Channel Surfing: Talking Bad - "Blood Money"

Chris Hardwick

Welcome to a new column called Channel Surfing, in which I sporadically look at current TV shows and talk about them. These are not ones that I care to write weekly recaps for and are instead reflections either on the episode, the series, or particular moments. This will hopefully help to share personal opinions as well as discover entertainment on the outer pantheon that I feel is well worth checking out, or in some cases, shows that are weird enough to talk about, but should never be seen.

*Note: There will be no spoilers for the most recent episode of Breaking Bad in this article. Also, I will reference this article I wrote in which I got into a discussion with the host over his first stint on Talking Bad.

It would make sense that a show as beloved as Breaking Bad would be the proprietor of its own talk show. As it stands, the show continually takes the internet culture by storm, launching podcasts, memes, and parodies galore. It would only feel right that they decide to branch out and capture the audience with a talk show that looks back at that night's episode and discuss it with people central to the show. Mind you, it does feel a little hackneyed that it was introduced during the last season, but it is important to consider why that is.

A few years back, AMC didn't have any talk shows. With some dumbfound luck, they stumbled across the host of the Nerdist podcast Chris Hardwick and assisted him in creating a show around the Walking Dead called Talking Dead. It made sense since it was becoming AMC's most profitable show. What would be better than seeing cast and crew discuss things briefly afterwards? It only grew more popular, expanding to a full hour, and while it could be due to weird scheduling issues, there is no logical reason that this had to wait until 2013.

But it did, and AMC decided to bet on a safe pony with Hardwick returning as host. There is no doubt he has charisma and can ask the questions that fans care about. He has made a living off of doing it on the Nerdist, and even held a bowling competition against the cast of Breaking Bad last year. In some ways, he is a revolutionary to meshing the nerd world with the mainstream by being a voice. Still, Talking Dead may have been successful, but could the new show known as Talking Bad manage to be more than a tragically ironic name?

I have had my conflicts with Hardwick in the past. Admittedly, they were largely based around the first episode of Talking Dead. He seemed stilted and kept me from enjoying the guests. While I didn't care enough about the Walking Dead to really discern interest, I just wanted more substance. It was quickly that I figured out the flaw of the half hour recap show. If you count in incessant commercial breaks, there is never any time to discuss anything significant. Also, as great as James Gunn and Patton Oswalt were as performers, what did they have to do with the Walking Dead? 

That is why I went into Talking Bad with some skepticism. I love the show, but that also includes being obsessive to researching all of the commentaries and listening to Vince Gilligan share stories on the Breaking Bad Insider Podcast. It makes it harder to watch shows like these and know that sometime this week, Gilligan will tell me more in deeper detail. Still, there's nothing quite like seeing how AMC pays tribute to one of its flagship programs.

For AMC, this past Sunday was a pretty big night, or at least their promotions would suggest. Along with new series Low Winter Sun (Channel Surfing column releases tomorrow), there was a specific ad that almost seemed like a reminder. It wasn't a fancy clip package, but Hardwick looking at the camera and stating that Breaking Bad is a significant show and to keep watching AMC to see Talking Bad. Of course, the station also promised a rather abysmal teaser for next week's Breaking Bad at Low Winter Sun's first commercial break, which didn't come for close to 30 minutes into the episode. In a way, it is how they hook you, though it also is just annoying.

From the get go, Hardwick couldn't admit enough that this show meant a lot to people. He even referenced having show creator Vince Gilligan on the Nerdist the week before. To say that the program was fine would be a little bit problematic. If this was on any other station, it could potentially be more than fine without changing a thing. However, since it is on AMC, home to Breaking Bad, there would be more access to materials and a better ability to present stuff that would make Talking Bad worth watching.

True, Gilligan is a full-on delight no matter where he goes. While he was tight lipped about future secrets, he almost seemed relieved to be talking about the incidents in "Blood Money." This is what was the hook. The show could just point to Gilligan to talk and it would be immediately successful. With plenty of friendly banter and a candid discussion about ricin, there is plenty substance here that if taken away from the fact that Breaking Bad Insider Podcast would debut days later, it would be a decent program.

However, it is 30 minutes with commercial interruptions. There is no room for tangents and even as other guest Julie Bowen grew increasingly disappointed that the time was up, it only reflected what the show needs to work on. For starters, the announcement that Bowen would be on Talking Dead made me assume she was guest starring in the series. Nope. She's just really successful on Modern Family and is a big fan who seems to derail conversations by wanting characters to got o Morocco for no explained reason. When she starts talking about stuff of interest, notably her theory on Lydia, Hardwick has to cut to commercial and the subject is never brought up again.

Vince Gilligan

The show also fumbles with some of the elements meant more to pay tribute to the show's rich history. From a moment where actor Charles Baker talks about a scene from "Half Measures" to a trivia clip about the real life Heisenberg, it just feels... cheap. This is notably in the sense that during Baker's discussion of why he enjoyed that scene, there isn't actual footage of the episode, even if it is readily available on DVD and Youtube. The discussion itself is interesting and it is a nice touch to hear performers talking about what they love on the show, but do know that this is AMC and there probably isn't much in the way of licensing clips to a show that just so happens to have the creator on it reportedly every week.

As fine as these clips are, the nature is haphazard. The show's brevity is the reason that this tends to feel inessential. Even if Bryan Cranston shares a brief alternate ending to "Gliding Over All," that is pretty humorous, it keeps the actual show from moving at a brisk pace. The show is called Talking Dead, and if it were even 15 minutes longer, it could get away with some of these special features. However, for a show that doesn't keep a strong conversation for more than five minutes before a break, it does feel like the victim of ADHD, if just a little.

Still, it is troubling because in reality, Hardwick is a good host that makes the experience easier to take. While I loathed Bowen as a guest, as she provided little substance, I like the idea enough to watch it week to week. Of course, it is also just interesting that this comes after Low Winter Sun instead of the actual show. While it is a smart ratings move, it does leave an hour gap and most fans who don't stick around for the Freshman series could drop off slowly. Talking Dead had the advantage of immediately proceeding. 

Maybe Talking Bad will work its kinks out in time, but if it does, that only raises the question of why starting now. Breaking Bad is considered to be the TV event of the year, and it isn't time for a talk show paying homage to it to find its legs. With only seven episodes left, there's a good chance it will do it, but not before some other potential problems. Viewers could drop off. They could find other markets to learn this information. Also, as the series reaches the final moments, how is it going to handle all of the discussion in only 30 minutes? This experiment may just be as compelling as Breaking Bad at this point.