The Best/Worst Moments of last night's show

[buffcoat]

I am acquainted with a writer for American Dad.  He has a stack of residual checks on his kitchen table about a foot high.  I can understand how frustrating it must be to be producing high quality, high concept entertainment and feeling under-appreciated.

[Kormod]

If The Wire is "great literature" and Breaking Bad is trash, then throw me in the trash bin, man.

[ben]

OFFICER TOM!

also,

purple shirt

[dave from knoxville]

If The Wire is "great literature" and Breaking Bad is trash, then throw me in the trash bin, man.

here here

People, if you feel a need to apologize for what you like, you're doing it wrong. Unless you like Adam Corolla. Damn, what's wrong with you?

[dutch]

I think Tom was being provocative or teasing, as he calls it, by using the words "junky" and "trash" to describe Breaking Bad. Which implies that it's a waste of time to watch it and makes fans like myself angry. I know that it doesn't take place in reality, I have even described it to people as a modern western. I think great acting and tight plotting elevates the material beyond it's genre roots. It seems to have a lot less filler than most show but I'm probably mesmerized by the performances and the suspenseful stories. I'm sure a rewatch would make some plot holes and dangling threads more obvious. Vince Gilligan admits the influence of Scarface on it. The cancer was basically an elevator pitch and a major theme is that Walt keeps his criminal activity going after his cancer is in remission. The cancer wasn't dropped because of the need to stretch the story a few more seasons. None of these points mean that it's high art but I think that as entertainment it's nearly pefect.

[JesseFromVegas]

I just don't get people who've listened to more than like, three episodes of the show getting mad at Tom for not liking things they like a lot.  Even if these are his genuine opinions about Breaking Bad and not him just winding people up in his inimitable Tommy Wonderful way, what skin off your teeth is it if Tom doesn't like everything you like?  I'm sure lots of people I've admired other than Tom would hate a lot of the junk I like, but that's not a reflection me or them, it's just how subjectivity works.  And if you are so irked that Tom doesn't share your like/dislike of one or two things, do you REALLY need to call up and harangue him about it?

[dutch]

I just don't get people who've listened to more than like, three episodes of the show getting mad at Tom for not liking things they like a lot.  Even if these are his genuine opinions about Breaking Bad and not him just winding people up in his inimitable Tommy Wonderful way, what skin off your teeth is it if Tom doesn't like everything you like?  I'm sure lots of people I've admired other than Tom would hate a lot of the junk I like, but that's not a reflection me or them, it's just how subjectivity works.  And if you are so irked that Tom doesn't share your like/dislike of one or two things, do you REALLY need to call up and harangue him about it?

If someone calls up or tweets at him then that means that Tom hit a home run with his, for lack of a better word, trolling. The reason that people take it personally is because after spending 3 hours a week with Tom for years you feel like he's your best friend and you value his take on things. It's a trick but an effective one.

[daveB from Oakland]

I just don't get people who've listened to more than like, three episodes of the show getting mad at Tom for not liking things they like a lot. 

It took me longer than three shows but yeah, that stuff doesn't bother me the way it used to. Like a lot of others here, I've gotten to the point where I can laugh along with Tom when he's dissing stuff I like ... as long as he's funny about it, and he almost always is.

[dutch]

I just don't get people who've listened to more than like, three episodes of the show getting mad at Tom for not liking things they like a lot. 

It took me longer than three shows but yeah, that stuff doesn't bother me the way it used to. Like a lot of others here, I've gotten to the point where I can laugh along with Tom when he's dissing stuff I like ... as long as he's funny about it, and he almost always is.

Even as someone who has spent weeks of my life reading those books and watching that show I can't get enough of George Rail Road Martin.

[cavorting with nudists]

My skin is capable of allowing Tom to get under it when he disses stuff I like, but it's not because I consider him a "friend," sheesh. It's of a piece with his style of humor, which is cranky and opinionated and kind of ruthless in its judgments. Consequently, when he digs into something I value, I may not be in a mood to see the humor in it and it may come across as mean, at least on first blush.  But it's a feature.  If he dissed everything in the way he disses stuff at his most charitable--some variation on "Well, it's just not for me"--he wouldn't be as abrasive, but he also wouldn't be as funny.  For sensitive souls, it may take some getting used to.

