As most of my Friends know, I'm a big fan of House and Hugh Laurie. Every year, we agonize when he doesn't get the Emmy for Best Actor In A Drama Series, or something like that.
This year, he lost for a good reason. It was because of this guy:
His name is Bryan Cranston. He's an actor. Some of you might know him from a show called Malcolm In The Middle. Never watched it.
He won Hugh's Emmy for a role he plays in a series called Breaking Bad, on the AMC Network. I had never heard of it until they started showing reruns of the first season, a few weeks ago. For those not familiar with it, here's a quick synopsis.
Walter White is a high school chemistry teacher in Albuquerque, NM. He provides for his family, which includes a disabled son. He works extra jobs to make ends meet. He has a brother-in-law who is a DEA agent.
Walter gets some bad news from his doctor. He has inoperable lung cancer, and not long to live. His immediate concern is for his family, and how they will survive without him. While watching a methamphetamine lab bust on the local news, he's amazed by the amount of money confiscated. Thousands upon thousands of dollars.
He's intrigued, because he knows how to make meth. Good meth. He's a chemistry teacher! Walter asks his DEA friend if he can tag along on a drug bust. He can, but he has to stay in the car. During the raid, he sees one of his students escape out of a window! Desperate Walter approaches his student about starting a lab of their own. They go into business together.
That's my synopsis! And that's all set up in the first episode. I just finished watching the third episode, I think. It comes on Sunday nights. This is the kind of series where you need to watch every episode. They get into some very dark situations, some that might put you out of your comfort zone! But it's well written, in both plot and character development.
While I was very surprised Cranston got the Emmy, I can see why. From what I've seen so far, he earned it.
I was going to wait till after Tuesday to blog about this show. But they announced tonight that Breaking Bad will be showing this Wednesday on AMC. The entire first season in a marathon! Mr. Cranston might have had something to do with that! :) If you don't get AMC, you can probably find it on the internets. Just make sure you start with the first episode!
So that's a head's up, for anyone who hasn't checked it out yet. Oh, and after House on Tuesdays, check out The Mentalist on CBS! I swear, I'm not shilling for tv.com!
:)
TG