In his regularly irregular column for Entertainment Weekly, the King of Horror (and so much more) recently talked about just how much he liked this odd little drama about a dying high school chemistry teacher who decides to turn to meth-making as a way to secure his family's financial future. It's one of AMC's few original series (along with the much ballyhoo'd and truly overrated Mad Men), buried someplace between the networks and the pay-per-view cable shows, and folks, it is just play odd. Good odd.
King calls it, "the best scripted show on TV ... The only thing that comes close is Twin Peaks, but Peaks lost its focus once it moved beyond the death of Laura Palmer.” (A sentiment with which he totally agree, for what that's worth.) But there are elements of the surreal, outrageous, and just plain mad in this piece that make it well worth finding. "It's like watching No Country for Old Men crossbred with the malevolent spirit of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre," King says, and that alone should be attracting Rush fans in droves. (And this shouldn't come entirely as a surprise. The series creator is Vince Gilligan, who was also a producer on X-Files and its much-mourned short-lived offspring The Lone Gunman.)
The biggest revelation, of course, is Bryan Cranston, who plays Walter White. Sure, the man had a distinguished career as a character actor for years before he became Malcom’s Dad on Malcolm in the Middle, but no one actually expected him to get out from under that shadow, any more than popular TV Dads With Great Careers like Dan Lauria (Wonder Years) or Ed O’Neil (Married with Children) have been able to. But there isn't a trace of Hal in Walter. This isn't acting, it's transformation, and creepy, too.
Time for us all to give it a look. First year is available on DVD, and the new episodes are on Sundays at 10 pm on AMC, though they rebroadcast them throughout the week. Check in, check it out, go nuts.
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