Kudos to the show Breaking Bad (Sundays, 10:00 p.m. ET) for accurately depicting the horrifying and gruesome nature of drug addiction.  No one can accuse the show of glorifying the world of illicit drugs.  That being said, the horrifying and gruesome nature of the violence shown in the April 12^th episode of Breaking Bad has earned the program the title of Worst Cable TV Show of the Week.

In this episode, high school chemistry teacher-turned-meth-manufacturer Walter White has ordered his associate and former student Jesse to dole out retribution to a pair of drug addicts who stole money and drugs from one of their street dealers.  Jesse finds out where the addicts live and waits for Spooge and his woman to return.  The house is a filthy, disgusting messs for any individual to live in, let alone a young child.  Yet, Jesse is startled to discover a neglected four-year-old boy left alone in the house.  When Spooge and his woman finally return, Jesse orders them at gunpoint to give back his money and drugs.  Unfortunately, Spooge’s woman announces, “We shot it all.”

Jesse is doubtful: “Yeah, you shot an ounce in a day and a half? …Tell you what - both of you pull it out of your butts right now or I go grab a flashlight and some pliers and go exploring.  What’s it gonna be, yo?  C’mon!”

Spooge and his woman dig into their anuses and pull out two baggies of drugs.  Jesse is not satisfied with the meager amount left.  He threatens to shoot them if they don’t pay him back.  Spooge declares he has money in the back yard.  When Jesse ushers him to the back, he discovers a stolen ATM.  Spooge spends the rest of the evening trying to open the behemoth machine.  After several failed attempts at breaking it open, Spooge manages to prop the ATM forward in order to drill at a supposed weakness on the bottom.  While his head is under the machine, he quarrels with his woman, who begs him for a taste of meth.  He berates her incessantly: “Shut the hell up, ya dumb skank!  I’m trying to concentrate…Listen to me, stupid.  Alright?  I am in the middle of some very important work.  I am on the verge here!  Alright?  So shut your skank-ass pie hole and assist me and shut up...Skank, skank, skank-ass, skank!   Skank-ass skank! Skank-ass skank.  You listening to me, skank?”

Fed up with the verbal abuse, the woman pushes the ATM off of its perch, causing it to crush Spooge’s skull.  She digs into his pocket and fishes out the drugs as Spooge’s blood pools onto the floor.  Jesse grabs his gun and wipes his fingerprints off of the ATM.  Suddenly, the ATM pops open and spits out cash.  Jesse grabs the money and calls 911.  He’s about to run off, but goes back to retrieve the child.  He covers the boy’s eyes as they wade through the carnage.  He leaves the boy on the front porch for the authorities to find.  “You have a good rest of your life, kid,” Jesse says as he departs. 

Breaking Bad has been cited previously by this column for its extreme violence, and viewers can expect to see even more as the stakes continue to rise for the main characters.  Certainly, no one expects the show to paint a pretty picture of the dangerous, morally bankrupt lives of drug dealers and users.  But the show itself can be seen as a peddler of a dangerous substance -- hooking its audience on TV violence, and supplying it week in and week out. 

For extreme violence and disturbing content, Breaking Bad has once again been named Worst Cable TV Show of the Week.