Things are as fraught for Breaking Bad in the real world as they are on the show. Negotiations between Sony and AMC regarding a fifth season of the series have turned tense; Sony has reportedly "sent feelers to at least three other cable networks," according to The Los Angeles Times.
The series, which is currently airing its fourth season on AMC, was reportedly asked to trim its episode count down to six or eight episodes -- around half of the thirteen episodes its fourth season is comprised of.
Why the cuts? Well, Matthew Weiner's tough negotiations with the network (as well as the salary increases of Mad Men's stars) probably cost the network quite a bit, causing it to make cuts in other areas. The Walking Dead is reportedly undergoing budget cuts ($250,000 is being sliced from the budget of each episode for the show's thirteen-episode second season, for instance). It doesn't really make a lot of sense; Mad Men's fourth season, which aired last year, only performed a little better than Breaking Bad's currently airing fourth season is doing, while The Walking Dead has almost doubled the viewership of both as AMC's highest performing original drama.
If Breaking Bad does indeed leave AMC for less financially restrictive pastures, where would you like to see it go? I think HBO would be the obvious choice for a location to continue the series, but HBO's fellow pay cable networks Showtime and Starz might be havens for the show without creatively or financially restricting it.
I'm with Sony on this one; Breaking Bad is a good enough show to merit a full-length fifth season (though if it turns out to be the show's last, as rumored, I am kind of attracted to the symmetry of ending it with a seven-episode season, just like the first). Hopefully AMC and Sony can figure out a way to make it work.
The fourth episode of Breaking Bad's fourth season, "Bullet Points," will air Sunday, August 7, on AMC.
all other choices are garbage compared to the Breaking Bad series.
comment above.