TV SERIES · 2008–2013 · USA
Breaking Bad
- Created by
- Vince Gilligan
- Network
- AMC
- Seasons
- 5
- Episodes
- 62
- Studio
- Sony Pictures Television, High Bridge Productions, Gran Via Productions
79 archived facts 7 topics 3 sources Last reviewed Oct 2026
Walter White, a New Mexico chemistry teacher, is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of only two years left to live. He becomes filled with a sense of fearlessness and an unrelenting desire to secure his family's financial future at any cost as he enters the dangerous world of drugs and crime.
Summary: TMDB
28 Facts From the Making of Breaking Bad
- #003
Vince Gilligan conceived Breaking Bad around a protagonist who becomes the antagonist, aiming to build a show whose fundamental drive is toward change rather than the self-imposed stasis he said television historically favors for its characters.
- #007
Gilligan considered showing a character's full drastic transformation across a television series a risky concept that would be hard to pitch without supporting strengths such as strong cinematography and acting.
- #009
Breaking Bad's title comes from a Southern colloquialism that can mean "raising hell," a phrase series creator Vince Gilligan chose to describe Walter White's transformation.
- #014
After developing the concept and pilot for Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan pitched the show to Sony Pictures Television, which became very interested in supporting it.
- #016
Sony Pictures Television arranged meetings for Breaking Bad with several cable networks, but Showtime declined because it had already begun broadcasting Weeds, a series with a similar premise.
- #018
Vince Gilligan later said that he would not have gone forward with Breaking Bad had he known about Weeds earlier, though his producers convinced him the show was different enough to still succeed.
- #020
HBO and TNT passed on Breaking Bad, and although FX began initial discussions about producing the pilot, it ultimately chose Dirt, a female-centric crime drama it had also started developing, over Breaking Bad.
- #022
One of Vince Gilligan's agents approached Jeremy Elice, AMC's director of original programming, who was seeking additional original shows to pair with the network's upcoming Mad Men.
- #024
A meeting was arranged between Vince Gilligan, Jeremy Elice and two programming executives; Gilligan expected to be put off, but all three expressed strong interest.
- #026
That meeting determined how AMC would obtain the rights from FX and put the pilot into production.
- #027
Roughly a year after that meeting, Sony had completed the rights arrangement with AMC and production was able to begin.
- #029
AMC ordered nine episodes for Breaking Bad's first season, including the pilot, but the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike limited production to seven episodes.
- #031
The same strike delayed the start of production for Breaking Bad's second season.
- #033
Contains a major spoiler — show
Within the planned nine-episode first-season arc, Vince Gilligan intended to kill off Jesse or Hank as a bold season-ending moment; the reduced episode count removed that death, which Gilligan considered a net positive given the acting Paul and Norris brought to the roles over the seasons.
- #035
The strike slowed production enough for Gilligan and his writing team to readjust Breaking Bad's pacing, which had been moving too quickly in the original arc; Gould said the strike "saved the show", believing the two additional first-season episodes would have led down a creative path ending in cancellation by the third season.
- #037
Breaking Bad was initially set in Riverside, California, but Sony suggested moving the production to Albuquerque because New Mexico offered favorable financial conditions.
- #039
After Vince Gilligan realized that shooting eastward in Albuquerque would require constantly avoiding the Sandia Mountains, the story's setting was shifted to match the actual production location.
- #043
Early episodes of Breaking Bad cost roughly $3 million each to produce, which was higher than the average cost for a basic cable program.
- #044
Around 2010, AMC told Sony Pictures Television and Vince Gilligan that it considered the third season of Breaking Bad to be the show's last. Sony then shopped the series elsewhere, and FX showed quick interest in two more seasons, after which AMC reversed its position and let Breaking Bad continue.
- #046
Sony arranged for Breaking Bad to appear on Netflix after the fourth season aired, and because AMC had put the show on a possible cancellation path, Sony pushed for that Netflix addition to happen in time for the fourth season.
- #048
Breaking Bad's audience expanded substantially as viewers binge-watched it on Netflix, which helped secure a fifth season; the fifth-season premiere drew more than twice the viewers of the fourth-season premiere, a rise attributed to the Netflix availability.
- #055
In early August 2011, AMC and Sony Pictures Television began negotiations over a deal for Breaking Bad's fifth and possible final season. AMC proposed a shortened fifth season of six to eight episodes rather than 13 to cut costs, but the producers declined.
- #057
On August 14, 2011, AMC renewed Breaking Bad for a fifth and final season of 16 episodes.
- #061
Vince Gilligan said the idea for Walter White intrigued him so much that he did not give much thought to how well it would sell, and that he would have given up on the premise because it was such an odd, dark story that could be difficult to pitch to studios.
- #066
Vince Gilligan served as showrunner of Breaking Bad and led a collaborative writers' room.
- #068
According to Brett Martin, who observed the writers' room during the fourth season's production, Vince Gilligan combined close creative control with an open, collaborative approach.
- #070
Breaking Bad's writers' room included Thomas Schnauz, Gennifer Hutchison, Moira Walley-Beckett, Sam Catlin, Peter Gould and George Mastras.
- #077
A storyline was written for the third season in which Walt visits a South American drug lord in prison and convinces him to help bankrupt Gus Fring. The plot was dropped because the writers could not figure out how Walt would connect with the drug lord.
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Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia Breaking Bad — Wikipedia
- IMDb IMDb kaydı
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