OT: Dark Comedies You Love

[RockyMTblue2]

A darkly evil yet oh so delicious black comedy, superbly written, directed and acted, led by George C. Scott:

 

[RockyMTblue2]

A heck of a lot of profound, bitter comedy in this 5 minutes.



And it's a love story! " Emma Peel" and George, perfect together. Diana could Rigg me anytime.

 

[Bama fan]

this is my favorite one

 

[SVCBeercats]

A darkly evil yet oh so delicious black comedy, superbly written, directed and acted, led by George C. Scott:

Fargo - what a cast! Darn tooting!

 

[Scud49]

Loved this one- it was Picture of the Year IIRC:

 

[RockyMTblue2]

this is my favorite one

"And I was feeding you Jackie boy, feeding you ... you remember?" "Damn gammy leg...." I have the CD. I mention it to those under 40 and get blank stares.

 

[CajunHusky]

 

[CajunHusky]

 

[meyers7]

Always liked this one.

Heathers

 

[JordyG]

Episodic TV just doesn't get any better.

 

[f1f1ferrari]

An oldie, but goodie...

 

[f1f1ferrari]

"And I was feeding you Jackie boy, feeding you ... you remember?" "Damn gammy leg...." I have the CD. I mention it to those under 40 and get blank stares.

"You see, the string's gone in my leg..." One of the best movies of all-time!

 

[Scud49]

In Sergio Leone's brilliant "For a Few Dollars More", there were some moments of wonderful dark comedy:

 

[connie]

Episodic TV just doesn't get any better.
]

I’m afraid it does:



Whatever good can be said about Breaking Bad, it fell radically short of developing complex women characters and relationships. (This may explain part of the reason why its demographic was so sharply skewed towards male audiences, particularly between the ages of 20 and 50.) I have not watched the series in years. But apart from Skyler and (in later seasons) the occasional appearance of Lydia, there were scarcely any significant women characters at all. Hank’s spouse merely served as a vehicle for an entertaining idiosyncrasy-kleptomania. When the joke wore off, as it certainly must, the character was relegated to obscurity by the end of the first or second season. This tells you a lot about the limitations in the writing, at least as far as developing meaningful women characters.

Even the above Mad Men analysis (whatever its merit) comes nowhere near exhausting all of the things they could be discussed in this single episode. I rarely found that to be the case in Breaking Bad, many episodes of which did not even figure a female character. By comparison, figurations of “mothers”, alone, in Mad Men is well worth the price of admission and rivals just about any comparable treatment ever to appear on television.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

In Sergio Leone's brilliant "For a Few Dollars More", there were some moments of wonderful dark comedy:

Ah, ye olde strike a match on the hunchback's hump trick. Young Frankensteine stuff! Yeah I meant to spell it that way.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I’m afraid it does:



Whatever good can be said about Breaking Bad, it fell radically short of developing complex women characters and relationships. (This may explain part of the reason why its demographic was so sharply skewed towards male audiences, particularly between the ages of 20 and 50.) I have not watched the series in years. But apart from Skyler and (in later seasons) the occasional appearance of Lydia, there were scarcely any significant women characters at all. Hank’s spouse merely served as a vehicle for an entertaining idiosyncrasy-kleptomania. When the joke wore off, as it certainly must, the character was relegated to obscurity by the end of the first or second season. This tells you a lot about the limitations in the writing, at least as far as developing meaningful women characters.)

Even the above Mad Men analysis (Whatever its merit) comes nowhere near exhausting all of the things they could be discussed in this single episode. I rarely found that to be the case in breaking bad, many episodes of which did not even figure a female character. By comparison, figurations of “mothers,”, alone, in Mad Men is well worth the price of admission and rivals just about any comparable treatment ever to appear on television.

Connie, women as drug runners, distributors generally don't cut except in being airplane mules, particularly when you can trust 12 year old male apprentices on their bike cruisers. I found Skyler to make up for a lot of the shortcomings you are describing and her sister showed both admirable strength and flaws, just like a real person.

As for Mad Men, I knew people in the Ad game in the early 60s and they were as bad as air plane pilots, in service and flying the friendly skies, but the women for the most part were totally aware of what they were buying into, both the ones at home and the ones in the office. It's the realest "soap" I have ever seen.

BTW, the character of the left, banging her head on the glass ceiling, was my personal fav female character by far.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Episodic TV just doesn't get any better.

Best Christmas present of the decade was the complete series CD set!

 

[JordyG]

Best Christmas present of the decade was the complete series CD set!

Damn lucky dog?

 

[connie]

Connie, women as drug runners, distributors generally don't cut except in being airplane mules, particularly when you can trust 12 year old male apprentices on their bike cruisers. I found Skyler to make up for a lot of the shortcomings you are describing and her sister showed both admirable strength and flaws, just like a real person.

