Product Description

Popular water-cooler drama about an unremarkable and uncharismatic chemistry teacher, Walter, who discovers new passion in his life after he learns he has terminal cancer. Once a successful chemist, Walter now teaches apathetic high school students and works part-time at a car wash to help support his family - wife Skyler, who earns a modest income buying and selling items on eBay, and son Walter, Jr., a strong-willed 17-year-old suffering from cerebral palsy. Realizing he has nothing but his family left to live for, Walter's new sense of purpose reinvigorates him into a man of action as he turns to an exciting life of crime to provide for the ones he loves.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #506 in DVD
• Brand: CRANSTON,BRYAN
• Released on: 2009-02-24
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 3
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 346 minutes

Amazon.com
No one would confuse the desperate dad Bryan Cranston plays in this character-driven drama with the fun-loving Hal from Malcolm in the Middle. In AMC's Breaking Bad, Walter White lives in the suburbs with his wife--and wears tighty-whiteys--but the similarities end there. During the pilot, the cash-strapped chemistry teacher finds out he has inoperable lung cancer. He and Skyler (Deadwood's Anna Gunn) have one son, Walter Jr. (R.J. Mitte), and a daughter on the way. With two years to get his affairs in order, Walter comes up with a wild plan: he and former student Jesse (Aaron Paul), a drug dealer, will open a meth lab.

In the hands of creator Vince Gilligan (The X-Files), Bad's first season plays like the improbable offspring of Weeds and The Shield. With nothing left to lose, the Albuquerque 50-year-old uses his death sentence as a catalyst to break every rule he's ever followed while keeping his family--including Skyler's radiologist sister, Marie (Betsy Brandt), and her DEA agent husband, Hank (Dean Norris)--out of the loop. Throughout these seven episodes, Walt takes on a hostage, a dead body, and a partner who likes to sample his own product. Based on the description alone, the program shouldn't work as well as it does, except Gilligan and company keep the situations psychologically believable and Emmy winner Cranston makes Walt surprisingly sympathetic as he swings between compassion and self-interest. As he tells his students, "Chemistry is the study of change," a statement that applies equally well to the show, since Walt ends up in a very different place than the one he began. This three-disc set comes complete with cast and crew commentary, an installment of AMC's Shootout, two featurettes, deleted scenes, and screen tests. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

Spectacular
I think many, when looking at the main star of this show (Bryan Cranston) will have only really been familiar with him from Malcolm In The Middle. He played Hal, a simple Dad with simple values and an unbeatable love for his family. Who would have thought that he can take a character with the same basic love of his family and create something incredibly unique from that. In Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston plays Chemistry professor Walter White who's married with a handicap son who suffers from Cerebral Palsy and a child on the way.
One day Walter is hit with the ultimate bombshell as he finds he has inoperable lung cancer and has little time left to live. Walter realises that he can't assure his families financial security for the little time he has left being a teacher. He hears about a raid on a crystal meth lab that seizes millions of dollars worth of drugs which he decides that he must be a part of that. He knows how to make the best crystal meth ever seen, but not how to get it on the streets which is why he must enlist the help of his former student and drug pusher Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul).

I honestly didn't have high hopes for this show as, although I'm a huge fan of Bryan Cranston for his work on Malcolm In The Middle, I struggled to believe he could pull off such a train wreck of a character. The family is a typical middle class American family struggling to take care of their disabled son trying to make him have as normal a life as possible. In a way I can relate to the situation as I'm disabled myself and know how much of a strain it can be on parents. Sure, it's not the same disability, but the family struggling through it is definitely displayed well and R.J. Mitte as Walter Jr. is an excellent fit. Although I'm betting he was only cast because he too has Cerebral Palsy, he still fits the bill and plays the character brilliantly.

Fantastic, fantastic show. I don't want to tell you much about the seasons events as it is quite short and risks spoiling certain events. I have to tell you that there are times in which this show doesn't hold back. It has no qualms about showing you the brutality of a broken man fighting against his own sense of morality, joining the drug world and even dealing with the fact that he killed a guy. Oh and obviously he's dying and is reminded of that from time to time but it's certainly gelled together brilliantly.

