Weekend Recap and Looking Forward...

 

It’s never good to look back on what was but I’d argue that, that rule doesn’t hold completely firm when dealing with entertainment and sports. When dealing with entertainment it’s always good to look back, quote movies, re-watch things, and then talk about how we could have done something different if a film or show isn’t what we expected. Same rule applies for sports; living in the past is what gives us hope for the future.

On the same hand, it’s good to look ahead and what’s to come, and I’m essentially going to try and do both right now. I should note that I’m not going to look to far back, just the previous weekend. The weekends are amazing, for me it’s a time where anything is game… and I kind of think that’s how they should always be. Regarding looking ahead, we’re peeking into the full week.

Friday:

The Olympics. I managed to watch roughly three hours of the opening games and I was a bit underwhelmed. I think I’m spoiled from the Beijing opening. Truthfully I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but it was a grand scale, so there needs to be some credit handed out.

I started to question the Olympics and the various competitions. I wish there was a bigger reward for the winners because quite honestly I don’t think that everyone appreciates a gold medal. I wish the stakes were higher.

I think the opening ceremony put me to sleep because I don’t know what else happened to me.

Saturday:

I rode my bike for the majority of the day and was more tired than I can explain. I proceeded to plant myself on the couch and watch two things that I wish I could burn from my mind:

Faster with The Rock and Billy Bob Thornton. I came into this movie about five minutes late and I left after about thirty minutes. Has anyone seen this movie? What’s the premise? I love The Rock but what was happening in this movie.

Sex and the City 2. I would honestly rather watch these women in NY having the same arguments and doing the same things than ever watch them go to India. I wonder how this idea was given a green light.

Post Sex and the City 2 I loaded up on a few glasses of wine and caught up on Fringe. Fringe, is a show that is highly underrated but I can understand why it doesn’t have a larger audience. I wish I wasn’t so late to the party watching it because I would have been a larger Fringe advocate throughout the past years. If anyone wants a good Sci Fi show, watch Fringe.

Sunday:

Turned on the Olympics and female cycling was on. Turned off Olympics and ran some errands with my girlfriend. Three to four hours later I turned on the Olympics and the same exact race was happening but it was coming to an end. Somehow female cycling was captivating but I don’t know who could have watched the whole race. If you’re out there, show yourself.

It’s somewhat difficult for me to write this without some hesitancy, but I need to embrace it and just go with it. I managed to cram my Sunday night with an episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians and thenBreaking Bad. I’m not sure when it started to happen but whenever I’d turn on the TV the Kardashians were there, and I occasionally started to watch. But now, I just watch them before I watch Walter White go meth crazy on everyone.

Crazy Kardashian happenings- Kim Kardashian apparently has a sixth sense for detecting cavities. Let me repeat that, wait, no I won’t. Just know that I wrote about Kim’s sixth sense and also know that I can’t believe I wrote that.

Crazy Breaking Bad happenings- Everything. It’s the best show on TV.

Random weekend facts – The Watch with Stiller, Hill, and Vaughn didn’t exactly do well at the box office this week proving that you cannot just throw funny people on a billboard and expect money. I caught the new Seinfeld webseries on Crackle.com and it was hilarious. I suggest everyone should check it out.

Looking ahead here’s what you can expect:

More Olympics. More Kardashians. More Breaking Bad. The return of Colin Farrell in Total Recall.

… That pretty much sums it up.

Bryan Cranston: Best TV Actor Ever?

I’m currently in the process of feeding my Breaking Bad addiction that started about 2 months ago (I’m currently 5 episodes through Season 4). While watching there are about 3 constants that pop in my head. 1 – This show is almost as addicting as LOST. 2 – I never want to do Meth. 3 – Bryan Cranston is amazing.

Cranston is part of one of the single greatest show of all time – Seinfeld: Dr. Tim Whatley, DDS – 5 episodes – 5 great episodes.

Episode 1: The Mom and Pop Store: The episode where George thinks he has Jon Voight’s car and Jerry doesn’t get an invite from Whatley to attend his Thanksgiving party.

Episode 2: The Label Maker: Jerry gives Whatley Jets Super Bowl Tickets. Whatley gives Jerry a Label Maker in return, which happened to be the same label maker Elaine gave Whatley… The birth of “The Re-Gifter”.

Episode 3: The Jimmy: Jerry suspects Whatley is giving out too much Novocain at his dental office and engaging is sexual acts with his patients.

Episode 4: The Yada Yada Yada: The infamous Anti-Dentite episode. Jerry suspects Whatley converted to Judaism for the Jewish jokes.

Episode 5: The Strike: George, Elaine, and Jerry find out at Whatley’s Hanukkah party that a donation has been made in their name to the “Children’s Alliance” – they suspect this was made up by Whatley in order to not give a gift.

The thing about the 5 episodes is that they spanned over the entirety of Seinfeld. His first appearance was on the 94th episode and his last was on the 166th – the show ran for 180. Whatley was memorable, people wanted more of him, and aside from David Puddy I’d argue he was the best returning character the show had.

Post 5 awesome episodes Cranston played Hal in Malcolm in the Middle for 151 episodes. He was nominated for 3 Emmy’s while playing the father to Malcolm and the kids.

Side note: How awesome would Cranston be on “Modern Family” as Phil Dunphy?

For the record, 151 episodes of any TV is kind of a massive accomplishment. It’s the kind of thing that either never happens for actors/actresses or it happens once in a career. It’s also the kind of thing that while it’s happening you end up pigeonholing each actor in their role. Think about any memorable character you’ve ever seen for 5+ years on TV and what they end up doing afterwards. You associate people at what they’re good at, and Cranston is clearly good with comedy.

It’s a double edged sword for actors simply because once you are great as a character that’s what gets you work – so the obvious choice for Cranston is to do comedy over and over again because it’s what will keep him employed. Apparently Cranston had other ideas… Enter Walter White.

Walter White, the Chemistry teacher diagnosed with lung cancer turned Meth producer and occasional dealer. White is the lead badass on Breaking Bad, which is a far cry from Cranston’s comedy we’ve come to know him in. Which means – Cranston did what so many have failed at, he successfully transitioned from show to show, Comedy to Drama, and has sustained as a TV actor. But not only has he sustained; he’s been fucking awesome at it, and at times the best at it.

Cranston has won multiple awards playing Walter White, specifically 3 consecutive Emmy’s. The thing about Cranston is that he’s just a great actor. He’s so incredibly memorable that you have to ask: Is Bryan Cranston the best TV actor ever?

Seriously.

Who else has done such a 180 in public perception than Bryan Cranston? An argument could be made that while he was doing comedy he was part of an ensemble, more so than he is now, but he still stood out more than anyone else. When Cranston is on screen he brings it, who else has done a Cranston? And no, I’m not talking about transitioning from TV to movies - I’m talking about TV to TV.

I seriously can’t think of anyone. One name comes to mind and it’s Ted Danson – Why is Ted Danson in my head?

This is a legit argument. Is he just that good? I think so. Lets not forget he’s sneaking into movies every once in a while (Drive, Contagion, Lincoln Lawyer, Red Tails, the new Total Recall, and Affleck’s upcoming film Argo). Could Cranston go Clooney and turn into a movie star? Honestly… maybe. Why not?

I’ll stand by the fact that anyone who goes from Dr. Tim Whatley to Walter White has to be considered one of the best TV actors of all time.  Nobody has jumped from comedy to drama as memorably as Cranston.

If you don’t watch Breaking Bad… do it.