Better Call Saul works for me because Breaking Bad becomes a kind of back story for it. How Saul "broke bad" is poignant and tragic for me because he never catches a break and his family history created such a maladaptive coping system.
Six Feet Under is such a dark meditation on life as "sound and fury signifying nothing." Like a Greek tragedy we pull for humanity even as the gods decree a different fate. But like "Madmen," and others I could name, if you don't start to care about the characters it won't work.
Shows where I just quit caring about the characters, and quit watching, are legion:
Weeds
Orange is the new black
Masters of sex
House of cards
Walking dead
Maniac
Etc etc