Breaking Bad - Will season 3 see the light of day in the UK?

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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,367
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    I think we need to be realistic about this. 5 USA are not going to show it. Not a chance. The trailer wasn't one for specific shows, just a generic one about the type of drama they show. Ludicrous as it was to include Breaking Bad, the clips were from season two. It's really just a further kick in the teeth to fans of the show from 5 USA.

    I downloaded season three ages ago, and I've just downloaded season four to start watching tomorrow. It's the only programme I've ever downloaded, and I've done it because there's no legal means of watching it in this country, and I don't have a multi-region DVD player. I know that doesn't make it right though!
  • Callum CollumCallum Collum Posts: 4,159
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    There was a repeat of season 2 on 5USA because the festive first run completely passed me by and I caught the repeat. I'd love to see subsequent seasons on a UK channel as it really is top quality stuff, but the prospects are not looking good. :(
  • MrSuperMrSuper Posts: 18,471
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    Guess i got excited for nothing then.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,367
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    MrSuper wrote: »
    Guess i got excited for nothing then.

    So did I, for a bit. :(

    One of the best things around, IMO, and nobody showing it in the UK. Not good.
  • cheekyanguscheekyangus Posts: 1,149
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    Given the first season of Big Love got shown on Channel 5 and then subsequent seasons went unbroadcast in the UK until Sky Atlantic launched and showed the entire series all in succession I think there's always hope for the critically acclaimed cable shows getting shown eventually.

    Has anyone contacted Channel 5 asking since this latest montage appeared?
  • simmysimmy Posts: 626
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    Season 3 is quite honestly the best series of anything I have ever watched, yet incredibly season 4 (which I have just started) is in most reviewers opinions even better, it is averaging an amazing 97/100 on Metacritic and is leading in their end of year poll to be the best TV show of 2011. It annoys me no end all the reality crap we have to endure here in the UK & masterpieces like this are shunted about & shown intermittently. :mad:
  • MrSuperMrSuper Posts: 18,471
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    I can't believe the gall of 5USA who are still promoting their channel by showing clips of Breaking Bad which they no longer screen! Justified and Sons of Anarchy, sure they at least show that but BB? It stinks!
  • GooberGoober Posts: 213
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    I posted this in September:

    Today's Evening Standard did a new feature on shows for the Autumn and mentioned that FiveUSA were doing s.4 - what happened to s.3?

    Sorry, here is the link just in case you think its BS.

    http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifest...this-autumn.do
  • GooberGoober Posts: 213
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    Goober wrote: »
    I posted this in September:

    Today's Evening Standard did a new feature on shows for the Autumn and mentioned that FiveUSA were doing s.4 - what happened to s.3?

    Sorry, here is the link just in case you think its BS.

    http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifest...this-autumn.do

    Sorry that link no longer works - try this.

    http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23984909-tv-to-talk-about-this-autumn.do

    Breaking Bad
    (5USA, November)
    Fourth great season of the Emmy-encrusted black comedy about a teacher diagnosed with terminal cancer who decides to go into crystal meth production. Imagine pitching that to UK commissioners.
  • cheekyanguscheekyangus Posts: 1,149
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    Goober wrote: »
    I posted this in September:

    Today's Evening Standard did a new feature on shows for the Autumn and mentioned that FiveUSA were doing s.4 - what happened to s.3?

    Sorry, here is the link just in case you think its BS.

    http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifest...this-autumn.do

    That story was dismissed as complete fiction at the time due to Five USA's previous treatment of Breaking Bad and the fact no channel has shown Season 3 yet. Channels rarely skip seasons knowingly....though I remember Channel 5 doing it with Numb3rs as ITVs repeats right were taking their sweet time to expire/be used as I seem to remember. C5 did show the missing season though eventually.
  • BrummiekevBrummiekev Posts: 157
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    simmy wrote: »
    Season 3 is quite honestly the best series of anything I have ever watched, yet incredibly season 4 (which I have just started) is in most reviewers opinions even better, it is averaging an amazing 97/100 on Metacritic and is leading in their end of year poll to be the best TV show of 2011. It annoys me no end all the reality crap we have to endure here in the UK & masterpieces like this are shunted about & shown intermittently. :mad:

