Breaking Bad was created and produced by Vince Gilligan, who served for seven years as a writer and producer for Chris Carter’s The X-Files (1993-2002). The idea for Breaking Bad was born out of a conversation between Gilligan and his friend Thomas Schnauz, who is now a writer on the series. Schnauz had just read a story about a man cooking meth in an apartment complex that sickened children in the apartment above. Saddam Hussein’s alleged mobile chemical weapon labs also came in the conversation. The two men eventually came up with the idea of driving around in a mobile lab used to cook meth. A couple days later, Schnauz said he received a call from Gilligan who wanted permission to use the idea to develop into a possible TV series. Cranston says that the term “breaking bad” is a southern colloquialism and it means when someone who has taken a turn off the path of the straight and narrow, when they’ve gone wrong. And it could be for that day or for a lifetime. Series creator Gilligan, who grew up in Farmville, Virginia, simply defines the term as “to raise hell.” Gilligan pitched the idea for the series to AMC executives in 2007. The network was searching for a second original series to go along with Mad Men, which made its debut that year. AMC’s goal was to develop a new original series that was set in the present so that the network would not be pigeonholed as the home of period television. Programming executives wanted a series concept that would skew male and complement the network’s deep library of contemporary action anti-hero movies featuring such stars as Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Walter White and Don Draper of Mad Men are both “bad boy” anti-hero protagonists; one, a drug dealer, the other, a serial adulterer. AMC might be following a similar programming strategy as the FX network, which has had success by producing original series, like The Shield (2002-2008) and Rescue Me (2004-2011), based on productive, but severely flawed male protagonists. However, White’s character is different from most dramatic television protagonists because his character gradually transforms throughout the course of the series from a timid, ineffectual chemistry teacher to a street-smart, dangerous drug dealer. Don Draper of Mad Men, for example, is still pretty much the same charming rake he has been from the start of the series, despite a few fleeting moments of self-doubt and personal confession (Segal 2011).
AMC’S TRANSFORMATION
For most of its first eighteen years, AMC was a premium cable network showing generally unedited, uncut, and uncolored American feature films, largely pre-1950s, without commercial interruption. Its revenue came from cable operators that offered the channel to cable subscribers. However, by the late 1990s, AMC gradually began to place commercials between its movies and then, also within them (Gomery). On September 30, 2002, AMC changed its programming format from a classic movie channel to a more general movie channel airing movies from all eras, with an emphasis of showing recent films from the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Under this new format, the majority of pre-1970s films were relegated to late nights, mornings, and early afternoons. Kate McEnroe, then president of AMC Networks, cited the lack of cable operator subsidies as the reason for the addition of advertising, and cited ad agencies who insisted on programming relevant to their products’ consumers as the reason for the shift to recent movies instead of early classics (Umstead 2002).
Because differentiation is critical within the crowded multichannel cable programming environment, it is crucial for each cable network to construct a distinct brand image. One of the key branding strategies is for networks to produce original TV series and specials. This strategy is especially important because most cable programming consist of off-network TV series and second-run movies. “If a network wants to grow, it must produce original series, which serve to differentiate networks,” says Mike Goodman, analyst with the Yankee Group in Boston. “You can only get so big showing network reruns,” he said (Whitney 2002). A successful series performs two critical functions for a network—it differentiates you and it builds strong audience loyalty for your network. Peter Liguori, president and CEO for FX Networks, describes the other benefits of networks producing a successful original series: “A hit series can prove the network’s value to cable operators (and) send a message to advertisers that it can deliver and help bolster creativity within the creative community.” He adds that while FX’s first original series was the short-lived, comedy Son of the Beach (2000-2001), the hit series The Shield about a renegade cop and his squad marked the coming of age of the network along with helping to build the network’s brand image as the place for edgy adult-oriented dramatic series (Whitney 2002).
AMC is not new to the game of producing original TV series. From 1996 to 1998, it aired its first original series, Remember WENN, a half-hour situation comedy about a radio station during the peak of radio broadcasting hey-day in the 1930s. The series, which was produced to complement the network’s showcase of pre-1950s classic Hollywood movies, was well-received by critics and had a loyal cable viewing audience (Owen 1997). Despite its popularity, the series was cancelled at the end of its fourth season primarily because of a change in network management (“AMC pulls plug”). AMC’s next original series, The Lot (1999-2001), a half-hour situation comedy about the behind-the-scenes actions of a fictional Hollywood film studio in the 1930s lasted only sixteen episodes (Owen 1999).
AMC’s transformation from a classic to a general movie format meant facing increased cable competition from other general movie networks, including the USA Network, Turner Network Television, and Turner Broadcasting System. Within this competitive environment, AMC set out to produce original series and specials that would complement its new movie format. In 2003, the network produced the Sunday Morning Shootout (2003-2008), a weekly, half-hour talk and interview program hosted by Peter Bart, a film producer and editor-in-chief of Variety, and veteran Hollywood film producer Peter Guber. The show was divided into two segments: one where the two hosts discuss an industry topic and the other where they interview a Hollywood actor, director, or producer (“Shootout — AMC”). In 2005, AMC produced Movies That Shook the World (2005), a thirteen-part series examining the societal impact of controversial movies and comments from critics, actors, directors, producers, and film scholars highlighting the content and context of such films as D. . Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915) and James Bridges’ China Syndrome (1979) (“Movies”).
In 2006, AMC finally plunged into producing high-quality original dramas when it aired Broken Trail, an original Western miniseries, directed by Walter Hill and starring Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church, about a pair of cowboys who become reluctant guardians of a small group of abused and abandoned Chinese women. Broken Trail garnered several Emmy Awards including Outstanding Miniseries, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for Robert Duvall, and Outstanding Lead Actor and Actress Awards for Thomas Haden Church and Greta Scacchi (“Emmy” 2007). The network followed up its impressive foray into television drama with the 2007 debut of Mad Men (2007-present), an original hour-long dramatic series about a Madison Avenue advertising agency in the early 1960s. The influential series was almost immediately lauded by critics and has won three consecutive Emmy Awards for Outstanding Drama Series and three Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Drama Series. Mad Men was created by Matthew Weiner, a former executive producer and writer on HBO’s The Sopranos (1999-2007), who serves as the series’ executive producer and writer on several of its episodes (Edgerton 2010). The established successes of Mad Men and later Breaking Bad in 2008 have given AMC a reputation close to those of premium cable networks HBO and Showtime, both of which rejected Mad Men before it came to the network. Charlie Collier, vice-president and general manager of AMC, says that the network’s vast array of themes in its originals—western, period piece, and modern-day drama—are entirely intentional. “If we just did Mad Men, we’d be a period-piece network,” Collier said. “Well, we’re not. The mission is to make sure we build a breadth of originals that really complement what we do best—present a diverse array of the best movies of all time.” He adds that AMC intends to maintain a reputation for high quality, original dramatic series and that one cannot air The Godfather movie and follow it with an inexpensive reality TV series like Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader? (Bianculli 2008).