Now that the transformative tale of Walter White has ended with the Breaking Bad series finale, "Felina," what do we do with ourselves? How can we go on? How do we even attempt to fill the void left behind? I mean, it's not every day that you get to communally experience one of the (if not the) greatest TV shows of all time. Sure, there's tons of TV out there. Probably too much, in fact. But what series might come the closest to giving you the fix that Breaking Bad provided? It was a unique formula, that's for sure. And one that's almost impossible to duplicate. Like Walter's pure blue crystal itself.

Breaking Bad: "Felina" Review

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Justified

Luther

The Shield

Well, your first option might be to head outside and experience life (yeah right). Next - and somewhat obvious - you could re-watch all of Breaking Bad. Provided you didn't just do that to refresh your memory before this final season, or that you didn't just do that in order to catch up on a show that you'd fallen way behind on (or simply never seen) in order to watch the series finale live.But if you're looking to check out a different show - one that's either currently airing or one from the past - here are my recommendations. Again, none of these will encompass every single aspect of Breaking Bad. Nothing will have that crime/pulp quality mixed with realism and stunning drama. So what you're left with are shows that split the difference. Great dramas and great pulp. From Justified and Banshee to The Wire, The Shield and Luther, here's what to watch next...Four seasons, 52 episodesAre your eyes ever going to well up while watching FX's Justified? Probably not. While the quick-draw tale of Deputy Marshal Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) definitely has moments of heartfelt introspection and silent rage, it's meant to go down easier than Breaking Bad. Filled with an amazing assortment of oddball crooks and cops (speaking textbook Elmore Leonard-ese) who often divert their emotions through expert quips and sudden violence, Justified leans more on the "fun" side of modern TV shoot 'em ups.Raylan isn't an anti-hero, but he is flawed - enough to create potent moments of tension and drama when his back's up against the wall. And since Justified comes from the mind of the late, great Elmore Leonard, the dialogue cooks - giving the series, as a whole, a more humorous feel. Kind of like how the first couple seasons of Breaking Bad used gallows humor to make a lot of the violence more palpable.Justified will return to FX for Season 5 sometime early in 2014.Three seasons, 14 episodesSpring-boarding off of Justified's Raylan Givens, who often finds himself under investigation, Detective Chief Inspector John Luther is a brilliant London cop who pretty much lives his day-to-day life under an Internal Affairs microscope. Way more of a cop on the edge/anti-hero than Raylan, Luther sometimes finds it necessary to resort to, um, extreme measures when dealing with some of the most ghoulish and gruesome serial killers ever portrayed on TV. So not only will you get a thrilling cop drama, but you'll get the s*** scared out of you as well.And, to this time point out a big difference between Givens and Luther - Luther doesn't carry a gun. That's right. When he chases after a manic, it's so he can grab him with his bare hands. Now keep in mind that Luther, like Justified, isn't going to tug at your heart strings. This show also rests nicely on the "pulp" side of the fence, but it's a quick (isn) watch; just 14 episodes in all. But it's very much worth it for Idris Elba's masterful portrayal of Luther and Ruth Wilson's devilishly decadent role as Luther's go-to psycho, Alice Morgan.Is Luther all about the main character's gradual decent into darkness like Breaking Bad? No. As mentioned, you won't really find an arc like Walter White's anywhere. But darkness is a place that John Luther knows well, and his fascination with it helps him catch the demons that lurk out in the shadows of London.Seven seasons, 88 episodesAnd since I'm already talking about crooked cops who operate under their own set of rules, The Shield's Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis) wholly embodies what we feel to be the "Golden Age" TV anti-hero. As the leader of an experimental four-man gang-buster police unit in Los Angeles, Mackey and his men dispatched their own version of justice -- planting evidence, beating confessions out of suspects, etc. -- in order to keep the streets clean and criminal-free. Oh, and lets not rule out drug running, murder and general criminal conspiracy.

