Better Call Saul is the rarest of things: a prequel that is actually superior to the original. I have never encountered this before in movies, television OR books. Breaking Bad was revolutionary: A compelling story with highly intense "holy shit" moments, that were all completely realistic within the storyline. True, it faltered slightly during the last season, but the overall greatness of the series was not tarnished as a result (*cough* GameOfThrones *cough*) While Better Call Saul lacks the "holy shit" moments, somehow, the overall writing is even better than the original series. These writers have actually created characters, some of whom most likely will prove to have nothing to do with the Breaking Bad story arc, that I genuinely care about!!! I honestly want to know what happens to Nacho and Kimberly, and with the exception of one having their name mentioned once, neither of them had little impact on the story of Breaking Bad. Also, the character of Lalo is a legendary villian that no one saw coming! This is a HUGE accomplishment by the writers, especially in today's Hollywood world.
They are very close but for now I have to go with BB being superior to BCS, you have to give a little extra for it being the original which BCS came out of. I did not watch BB when it first came out but when I decided to watch it the only place I could was by renting from one of the few remaining Blockbuster Videos around, I was heading back every 3 days to pick up the next season. As far as prequels that were better than the originals, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly was probably the best I can think of. Many will say Godfather II but being a big Eastwood fan I go with the western.
I recognize that this thread is your idea but I have to disagree with you re: BCS is better--even the characters. 1. I personally did not really care too much about Sauls brother--its important to the plot but not exciting for me. 2. The development of Kim was great but no one compares to Gus Fring as a character imo. Lalo and Nacho are cool. 3. The murder of Gus Grings boyfriend was perhaps the greatest scene in television history--the plane crash saga was exceptional. The texas scene with the turtle is crazy good. BCS does not have comparable moments besides the guy with Nacho getting tied up and suffocated. 4. As I said before, IMO season 5 of BCS kicked ass as tho it was a season of BB. The other BCS seasons are great and offer information about BB. 5. Great thread idea.
I voted BB, but it's neck and neck in some ways. The Kettlemans is pretty classic. It did get a voice of its own.
Breaking Bad is the better show. Better Call Saul is one of the best sequels in TV history but it's following one of the top 10 shows of all time.
I stopped watching BCS at season 2. I guess I should finish it after reading all the good stuff everyone here is saying. Need a new show to binge.
BB is just about the perfect show. Story, acting, pacing, it has it all. The rare show that got significantly better every single season and ended at the perfect time at the peak. BCS is a phenomenal show but only matched BB's quality in the last season or two. If the last season of BCS is on that level or higher then we have a conversation on our hands, but not now. I honestly can't imagine how BB could've been improved other than the first season being a little slow. The last few seasons just built intensity and climaxed perfectly. BCS is en route to doing the same but it stayed slow for a season longer than it should've.
Am I the only one who thought that the post-Gustavo Fring Breaking Bad was not quite as good as the rest of the show?
Fring is one of the great supporting characters of all time. He was kind of the ultimate villain, which made every other villain after him look pedestrian by comparison.
I have watched BCS through season 4. I loved BB but I like BCS better. Maybe he is just more likeable or Chuck and all the other lawyers are just pompous assholes but I like Jimmy McGill so much more than Saul, Jesse and WW in BB. Although I liked Mike in BB and like him even more in BCS. Seeing Gustavo Fring in BCS is also interesting as well. I can't wait to watch season 5.
Gus was hard to beat as a villain but I greatly enjoyed the whole Madrigal saga. The 5th season just has a huge number of incredible episodes. Ozymandias is probably the best episode of any show ever and there are several others from the 5th season that are in or near that tier as well.
I haven't watched yet but I expect the fall of Jimmy McGill and the rise of Saul Goodman to be spectacular. The thing that made Breaking Bad great was Brian Cranston's epic portrayal of a man who falls and then rises and falls again. Against that all of the supporting roles were played about as well as they could be and the net effect was greatness.
I have to go with Breaking Bad, just because of the originality of the characters and of course the shock value. You don't get a huge amount of that in a prequel series. But for what it's worth, Bob Odenkirk stole every episode of Breaking Bad that has more than one scene with him and it wasn't close, he deserved this show and it really paid off. It is so close to catching the original for me but it is lacking that one thing, and it matters.
The thing that made Breaking Bad great for me was that the supporting cast was extremely talented however it was almost impossible to steal the episode away from Bryan Cranston unless he was de-emphasized for the episode. It's like the writers had to minimize him to give the other wonderful actors a chance. That's why he kept winning the best actor award. The last guy that did that from my perspective was James Gandolfini in The Sopranos.
I actually think Gus is who largely made Breaking Bad what it was, putting Cranston's phenomenal acting aside. The show was a very good one before the Gus saga but became an elite show during it. Not sure we've ever seen such a buttoned up, ruthless, unassuming super villain in a TV show before. Gus was how you'd design a drug kingpin from scratch if you wanted him to be as good as possible at his job. The show did a great job of keeping the momentum going after he was gone, something I was highly skeptical they'd be able to do at the time.
