Better Call Saul
Better Call Saul is an American legal crime drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould for AMC. Part of the Breaking Bad franchise, it is a spin-off from Gilligan's previous series, Breaking Bad (2008–2013), to which it serves primarily as a prequel, with some scenes taking place during and after the events of Breaking Bad. Better Call Saul premiered on AMC on February 8, 2015, and ended on August 15, 2022, after six seasons consisting of 63 episodes.
For other uses, see Better Call Saul (disambiguation).Better Call Saul
- Vince Gilligan
- Peter Gould
United States
English
6
63 (list of episodes)
- Vince Gilligan
- Peter Gould
- Mark Johnson
- Melissa Bernstein
- Thomas Schnauz
- Gennifer Hutchison
- Diane Mercer
- Alison Tatlock
- Michael Morris
- Bob Odenkirk
- Nina Jack
- Diane Mercer
- Robin Sweet
- Gordon Smith
- Jonathan Glatzer
- Arthur Albert
- Marshall Adams
- Paul Donachie
- Kelley Dixon
- Skip Macdonald
- Chris McCaleb
- Curtis Thurber
41–69 minutes
- High Bridge Productions
- Crystal Diner
- Gran Via Productions
- Sony Pictures Television Studios
February 8, 2015 –
August 15, 2022
Set primarily in the early to mid 2000s in Albuquerque, New Mexico, several years before Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul examines the ethical decline of Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk), an aspiring lawyer and former con artist who becomes the egocentric criminal-defense attorney Saul Goodman, and Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks), a former corrupt police officer who becomes a fixer and enforcer for drug traffickers. Other main characters include Jimmy's romantic interest and colleague Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn), his brother and rival Chuck McGill (Michael McKean), Chuck's law partner Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian), drug dealer Nacho Varga (Michael Mando), drug lord Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito), and cartel enforcer Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton). In addition to the primary storyline, Better Call Saul includes black-and-white flashforwards set in 2010, after the events of Breaking Bad, which explore the consequences of Saul's eventual partnership with the drug lord Walter White (Bryan Cranston).
Gilligan, who created and developed Breaking Bad, and Gould, who wrote the Breaking Bad episode "Better Call Saul", began considering a Saul Goodman spin-off in 2009. Because Saul's role in Breaking Bad had expanded beyond the writing staff's plans, Gilligan felt he could be explored further. He and Gould considered making a half-hour legal comedy featuring Saul and his various clients, but settled on an hour-long tragedy showing how he develops into the character seen in Breaking Bad. Better Call Saul's development began during the production of Breaking Bad's final season in 2013, with Gilligan and Gould serving as co-showrunners and numerous production staff returning. Odenkirk, Banks, and Esposito reprise their roles from Breaking Bad, as do many others in guest appearances. Gilligan left Better Call Saul early in the third season—making Gould the sole showrunner for the remainder of its run—though he returned to help write the final season.
Better Call Saul received critical acclaim, with praise for its acting, characters, writing, direction, and cinematography. Many reviewers considered it a worthy successor to Breaking Bad—some deeming it superior to its predecessor—and one of the greatest television series of all time.[6][7][8] It has garnered many awards and nominations, including two Peabody Awards, 53 Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards, 19 Writers Guild of America Awards, 20 Critics' Choice Television Awards, nine Screen Actors Guild Awards, and six Golden Globe Awards nominations. At the time of its airing, the series premiere held the record for the highest-rated scripted series premiere in basic cable history.
