Beloved Drama Named No. 1 Best TV Show of the 21st Century; It Beat ‘The Wire,’ ‘Mad Men’ and ‘Game of Thrones’

In 2008, Bryan Cranston traded the lovable, frazzled dad he played on Malcolm in the Middle for one of television’s most unforgettable characters: chemistry teacher-turned-drug kingpin Walter White.

Now, more than a decade after Walter’s story came to an end, Breaking Bad has landed another major honor.

The New York Times named Breaking Bad the No. 1 best TV show of the 21st century, placing the AMC drama ahead of some of the most acclaimed series of the past 25 years.

The Wire finished at No. 2, followed by Mad Men at No. 3, Succession at No. 4 and Fleabag at No. 5. Game of Thrones, Veep, 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Atlanta rounded out the Top 10.

Created by Vince Gilligan, Breaking Bad premiered on AMC on Jan. 20, 2008. Cranston starred as Walter White, an Albuquerque, N.M., high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with stage-three lung cancer and turns to manufacturing methamphetamine in hopes of leaving his family financially secure.

He teams up with his former student Jesse Pinkman, played by Aaron Paul, setting off a transformation that eventually turns Walter into the feared drug lord known as Heisenberg.

The NY Times praised the drama not only for the technical ingenuity that powered its plots, but for the moral questions at the heart of Walter’s transformation. Critic James Poniewozik described the series as a “humanistic moral investigation” into Walter’s descent and concluded, “Above all, there was art.”

Breaking Bad ran for five seasons and 62 episodes before concluding on Sept. 29, 2013. The series won 16 Primetime Emmy Awards during its run, including four Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series wins for Cranston and three Supporting Actor victories for Paul.

Its reputation has only grown since the finale. Breaking Bad has repeatedly appeared near the top of retrospective rankings of television’s greatest series, including lists from Rolling Stone, the BBC, Variety and Rotten Tomatoes.

And Gilligan’s Albuquerque universe scored another spot on the NY Times’ new list.

Better Call Saul, the Breaking Bad prequel starring Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman, came in at No. 27. The NY Times noted that the series famously never won an Emmy despite its many nominations, but argued that knowing where Jimmy’s story would ultimately lead made his attempts to choose a different path all the more heartbreaking.

The spinoff debuted in 2015 and ran for six seasons before concluding in 2022.

The Breaking Bad universe also expanded to film with 2019’s El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie, which followed Jesse Pinkman after the events of the original series.

But more than 13 years after Breaking Bad aired its final episode, Walter White is back on top of the television world.

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