8 Great Crime Shows Overshadowed by ‘Breaking Bad’

In the late 2000s and early 2010s, there were few series capable of matching the critical acclaim and immense pop-culture impact of Breaking Bad. Even today, 13 years after its finale, the hit AMC series remains a dominant force of television drama, with its story of Walter White’s (Bryan Cranston) gradual evolution from a meek suburban science teacher to one of the most powerful and morally corrupt players in the drug trade being heralded by many as the greatest the medium has ever seen.

Needless to say, Breaking Bad cast a pretty big shadow, one that many excellent and underrated crime series were unable to emerge from. These eight series are just some of the brilliant shows that fell victim to Breaking Bad’s five-season reign of ceaseless perfection. They range from concentrated thrillers that implement a similar concept to Breaking Bad to savage period dramas that explore the origins of organized crime in America.

8

‘Ozark’ (2017–2022)

Image via Netflix

Breaking Bad’s all-consuming allure didn’t only impact the many series that shared its run from 2008 to 2013 but also cast a shadow over crime television in the years following its finale. Ozark is a prime example of this. Even though the Netflix original series enjoyed strong viewership numbers and widespread critical acclaim throughout its four-season tenure, it struggled to escape comparisons to Breaking Bad given the similarities in premise, tone, and story.

Following financial advisor Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) as he and his family are thrust into a service for a Mexican cartel in the Missouri Ozarks after his business partner’s money laundering scheme goes wrong, the series thrives at extracting tension through its exploration of an ordinary suburban family becoming entangled in the savage brutality of international crime. Filled with sequences of intense suspense and a litany of memorable characters, Ozark mimicked Breaking Bad’s energized style, perhaps to its own detriment at times. Still, the Netflix series delivers four pulsating seasons of crime drama that all lovers of Breaking Bad would be wise to check out if they haven’t already.

7

‘Sneaky Pete’ (2015–2019)

Image via Prime Video

Released just two years after Breaking Bad’s finale, while also featuring Bryan Cranston in an on-screen role and as a co-creator, Sneaky Pete was always going to draw comparisons to AMC’s hit crime series. Its emphasis on twisty storytelling style and occasional flourishes of dark comic punch only fueled the comparisons for many lovers of crime television, even though Sneaky Pete runs with a distinctly different premise.

It stars Giovanni Ribisi as Marius, a con man recently released from prison who assumes the identity of his former cellmate in order to avoid the wrath of a vicious gangster he once robbed. The situation only grows more frenetic when Marius connects with Pete’s estranged family, who, after such a long period of time, don’t suspect him of being anyone other than their long-lost loved one. While Sneaky Pete struggled to find its audience, its three-season run is still an exciting treat of high-minded criminal deceit that is perfect for those who love a macabre, high-octane thriller.

6

‘The Killing’ (2007–2012)

Image via DR1

Through the late 2000s and early 2010s, when television audiences were enraptured by Breaking Bad, there was also a booming interest in Nordic noir, bleak crime mystery stories stemming from Scandinavia that conjure suspense with simmering slow-burn tension, dark meditations on humanity, and glum atmospheric dread. The Killing is still, in the eyes of many, the best show to emerge from this European subgenre, with Season 1 being particularly exceptional as it follows a detective’s investigation into the murder of a teenage girl who has several links to a mayoral candidate’s campaign.

While its sense of crime thrills was completely different from Breaking Bad’s frenetic and momentous pulsation, The Killing was no less overshadowed by the AMC series’ dominant command of the genre in the era. It did, however, become a landmark hit in Britain and other parts of the world, thus playing a vital role in establishing international interest in Nordic noir mystery and, to a wider extent, ushering in a fascination with foreign-language crime series in mainstream Western pop-culture circles.

5

‘Good Girls’ (2018–2021)

Image via NBC

Not dissimilar to Ozark, Good Girls marketed itself as being something of a reinterpretation of Breaking Bad with its style and storytelling, with promotional material almost reducing it to a female-led knockoff when it has so much more to offer. The NBC series follows three suburban mothers in Michigan experiencing financial hardship who decide to conduct a heist on a local grocery store in a bid to get some quick cash. While the robbery is successful, the three women soon find themselves embroiled in a series of gangland operations, debt issues, and family crises when they learn the store was a front for a counterfeit money-laundering scheme.

Its focus on ordinary people being dragged into the chaos of the criminal underworld through financial desperation certainly ties Good Girls to Breaking Bad, but the series finds its own identity through its use of comedy and the outstanding lead performances of Christina Hendricks, Retta, and Mae Whitman. While its four-season run isn’t immune to a few clunks and inconsistencies, it excels as a fun and fast-paced crime caper, and it’s a shame it was promoted for its unique quirks and tone as much as for its similarities to Breaking Bad.

