"Breaking Bad" Creator Vince Gilligan Reflects on the Show's Place in TV History

[JamesG]

"Breaking Bad" Creator Vince Gilligan Reflects on the Show's Place in TV History (Q&A)
10/10/2011
by Tim Appelo


What do you think is your achievement in "Breaking Bad"?
What’s the importance of that show in TV history?


Well, I’d love to think – it’s probably not for me to answer whether there’s an importance in TV history, since I’m so close to it. But if there is, it’s our attempt to tell a story that centers on constantly changing character. TV, it seems to me, does very well by protecting by protecting its franchise.

"M*A*S*H", an absolutely wonderful TV show, kept an 18-month war going for 11 years, and that’s what TV does very well. It keeps "Gunsmoke's" Marshall Dillon out there on the main street gunning down the bad guy week in and week out, and it keeps its characters in a self-imposed stasis.

That’s what TV does, and that’s a good thing because as a viewer, you like to be able to visit with your favorite characters week in an week out for years on end.



But it seemed to me that the one thing that was missing in that equation as far as TV shows went, was the idea of growth and change within a character’s life. I think what "Breaking Bad" brings Is fundamental transformation of its main character. To that end, the mandate here has always been, take our hero and turn him into a bad guy throughout the life of the series.

So I think a different brand of storytelling in that sense is what we’ve hopefully accomplished, and may help point the way to telling stories on TV that don’t exactly involve the time-honored way of protecting the franchises, protecting the stasis of the characters.











I think that’s why Bryan Cranston keeps winning awards, because the character is interesting in his changes instead of being the same old guy, like almost everybody else.


I’d say Bryan Cranston is the greatest guy to work with. The thing I’m most proud of about "Breaking Bad" is that I’ve assembled this amazing team of people, starting with Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul and Anna Gunn and all our wonderful actors, and our team of folks, my producers, and I have 6 wonderful writers, I have some of the best directors working in the business. I have the best crew. I’m very fortunate, I don’t take full credit for that, I’ve had a lot of luck and help along the way.

The thing I’m most proud of is this family of crew people and cast in front of and behind the camera, folks that I want to keep in my life for a long time to come, and whom I’ll miss very much once the show ceases.











Your achievement in making a show built on change screws you out of that enduring work team that you'll miss.


It’s true, that’s the tricky thing, it certainly makes sense concerning why TV shows work primarily the way they work, why they go for a character stasis.

It’s so you keep on air for decades on end, but our show is very much a closed-ended show that it’s meant to end at a certain point.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...illigan-246460