A funny thing happened on the way to class...

Well if it isn't just rare comic genius. Now, before you get upset and start thinking "Does the hooligan have no middle setting? Does he either hate or love everything?" Well let me answer this for you: I sorta kinda like/dislike a hell of a lot of things... but am I gonna write about them? Not unless someone pays me. 

Breaking Bad is ridiculously good. 

Now, it won't change your life; but really, if you're looking to a 7 part TV series to do that, you're probably in as much trouble as the central character. It's not unprecedented in television, either - it's perhaps a Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin for the 21st century nowhere american. In fact, it's among a short but incredible list of TV coming out of the US that is so darkly comic, and so much about people *not* understanding and *not* getting along... that 20 years ago you would have sworn that americans couldn't make this stuff.

But boy, they can. This is just so watchable. Stunning overstated yet truly believeable performances from Brian Cranston and Anna Gunn. Great family chemistry (ho, ho) between them and their son, played by RJ Mitte. Comedy that positively reeks of despair, and literally has cancer at its heart... well, it's tricky to pull off. Breaking Bad manages all this plus some really stunning camera. You cannot imagine the glee with which I ate up the first series. The pilot had me jumping up and down.

As I say, it's Reginald Perrin. Emasculated, frustrated chemistry genius Walter White, working as a grade school chemistry teacher, decides to start cooking Methamphetamine with former student Jesse Pinkman (played like an angry fuckup chandler bing by Aaron Paul) - for a number of desperate reasons, the unfolding of which form a major part of the plot.

There is a palpable stink of anxiety, balls and mustard gas from this series. There is absolutely no point in my delving into the plot twists or ideosynchrasies (and boy, there are quite a few of them) - because they are effortlessly conveyed with dark hilarity by the crappy, claustrophobic atmosphere of the series.

Just watch it: no, really. If you cannot see my point, then it's possible you should not be watching television. You certainly shouldn't be listening to my opinion on *anything*. I mean, really, get the fuck out of my house.

Nine and a half panicked schoolteachers