10 TV Performances Way Better Than Anyone Expected

1. Bryan Cranston - Breaking Bad

Back in the early-00s, you might not have known the name Bryan Cranston, although you'd have certainly recognised the friendly face. He was, to most, 'the dad from Malcolm in the Middle'; funny, loveable, a bit dopey, and completely harmless. Smaller roles in the likes of How I Met Your Mother and Little Miss Sunshine (alongside future Breaking Bad co-star Dean Norris) did little to suggest he was much more than a comedic actor, and a supporting one at that.

So when a show called Breaking Bad rolled out, starring 'the dad from Malcolm in the Middle' as a high-school chemistry teacher who turns to drugs after a cancer diagnosis, expectations weren't exactly high. In fact, most people didn't notice it at all, because it was a few years before Breaking Bad truly caught aflame, but Cranston's performance was working miracles long before the world took notice.

It had a humble start, not just in terms of viewership, but Cranston's performance too. He was still the dad, the likeable family man who is funny and you root for. But the transformation over five seasons is one of the greatest characters arcs - and some of the finest acting - in TV history. Cranston gives this everything: he's desperate and deplorable, pitiful and powerful. He so completely hooks us into the Walter White persona, and then knocks us flat with the turn into Heisenberg. The tightey whiteys might be the same, but otherwise you cannot believe this is the same man who played Hal. It's a ferocious, truly epic performance; a monolithic showing that belongs in the pop-culture hall of fame.