AMC Renews 'Breaking Bad' For The Last Time As Endings Get More Complex

AMC Renews 'Breaking Bad' For The Last Time As Endings Get More Complex Enlarge this image toggle caption Ursula Coyote/AMC Ursula Coyote/AMC AMC has repeatedly been in the news in recent months over troubles at all four of its big dramas: Mad Men took forever to conclude negotiations for its fifth season; The Walking Dead parted ways with showrunner Frank Darabont ; The Killing took a massive drubbing over its loss of narrative momentum in the back half of its first season and particularly for the nature of its finale; and reports emerged that Breaking Bad was being shopped around elsewhere after AMC tried to negotiate a final season of only six or eight episodes. So AMC must have been relieved to be able to break the news yesterday that it had wrapped up the Breaking Bad situation by agreeing to a final set of 16 episodes that may air as a single final season or as two smaller seasons. But it's interesting to note what feels like the increasing frequency of cancellation-slash-renewals, where the delicate matter of ending a beloved show is softened by settling the matter when there's still a season left. Sponsor Message It doesn't only apply to blockbusters or internet cult favorites, either: USA spun the cancellation of In Plain Sight last week as one final fifth-season renewal, even though that fifth season had been picked up along with the fourth season a year ago, so it was really more of a flat-out cancellation.