SALON

Wednesday, Jul 20, 2011 4:59 PM UTC

What to watch instead of “Breaking Bad”

If AMC's award-winning meth show has you craving more drugs and paranoia, we've got just the fix

By

Topics: Breaking Bad, Television,

What to watch instead of Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul on "Breaking Bad."

“Breaking Bad” might be the best piece of television on the air right now (if anyone wants to dispute this in open court, be my guest), but some of us don’t have the time to sit down and catch up on all three seasons of Vince Gilligan’s award-winning show about the dad from “Malcolm in the Middle” making meth. Or else we’ve already seen every episode, and waiting a full week for our high-octane fix is wearing thin.

In either case, we’ve got the solution: three pieces of pop culture that should satisfy (if not totally satiate) your love of drugs, insane dealers and unhinged protagonists until such time when you can watch the insanity of Walter White and his associates again.

“The Lone Gunmen”: Remember this “X-Files” spinoff? Probably not, because it only lasted one season, and it focused on those three computer-hacking geek friends of Fox Mulder, not one of them sexy enough to fill David Duchovny’s shoes.

Why you’ll love it: “The Lone Gunmen” was written by “Breaking Bad” creator Vince Gilligan, and the very first episode predicted the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center by airplane terrorists (it turns out to be an inside job). Pretty odd for a show about conspiracy theories. The multiple plot twists and turns may seem as conventional as any “Law & Order” episode now, but they do bear that distinct “Breaking Bad” mark of severe paranoia.

“The Salton Sea”: Val Kilmer, Vincent D’Onofrio and Peter Sarsgaard star in this dark thriller about a methed-up trumpet player (Kilmer) looking for the answers to his wife’s murder. All the while he’s being hunted by a sadistic, noseless dealer calling himself Pooh Bear (D’Onofrio). There are some side plots involving a hot next-door neighbor and some undercover narcotic officers Kilmer’s character is working with, but you don’t find out until the end if they are red herrings or not. Even when the credits roll, it remains unclear.

Why you’ll love it: “Memento on meth,” this movie has a touch of Christopher Nolan and even David Lynch … if the two of them got really, really tweaked out and wrote a twisted, psychotic noir film about methamphetamine. Without giving away too much of the plot, let’s just say that the reveals in this movie could have rivaled “Breaking Bad’s”… if the film had been a TV show with fully developed characters. Plus, any time you get to watch D’Onofrio go off the rails, it’s a treat.

 

“Ideal”: Why should America have the market cornered on drug shows? The British dark comedy “Ideal” just wrapped up its sixth season about a small-time weed dealer named Moz (played by Johnny Vegas) who, despite (or because of) his lack of any grand plans, always seems to end up with blood on his hands.

Why you’ll love it: For a show that’s supposedly a comedy, Moz’s clients can be pretty dark. There’s a guy named “Cartoon Head” who has a cartoon mask superglued to his face, identical twins Craig and Steve, Psycho Paul, and a constable named PC Phil Collins. With all the backstabbing, literal stabbings and intense showdowns in this BBC series, you forget you’re watching a program that’s about a petty criminal dealing marijuana.

Drew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew. More Drew Grant.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 8 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
FBI reportedly joins Bachmann campaign finance probe
240 points241 points | 15 comments
vote
Paul Krugman’s right: Austerity kills. "In an economy where we’re all in the same boat, one person’s spending is another person’s income. So when the government cuts spending, it reduces people’s income, leading to less business, more unemployment, and a vicious spiral of slowing down the economy."
235 points236 points | 202 comments
vote
Jon Karl makes things worse: He regrets “inaccurate” Benghazi email but says his story based on it “still entirely stands.” Really. ABC News?
208 points209 points | 31 comments
vote
“Jodorowsky’s Dune”: The sci-fi classic that never was.
81 points82 points | 16 comments
vote
Austerity Kills: Brian McArdle, a 57-year-old man who had had two strokes and could barely walk, was found "fit for work" by a government subcontractor, and had his benefits stopped. He died the next day.
67 points68 points | 4 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations