Breaking
Bad is a show on the AMC network, it is normally broadcast on Sundays, at 9
pm PST. The show consists of moments of action, drama and dark comedy; though
the best genre to fit it into would be an episodic domestic drama, with a
twist. The episode I will review “Face Off,”
aired originally on 10/7/2011, and re-aired on 7/15/2013. In this episode, the
finale of season 3 (Episode 4-13, “Face Off”), the protagonist Walt (Brian Cranston) is attempting
thwart the season’s antagonist, Gustavo Fring’s (Giancarlo Esposito) plans to rub
out Walt and his family. Gustavo had been doubled crossed by Walt during the
season after attempting to use him for more nefarious purposes than Walt had obliged
to; now Gustavo plans to remove Walt before he becomes more of a threat to his takeover
of the Mexican meth cartel. In the end Walt is left standing and utters the
final words of the season to his wife “I won.” Most of the cast of Breaking Bad are people who are relative
unknowns in the acting world. Brian Cranston however, the star of the show,
made his claim to fame in the early 2000s with his role as Hal, the scatter
brained, heart of gold father in the Fox primetime hit Malcom in the Middle. The ads that were presented during the run of
this episode were as follows: dove chocolate ice cream, dominos pizza, miller
light, some kind of ole skin rejuvenating serum, burger king’s dollar menu, taco
bell, volkswagon, the Oregon Jamboree, buffalo wild wings, dave and busters. The
setting of the show is one for a younger crowd, I can’t imagine and have not
met too many elderly people who are interested in the manufacture and
distribution of meth. However, the younger generation has grown up surrounded
by D.A.R.E., school health classes, “Just Say No” and a variety of gang culture
related drug references; it is no wonder that this show is so popular with
teenagers and college students. The fact that the show has certain advertisers,
such as Ole, leads me to believe that the target audience for this show is both
male and female, an advertisement for something like late night Taco Bell or
cheap food at Burger King is a strong indicator that the show is marketed
towards the 18-30 crowd. If I was to come from a totally foreign, non-western
country and watch this show with these ads for the first time, I wouldn’t be
that surprised. I believe that the US has an image abroad of being slightly
crime ridden, so the premise of the show isn’t too shocking. The ads on the
show are signs of mindless consumerism in the 24 hour world, which also wouldn’t
be too shocking for me seeing as the US has a reputation around the globe as
being massive consumers. I think this show has very strong acting and story
lines, though sometimes the writing leaves something to be desired. Such as in
cases of dialogue, often the character of Jesse is a bumbling moron who can’t string
together a coherent sentence; but then sometimes he is a genius and point of
center for Walt. The reviews at IMDB seem to resonate my
belief, the general opinion there is that the show is fantastic; there seems to
be a lot of defense for the show, people claiming that Breaking Bad is not a Weeds
knockoff. Rotten
Tomatoes gives the show a rating of 97% fresh, which is not too shabby. Ellie
Nussbaum at New York Magazine explains that the show is subtly funny while having
emotional and often sad content. I enjoy this show; I try to watch every
episode as it comes out. I have seen every episode up to this point and plan to
get caught back up before the series finale starts in August. Most of my
friends watch this show; I have recommended it to many who now watch it with as
much enthusiasm as me. An interesting fact about the show is that the right
hand man to Walt, Jesse
was going to be killed off in the very first season; but because of fan
appeal he was granted a stay and lives up to the most current episode. In
conclusion, the show seems to be targeted to a younger crowd. This is based
both off of my investigation of the show’s structure/plot and the advertisers
who choose to support the show. I was slightly surprised by the number of ads
that appeared during the course of the show breaks, I hadn’t really ever
contemplated how many ads there are on TV before. Don’t get me wrong, I have
definitely been aware of commercials and been annoyed by them for years; but it
wasn’t until I had to write down every commercial I saw that I realized how
much television is dependent on advertising.