    I couldnt agree more with you, for me its just a fantastic show. You can see why its so big and successful in the States, so why cant the British Broadcasters see that too :mad:. Instead they take the piss by showing clips of previous seasons in an ad for FIVEUSA when they have no plans to show season 3 and 4, cheers for getting my hopes up:mad::mad:

    Looks like I will wait until it comes out on DVD in the States to get Season 4, then Import it just like I did for season 3. :(
  • alternatealternate Posts: 8,110
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    Brummiekev wrote: »
    I couldnt agree more with you, for me its just a fantastic show. You can see why its so big and successful in the States, so why cant the British Broadcasters see that too :mad:. Instead they take the piss by showing clips of previous seasons in an ad for FIVEUSA when they have no plans to show season 3 and 4, cheers for getting my hopes up:mad::mad:

    Looks like I will wait until it comes out on DVD in the States to get Season 4, then Import it just like I did for season 3. :(

    They are a business. It is hardly huge in the states. It wins a lot of awards and gets a big audience for a small cable channel but is dwarfed by the network shows and numerous channels have tried it here but it has failed to engage the public as a whole.

    We also have no idea how much the US is asking for the rights. I imagine if it were cheap one of the many digital channels would buy it for filler if nothing else.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,727
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    alternate wrote: »
    They are a business. It is hardly huge in the states. It wins a lot of awards and gets a big audience for a small cable channel but is dwarfed by the network shows and numerous channels have tried it here but it has failed to engage the public as a whole.

    We also have no idea how much the US is asking for the rights. I imagine if it were cheap one of the many digital channels would buy it for filler if nothing else.

    sorry so what your suggesting is that five took the rights off of FX cos it was failing?

    they are a business but one that should be run to break even
  • alternatealternate Posts: 8,110
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    sorry so what your suggesting is that five took the rights off of FX cos it was failing?

    they are a business but one that should be run to break even

    I would suggest that FX did not renew due to poor ratings and Five got a deal so decided to give it a go. This was before BB had won numerous awards and so the price was likely low enough to try it out on the digital channel. Ratings again were such that Five did take the second season (it might have been part of the original deal) but put it out daily at a god awful hour and have shown no interest in buying it again.

    Surely you are not of the belief that is was getting decent viewing numbers and for some reason both FX and Five decided to ignore a ratings winner and just not buy further seasons and no other channels wanted to step in to cash in on these viewers? :D
  • MoreTearsMoreTears Posts: 7,025
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    alternate wrote: »
    Surely you are not of the belief that is was getting decent viewing numbers and for some reason both FX and Five decided to ignore a ratings winner and just not buy further seasons and no other channels wanted to step in to cash in on these viewers? :D

    Obviously the ratings had to be disappointing, though in the case of Five and season two, dumping the show into midnight slots on consecutive nights around Christmas was tantamount to self-sabotage. But since then Breaking Bad's profile has risen considerably, with awards and critical praise accumulating steadily. Sky Atlantic has certainly not been averse to RE-launching US shows that other British channels abandoned, like Big Love.
  • alternatealternate Posts: 8,110
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    No I agree. It is getting Wire levels of hype at the moment. That is why I believe that there must be a reason that is putting channels like Atlantic off, channels that would be happy to have a niche show that is critically acclaimed - and the only thing I can think of is price. Could be that when the show has ended and all the awards hype has died down they will let if go for a reasonable price and then channels might be interested.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,727
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    alternate wrote: »
    I would suggest that FX did not renew due to poor ratings and Five got a deal so decided to give it a go. This was before BB had won numerous awards and so the price was likely low enough to try it out on the digital channel. Ratings again were such that Five did take the second season (it might have been part of the original deal) but put it out daily at a god awful hour and have shown no interest in buying it again.

    Surely you are not of the belief that is was getting decent viewing numbers and for some reason both FX and Five decided to ignore a ratings winner and just not buy further seasons and no other channels wanted to step in to cash in on these viewers? :D

    it didnt seem that way at the time and five didnt give the new series a chance by hiding it away and burning it off without much fanfare.

    maybe it wasnt a massive ratings winner but it wasnt given the chance.

    lets face it 5 has a tiny amount of content worth watching and could of done with showing something of quality.

    the whole point of showing trash is surely to then be able to show well made programmes
  • AdsAds Posts: 37,037
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    Doing a quick look at US tv critics' top 10 tv shows of 2011, Breaking Bad was pretty much tied with Homeland for show of the year.
  • cheekyanguscheekyangus Posts: 1,149
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    it didnt seem that way at the time and five didnt give the new series a chance by hiding it away and burning it off without much fanfare.

    maybe it wasnt a massive ratings winner but it wasnt given the chance.