[mostlymeat]

I just don't get people who've listened to more than like, three episodes of the show getting mad at Tom for not liking things they like a lot. 

It took me longer than three shows but yeah, that stuff doesn't bother me the way it used to. Like a lot of others here, I've gotten to the point where I can laugh along with Tom when he's dissing stuff I like ... as long as he's funny about it, and he almost always is.

It used to really bother me that Tom didn't like heavy metal and called it "music for 13 year olds", but all I had to do was wait for Tom to come around. Now he is championing Sammy Hagar and my mind can be at rest.

By the way, if you are in San Francisco on Saturday you should come see my heavy metal side project, Thunderbleed AKA Blind Vengeance, we are playing our once-yearly show at the Hemlock on Polk St, guaranteed to shred your face off with classics from UFO, The Scorps, BOC, and yes, Sammy-era Montrose!

http://www.stallionmagic.com/thunderbleed/index2.htm
http://www.facebook.com/events/222055021250326/

-Ajax

[JesseFromVegas]

Someone teach Pat from D.C. what the words "interesting" and "story" mean, please.

[Mike Desert]

I just don't get people who've listened to more than like, three episodes of the show getting mad at Tom for not liking things they like a lot. 

It took me longer than three shows but yeah, that stuff doesn't bother me the way it used to. Like a lot of others here, I've gotten to the point where I can laugh along with Tom when he's dissing stuff I like ... as long as he's funny about it, and he almost always is.

It used to really bother me that Tom didn't like heavy metal and called it "music for 13 year olds", but all I had to do was wait for Tom to come around. Now he is championing Sammy Hagar and my mind can be at rest.

By the way, if you are in San Francisco on Saturday you should come see my heavy metal side project, Thunderbleed AKA Blind Vengeance, we are playing our once-yearly show at the Hemlock on Polk St, guaranteed to shred your face off with classics from UFO, The Scorps, BOC, and yes, Sammy-era Montrose!

http://www.stallionmagic.com/thunderbleed/index2.htm
http://www.facebook.com/events/222055021250326/

-Ajax

I'm supposed to go see the Lewd and the Mutants, etc...at Lennon studios...but it looks like my friend Naes is going!

[mostlymeat]

I just don't get people who've listened to more than like, three episodes of the show getting mad at Tom for not liking things they like a lot. 

It took me longer than three shows but yeah, that stuff doesn't bother me the way it used to. Like a lot of others here, I've gotten to the point where I can laugh along with Tom when he's dissing stuff I like ... as long as he's funny about it, and he almost always is.

It used to really bother me that Tom didn't like heavy metal and called it "music for 13 year olds", but all I had to do was wait for Tom to come around. Now he is championing Sammy Hagar and my mind can be at rest.

By the way, if you are in San Francisco on Saturday you should come see my heavy metal side project, Thunderbleed AKA Blind Vengeance, we are playing our once-yearly show at the Hemlock on Polk St, guaranteed to shred your face off with classics from UFO, The Scorps, BOC, and yes, Sammy-era Montrose!

http://www.stallionmagic.com/thunderbleed/index2.htm
http://www.facebook.com/events/222055021250326/

-Ajax

I'm supposed to go see the Lewd and the Mutants, etc...at Lennon studios...but it looks like my friend Naes is going!

Sometimes you gotta choose between classic punk and classic metal! That's cool you know Naes! Say hi to Bob "The Lewd" Clic for me, he once promised me a Montrose bootleg but never came through.

-Ajax

[Mike Desert]

Sometimes you gotta choose between classic punk and classic metal! That's cool you know Naes! Say hi to Bob "The Lewd" Clic for me, he once promised me a Montrose bootleg but never came through.

-Ajax

right on!  I know Bob too