Countdown to Breaking Bad!!!

[Jr Mouse]



Last week was the mid-season finale. Season 5 isn't over yet.

Correct. They only showed half the season so far. AMC decided to drag the whole thing out. My hope is this turns out for the best as it may give the creative team time to rest and collect their thoughts.

 

[Neo_Version 7]

I'm kind of disappointed that the teddy bear eye hasn't made an appearance yet.

 

[Gradstudent78]



Correct. They only showed half the season so far. AMC decided to drag the whole thing out.

The writers still have to write the rest of the season, from interviews it's not entirely clear how much of this is AMC and how much is the result of the show's writers and production.

 

[grundletaint]

I think what happened was Gilligan announced it would be the final season so AMC said "**** you, you can have 8 episodes to finish." After negotiations, Gilligan got his "full" season but the network got to split it and extend the money-maker another year.

 

[Jr Mouse]

I always thought it was planned to be a normal season in length, but AMC requested the split to drag it out over two seasons instead of one.

 

[Gradstudent78]



I always thought it was planned to be a normal season in length, but AMC requested the split to drag it out over two seasons instead of one.

Vince Gilligan has said things in his podcast to the contrary to this.

 

[Jr Mouse]



Vince Gilligan has said things in his podcast to the contrary to this.

Ok, i'll buy this. What did they say exactly? You indicated above that it's not clear?

 

[Gradstudent78]



Ok, i'll buy this. What did they say exactly? You indicated above that it's not clear?

It was a while ago (the first podcast of this season) when I listened to it but he basically said it was about the logistics of the show and being able to plot things out, but if AMC was the driving force behind the split I doubt he would throw them under the bus (thus, it's unclear and we don't really know, before he said anything about it I would have thought it was motivated by AMC and the production company).

He has made it pretty clear they haven't written the second half yet (beyond a basic outline of larger events) and they are taking the next five to six months to really iron it out. Ultimately I think it will be to the shows benefit and create a really tight ending, but we'll see.

At the very least I'm sure AMC wanted them to wait 12 months to fit their schedule, rather than something like 10 months, which was probably doable from a production standpoint.

 

[Teacher]



I'm kind of disappointed that the teddy bear eye hasn't made an appearance yet.

Walt still has it.

 

[Harold falcon]

Based on this nonscientific image analysis the minimum amount in the pile would be around $17,500,000. If every bundle were $5000 then it'd be $43,860,000.00. The actual value is likely somewhere in between those two estimates.

Edit: Some folks have made good arguments in the comments that a number of the bundles could be $10,000. Assuming that every bundle were $10k the maximum estimate would be ~$87,700,000.00. Every bundle clearly isn't 10k, so we can assume that the pile of cash is somewhere between $20 million and $80 million.

http://www.quora.com/Breaking-Bad-S...ped-counting-it/answer/Tom-Cook?srid=i1&st=ns

Our own IDFNL did it here first.

 

[velobran]

Regarding the split season ....

Towards the end of Season 4 when they announced Season 5 would be the last, they made it known that it would be one long 16 episode final season. It was announced in Feb (I think it was around then) that it would be split into two 8 episode runs. The writers and actors claimed it gave them a necessary break to regroup and make sure everything was written correctly and tied up. AMC might be trying to milk it a little - who knows. Also being that BB has started later than in the past (Seasons 4 and 5 compared to 1,2,3), it runs up against football on Sunday nights. Maybe AMC lost live viewers to football last year w/ the late run and wanted to switch things up this year.

 

[Teacher]

This year, the show enjoyed a 39% ratings bump.

 

[munchausen]



Regarding the split season ....
Towards the end of Season 4 when they announced Season 5 would be the last, they made it known that it would be one long 16 episode final season. It was announced in Feb (I think it was around then) that it would be split into two 8 episode runs. The writers and actors claimed it gave them a necessary break to regroup and make sure everything was written correctly and tied up. AMC might be trying to milk it a little - who knows. Also being that BB has started later than in the past (Seasons 4 and 5 compared to 1,2,3), it runs up against football on Sunday nights. Maybe AMC lost live viewers to football last year w/ the late run and wanted to switch things up this year.

I didn't think about the football thing, but that makes sense. The showrunners had 16 episodes of story to tell but the network didn't want the last episodes to be running against Sunday Night Football.

 

[Reggs]

Also, wasn't there some promo before this season started showing some boy doing laundry, and a pill dropped on the floor? I see no connection.

 

[Van Veen]



10 month wait starting now
At least Dexters coming back soon

Boardwalk Empire, too.

Here's a good interview w/ Gilligan by Alan Sepinwall that address a lot of people's concerns (such as Mike getting sloppy).