"Are you looking at me?"
The Season Four finale of the AMC drama Breaking Bad broke the series’ previous ratings record, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The trade paper says that the episode, which aired on Sunday night, pulled in 2.9 million viewers across three showings. The Nielsen Company, using methods to measure viewer engagement with commercials, has also reportedly named the hard-hitting drama series as the most engaging show on television.
Breaking Bad has become a bona fide phenomenon over it’s fourth season, increasing its audience by 24% over the previous year in the important 18-49 demographic. That, THR’s report says, is the largest jump enjoyed by any drama series in the history of basic cable.
In other Breaking Bad-related news, creator Vince Gilligan has credited his work on The X-Files with providing him with one of the most important lessons underlying his success with Breaking Bad.
“Even with a comedy or drama, it’s all the same fundamentals, which is: do we care about these characters and do we want to see them succeed?” Gilligan told The Hollywood Reporter. “I learned that from my early days with Chris Carter on The X-Files and it’s held me in good stead ever since.”
Gillian also named CBS’s superb The Good Wife and another AMC hit, The Walking Dead, as among his favorite shows currently on TV .
“The Good Wife is a wonderful show,” he told THR. “Robert and Michelle King, they’re such nice people and such very talented showrunners and writers. I love Mad Men, I gotta give a shout-out to all the AMC shows: Mad Men, and The Walking Dead, The Killing – loving all those, and looking forward to seeing Hell on Wheels.”
A 16-episode fifth and final season of Breaking Bad has been ordered for 2012.
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