In 2008, we were presented with a question: What would you do if you had cancer, and decided that your dead-end job wasn’t cutting it anymore? For Walter White (Bryan Cranston), that answer was simple: get into the drug game. That was the premise for Breaking Bad, created by Vince Gilligan, and produced as a neo-Western crime drama. Starring Cranston, who was coming off of a career-making role as Hal on the Fox sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, Breaking Bad would go on to be a transformative series, earning numerous awards and being regarded as one of the greatest TV series of all-time.
All the praise this series has received is well-warranted. Mixing Western vibes with a thrilling crime drama made for must-see TV, and the characters have all become iconic. It isn’t a surprise that Breaking Bad is still one of the most streamed shows on TV, as fans simply can’t get enough of how this show turned the typical crime drama on its head. So, we definitely are not going to argue that Breaking Bad deserves all the praise it receives. However, just because it’s a great show doesn’t mean that it has similar series that are comparable, or even outshine the AMC classic. So, shifting through fan boards and relying on our own extreme television knowledge, we’ve come up with crime shows that are actually better than Breaking Bad. Without further ado, let’s dive into it.
1
‘Fargo’ (2014–2024)
In 1996, Joel and Ethan Coenwrote the screenplay for a “homespun murder story” in Fargo, which was directed by Joel Coen. The movie, which tells the story of a police chief who investigates a car salesman who embarks on a bizarre extortion scheme, was a surprise box office success, and is considered one of the greatest films of all-time, and even preserved in the National Film Registry. With such an iconic movie, it was practically ripe for it to be adapted into a TV series, and Noah Hawley took up this monumental task by creating Fargo for FX.
Premiering in 2014, Fargo is made as an anthology series that contains stories that are self-contained in each season, but, together, share the same continuity as its film counterpart. Much like the movie, Fargo attracted a legion of fans and praise from critics, and, putting it side-by-side with Breaking Bad, you can see how better the stories in Fargo hold up in comparison to its more famous counterpart, and the show, dare we say it, does black comedy much better than Breaking Bad.
2
‘True Detective’ (2014–)
While both Fargo and Breaking Bad had elements of black comedy intertwined within their stories, you won’t find anything remotely funny in theHBO crime drama True Detective. The series, which premiered in 2014, is a crime drama to the letter, gritty and hard to watch at times, and that, in all honesty, is what makes this show so great. Filmed as an anthology series, True Detective focuses on detectives from different law enforcement departments as they work to solve tough cases.
Much like Breaking Bad, True Detective won a slew of awards for its brilliant writing and acting, especially for its first season. While both shows can be seen as being on the same level with each other, True Detective has a leg up on the former with its grittier tone. Crime dramas often work best when they’re dark and foreboding, and True Detective is definitely that, something that Breaking Bad can’t really say.
3
‘The Sopranos’ (1999–2007)
When we look at crime dramas that involve mafia families, we often see only one side of the coin, the tough, strong side where people get “whacked” for transgressions against the family. But, we don’t really get to see the other side of the coin, the toll this life takes on its members, especially the mafia boss. That’s what makes HBO’s The Sopranos such an intriguing series. Created by David Chaseand featuring a stellar cast led by James Gandolfini, The Sopranos tells the story of Tony Soprano (Gandolfini), a New Jersey mafia boss who goes to therapy sessions and opens up about balancing his criminal life and family life.
While we did get to see how cooking drugs eventually took a toll on Walter White, The Sopranos went to great lengths to tell both sides of the traditional mafia story, with all the torture and kills one would expect from a show like this, while also watching how balancing two lives can definitely play on a mafia boss’ psyche. That is what makes The Sopranos one of the most influential series ever, and why we can reasonably call it better than Breaking Bad.
