'Breaking Bad' at Impasse as AMC's Growing Pains Emerge (Analysis)

Thanks to AMC It's been fascinating to look at AMC recently. Inside a slightly less magnified illustration of the troubles Cinemax experienced 3 or 4 years back, AMC is discovering that being the golden child only lasts before first growing pains start working. Or even the first mistakes occur. For AMC, however, lots of recent management choices are now being met with elevated eye brows in the market and both angry and worried responses from fans of their shows. PHOTOS: Behind the curtain of 'The Walking Dead' Both in discussions with Mad Males creator Matt Weiner throughout the run from the show, the impasses semed surprising. His show put AMC into the spotlight and regardless of how relatively small the rankings were, you are able to't put a cost on developing a brand on your own almost overnight. AMC was dowdy and dead, under an afterthought before Mad Males. Why risk pissing from the goose that laid that great thing about an egg? Discussions got tense and -- worse -- leaking in to the news. Both occasions. That shouldn't have happened but, once we think back, might have been an indication. You can begin to see the predicament that AMC is at. It had been tough to imagine the way they were obtaining the money to sustain Mad Males. Then, the next time around it had been apparent that giving Weiner and Hamm yet others money to carry on would cripple the funnel's likelihood of branching out. STORY: 'The Walking Dead': Showrunner Frank Darabont Walking Lower Breaking Bad would be a series that fell in AMC's lap from Forex, but AMC a minimum of had the vision and guts to build up it fully and -- voila -- all of a sudden it had both best dramas on tv (they still do). That, as you may guess, wasn't cheap. But AMC ongoing to branch from there, developing a miniseries from the Prisoner, then your ambitious but unsuccessful drama Rubicon, then the large hit within the Walking Dead and also the buzzed-about after which bumped-about series The Killing. AMC's next foray right into a series is Hell on Wheels, a stylized Western. Even just a few days ago, the greatest worry -- unstated -- was controlling fall-out and, possibly, anticipation. The ending towards the Killing annoyed numerous fans and just how that reaction was handled (poorly) was magnified by showrunner Veena Sud chiming in and verifying some accusations that they may not get exactly what the gripes were about content-smart, and therefore maybe in over her mind artistically. Soon after that, Frank Darabont, the executive producer and guiding pressure behind The Walking Dead abruptly left. And having seen the pilot of Hell on Wheels -- a set which will need a ton of labor and perhaps some hopes -- it had been hard to not believe that maybe AMC was learning hard method in which show runners like Weiner and Breaking Bad's Vince Gilligan were elite talents and individuals people just don't arrive that frequently. Translation: The Killing and Hell on Wheels might be very distant relations to Mad Males and Breaking Bad when it comes to quality. PHOTOS: Summer time TV Preview 2011: 'Breaking Bad,' 'The Glee Project' and much more That's certainly chaos worth masking or fixing behind the curtain (and also to AMC's credit, following a delay the funnel did adequately reassure industry experts and fans that the good team in the Walking Dead is at spot to dominate as Darabont left.) Then came word Tuesday from the La Occasions story that discussions for any fifth season from the acclaimed Breaking Bad were going sideways which the show had been looked elsewhere just just in case everything imploded. (Breaking Bad creator Gilligan has stated lately he thinks the show should finish after five seasons -- it's presently in Season 4). The Occasions reported that AMC had requested that episodes on Breaking Bad be slashed from 13 to 6 or eight -- a request that spurred the quest for a backup funnel. REVIEW: Breaking Bad Season Four Already there have been gossips that Darabont left The Walking Dead because AMC desired to provide the series less cash per episode of computer did in Season 1 -- despite being AMC's greatest-ranked series. Imaginable that Darabont may have been considering obtaining a bigger budget because of the rankings and therefore pissed on discover the Walking Dead might be employed to subsidize the money compensated to Mad Males, the planet's most gorgeous and written-about loss-leader. And today the squeeze about the financials is striking Breaking Bad, a turn of occasions that AMC must get in check immediately. Why? Because situations are searching bleaker than the usual frightened survivor being encircled by zombies. It's bad that AMC appears not capable of getting its worries from the news cycle (also it might have been much worse had more experts viewed the Hell on Wheels screener). STORY:'The Killing' Showrunner Responds to Finale Backlash: 'I Don't Desire to be Kinda Loved' Now AMC looks to become a funnel that doesn't have the cash to correctly keep up with the two cleverest jewels within the television landscape. It absolutely needed Mad Males to visit completely towards the finish line just like it absolutely needs Breaking Bad to obtain a fifth season of their brilliant run and venture out on the top. That's an offer that has to have completed (now that it's no more being discussed in private, the earlier the greater). What AMC is finding is you can be considered a do-no-wrong darling one moment after which regarded as bumbling fool the following. Hell, it happened to Cinemax, the gold-standard of cable programming. Cinemax required some protuberances plus some well-deserved critique, but ultimately fought against (in other words designed) its long ago up. STORY:Did 'The Killing' Just Kill Itself? AMC should tackle no-brainer first -- extend Breaking Bad to some fifth and final season. This way you've been an excellent steward for 2 brilliant series and nobody can ever take that from you. Since announcing the succession team in the Walking Dead was met with approval, AMC can consider that fire doused. But residual within the distance is how you can fix The Killing and, you might hope, get future episodes (otherwise the pilot) of Hell on Wheels upgraded. Because when it stands, if Hell on Wheels doesn't work artistically, it may be like AMC gave series to showrunners better outfitted for network telelvision rather than extend a brandname of greatness, which AMC is pushing. This can be a very intriguing amount of time in the introduction of AMC like a funnel. Whether it doesn't act rapidly with Breaking Bad, with firm creative control soon using the Killing and Hell on Wheels, we may witness the quickest decline of the television brand in recent memory. Email: Tim.Goodman@THR.com Twitter: @BastardMachine AMC Mad Males The Walking Dead Breaking Bad