Breaking Bad is one of the few shows ever to have a clear and concise storyline that never dipped or took the road of quantity over quality. There is not a single episode that was subpar, nor were there any episodes that did not progress the plot. The creators fully fleshed out their story, it seems, before beginning the project. And they didn't let a big paycheck persuade them into milking the series and its popularity. Because of this, Breaking Bad has remained one of the top-rated television series of all time.
Breaking Bad is a story about a middle-aged man with a wife, son, and baby on the way who is told he has terminal lung cancer. The man, Walter White, is a high school chemistry teacher who works at a car wash to make ends meet. Basically, he can't afford to leave his family enough money to survive on and get two kids through college. So, after going on a drug raid with his DEA brother-in-law who insists Walter needs some excitement in his life, Walter discovers he can make a ton of money making and selling meth. And with his background in chemistry, he begins making the highest grade meth on the market. But as it's later revealed, Walter doesn't just do this for the money, he does it for the thrill. He realizes his life is ending and he wants it to be more exciting. He sees how his former student, Jesse Pinkman is hooking up with some woman and evading the DEA, and he wants in on that life.
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Sitting at number 4 on IMDb's top-rated TV shows list, Breaking Bad is a good example of not sacrificing the quality of a story for the sake of business. Though, it can be argued that despite not having made the show several seasons longer, Vince Gilligan and the other writers did not sacrifice business, either. Each episode cost about $3 million to produce. There were 62 episodes, so that means it took about $200 million to produce the main show. If the studio was willing to spend that much per episode and wanted the show to continue, the actual profit must be at least 2 or 3 times that, but most likely much higher. Especially since a spin-off series and a movie were made, not to mention all the merch.
There's no denying the popularity of Breaking Bad in terms of numbers. But that doesn't make slight of its creative authority. The character arcs in the story are done beautifully. And because the show didn't drag on, they didn't create any repetitive or uninspired, multi-layered arcs that end up feeling forced, like some other shows are guilty of doing (The Walking Dead, for example). Although some of the characters stayed the same throughout the show, Breaking Bad had some of the most interesting and well-written character arcs ever created. Although the episodes are made very technically well, that doesn't make them feel formulaic. The story ebbs and flows as if it is organic and has life.
Sometimes, when an artist works within a constraint, it can actually inspire more creativity. If an artist has unlimited freedom, it can sometimes cause paralysis, much like in all ways of life. Because Breaking Bad contained itself to 5 seasons, it was able to find inspiring ways to tell its simple story. This is shown through the cinematography and the use of color. Having a limited amount of episodes meant every episode needed to be filled with meaningful storytelling, and that opened the possibilities of visual storytelling to get out more information at once. There is a brilliant little motif of color having significant meaning weaved throughout each season. Characters wear different colors to symbolize a theme, like green representing money or envy.
The series finale gave viewers everything they needed and wanted. There were no unanswered questions or plot points with dead ends, and therefore the viewer didn't feel like their time was wasted. Walter White was able to get some money to his family, and although this isn't important considering the damage Walter caused to everyone, it makes it feel like the story wasn't pointless. If Walter hadn't gotten any money to his family, then it would have felt like the whole thing didn't matter, and was again a waste of time to watch. And because it didn't take 12 seasons to get there, it felt more rewarding to watch. This isn't so much a happy ending, but it's a satisfying one, to say the least.
If Breaking Bad had kept going past its due date, it would have definitely died off in an unflattering way. And although it's understandable to want to revisit the world, see how the characters are doing, and invest a little more time, sometimes having more restraint can be enticing and not make the show lose its magic.
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