What's the opposite of "sophomore slump"? "Sophomore streak," maybe, although that sounds like a college tradition frowned on by the administration.
Whatever term you use to describe a situation where something gets better in its second year, it applies to two of the best dramas and the best comedy to air this year.
1. Breaking Bad (AMC) When it first aired last year, Breaking Bad seemed like a familiar type of crime story -- average Joe breaks the law, gets in over his head -- buoyed by Bryan Cranston's brilliant lead performance as Walter White, a chemistry teacher turned drug peddler. Thanks to the writer's strike, we got a seven-episode season that ended on an incomplete note. Then, in its second season, Breaking Bad picked up exactly where it left off and never looked back. The performances got better, the characters got deeper (especially Aaron Paul's Jesse and Dean Norris' Hank), and each episode felt like a wonderful little 45-minute movie. One week, the movie might be a black comedy ("Four Days Out") while the next might be a tense thriller ("Grilled"), but each of these parts built up to a breathtaking whole, a portrait of a once-decent man's trip to hell.
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