Just to wrap it up I can only really say this TV show is amazing in every way and I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. Bryan Cranston is a very underrated actor, but he's determined to prove himself for which he does a terrific job. When this DVD set comes out in the UK I'll certainly be one of the first to buy it.

The First Season Barely Breaks The Surface
First I want to say that this series is great and if you haven't seen it yet or are unsure about it, the second season is currently airing on AMC, so try to catch a few of them to get a better understanding. If you like those episodes or if you're one of the people who already love this series then this DVD boxed set is for you. It contains the complete first season of AMC's Breaking Bad in seven one hour long episodes.

In short the plot is a more serious Bryan Cranston than we've seen playing chemistry teacher Walter White, who gets diagnosed with cancer. With a son, Walter Jr, who is disabled and a wife, Skyler, who is pregnant with her second child in her late thirties he decides the best way to take care of his family is to start making crystal meth with one of his old dead beat students, Jesse. The further he goes to try and provide for his family the darker and more complicated his life becomes with crazy drug dealer's, increasing extended family issues with his wife's sister, Marie, and to top it off a bother in law, Hank, who is a Drug Enforcement Administration Officer.

The episodes found on this set are:

Ep 1: Pilot - Walter White is a high school chemistry teacher who learns that he has lung cancer. With a new lease on life, Walter becomes a drug dealer to secure his family's financial security.
Aired: 1/20/2008

Ep 2: Cat's in the Bag... - Following their debacle in the desert, Walter and Jesse are left with a mess to dispose of. Later, Skyler grows suspicious of Walt's recent activity.
Aired: 1/27/2008

Ep 3: ...and the Bag's in the River - Walter is left to deal with Krazy-8 alone following an argument with Jesse. After Marie raises concerns that Walt Jr. is smoking cannabis, Hank shows him the dangers of drug use.
Aired: 2/10/2008

Ep 4: Cancer Man - The DEA becomes suspicious of a new drug kingpin. Walt reveals that he has cancer to Marie and Hank. Elsewhere, Jesse visits his estranged family.
Aired: 2/17/2008

Ep 5: Gray Matter - Walter and Skyler attend a former colleague's party. Jesse tries free himself from the drugs. Later, Skyler organizes an intervention for Walt.
Aired: 2/24/2008

Ep 6: Crazy Handful of Nothin' - The side effects of chemo begin to plague Walt, who is also cooking meth again. Jesse's friend, Skinny Pete, introduces him to a distributor named Tuco, but things go awry and Jesse ends up hospitalised.
Aired: 3/2/2008

Ep 7: A No-Rough-Stuff Type Deal - Walter accepts his new identity as a drug dealer after a PTA meeting. Elsewhere, Jesse decides to put his aunt's house on the market, and Skyler is the recipient of a baby shower.
Aired: 3/9/2008

Some people have said that the new season has taken too long to air but they must not realize AMC and HBO take a year between seasons of all their big shows. The second season is currently airing (started March 8th 2009), which happens to be one year after the first. Only the first episode into the second season and already it's become more riveting, intense, dramatic and complex than the first season. The second season premiere really left us with a shocking ending that leaves one eagerly awaiting how the rest of the season will follow.

I feel this show and the quality being put into it will help make it the next version of the Wire, while Mad Men is more like the equivilant to the next version of Sopranos yet both shows are something entirely of their own. I suggest fans of television that is made like movies give both these series a try. Breaking Bad's first season barely broke the surface of these character's and the storyline possibilties they hold. Thanks for your time.

*Rather than clutter up the review page I have listed the special features included with this set in my comments section for those wondering about them.

Compelling
When I first heard about this show I figured we were at the point where a few producers through a hundred different ideas into a hat, pull out five and then make a show about it. On paper this just sounded like a bunch of lame elements thrown together, but I've been pleasantly surprised. It manages to take all of those "lame" elements and intricately weave them all together in a somewhat (for TV) believable way.

If you're a fan of shows like Dexter, Weeds and Sopranos, this show is right up your alley. It's detail-rich with great characters and interesting twists. I'm glad they renewed it and I hope they get a few more seasons out of it. With the way season 2 is shaping up, they're setting it up for quite a few more seasons. Sweet!