    As I remember it 5USA gave their showing of Season 1 a decent time slot of 10pm on a Monday for about two thirds of it's run but by then they'd decided that it wasn't getting the ratings and for remaining third of S1 they bumped it an hour or so later and then went straight into Season 2 the week after S1 ended with the much derided nightly post-midnight burn off.

    If they did anything wrong it was not promoting the 1st season properly and extensively like FX did. I remember FX's ads for seemingly ages before they broadcast it. Though FX didn't really get repaid with ratings either.
  • simmysimmy Posts: 626
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    It doesn't help that it can be pretty hard going, especially the first 2 seasons, you definitely get rewarded in seasons 3 & 4 but I know workmates who stopped watching halfway through the 1st season. People have short attention spans these days & are used to a diet of crappy reality TV that doesn't need much thought or investment. It's there loss.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,727
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    As I remember it 5USA gave their showing of Season 1 a decent time slot of 10pm on a Monday for about two thirds of it's run but by then they'd decided that it wasn't getting the ratings and for remaining third of S1 they bumped it an hour or so later and then went straight into Season 2 the week after S1 ended with the much derided nightly post-midnight burn off.

    If they did anything wrong it was not promoting the 1st season properly and extensively like FX did. I remember FX's ads for seemingly ages before they broadcast it. Though FX didn't really get repaid with ratings either.

    which doesnt make any sense as season one was always going to rate lower as in reality it was a repeat and its not like five have anything better to show (i can only think of 2 good shows off the top of my head.)
    simmy wrote: »
    It doesn't help that it can be pretty hard going, especially the first 2 seasons, you definitely get rewarded in seasons 3 & 4 but I know workmates who stopped watching halfway through the 1st season. People have short attention spans these days & are used to a diet of crappy reality TV that doesn't need much thought or investment. It's there loss.

    yeah it does seem like people are happy to eat the fish food rather than the fish.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,367
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    What were the ratings on FiveUSA like compared to other shows like Sons of Anarchy and Justified? It's not like they're awash with new content - from what I've seen, it's mostly repeats of stuff like CSI.

    The problem for FiveUSA is that they were showing the first series about a year after it had already been shown on FX, as I recall. It's only seven episodes long, so they didn't give it much of a chance by dumping it into an 11pm slot before the series was finished. And the treatment of the second series, with it shown nightly around midnight, with some double episodes as I recall, was just insane.
  • MrSuperMrSuper Posts: 18,471
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    If they did anything wrong it was not promoting the 1st season properly and extensively like FX did. I remember FX's ads for seemingly ages before they broadcast it. Though FX didn't really get repaid with ratings either.

    But to be fair to FXUK Breaking Bad wasn't the huge show then as it's become now so to any average viewer they wouldn't have had a clue. Because back then that average viewer was me!!! I remember FXUK's adverts for BB and trust me, i didn't pay any attention to it because i just thought what the hell is this show (some guy with a bald head in his pants, wtf? - if you get my point) but never bothered to watch it.

    It's only after Season 2 had aired in the States and the show started getting a LOT of recognition my ears pricked up and i really wanted to watch it and i ended up watching BB when 5USA had both first 2 seasons and that was a less than a year ago!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 13,367
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    MrSuper wrote: »
    But to be fair to FXUK Breaking Bad wasn't the huge show then as it's become now so to any average viewer they wouldn't have had a clue. Because back then that average viewer was me!!! I remember FXUK's adverts for BB and trust me, i didn't pay any attention to it because i just thought what the hell is this show (some guy with a bald head in his pants, wtf? - if you get my point) but never bothered to watch it.

    I watched it on FXUK. I decided to watch because Bryan Cranston was in it, and I was hooked (no pun intended!) from the first episode.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 806
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    shit that this is still the case. fx is how i found the show to begin with. and to this day i'm annoyed fiveusa showed the censored peekaboo where walt says f youto gretchen. just lazy.

    it would be perfect for bbc4 or sky atlantic. if
    only so i can get region 2 blu rays.

    off topic but how come bbc2 only showed the wire once or twice?
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