Breaking Bad is an American dark comedy/drama television series created by X-Files producer Vince Gilligan. The AMC network, on which the series premiered on January 20, 2008, originally ordered nine episodes for the first season (including the pilot), but the Writers Guild of America strike limited the production to only seven episodes.[1]

The series stars Malcolm in the Middle's Bryan Cranston as Walter White, a struggling high school chemistry teacher with a handicapped child and a pregnant wife. When White is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, he breaks down and turns to a life of crime, setting up a meth lab in order to support his family.[2]

The title of the series comes from the American Southwest slang phrase "to break bad," meaning to challenge conventions, to defy authority and to skirt the edges of the law. The series is set in (and is shot in and near) Albuquerque, New Mexico.[3]