Hollywood Prospectus Podcast: Breaking Bad, TV Trade Machine, and A$AP Ferg

Breaking BadStrap on your high heels, ladies and germs, it’s time to head to the desert. Week 2 of Breaking Bad’s final season brought us all sorts of terrifying, gut-punching delights, and Chris and I brought our shovels. In addition to discussing the goings-on between Marie and Skyler and Huell and his blood pressure, we wondered if Breaking Bad (starting at 2:25) has any equals in terms of visual storytelling and if it’s part of the fun or part of the problem to spend time guessing at the ending. A similar query could be asked of our next topic (25:45), Grantland’s latest foray into stylized time-wasting, the Fantasy TV Trade Machine. Chris is the Picasso — though I would say Jonah Hill — of this business, so we spent some time refiguring Grey’s Anatomy, Boardwalk Empire, and Game of Thrones before challenging each other to get Don Cheadle from the blah House of Lies to the much better Mad Men. (And you can send your own trade ideas to GrantlandTVTrades@gmail.com.) Finally we dusted off our cassocks to chat about Trap Lord (53:00), the debut album from the self-appointed Hood Pope, A$AP Ferg. This is a very strange, very good record, one that either heralds a new direction for rap or a complete lack of attention in the corner offices at RCA (Onyx and B-Real on the same track … in 2013?). Bring Kleenex. It’s about to get sniffly.


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Filed Under: Grantland Network, Breaking Bad, Podcasts, TV Trade Machine

Andy Greenwald is a staff writer for Grantland.

Archive @ andygreenwald