Was it ever going to be anything else? If you haven't already seen Breaking Bad, you're probably sick of everyone harping on about it, but the fact of the matter is - Breaking Bad lives up to the hype. With high school teacher Walter White battling cancer and struggling to pay his medical bills, he teams up with one of his worst students to cook crystal meth. What initially starts off as a fairly light hearted romp becomes increasingly dark as Walter White finds himself becoming slowly consumed by the criminal underworld. What makes Breaking Bad such compelling watching is that Walter starts off as a completely relatable and likeable character. You sympathise with him and fully support and understand his motives, yet as the series goes on your allegiances constantly waver from character to character, and the writers keep you guessing about his morality right until the very end. Breaking Bad is not only a masterclass in writing, but in pacing too. Many critics claim sequels to be bigger and better than what has come before, yet they rarely are. With Breaking Bad however, each series somehow manages to top the previous one, uping the ante and yet somehow still remaining just as well written and gripping as the season before it. Bryan Cranston's performance is sensational throughout, but the show also features a wealth of amazing performances from Aaron Paul, Dean Norris, RJ Mitte and pretty much the entire cast. Its not often that a TV show feels like a journey, but with Breaking Bad, there is a clear sense of change that permeates each season, and each surprise twist keeps you hooked right until the end. While every show on this list is worth watching, there are none that manage to encapsulate everything great about television quite as well as Breaking Bad. While the Sopranos will forever be remembered as the show that first made television great, Breaking Bad will be remembered as the one that made the medium more of an event than any movie could hope to be. Not only one of the greatest pieces of TV, but one of the most perfectly formed pieces of entertainment of any medium. If you're looking for a new obsession and still haven't taken the journey with Walter and Jesse then this is an absolute must.
Having written for Official Playstation Mag, Godisageek and obviously What Culture. Tom is a London based writer who loves him some games. You may also find his articles lurking in the film and comic sections on rare occasions.
