Breaking Bad is a case where Vince Gilligan (the show creator) wanted the finale season to be 16 episodes, but AMC was only willing to do 10 or something. So they split it into two half-seasons.
Shows have gone on hiatus from December through January for a very long time, in part due to the holidays and lower television viewership (ie., lower ratings and thus lower ad revenues). In the last decade, producers and writers realized that they often lost viewership when shows came back on in the new year because people had lost the thread of the show. With a mid-season cliffhanger, it gave viewers a story beat that stuck in their head and encouraged them to seek out the show when it comes back on in February.
I think last year they timed it when the last episode of The Walking Dead was shown, the first episode of season five of Mad Men was the following week. It made similar sense with Breaking Bad because its finale wouldn't overlap with the premiere of The Walking Dead. Cable channels like to space their hit shows so they have someone watchable all year long.
Besides, no new television is on during the holidays, and in America, January is full of Bowl games and NFL playoffs on the weekend. Might as well wait until after the Super Bowl.
They do it to kill the momentum of an otherwise great season, or i guess that's just the unintended result. For AMC I always figured it was due to the rest of their shows (besides breaking bad and the walking dead) being kinda bad so they hold over the next half into the next year for ratings purposes.
Breaking Bad is a case where Vince Gilligan (the show creator) wanted the finale season to be 16 episodes, but AMC was only willing to do 10 or something. So they split it into two half-seasons.
Really? I thought it was an issue of Brian Cranston only being contracted for 5 years. I assumed they filmed all of season 5 in one shot, but only aired half at a time. This way they can split dvd/bluray sales, but also technically get a 6th season while still sticking to the 5 year contract
Breaking Bad is a case where Vince Gilligan (the show creator) wanted the finale season to be 16 episodes, but AMC was only willing to do 10 or something. So they split it into two half-seasons.
Really? I thought it was an issue of Brian Cranston only being contracted for 5 years. I assumed they filmed all of season 5 in one shot, but only aired half at a time. This way they can split dvd/bluray sales, but also technically get a 6th season while still sticking to the 5 year contract
I forget the exact details, but I remember the creators wanting to end the show earlier than AMC. So they agreed to produce two shorter than usual seasons to get a few more episodes.
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