The Shield: The Complete Series DVD Review

Banshee

The Wire

The Shield, of the shows so far, probably matches up with Breaking Bad the most on a tonal and thematic level. From failing marriages to non-stop moments of moral and ethical doubt, The Shield managed to magnificently blend the grime of the crime world with the pathos involved in the strains that accompany friendship and family. And both shows centered on a man who was absolutely committed to a way of life that would ultimately have severe consequences - Like Walter White, Vic Mackey left a lot of loss and destruction in his wake and the question of what Mackey's final fate will be looms large as the series continues. It's also anchored by a great cast including Chiklis, Justified's Walton Goggins, Kenneth Johnson, and CCH Pounder, along with memorable story arcs anchored by powerhouses like Glenn Close and Forest Whitaker.One season, 10 episodesSo here's one out of left field. I could just recommend more well-known violent dramas like Sons of Anarchy or Boardwalk Empire - both totally infused with complex anti-heroes galore. But I'm going out on a limb with Banshee.Banshee, from Alan Ball (True Blood, Six Feet Under) and Greg Yaitanes (House, Drive), is a new series, with its first season just having aired on Cinemax this past spring. It's coming back for a second season around the same time next year and it's totally worth the catch-up. Sure, sometimes it goes a bit overboard with the violence (especially where it pertains to the amount of beatings the leading man takes), but Banshee is pure-pulp with a twist. Instead of it being about real rogue cops, it's about a fake one. Namely, one Sheriff "Lucas Hood" (Antony Starr), a master thief who, after serving 15 years in prison, heads to a small Pennsylvania town to track down his lost love (Ivana Miličević) - assuming the identity of the actual Lucas Hood, who dies just a day before taking over as the town's new head lawman.So we never even find out what "Hood"'s real name is. Only that he's back to claim what's his; meaning his girl and the loot from the last heist the two of them worked together. But things get naturally messy as Hood's clumsy attempts to brutally police the town (a suave con-man he is not), deal with the local Amish-born crime boss (Ulrich Thomsen), and come to terms with the fact that his lady's moved on (new identity, kids and everything) draws the attention of the New York-based Ukrainian mobster (Ben Cross) he once betrayed.Banshee lacks the cinematic quiet of Breaking Bad, often choosing to bloody a lip rather than show us a conversation, but there are still definite themes of atonement, reckoning, reinvention and deception that run through it. But to contrast the show's varying approach to conflict - Breaking Bad's idea of a "bottle episode" involved Walter and Jesse chasing a fly around the meth lab while Banshee's involved a barbaric forty minute-long fight (TV brawl of the year, in my opinion) between Miličević's Ana and Christos Vasilopoulos' Olek. Both moments born out of unresolved guilt.Five seasons, 60 episodesThere can be no spirited discussion about what the best drama in TV history is without including The Wire on an extreme short-list - with many still hailing it as the best TV series ever. And it's hard to disagree (although I'd argue that The Wire contained a couple of lesser seasons while Breaking Bad did not). So from a pedigree and acclaim standpoint, The Wire and Breaking Bad are on equal terms. With Breaking Bad probably edging out The Wire at the moment, since it's newer and buzzier.But the two shows are also very different, so whichever you wind up picking as the "best show forever infinity" will no doubt say a lot about what you personally consider to be an absolute requirement for an apex program. Breaking Bad was a very focused, indie-cinematic tale that took thematic risks that no other show had ever dared to take. And it kept audiences clawing at their couches - a highly investable story that caused viewers to run a gambit of emotions. Not only that, but the show was also an "actor's show" - undoubtedly indebted to the great performances throughout, whether the actors were called upon to deliver devastating speeches or wallow in hushed misery.

The Wire: The Complete Series DVD Review

The Wire is a sprawling masterwork of a series, showing us characters from all sides of the drug trade in Baltimore: from cops to corner dealers to police chiefs to mayoral candidates to reporters to innocent bystanders. Designed to be a bit opaque, in fact, The Wire is not recommended for the casual TV viewer. Often scenes begin with no thought to the audience's ability to keep up. Some characters names are never said, or their specific role or job explained. People speak realistically to one another with no concern for exposition, or easily letting outsiders into their world. Plus, characters who are the focus of one season may not even show up in the next. Sometimes never appearing again, or in just a small cameo years down the line.But don't let the "homework" element of The Wire deter you. It's a freakin' incredible series that will amaze and astonish. And it'll show you the actual compelling, depressing effect of that the drug trade has on our nation's inner city youth, which is something Breaking Bad, with all the meth it cooked up over the years, never explored.

Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler , IGN at mattfowler , and Facebook at Facebook.com/Showrenity