“I still cannot believe a show about a guy who cooks crystal meth and is dying of cancer has been on the air now for 20 episodes.”
The statement isn’t surprising, but the source of it may be. Vince Gilligan is, after all, the man who came up with the idea. And that idea became Breaking Bad, the AMC series starring Bryan Cranston as the aforementioned methamphetamine maker whose days are numbered. Of course, whether that ultimate demise comes as the result of his lung cancer or his descent into the dangerous drug world remains to be seen. And that’s just one of the many fascinating elements of this show, which truly hit its stride in a second season that was decidedly darker than the first, and also made us question whether Walter White, a protagonist drawn of both good and evil shades, is actually a man we should be rooting for.
The end result? Rave reviews from just about every corner, and five Emmy nominations, including those for Best Drama, Lead Actor (Cranston, who already won for Season 1) and Supporting Actor (Aaron Paul).
Inside our gallery, Gilligan—formerly a writer and executive producer of The X-Files—talks more about his unlikely TV hit.
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Josh Gajewski is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in such publications as the Los Angeles Times and USA Weekend magazine, among others. His writing can also be found at jgink.com.