The Greatest TV Show Just Sold Out, And It May Ruin Everything

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 9 seconds ago

We’re still living in the Golden Age of Television, with new must-see shows popping up all the time. However, there’s one that has yet to be dethroned as arguably the greatest series ever made: Breaking Bad. Courtesy of showrunner Vince Gilligan, Breaking Bad captivated the entire world with its tale of a cancer-ridden science teacher (Walter White) forced to sell meth in order to afford medical care. It soon went beyond this provocative premise with a tale about power, corruption, and redemption. Breaking Bad even became a cross-generational hit, appealing to Zoomers as much as it does to Millennials. 

The Breaking Bad franchise continued with a movie focusing on Jesse Pinkman (El Camino) and a spinoff show about  Walter’s hilariously shady lawyer (Better Call Saul). All were well-received, and the entire franchise is regarded as the standard of modern storytelling. Unfortunately, everyone’s favorite dramatic franchise just sold out. IMG Licensing and Sony Pictures Television have teamed up in order to develop an entire global licensing program dedicated to the Breaking Bad Universe.

He Is The One Who Snacks

According to The Hollywood Reporter, IMG and Sony are developing a Breaking Bad licensing program as part of a “multi-year collaboration” that “will deliver consumer products, brand partnerships and immersive fan experiences worldwide.” In conjunction with franchise creator Vince Gilligan, they hope to “identify strategic partners across key categories including premium apparel, collectibles, food and beverage, home decor, travel, publishing, and experiential activations.” The goal is simple: to appeal to existing Breaking Bad fans while bringing some new ones into the fold. What makes all of this notable is that this is “the first time Sony has appointed an external licensing agency to develop a global licensing program for the franchise.”

When I first heard this news, my heart sank a little bit. I’ve never had a problem with basic Breaking Bad merchandise; after all, as one of the most popular shows ever made, it was inevitable that the show would get its predictable bevy of t-shirts, action figures, and even blue rock candy made to look like Walter White’s signature brand of meth. However, I absolutely despised the 2023 Super Bowl commercial that brought Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul back together to sell Popcorners. It badly recreated memorable Breaking Bad scenes and ended with Cranston uttering the cringiest line of all: “I am the one who snacks.”

Breaking Bad: The Search For More Money

Maybe I’m just old and cranky, but I hated that commercial because it cheapened the entire Breaking Bad brand, all to sell some freakin’ potato chip alternative that nobody ever has or ever will actually care about. Now, that was the kind of weird stuff that was happening before executives started working with a global licensing program. Things have the potential to get a lot worse, like Star Wars-style Happy Meals, AI-powered parody commercials, reality shows, etc. Trust me: no matter how bad you think it will be, this is ultimately going to get much, much worse.

For example, I’ve got a bad feeling about those aforementioned “immersive experiences.” Are we going to get pop-up stands where you can lie down on a huge stack of fake money for a photo opportunity? Competitions where we see how well you can land an oversized pizza frisbee on top of a house? Maybe there will be an interactive game where you can attempt to save Hank from certain death. Could some of this be fun and memorable? Maybe. But all of it would serve to further dilute the IP, making Breaking Bad more like Star Wars. That is, nothing more than an excuse to sell as much merchandise as humanly possible. 

As always, I could be wrong. Maybe we’ll get plenty of tasteful merch and genuinely awesome experiences, especially since Vince Gilligan is involved. But if this licensing program produces mostly crap, it will be the worst of both worlds, keeping Gilligan from meaningfully working on anything new while lowering our general opinion about his integrity as a creator. With that said, though, we can agree on one thing: all will be forgiven if they introduce Los Pollos Hermanos as a global brand selling fried chicken. Be sure to get a side order of blue meth for the most immersive experience of them all!