Breaking Bad (AMC)

Walt White (Bryan Cranston) is a high school chemistry teacher working a second job to support his family: his pregnant wife, Skylar (Anna Gunn), and his teenage son, Walt Jr. (R.J. Mitte), who has cerebral palsy. Desperately hard up for money and constantly put down by those around him, Walt reaches the breaking point when he's diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. He connects with former student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) to start making and selling methamphetamines in order to raise money for his struggling family.

All of the characters in BREAKING BAD are flawed (many very deeply), and they all make mistakes and, sometimes, baffling choices. The line between good and bad isn't clear; in fact, nobody comes off looking particularly good here, including Walt's DEA agent brother-in-law, Hank (Dean Norris), who's brusque and often insensitive. Some episodes move a bit slowly, while others have more momentum -- sort of like Walt himself, as he tries to cope with the mess his life is becoming.

Cranston's phenomenal performance is the best thing about the show. Forget the spacey, clueless dad of Malcolm in the Middle. Walt may be tired and beaten down, but Cranston manages to bring enough dignity to the man that it's possible to believe him when he's acting like an idiot and being socially responsible at the same time (such as when he narrowly escapes the bad guys, then tells his drug dealing partner, "We have to clean this up").