TV spinoffs are almost always destined to fail, butBetter Call Saulnot only managed to live up toBreaking Bad; it may have even surpassed it.When a hugely successful TV show with a dedicated fan base is coming to an end, network executives will usually demand a spinoff series to keep the profits and viewing figures rolling in.
But it’s near-impossible to catch lightning in a bottle a second time. Asking the creators of a beloved TV show to repeat their success with just one of their supporting characters is a tall order. There have beenspinoffs that worked out, likeFrasierandThe Jeffersons, but those successful spinoffs are the exception to the rule.
Most TV spinoffs fail to live up to the original show, because there was a special kind of alchemy that made the original so successful, and it’s difficult to recapture.Joey,Baywatch Nights,That ‘80s Show, andHow I Met Your Fatherall paled in comparison to their predecessors. ButBetter Call Saulbroke the spinoff curse.
Better Call Saul Broke Hollywood’s Spinoff Curse With An Amazing Prequel Story
AfterBreaking Badended, AMC was eager to keep its audience coming back to their airwaves, so Vince Gilligan was tasked with coming up with a spinoff. He teamed up with Peter Gould to give Walter White’s lawyer, Saul Goodman, his own series, andit initially seemed like a terrible idea. Saul provided comic relief; he wasn’t a lead.
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Although theyinitially developed Saul’s show as a sitcom, they made the right call to retool it as aBreaking Bad-style prestige drama. This allowed them to dig into Saul’s character with just as much dramatic depth and complexity as they did with Walt inBreaking Bad, andthey ended up making him just as captivating a character as Walt.
It dug into all the tragedies, insecurities, and broken relationships that led wayward lawyer Jimmy McGill to don the mask of criminal lawyer Saul Goodman.
WhileBetter Call Saulhad plenty of pitch-black humor, it was a drama through and through. It dug into all the tragedies, insecurities, and broken relationships that led wayward lawyer Jimmy McGill to don the mask of criminal lawyer Saul Goodman.The spinoff revealed what an incredible dramatic actor Bob Odenkirk is; he gave the performance of a lifetime.
Better Call Saul Avoided All Of The Traps That Prequels And Spinoffs Often Fall Into
A lot of spinoffs fail because they lean too heavily on the original and fail to stand on their own two feet, or do the opposite and stray too far from what fans loved about the original show.Better Call Saulfound the sweet spot. It has everything fans loved aboutBreaking Bad, but doesn’t lean too heavily on it.
