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Why the Writing of Breaking Bad is So Good

Before we start, I have one word for you: SPOILERS .

There. Let’s begin.

Every screenwriter, aspiring or otherwise, knows the immense surge of inspiration that can come after watching a great film. It’s jet fuel. It propels us to keep working, to keep striving to make our own storytelling measure up. A great piece of filmmaking can be a better lesson than the most acclaimed college course on the planet. Which leads me to Breaking Bad.

Breaking Bad isn’t just television. It’s filmmaking of the highest possible caliber. For screenwriters, it’s a goldmine (or money-stuffed barrel) of lessons on great storytelling. Though, if you’re only paying attention to the finished product, you might get a whole set of lessons that are, well, frankly… wrong.

I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little worried that right now, somewhere, screenwriters and Hollywood execs are shouting “Make it darker!” Or perhaps, “Give it more ‘holy crap’ moments!”

Yes, Breaking Bad is a very successful series (though it’s important to remember that it wasn’t for the majority of its life on the air). Yes, Breaking Bad is dark. Yes, Breaking Bad is chalk full of “holy crap” moments. But that’s not why it’s good.

What makes it good, at least in this humble writer’s opinion, is the absolute honesty with which Vince Gilligan and his writing staff treat their characters and the world they inhabit.

The Breaking Bad writers don’t shove those “holy crap” moments into the middle of the story just to get a rise out of the audience. They carefully earn every one. A guy opening his door and getting shot is dramatic, absolutely. But when the character who opens his door is Gale — perhaps as innocent as a meth-cook can be — and the character who shoots him is Jesse — someone totally aversive to murder – the drama is a hundred fold.

Drama that good only lies at the end of a long road. One covered with too much coffee, tears and heads banged against keyboard. But there’s really good drama at the end!

The first step on said road is to ask: “Where is the character’s head at?” It’s something the Breaking Bad writers refer to constantly as the starting point for their discussions. What does each character want at that very moment? What do they fear? What are they willing to do to get what they want? Just as importantly, what are they NOT willing to do?

When these questions are answered, a character is formed. Then, telling the story becomes a matter of asking: “What would this character do in this situation?” If you’re honest, you get good drama. Breaking Bad writers often talk about having great ideas for scenes or story beats that would fall by the wayside, simply because that’s not where the characters wanted to go.

A favorite example of mine is Drew Sharp, the boy on the motorbike whom Todd shoots dead. About halfway through “breaking” (meaning, plotting out the story beat by beat) the first eight episodes of Season 5, the writers had a general idea for where the series was going. The plan was for Walt to retire and Jesse to take over as Albuquerque’s new kingpin. Then Todd shot Drew Sharp.

From that moment on, everything changed. The writers knew there was just no way Jesse would let that slide. There was just no way he would stay in the meth business. So he quit. The writers didn’t lock themselves into their original plan, they let the characters lead the way.

I was curious if Todd was a character created out of necessity – aka, someone to shoot Drew Sharp – so I asked Breaking Bad writer and producer Thomas Schnauz. The answer was no: Todd came first, and Drew Sharp was a pretty last minute addition. Who knows what the writers’ original plan for Todd was, but it just goes to show their willingness to throw away their plans and let the story come naturally.

Breaking Episodes - How Breaking Bad writers organize rock solid scenes.

Famous amongst fans of the Breaking Bad writers are the index card filled cork boards. When breaking each episode, the writers would work together to plan out every single beat of the story in extensive detail. They would write out beats on 3×5 index cards and pin them to a cork board. All together, an episode would average somewhere around 60-65 cards. That’s a lot of plot, and a lot of detail. But it ensures that every episode has a rock solid structure, then, when an individual writer goes off to work on an episode’s script, they get to “do a little jazz”, as writer Peter Gould puts it.

Each writer creates the dialogue, embellishes the scenes and puts their unique stamp on their individual episodes. They get to do this with confidence, because they know most of the heavy lifting has already been done by the group. But the work and time put into that heavy lifting cannot be ignored. Especially when the writers write themselves into a corner, something which, let’s be honest, they tend to do with frequency.

Midway through Season 3, Walt and Jesse are trapped in the RV with Hank looming outside like a hungry shark. It’s a moment that pins the audience to the edge of their couches and makes them wonder “Just how are Walt and Jesse going to get out of this?”

Well, believe it or not, the writers had to ask themselves the same thing.

They often reference this moment as an example of just how painful the writing process can be. It took hours upon hours of thinking, of talking and coming up with plenty of bad ideas until a Breaking Bad worthy solution was thought up: A fake phone call to Hank telling him something horrible had happened to Marie.

Made for some damn good drama, didn’t it?

I came upon a similar roadblock recently while working on a screenplay. Well into the climactic scene, my protagonist was ready to unleash her master plan and defeat the bad guy. Ta-da! The sun shines high and everyone cheers. Feel good film of the year. Then something dawned on me (I like to call it logic), and I realized that there was no way the bad guy wouldn’t anticipate the protagonist’s plan. So he did, and he turned it on its head.

And I had no idea what she was going to do.

At that point, I wanted to shut my laptop off, go get lunch and convince myself the solution would come easier after some heavy procrastination. Then I remembered Hank outside the RV, and I realized that if I didn’t have any clue how the protagonist was going to get out of her plight, chances are the audience wouldn’t either.

So I kept working. There was a lot of staring at the screen, a lot of start and stop writing, and so much thinking I ought to have paid tuition. The bad ideas came first. And man, oh, man, was there a lot of them. But finally, after what felt like three days in the desert, I came up with a solution. The scene – and as a result, the screenplay – is ten times better because of it.

