Breaking Bad
Vince Gilligan stood in a writers room during the 2007, 2008 Writers Guild of America strike and realized his show needed to change. He had spent years writing for The X-Files before conceiving a story about a man who turns from Mr. Chips into Scarface. Television historically keeps characters in stasis so they can run for decades, but Gilligan wanted fundamental drive toward change. He pitched the idea to Sony Pictures Television after joking with fellow writer Thomas Schnauz that they should put a meth lab in an RV and cook their way across the country. AMC eventually acquired the rights from FX, which had passed on the project due to existing male-centric shows. The network ordered nine episodes for the first season, though the strike limited production to seven episodes. This delay forced Gilligan to rethink pacing and allowed him to save the show from potential cancellation by its third season. The initial script was set in Riverside, California, but financial incentives led the production to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Gilligan then adjusted the story to reflect the actual location, ensuring the Sandia Mountains appeared in shots directed eastward.
Breaking Bad utilized 35 mm film throughout its five seasons to maintain robustness and economic focus during shooting. Cinematographer Michael Slovis began work on the series starting with the second season and received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his visual style. The production cost reached $3 million per episode, significantly higher than the average basic cable program. Editors like Kelley Dixon employed jump cuts and speed alternation techniques to create memorable meth montages. She won the Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing award in 2013 after six nominations. Sony and AMC denied requests to shoot in CinemaScope format despite Gilligan's desire to emulate Sergio Leone Westerns. Digital cameras were used only when necessary for point-of-view shots or time-lapse photography. By the end of the fifth season, episodes had cost upwards of that same amount to produce. The series premiered on the 20th of January 2008, and concluded on the 29th of September 2013, spanning 62 episodes across five distinct seasons. Viewership doubled from the fourth season to the fifth, partly due to Netflix availability before the final run.
Donna Nelson, a professor of organic chemistry at the University of Oklahoma, vetted scripts to ensure chemical dialogue remained accurate and up-to-date. She drew chemical structures and wrote equations that appeared as props throughout the series. The show depicted the Nagai red phosphorus/iodine method using pseudoephedrine as a precursor in early episodes. Later seasons switched to reductive amination reactions relying on phenyl-2-propanone and methylamine. MythBusters tested scenes from the first season and found them physically impossible to replicate exactly. Hydrofluoric acid could not fully dissolve metal, flesh, or ceramic as shown in Cat's in the Bag. Throwing fulminated mercury against a floor would require much larger quantities and faster speeds than depicted. An electromagnet episode proved impossible for drawing metallic objects across a room. However, mounting an automated machine gun in a car was found plausible during testing. The blue meth crystals were actually candy created by employees at The Candy Lady. Pure crystal meth is colorless or white, but the show gave it a strong cyan hue for visual storytelling purposes.
Bryan Cranston gained 10 pounds to reflect Walter White's personal decline and dyed his natural red hair brown. He collaborated with costume designer Kathleen Detoro to create a wardrobe of neutral green and brown colors. A mustache described as impotent and like a dead caterpillar helped define the character visually. Cranston wrote his own backstory for Walt when Gilligan left past details unexplained. Aaron Paul initially looked too old and too pretty to play Jesse Pinkman until Gilligan saw his audition. Dean Norris had previously appeared in The X-Files episode F. Emasculata before being cast as Hank Schrader. RJ Mitte has cerebral palsy himself and regressed from therapy to portray Walter White Jr., staying up late to slur speech and learning to walk on crutches. Giancarlo Esposito incorporated yoga training into his performance as Gus Fring starting in season three. Anna Gunn described Skyler as grounded, tough, smart, and driven while struggling with audience vitriol directed at her character. Bob Odenkirk drew inspiration for Saul Goodman from film producer Robert Evans rather than trying to emulate Harvey Keitel's Winston Wolfe.
A damaged pink teddy bear appears in flashforwards during four episodes forming the sentence Seven Thirty-Seven Down Over ABQ. The bear falls from a plane into the Whites' backyard swimming pool after Walt indirectly causes a mid-air collision via Jane's father. Vince Gilligan called this accident an attempt to visualize all the terrible grief that Walt has wrought upon his loved ones. The color red distinguishes the coat of a very young girl in Schindler's List, serving as an homage within the show. Characters wear specific colors to represent their state of mind or foreshadow events throughout the series. Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass appears repeatedly, with Hank finding initials W.W. written in Gale Boetticher's notes. The episode Gliding Over All takes its title from poem 271 of Leaves of Grass. Hank reads a handwritten inscription To my other favorite W.W. It's an honour working with you. Fondly G.B. which reveals Walter's identity for the first time. The pink teddy bear prop was auctioned off on the 29th of September 2013, alongside other memorabilia from the finale.
Season five split into two halves with eight episodes each premiering the 15th of July 2012, and the 11th of August 2013. The series finale reached over 10.3 million viewers making it one of the most-watched cable shows on American television. Vince Gilligan thanked Netflix at the Emmy Awards in September 2013 saying they kept the show on air. Better Call Saul debuted on AMC the 8th of February 2015, featuring Odenkirk, Banks, and Esposito reprising their roles. El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie starring Paul released on Netflix the 11th of October 2019. The complete series box set arrived the 26th of November 2013 shaped like barrels used to bury money. Critics called it the best TV show ever made by Empire and ranked third by BBC experts picking from 206 global voices. George R.R. Martin praised the episode Ozymandias calling Walter White a bigger monster than anyone in Westeros. Anthony Hopkins wrote a letter praising Cranston's performance as the best acting he had seen ever. The Writers Guild of America named it No. 13 in its list of 101 Best-Written TV Series of All Time. In 2023, Rotten Tomatoes ranked it the best TV series in the last 25 years
according to critics.
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Common questions
When did Breaking Bad premiere and conclude?
Breaking Bad premiered on the 20th of January 2008, and concluded on the 29th of September 2013. The series spanned 62 episodes across five distinct seasons.
Where was Breaking Bad filmed and why was the location chosen?
The initial script for Breaking Bad was set in Riverside, California, but financial incentives led production to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Vince Gilligan adjusted the story to reflect the actual location, ensuring the Sandia Mountains appeared in shots directed eastward.
Who verified chemical accuracy in Breaking Bad scripts?
Donna Nelson, a professor of organic chemistry at the University of Oklahoma, vetted scripts to ensure chemical dialogue remained accurate and up-to-date. She drew chemical structures and wrote equations that appeared as props throughout the series.
How much did each episode of Breaking Bad cost to produce?
The production cost for Breaking Bad reached $3 million per episode, significantly higher than the average basic cable program. By the end of the fifth season, episodes had cost upwards of that same amount to produce.
What happened to the pink teddy bear prop from Breaking Bad?
A damaged pink teddy bear appears in flashforwards during four episodes forming the sentence Seven Thirty-Seven Down Over ABQ. The pink teddy bear prop was auctioned off on the 29th of September 2013, alongside other memorabilia from the finale.