Yep that's kind of the point. It's a ****ing disaster for every character involved. Top to bottom.

Who do you root for on Breaking Bad? I think Mad Men and Breaking Bad both score out equally on the flawed characters scale.

And sure Breaking Bad has more, you know, guns. But let's not act like Mad Men lacks any kind of intensity. It's one of the most well crafted and tightly wound series I've ever seen.

But, really it is like comparing apples to oranges.

I think it's like comparing apples to pears. They're not the same show, but they aren't really THAT different.

And yeah, the two shows come out equal on the number of characters you want to root for. Mad Men has Peggy and Joan, and that's basically it. Though I'm starting to root for Megan Draper. Breaking Bad has Hank as its true hero, and Jessie is someone we root for as well.

Of all those characters, perhaps only Peggy is without flaws.

Fair enough. Apples and pears it is.

I'm three episodes away from the end of season two of Breaking Bad. So far, I'm not rooting for Jessie. We'll see what happens.

Peggy is flawed, but I think her flaws are the most universal. It's easy for me to put myself in her place and see myself making similar choices.

Precisely. They're the kind of flaws that make us root for her even more, because they are normal-people flaws. We don't see Peggy as being a bad person because of her flaws, unlike nearly everyone else in the show.

Exactly.

Peggy is such a great character. She and Joan both, really. Fantastic characters.

It's amazing how little I thought of Elizabeth Moss before I started watching Mad Men. She's fantastic on the show.

Both shows are on the same network. Both are highly rated & critically acclaimed. I think its fair to compare them.

And there are plenty of characters to root for in BrBd. Like Hank for example. He is a good guy and I hope he figures everything out in the next season(which its looking like he will)

Heh, if I wanted to watch a bunch of dudes sitting around drinking scotch, smoking cigars, and talking about the 60's I'd move to a Florida senior condo. No thanks.

But even Hank (so far) is kind of a blowhard and a hypocrite.

One of the things I love about Breaking Bad is that by virtue of his profession, even though he is "the good guy" we're actually kind of forced to root against Hank because he's a major antagonist to the show's major protagonists.

I don't think Hank is the true hero. He's only a hero by virtue of his profession, not because he's actually a character we root for to succeed. Shouldn't a hero be someone people want to see succeed? I don't think anyone wants to see Hank catch Walt and Jesse.

I think Jesse turns out to be the true hero in the end.

If you don't want Walt to get caught then you are sick, morally troubled person.

Sort of like Walt himself, then.

I don't think I've ever really wanted Walt and Jesse to actually get caught by the cops, though. This show deserves a better ending than that (and Walt probably deserves a worse fate considering everything he's done).

Not really. This isn't real life. There are tons of movies and tv show where the audience is supposed to root for the bad guy. It has nothing to do with being morally troubled or anything like that.

And plus, this isn't the case. I don't want Walt to get caught because I'd rather him have a showdown vs. Jesse.

BTW, when Walt was driving Hank to the meth lab (when Walt crashed the car), were you cheering for Walt to get caught then?

This. It's not real life. We're trying to get the most entertainment possible and if that means that Walt doesn't get caught, then I don't want him to get caught.