bad a shot. If you're like most people here, you'll love it.

[donheff]

I have seen the all and like them all but Breaking Bad is the winner. Binge watch the whole series.

[ziggy29]

Breaking Bad is the Vanguard of TV shows these days, I think. Fans of it insist there could never be anything better out there.

[Tailgate]

all three are top notch in my opinion, BB a cut above the others IMHO...

+1 for Orange Is The New Black

also, very funny underrated series on Netflix (I believe it was their first venture into original content) is Lilyhammer... definitely one of my favs. Scored 83% on Rotten Tomatos...here's link to plot on IMDB

[rodi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chilkoot Never seen Homeland. House of Cards is excellent. Mine may be the dissenting view here, but I watched the first season of Breaking Bad and had the same reaction as I had after seeing all of The Sopranos: both shows are exceptionally well-written, well-acted and generally well-made. But at the end of the day I couldn't shake the feeling that I had just spent a lot of time with people I really didn't like.

And you didn't have that reaction after watching House of Cards?
Ok - that makes me laugh. They both have complex and sometimes evil characters at the protagonists. I'm not sure if Walt is any worse than Frank... I'm not sure if the transactional politics is any "better" than cooking meth. The attraction of both shows is that the characters are not black/white or stereotypical.... they have good sides and bad sides, they make choices that are horrible, and yet they still have a likeable side....

[sengsational]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Major Tom Breaking Bad is the only one of the 3 that I have seen. I binge-watched it all the way through, and had difficulty preventing myself from watching "just one more episode" in order to see what happened next. However, I can't say that I enjoyed the experience. In most series' that I enjoy, immoral or unethical behavior is usually counter-balanced by characters who rise above the depravity and give the viewer some sense of transcendence. Although there were a few quite likable characters in Breaking Bad, they weren't a strong enough influence to make up for the large degree of moral bankruptcy. Like one or two others who have said so in this thread, I found the series depressing. However, I did watch it through to the end, so perhaps that says something - about my inability to control myself, if nothing else Go ahead and give Breaking Bad a shot. If you're like most people here, you'll love it.

I'll echo this post 100%. I'm only through season 2, but find the show depressing. I don't really like anybody, so no balance between likable and hateable. And sometimes it seems like there are long filler scenes. The flash forward is a bit distracting to me.

[REWahoo]

My theory is people like/binge watch Breaking Bad for the same reason people cause huge traffic jams rubbernecking at the scene of an accident. We know we shouldn't look but just can't help ourselves.

[Sesq]

Breaking Bad,

Then HoC.

Then season 1&2 of Homeland. Season 3 is only marginally worth your time.

If you like BB, and haven't seen the Wire, work that one in.

[HFWR]

Haven't watch even one episode of any of the aforementioned series.

I watched a couple of seasons of Sopranos way back when, but found myself wishing they would all get sent to prison, or whacked. Just can't support the "bad guys"...

[Major Tom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo My theory is people like/binge watch Breaking Bad for the same reason people cause huge traffic jams rubbernecking at the scene of an accident. We know we shouldn't look but just can't help ourselves.

That was my experience.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFWR I watched a couple of seasons of Sopranos way back when, but found myself wishing they would all get sent to prison, or whacked. Just can't support the "bad guys"...

I enjoyed Sopranos more than I did Breaking Bad. I think one of the reasons was that with Tony and his cohorts, this was the life they were born into. Unlike Walt, they didn't know any better and to Tony's credit, he was seeing a shrink and aware at some level that things weren't right. There was a sweetness about his character and that, coupled with my belief that he was at least trying to improve himself, gave me hope for him.

[HFWR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Major Tom ...to Tony's credit, he was seeing a shrink...

Didn't hurt that it was Lorraine Bracco...