As for Mad Men, I knew people in the Ad game in the early 60s and they were as bad as air plane pilots, in service and flying the friendly skies, but the women for the most part were totally aware of what they were buying into, both the ones at home and the ones in the office. It's the realest "soap" I have ever seen.

BTW, the character of the left, banging her head on the glass ceiling, was my personal fav female character by far.

Breaking Bad's Skylar is an interesting character. But her presence on the show was not enough to fill the sizeable gap I noted. Moreover, that the series concerned drugs, drug cartels, etc. is no excuse. The Sopranos concerned the mob but allowed for marvelous development of plot, narrative and women characters well beyond the core mafiosi. Lorraine Buco; Gloria Trillo; Rosalie Aprile; Svetlana; Adriana; Janice; Irina; Meadow; Carmela; and of course Dr. Melfi. I would rank that series also as richer and far more rewarding than Breaking Bad.

As for "realest" soap . . . Realism is a genre, with its own conventions and forms; it is just as ideologically loaded as any other genre.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Breaking Bad's Skylar is an interesting character. But her presence on the show was not enough to fill the sizeable gap I noted. Moreover, that the series concerned drugs, drug cartels, etc. is no excuse. The Sopranos concerned the mob but allowed for marvelous development of plot, narrative and women characters well beyond the core mafiosi. Lorraine Buco; Gloria Trillo; Rosalie Aprile; Svetlana; Adriana; Janice; Irina; Meadow; Carmela; and of course Dr. Melfi. I would rank that series also as richer and far more rewarding than Breaking Bad.

As for "realest" soap . . . Realism is a genre, with its own conventions and forms; it is just as ideologically loaded as any other genre.

I don't disagree with anything you say and Lorraine Buco and Rosalie Aprile were great characters. But I would not expect a lot of women on a contemporized Mobey Dick set and the notion that all TV must fit some preconceived notion of quotas and agendas is as something you may want to take up with the Emmy Committee.

 

[Replicant]

 

[JordyG]

I’m afraid it does:



Whatever good can be said about Breaking Bad, it fell radically short of developing complex women characters and relationships. (This may explain part of the reason why its demographic was so sharply skewed towards male audiences, particularly between the ages of 20 and 50.) I have not watched the series in years. But apart from Skyler and (in later seasons) the occasional appearance of Lydia, there were scarcely any significant women characters at all. Hank’s spouse merely served as a vehicle for an entertaining idiosyncrasy-kleptomania. When the joke wore off, as it certainly must, the character was relegated to obscurity by the end of the first or second season. This tells you a lot about the limitations in the writing, at least as far as developing meaningful women characters.)

Even the above Mad Men analysis (Whatever its merit) comes nowhere near exhausting all of the things they could be discussed in this single episode. I rarely found that to be the case in breaking bad, many episodes of which did not even figure a female character. By comparison, figurations of “mothers,”, alone, in Mad Men is well worth the price of admission and rivals just about any comparable treatment ever to appear on television.

I cannot comment on Mad Men because I never watched the show. I may be way off base, but the concept of a good old boys club doing bad things never appealed to me.

Your conceit that the development of female characters in Mad Men was superior to that in Breaking Bad, and therefore that makes Mad Men the far superior show for my mind sounds specious. You fail completely to mention the development of the male characters. Breaking Bad, indeed, failed to develop female characters. I would suggest some of the greatest films ever produced failed in that respect. Certainly you don't hold a similar disdain for every Orson Welles film, most John Wayne films, most Clint Eastwood films, most Kubrick films, every Spielberg films, most Kazan films, most Scorsese films. I could go on and on.

What Breaking Bad does however is give you the anti-tragic hero, having we as the viewer watch this great, spectacularly marginal and gifted underachiever fall from a low place. Although Mad Men seems a great show, it seemed a variation on and old trope. Breaking Bad was something different to me, as we see this man, Phoenix like, transform himself into scum. Turning toward the darkness in every man, and we root for him to the end. We rooted for Tony in The Soprano's, but with Tony we saw the why he broke bad and what he did to ameliorate that side of himself. With Walter, it was the why and how he became that person.

You have your preferences, I have mine. But the lack of development of female characters seems to me a poor excuse to downgrade a fine show. Certainly you don't hold that lens up to Game Of Thrones?

 

[Replicant]

 

[JordyG]

To me one of if not the greatest dark comedies of the modern film age. It has a myriad of scenes, monologues and dialogues that have burned themselves onto (as was said in "Videodrome") the retina of my minds eye. Triple like.

 

[Replicant]