Breaking Bad

From Wikipedia:

Breaking Bad is an American television drama series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and produced in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Breaking Bad is the story of Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a struggling high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with advanced lung cancer at the beginning of the series. He turns to a life of crime, producing and selling methamphetamine with a former student, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), with the aim of securing his family's financial future before he dies.

Breaking Bad has received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for its writing, cinematography, and the acting ability of its cast. The series has won six Emmy Awards—including three consecutive wins for Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Cranston, one win for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for Paul, and two nominations for Outstanding Drama Series. Cranston has also been nominated twice for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama.

The series is broadcast in the United States and Canada on the cable channel AMC, and is a production of Sony Pictures Television. It premiered on January 20, 2008, and has completed its fourth season. On August 14, 2011, AMC announced that Breaking Bad had been renewed for a fifth and final production season consisting of 16 episodes that may be split over two broadcast seasons. 

Conception

Breaking Bad was created by Vince Gilligan who spent several years writing the FOX series The X-Files. Gilligan wanted to create a series in which the protagonist became the antagonist. "Television is historically good at keeping its characters in a self-imposed stasis so that shows can go on for years or even decades," he said. "When I realized this, the logical next step was to think, how can I do a show in which the fundamental drive is toward change?" He added that his goal with Walter White is to turn him from Mr. Chips intoScarface. He has said it is difficult to write for Walter White because the character is so dark and morally questionable: "I'm going to miss the show when it's over, but on some level, it'll be a relief to not have Walt in my head anymore." As the series has progressed, Gilligan and the writing staff of Breaking Bad have made Walter more and more unsympathetic. Gilligan said: "He's going from being a protagonist to an antagonist. We want to make people question who they're pulling for, and why."Cranston said by the fourth season: "I think Walt's figured out it's better to be a pursuer than the pursued. He's well on his way to badass."Gilligan defines the term "breaking bad" as "to raise hell".

Development history

The network originally ordered nine episodes for the first season (including the pilot), but the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike limited the production to seven episodes.The series is set and filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is shot on 35 mm film. Breaking Bad reportedly costs $3 million per episode to produce, higher than the average cost for a basic cable program.Vince Gilligan had indicated that he intended to conclude Breaking Bad with the fifth season. In early August 2011, negotiations began over a deal regarding the fifth and possible final season between the network AMC and Sony Pictures Television, the production company of the series. AMC proposed a shortened fifth season (six to eight episodes, instead of 13) to cut costs, but the producers declined. Sony then approached other cable networks about possibly picking up the show if a deal could not be made. On August 14, 2011, a deal was made where AMC renewed the series for a final 16 episodes.

Casting

Gilligan cast Bryan Cranston for the role of Walter White based on having worked with him in a sixth season episode of the science fiction television series The X-Files, where Gilligan worked as a writer. Cranston played an anti-Semitic redneck with a terminal illness who took series protagonist Fox Mulder hostage. Gilligan said the character had to be simultaneously loathsome and sympathetic, and that "Bryan alone was the only actor who could do that, who could pull off that trick. And it is a trick. I have no idea how he does it." AMC officials were initially reluctant with the casting choice, having known Cranston only as the over-the-top character Hal on the comedy series Malcolm in the Middle, but they were persuaded after Gilligan screened the X-Files episode for them.

Gilligan originally intended for Jesse Pinkman's character to be killed at the end of Breaking Bad's first season. Originally, Gilligan wanted Jesse to die in a botched drug deal as a plot device to plague the main protagonist Walter White with guilt. However, Gilligan said by the second episode of the season, he was so impressed with Jesse's character and Aaron Paul's performance that "it became pretty clear early on that would be a huge, colossal mistake, to kill off Jesse". 

Crew

Along with Gilligan, the show's other executive producer is Mark Johnson. Michelle MacLaren initially joined the crew as an episodic director for the second season and rose to the position of executive producer for the fourth season. Melissa Bernstein and Sam Catlin are co-executive producers for the show.

John Shiban was a writer and a consulting producer for the second and third seasons but then left the crew. Writers George Mastras and Peter Gould began working on the series as story editors for the first season and became supervising producers for the fourth season. Thomas Schnauz joined the crew as a writer and co-producer for the third season and was also promoted to supervising producer for the fourth season.

Karen Moore was the series on set producer for the first two seasons. She left the crew after the second season and was replaced by Stewart A. Lyons. Star Bryan Cranston has become increasingly involved behind the camera as the series has progressed. He began directing episodes as of the second season and became a producer for the fourth season.