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'Breaking Bad': Could Season 5 move off AMC?
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The answer to the question in the headline is, probably not. But it's also not a certainty that a fifth season of the show will stay in its current home.AMC, which airs "Breaking Bad," and Sony, which produces it, are negotiating terms for a fifth season of the Emmy-winning series, and talks have apparently become strained. So strained that according to the Los Angeles Times, Sony even approached three other cable networks about possibly airing Season 5 of the show if it should come to that. (The other channels weren't named.)
The big sticking point, the Times says, is AMC's interest in cutting the number of episodes in the fifth season, from 13 to "six to eight." That was a non-starter for the show, which has aired 13-episode seasons every year since its first.
AMC is not a stranger to prolonged negotiations over its original series. The multi-year deal that secured Seasons 5 and 6 of "Mad Men" came after months of talks that eventually pushed the show's premiere date from this summer to early 2012.
Despite the current hiccup, it's likely that "Breaking Bad" will remain on AMC for its fifth, and potentially last, season. Creator Vince Gilligan told Zap2it at the show's Season 4 premiere in late June that "If you ask me right this minute, I'd say [Season] 5 would be a good end point, but if you ask me a year from now maybe I'll change my tune."
The show continues its fourth season at 10 p.m. ET Sunday on AMC.
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Photo/Video credit: AMC
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While cable tv has stepped up and brought us some good shows, the limited number of episodes is very frustrating. You wait a year (or more) and end up with 13 (or fewer) episodes...that makes the viewer's investment frustration and questionable. This has happened with "Falling Skies", "The Walking Dead", "Weeds", "Nurse Jackie", "The Big C", "Mad Men", "Southland" "True Blood" and many more.
I completely AGREE with Clandestine Green.
True Blood only has 10 Episodes per Season I think that's too short.
Cutting Breaking Bad to 6 Episodes would be ridiculous.
That's more like a 2 part movie not the complete Season of a TV Drama.
AMC has been jerking it's viewers around a bit too much lately.
Delaying Breaking Bad for a year and a half and then delaying Mad Men for over a year and a half and now they want to cut back on episodes too.
Enough is enough.
Maybe Sony should move Breaking Bad to HBO or Showtime.
Laurel, "it's" means "it is." Do you not even know the difference between "it's" and "its"? That's something that is taught to elementary school kids.
Not to sound hypercritical, but the first season of Breaking Bad actually had seven episodes; due to the writers strike.
It's not unique to have negotiation conflict since one side may want to go with the initial rating where the other side may want to try to work the lesser numbers into the equation. You know, cash and all.
Sprachpolizei -do you know that you are an *******? That's something you should have learned in High School.
Sprachpolizei ,
It was a typing error.
These things happen in an imperfect world.
However I couldn't help but notice that you didn't even comment on the article.
You know combing the comments looking for tiny grammatical errors just so you can insult people is just sad.
But WHATEVER you have to do feel good about yourself...
Language police(sprachpolizei) - GET A LIFE!! Is that watt yew dew all dey????
I don't mind a short series in numbers when the quality is better than a watered down series filled with filler episode such as HIMYM. Besides episodes in the UK are short, a comedy is about six episodes, a drama roughly about eight to ten depending on the popularity. I was disappointed Luther was only four episodes.
I agree that the short season that has become en vogue with so many new series is infuriating. It is especially frustrating with a series like Breaking Bad that takes so much time in telling the small amount of story that is revealed very weak.
Also, Sprachpolizei? Stop breathing my air.
I was about to say exactly the same thing, Ethan--I totally agree. I'd rather see 8 good episodes of a show like Breaking Bad than 22 of most network dramas.