Premise[edit]
Better Call Saul is a spin-off of Breaking Bad, a popular crime drama television series that ran from 2008 to 2013.[9][10] It is primarily a prequel that focuses on Jimmy McGill, a former con artist aiming to gain respectability as a public defender, and chronicles his gradual transformation into his eventual Breaking Bad persona of Saul Goodman, the flamboyant criminal lawyer with ties to the drug cartel. A majority of the show takes place over the six-year period prior to the events of Breaking Bad, spanning from approximately 2002 to 2008.[11][12]
Jimmy is inspired by his older brother Chuck McGill to leave his Chicago-area conman past, when he was known as "Slippin' Jimmy". He initially works in the mailroom at his brother's Albuquerque law firm, Hamlin, Hamlin & McGill (HHM), where managing partner Howard Hamlin becomes his nemesis. While at HHM Jimmy befriends Kim Wexler, a fellow mailroom employee who completes law school and becomes one of the firm's associates, and their friendship later turns romantic. Jimmy is motivated by Chuck's success to finish college and complete a Juris Doctor degree through a correspondence law school, the fictitious University of American Samoa.[13]
After attaining admission to the bar but being denied employment at HHM, Jimmy's pursuits focus on low-paying clients, including working as a public defender. He later begins to build a practice in elder law, which leads to a prolonged lawsuit against a nursing home chain he discovers is defrauding its clients. He and Chuck begin working together on a class-action suit, which Chuck quickly turns over to HHM, squeezing Jimmy out. Jimmy begins to unravel due to Chuck's constant belittling, sabotage, and vindictive behavior toward him. Jimmy's life and career begin to intersect with the illegal narcotics trade and feature characters and story arcs that continue into Breaking Bad.
Among these arcs is the uneasy relationship between rival members of a drug cartel. On one side is Gus Fring, a fried chicken entrepreneur whose restaurant chain is a front business for his narcotics distribution. On the other are the Salamancas, a Mexican crime family who claim to have begun the drug trade in New Mexico. They are led by Hector Salamanca, and later by his nephew Lalo Salamanca. Those caught up in the conflict between Gus and the Salamancas include Ignacio "Nacho" Varga, a Salamanca associate who wants to protect his father from harm, and Mike Ehrmantraut, a former Philadelphia police officer who becomes a fixer for Gus but also has ties to Jimmy. As his interactions with criminals continue, Jimmy takes on the persona of the colorful Saul Goodman, and he starts to draw on his conman past while his work as an attorney goes from questionable to unethical to illegal.
In addition to selected scenes that take place within the Breaking Bad timeline, the show includes flashforwards, shown in black and white, to events following Breaking Bad. Taking place in 2010, these flashforwards show Jimmy living as a fugitive under the identity of Gene Takavic, the manager of a Cinnabon store in Omaha, Nebraska. The flashforwards comprise the opening scenes of the first five season premieres, and make up nearly the entirety of the episodes towards the end of the series.
Broadcast[edit]
Better Call Saul would air on cable network AMC. The series premiere drew in 4.4 million and 4 million in the 18–49 and 25–54 demographics, respectively, and received an overall viewership of 6.9 million.[118] This was the record for the highest-rated scripted series premiere in basic cable history, until it was surpassed later the same year by another AMC series, Fear the Walking Dead.[119]
In December 2013, Netflix announced that the entire first season would be available for streaming in the U.S. after the airing of the first-season finale, and in Latin America and Europe each episode would be available a few days after the episode airs in the U.S.[120] However, the first season was not released on Netflix in the U.S. until February 1, 2016.[121][122] Internationally, episodes of the second season became available the day after they aired in the U.S.[123]
Netflix would be the exclusive video-on-demand provider for the series and made the content available in all its territories, except for Australia and New Zealand.[120] In Australia, Better Call Saul premiered on the streaming service Stan[124] on February 9, 2015, acting as the service's flagship program.[125] In New Zealand, the show was exclusive to the video-on-demand service Lightbox before moving to Neon in 2020 when both services were merged.[126][127] The episodes were available for viewing within three days of broadcast in the U.S.[128]
In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the series was acquired by Netflix on December 16, 2013,[129] and the first episode premiered on February 9, 2015, with the second episode released the following day. Every subsequent episode was released each week thereafter.[130] In Ireland, the series began airing on Irish TV network TG4 on October 18, 2022.[131] In India, the series was broadcast on Colors Infinity within 24 hours of the U.S. broadcast.[132]
During the final season's run in 2022, each episode would be available to stream the day they premiered on AMC+, AMC's streaming service which first launched in June 2020.[133][134] The sixth season premiere resulted in the biggest day of new subscriber sign-ups for AMC+, and by the mid-season finale episodic viewership on the streaming service rose by 61%.[133][135] Upon the release of the series finale, the app experienced an outage, causing many users to be logged out.[136] AMC later reported that first-day viewing numbers for the finale on AMC+ was four times as big as the season premiere, and called the series' final season the highest acquisition driver in the history of the streaming service.[137]