4
‘Boardwalk Empire’ (2010–2014)
Right from the pilot episode, you knew that Boardwalk Empire was going to be an incredible crime drama. That episode, mind you, was directed by the legendary Martin Scorsese, and did a great job setting up the world we would be immersed in. That world was 1920s Atlantic City during the Prohibition era, and how politicians such as Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) took advantage of the situation, with Atlantic City being a hub for bootlegging and other vices associated with it.
The series, which ran for five seasons, is often considered one of the best crime dramas of all-time, and it’s easy to see why. Perfectly detailing the oddities of the 1920s, which was thought of as a polite society, and showing just how gritty the time was, is one of the best things about Boardwalk Empire, and each episode will have you hooked, watching how this world full of criminals and corrupt politicians, truly operated. While Breaking Bad did this to a degree, it’s not on the grand scale that we see on Boardwalk Empire.
5
‘The Shield’ (2002–2008)
For a long time, cops were often portrayed as the “white knights,” never doing anything wrong and always catching the bad guys. But starting with NYPD Blue, a new type of cop show emerged, one that saw the police as flawed and not always living up to their commitment to serve and protect the public. This was kicked into high gear with The Shield, an FX crime drama created by Shawn Ryanthat was inspired by the Rampart Division scandal within the LAPD in the 1990s and 2000s, when numerous LAPD officers were implicated for a wide range of misconduct, from cover-ups to bank robberies.
StarringMichael Chiklis, the series follows a strike team of detectives operating out of Farmington district (“the Farm”), which is riddled with gang violence and other forms of vice. However, this is a team that often doesn’t do things above board, and this plays a big factor throughout the series. While Breaking Bad literally saw a teacher turn into a meth cooker, all the characters within that series were predictably shady. We don’t really get that clarity in The Shield. Yes, this Strike Team has questionable morals, but they do often get the job done, which leads to the age-old question: “Does the end justify the means?”
6
‘Peaky Blinders’ (2013–2022)
Breaking Bad is a great crime show for the modern era, but when we talk about the historical era, it doesn’t hold a candle to Peaky Blinders. Created by Steven Knight, Peaky Blinders is often regarded as one of the best crime dramas of all-time, and with good reason. The acting, cinematography, the writing, everything about this British crime drama was simply top-notch and touched by few that came before it and after.
Peaky Blinders starred Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby, the crime boss of the Peaky Blindersstreet gang in 1919 Birmingham, and how the gang maintained a stronghold on the streets of the city. It’s your classic mob boss crime show, and everything about it is perfect. While Breaking Bad is one of the best shows of all-time, there were still some spots of weakness within the show, which is something you can’t say about Peaky Blinders.
7
‘The Wire’ (2002–2008)
Yes, Breaking Bad is one of the greatest crime dramas of all time, and that cannot be disputed. However, something that you also can’t dispute is that The Wire is the greatest crime drama of all-time. While it didn’t really get the respect it deserved during its original run, the HBO series got a re-appraisal, and many now see this series for what it is: the best written drama ever created.
The man who created it was David Simon, a former crime reporter for the Baltimore Sun newspaper, who teamed up with writer Ed Burns, a former Baltimore homicide detective, to write one of, if not the most realistic crime dramas ever portrayed on any screen. The series takes a gritty look at the inner workers of Baltimore, from the drug gangs, to the institutions that were failing the city at the time. While Breaking Bad took a neo-Western approach to telling its story, The Wire relied on what was actually happening in inner cities across America in the 2000s, which makes this a better watch than Breaking Bad.
The Wire
- Release Date
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2002 – 2008-00-00
- Network
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HBO
- Directors
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Ernest R. Dickerson, Ed Bianchi, Steve Shill, Clark Johnson, Daniel Attias, Agnieszka Holland, Tim Van Patten, Alex Zakrzewski, Anthony Hemingway, Brad Anderson, Clement Virgo, Elodie Keene, Peter Medak, Rob Bailey, Seith Mann, Christine Moore, David Platt, Dominic West, Gloria Muzio, Jim McKay, Leslie Libman, Milcho Manchevski, Robert F. Colesberry, Thomas J. Wright
