Welcome back, Walter White.
Until yesterday, I missed the news a few days back announcing Breaking Bad's eagerly anticipated return to AMC. The good news: the season five premiere is July 15th. The bad news: as is the annoying trend these days for AMC's dramas, the season will be split and there'll be a loooong wait for new episodes after the first eight air. The back half of the season will air sometime in the summer of 2013, which means viewers will be left waiting for closure for anywhere from 9-11 months. That'll be excruciating, considering how outstanding this show is. Viewers do get a few extra episodes during this final season, a total of 16, whereas seasons two, three, and four ran 13 episodes each (season one had only seven shows due to a writer's strike).
AMC shows are particularly bad at massive gaps between seasons or halves of seasons airing. Breaking Bad had a 13 month hiatus between their third and fourth seasons, while fans of Mad Men had to wait a ridiculous 17 months for its currently airing season to begin.
Read my short review of Breaking Bad from 2009 here.
