Is AMC’s Better Call Saul In Trouble?

Breaking Bad was one of the best shows ever put on television.  So what’s the story with its spin-off, Better Call Saul?  Well, if The Hollywood Reporter is to be believed, it’s not going as smoothly as Vince Gilligan would like.

Last week, Vince Gilligan also spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about the show, and I’m sure that it was just production jitters and the fear of uncertainty, but he was not his usual optimistic self. Basically, he said that production is a week behind and that by the end of the week, it’d probably be two weeks behind, and that he didn’t know if Better Call Saul would end up being a success like the Cheers spin-off Frasier was, or if it’d bomb like After M*A*S*H.  (Or Friends spin-off Joey.  Just throwin’ that in there.)

“Honestly, I don’t know yet,” he said. “If it’s After M*A*SH rather than Frasier, it won’t be for lack of hard work and wishful thinking and a lot of smart people doing their best, but you just don’t know until the world takes it.” He also noted with honesty that “I am worried that … it may turn out that this was a mistake,” but, he said, there’s not enough time to fixate on that.

I gotta admit, I was kind-of wary when I heard the initial plans for the spin-off.  I love Bob Odenkirk (in a heterosexual life-mate type of way), and he was brilliant as the smarmy lawyer Saul in Breaking Bad, but I still haven’t been able to completely wrap my head around this series.  At first, it was going to be a half-hour dark comedy.  Then it turned into an hour-long dramedy.  But honestly, I’d like to see it be more of a drama, much like Breaking Bad was.  I think Gilligan is nervous about expectations for the show following the brilliance of Breaking Bad, and those jitters are probably justified, as this show has a big legacy to live up to.  Hopefully the show can find its stride and differentiate itself from what came before it.  I’m holding out hope that the creative team behind the show knows what they’re doing and will deliver a fantastic hour of television every week, despite the production delays they’re currently facing.

I’m sure AMC hopes this too, as they seem to be struggling as of late.

So what do we currently know about the Saul series?  Well, first off, we do know that Jonathan Banks will be a series regular, along with Michael McKean. Somewhat familiar actors Patrick Fabian (The Last Exorcism) and Rhea Seehorn (Franklin & Bash) will play attorneys, and Michael Mando have also has joined the cast as a career criminal. Twin skateboarders, Zak and Luke, have yet to be cast. Aaron Paul has visited the writer’s room, and it’s likely that both he and Bryan Cranston will show up with background cameos at some point during the first season (while Dean Norris definitely will not).

But beyond that, details of the series’ plot is pretty think.  I’m guessing it has to do with Saul getting involved with criminal hijinks, and hilarity ensues?  One can hope, yeah?

What do you think?  Are you looking forward to Better Call Saul?  Will it be able to live up to Breaking Bad?

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