4

‘Weeds’ (2005–2012)

Image via Showtime

Predating Breaking Bad by three years, Weeds is perhaps the most unfortunate of all the series that the hit AMC show overshadowed, especially since it has been overlooked by many due to its striking similarity to Breaking Bad’s premise. Mary-Louise Parker stars as Nancy Botwin, a recently widowed single mother to two boys, who seizes the opportunity to set up a lucrative business by dealing marijuana to local clients. However, she soon realizes that her newfound income also brings with it its own series of problems, many of which are amplified when her family members become entangled in her booming drug empire.

While Weeds’ first few seasons thrived as a sharp satire of suburban lifestyles as well as a high-energy crime series, its longevity wasn’t helped by the fact that it began to lose its focus and precision around the time AMC launched Breaking Bad. Still, despite its occasionally disjointed and unwieldy narrative swings, Weeds enjoyed a lively eight-season run before coming to an end in 2012.

3

‘Your Honor’ (2020–2023)

Image via Showtime

Like the aforementioned Sneaky Pete, Your Honor ultimately fell victim to unflattering comparisons to Breaking Bad that were ignited by its ambitions as a crime thriller and its featuring of Bryan Cranston in a starring role. While it explores the other side of law and order, its general evolution is somewhat similar to Breaking Bad, with Cranston starring as a well-respected judge in New Orleans who is forced to make increasingly corruptible and unpleasant decisions when his teenage son kills the son of a mob kingpin in a hit-and-run incident.

Its spin on the story idea of a good and principled man being pulled deeper into criminal amorality as he strives to protect his family is certainly intriguing and, unsurprisingly, brilliantly acted, but its evolution leaves something to be desired. Whereas Breaking Bad was sharp, focused, and ceaselessly intense, many viewers criticized Your Honor for being overly contrived and implausible. The series still has some shining lights that are worth enjoying, but it is also a stark example that, even up to 10 years on from its finale, Breaking Bad continues to influence and impact audience perceptions of crime television.

2

‘Snowfall’ (2017–2023)

Image via FX

Another dramatic and viscerally intense descent into the world of the drug trade, it is easy to see why Snowfall garnered comparisons to Breaking Bad, especially with its major protagonist, Damson Idris’ Franklin Saint, being presented as something of a sympathetic anti-hero who grows increasingly immoral. However, the FX series features a number of qualities that differentiate it from Breaking Bad, namely its true historical setting during the first crack cocaine epidemic in 1980s Los Angeles and its interest in the role the CIA played in the spike in drug addiction.

The gripping six-season series unfolds as Saint’s budding drug operation begins to grow. Additionally, it also follows undercover CIA agent Teddy McDonald (Carter Hudson) in his work to stifle growing communist sentiments in Nicaragua, Mexican luchador-turned-cartel enforcer Gustavo “El Oso” Zapata (Sergio Peris-Mencheta), and Lucia Villaneuva (Emily Rios), the heiress to a powerful drug cartel. Snowfall’s scope is impressive, and the gradual interconnection of the major characters makes for thrilling viewing. However, hindered by FX’s smaller audience demographic and some faults in its later seasons, the crime series has struggled to break out as anything more than a spiritual follow-up to Breaking Bad and its sense of manic intensity regarding drug crime.

1

‘Boardwalk Empire’ (2010–2014)

Image via HBO

There is no denying that Boardwalk Empire was a definitive hit of crime television in its own right, but the sprawling historical crime odyssey paled in comparison to the buzz and pop-culture momentum Breaking Bad generated with its relentless suspense and Walter White’s strong character arc. It could also be said that Boardwalk Empire suffered in the shadow of some of HBO’s past crime classics as well, with the enduring reputation of series like The Sopranos and The Wire hanging heavy over it throughout its five-season run.

However, it remains a stunning feat of television drama that is propelled by its ravishing production value, litany of impeccable performances, and its enthralling descent into the uneasy intersection of political status and booming gangland influence in Prohibition-era America. While many can acknowledge its strong period allure and its bold narrative choices, Boardwalk Empire’s slow-burn pacing simply didn’t resonate with early 2010s audiences to the same degree as Breaking Bad’s frenetic momentum. Even on reflection, it remains trapped in Breaking Bad’s monumental shadow, even if it is one of the more dazzling and dramatic series HBO has released since 2010.