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Breaking Bad Returns for (Half of) Its Last Season July 15

Walter White will be the one who knocks on your TV screen July 15, when Breaking Bad returns for its fifth and final season on AMC July 15. But you won’t have to say goodbye too soon, because the show will re-return for the same final season next summer: confirming what has been an open secret, the network is splitting the final run into two eight-episode chunks.

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Dead Tree Alert: Summer TV Preview; Plus, the Shows I’m Most Intrigued by for Fall [VIDEO]

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In the new print issue of TIME, we have our summer Arts preview (subscription required), in which I blurb 11 summer TV shows I’m most interested in seeing. This is not to say the “best” shows of the summer, because they’re shows that I have not yet watched (the new series, like The Newsroom), whose [...]

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From Tony Soprano to Hannah Horvath: What Does a TV Show “Want” You to Think of Its Characters?

Sometimes people reject a show because they hate a character they feel the show wants them to like. But in an era of drama (and now comedy) antiheroes (and antiheroines), how do you tell what a TV show “wants”?

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Breaking Bad Watch: Up On a Roof

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SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, gather up the family and some of your closest armed guards and watch last night’s Breaking Bad. When I take notes on any show I’m reviewing, I like to include little side comments–often in capital letters to distinguish them–as a kind of running commentary of my reaction to [...]

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‘Breaking Bad’ Watch: Pulling the Rug Out

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SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, turn off Three Days of the Condor and watch last night’s Breaking Bad. In my write-up of last week’s Breaking Bad, I looked at how Walt’s talk with Walt Jr. pointed up a cruel irony: that he had gotten into the drug business to provide for his family [...]

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Breaking Bad Watch: $#*! My Dad Says

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SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, get any necessary bathroom breaks out of the way and watch last night’s Breaking Bad. The previous episode of Breaking Bad opened a rift between Walt and Jesse that’s going to be hard, if not impossible, to close anytime soon. So it follows that “Salud” was two very [...]

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Breaking Bad Watch: Thin-Ice Road Truckers

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SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, get off Google Earth and watch last night’s Breaking Bad. There have been a couple of mysteries hanging over the last few episodes of Breaking Bad. First: what does Gus hope to gain by cultivating Jesse and separating him from Walt? Second: what are Gus and the cartel [...]

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Breaking Bad Watch: Chickenman! He’s Everywhere! He’s Everywhere!

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SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, ask your elderly criminal uncle if he would change the channel so you can watch last night’s Breaking Bad. This month at the Emmys, Breaking Bad is going to step aside and make some room for other dramas at the acting-categories podiums, because it didn’t air a season [...]

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Summer School Report Card: What's Been the Show of the Season?

It’s probably going to be a slow couple of weeks for coverage of current TV here because (1) it’s fall-screener season, which means I’m spending much of my time watching shows that won’t air for weeks or longer; and (2) it’s late August, so whaddyagonnado? So this is as good a morning as any, before [...]

Breaking Bad Watch: Seeing Things

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  SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, finish digging that hole in the front yard and watch the latest episode of Breaking Bad. Hello, Tuned In readers! While TIME’s TV swami James Poniewozik is on vacation, I’ll be guest-blogging the next two episodes of Breaking Bad. (Now I know how Jesse felt the first [...]

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Breaking Bad Makes a Deal for 16 Final Episodes

The bad news: Breaking Bad is ending. The good news: Breaking Bad is ending (hopefully) on its own terms. After a prolonged and unfortunately public negotiation over its renewal with AMC, the producers of Breaking Bad will get a final run of 16 episodes to conclude the story of Walter White, chemistry-teacher-cum-criminal. The whole negotiation [...]

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Breaking Bad Watch: Road Trip!

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SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, open another bottle of wine and watch last night’s Breaking Bad. As TV dramas advance in years, they tend to get crowded. There are more characters, more storylines and often an intense race to up the stakes to keep the viewers’ interest. This applies to good dramas as [...]

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Walking Dead?; or, Can AMC Afford to Budget-Cut Its Way to Success?

The Hollywood Reporter has a couple of interesting news items about AMC network right now. The first is a short news brief from this morning, reporting that AMC—the cable group including IFC, Sundance, WE and AMC network itself—showed a higher profit in its first quarter as an independent company, with both profit and revenue up [...]

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Breaking Bad Watch: When I Heard the Learn’d Meth Cooker

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SPOILER ALERT; Before you read this post, turn off that karaoke machine, grab some vegan s’mores and watch last night’s Breaking Bad. It’s been a methodical and steady first few episodes for season four of Breaking Bad, starting with the excruciatingly patient showdown of “Box Cutter,” then two episodes that examined many of the characters [...]

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Which Is Worse: Much Less Breaking Bad, or Much More?

The story over AMC’s feud with the Sony studio over Breaking Bad broke while I was just getting to press tour, but for those of you who haven’t heard about it: things are getting tense between network and studio over the fifth and ostensibly final season of the show. The makers of Breaking Bad want [...]

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Breaking Bad Watch: It’s Skyler’s Turn

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, stop surreptitiously watching that porn in your bed and watch last night’s Breaking Bad. With the focus on the superlab, Gus’ business and Walt and Jesse’s status, the first couple of episodes of season four have been rather, well, male so far. The third, “Open House,” turns its [...]

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Breaking Bad Watch: Cuts Like a Knife

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SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, put on your Kenny Rogers T-shirt and finish up researching collectible minerals on the Internet; you’ll need your full attention to watch last night’s season premiere of Breaking Bad. A very visually minded show, Breaking Bad has always like to used color themes for effect: the bright yellow [...]

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Vince Gilligan, the Skipper: A Breaking Bad Q&A

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Jim Poniewozik chats with Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan on set

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Dead Tree Alert: Breaking Bad Breaks Back

It may be Harry Potter day in the rest of the entertainment world, but here at Tuned In, it’s Breaking Bad weekend. The new issue of TIME carries my feature on the return of the AMC drama, including a set visit I made to Albuquerque last spring. (And no offense to the citizens of ABQ, [...]

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Breaking Bad Breaks Back, Starting July 17

The show that I (and some other critics) named as the best TV show of 2010, Breaking Bad, has finally got a return date for its fourth season on AMC, July 17. I visited the set earlier this year and will have more to write before the season debut; in the meantime, I will spoil [...]