(Thanks to the Courtyard By Marriott Century City / Beverly Hills) Bryan Cranston is everywhere. He’s the “doppy dad,” as he calls himself, on Malcolm in The Middle. He’s also the good man doing bad underachieving chemistry genius that is Walter White in AMC’s Breaking Bad. And most recently a husband with a liquor problem and a yen for online porn in Tom Hanks’ movie Larry Crowne. We had the chance to talk with Cranston about how he came to be in Larry Crowne, and in Breaking Bad.
For Larry Crowne, one of my favorite Tom Hanks movies, Cranston said that he got the role after telling Hanks he had some rather compromising photos of him. (That’s what he said on video.) Of course, that’s not the case, but we went with that, so I suppose it’s going to be urban legend. Whatever the case, the story’s as good as the constantly told one about his nervousness of doing a sex scene with Julia Roberts.
But when we turned to the matter of Breaking Bad Cranston turned serious and said that it was the show’s creator Vince Gilligan who fought for him to play the character of Walter White. Speaking of Gilligan, Cranston said “Without him, I would not be here (looking down at the red carpet at the Night of 100 Stars Oscar Party), today.”
Cranston says that Breaking Bad is not a TV show that’s easy on the eyes; it has an edge. And because of that Cranston thinks it doesn’t draw a lot of eyeballs. Well, it may not be in NFL football territory, but it does have a cult following, one that, according to Nielsen, has set a record for audience engagement and ad effectiveness.
This is what AMC and Nielsen reported about Season 4 of Breaking Bad:
AMC premiered the Season 4 Finale of Breaking Bad to record rating results. Season four reigns as the series’ highest rated season to date, growing 24% over season three for Adults 18-49, the most for any drama series in basic cable history. Last night’s episode scored a 1.4 household rating, attracting 1.9 million viewers. Across the evening, all three airings (10PM, 11PM, 1AM) delivered 2.9 million viewers and 1.8 million adults 18-49. In August, AMC announced the final 16 episodes to conclude Breaking Bad. AMC also experienced its best season ever for the 2010-11 season in sales prime delivery of Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54 increasing +9% and +8% respectively vs. last season.
I wonder if Cranston’s aware of that. Well, considering his remarks, he could not have been at the time, but that’s going to change. Breaking Bad’s a cult classic and Bryan Cranston’s the star of it.
Stay tuned.