What allowed me to make it better is the inspiration I’ve derived from the Breaking Bad writers. The lessons countless hours of watching the show and closely analyzing it have taught me. Chief amongst which is: HONESTY.

There’s an index card with “Where’s Walt’s head at?” taped on the wall next to my desk. It’s a constant reminder to always stay true to my characters. I must look at the thing a thousand times a day, and every time, it fills me with inspiration and an immediate self awareness if what I’m currently working on isn’t treating the characters with honesty.

So, next time you’re writing a script and you feel the biting urge to make it darker, just because Breaking Bad is dark AND good, stop. Take your hands off the keyboard, put the pencil down (yes, I know there’s at least one of you still left) and remind yourself that Breaking Bad isn’t good because it’s dark. It’s good because it’s honest.

—–

PS: For anyone interested in studying the craft behind Breaking Bad further, I cannot recommend the “Breaking Bad Insider Podcast” more highly. Hosted by Kelley Dixon, one of the show’s editors, and Vince Gilligan himself, the podcast discusses every episode from Season 2 till the finale in glorious, extensive detail. Guests such as other writers, directors, cast and crew members are always present, and the amount of insight one can get about the making of the show is simply unmatched. Do yourself a favor and start listening.

Also, most of the Breaking Bad writers are on Twitter. In particular, Thomas Schnauz and Moira Walley-Beckett are quite active and will often take the time to answer questions. As is the writers’ assistant, Gordon Smith, who provides a different view of the process.

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*Breaking Bad'*s Camera Work Perfects the Visual Recipe, Yo

Why is Breaking Bad so good? There’s the obvious: Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul are incredible actors, and Vince Gilligan's writing and direction is phenomenal. But there’s something else that also sets the show apart. The cinematography.

With unique camera work, a very different kind of pacing and bold use of light and color, Breaking Bad has created a look unlike anything else on TV. Credit for this aesthetic is due largely to Michael Slovis, who's been the show’s director of photography since the beginning of season 2. A veteran DOP with other shows such as CSI under his belt, Slovis says he's thankful he's had the freedom to experiment and credits both Gilligan and AMC for creating a show that pushes boundaries in every direction.

"My job is not just to merely record the time; my job is to interpret the scripts," he says. "That said, I never want to overwhelm them, and I never want it to be about the photography so I'm lucky that the performers are so strong and the writing is so strong. It allows me to take more chances."

In some ways he compares the cinematography to an impressionist painting.

"This isn't just about looking like reality; this is about eliciting an emotion," he says.

One of the most obvious ways that Slovis has set Breaking Bad apart is through his use of color. Flying in from the East Coast, where he lives, Slovis says he was immediately struck by the brown and yellow hues that dominate the landscape in New Mexico where the show is filmed.

"In the northeast we just don't have that; we have a very different color palette," he says.

Instead of fighting it, Slovis decided to embrace the new landscape. Every time the show shoots out in the desert — something they've come to be known for — Slovis says he uses a filter on his camera that enhances the earth tones, making the scene look even more desolate and Mars-like.

Matt Burgess

Steven Levy

To add contrast to the Southwest's famous blue sky and white clouds Slovis uses a polarizing filters and when the show filmed scenes that were supposed to be in Mexico — as opposed to New Mexico — Slovis used yet another filter, letting the new color alert viewers to the shift in geography.

When shooting inside, under artificial light, the use of contrast and color is similar. Slovis isn't afraid to shoot darkly lit scenes — they've also become a signature of the show — and he says he's come to rely on that fluorescent green color that you get when you shoot photos inside without a flash. It's become a signature hue for inside the various warehouses that fill the series.

"I don't have to explain that color; people get it," he says.

You might call Breaking Bad more "cinematic" and Slovis says that's a concious decision. He says that AMC purposely wanted the show to appear more movie-like and part of the way they've achieved that is by shooting on film.

"It's a choice made by AMC that I don't argue with. I actually love it," he says.

Slovis says shooting on film is also an advantage becuase it's expensive and it motivates people to get it right.

"Everyone has to be careful with film," he says. "It lends an air of intentionality to it."

When it comes to pacing, Breaking Bad is often slower than a lot of other shows. There's no rush so Slovis has the ability to let the plot gather tension by itself without trying to fill it in with fancy camera movements.

One clear example, he says, is the scene in episode 501 (the first episode of the new season) where Walt and Mike are arguing about about how to get a laptop out of a police evidence room. The scene drags on as they go back and forth while Jesse, who is out of focus in the background, makes his own suggestion: Magnets. It goes unheard until the camera finally focuses in on Jesse as he raises his voice and gets Walt's and Mike's attention.

"It's not a shot that you would normally see in network television," he says. "Most of the time the pacing is a lot faster but we have the luxury of letting the actors set the pace."

The most famous pieces of Breaking Bad cinematorgraphy are probably the wide shots. Playing off the enormouly long horizons in New Mexico (where there aren't a lot of trees), Slovis and Gillagan like to shoot scenes where the characters – or oftentimes cars – in the scene are just little blips on the screen. Like the filters Slovis uses, the wide open shots help to reinforce the desolation of the desert.

"The wide shots come from Vince's love of [Italian Director] Sergio Leone," Slovis says. "One of the first things he told me was to look at the The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly ."

As fans know, the plot in Breaking Bad has become increasingly dark over the course of the show. Season 5 is the final one and everyone is wondering just how much further Gilligan will take things — especially after the ending of season 4.

But Slovis says there is still room for the story to develop and as things get more an more intense, so will the lighting.

"What I can I can tell you is that even more than in the past the lighting will follow the trajectory of the characters," he says. "[The show] goes to even more disturbing and darker places and some of the lighting gets extremely expressive at times. It's almost like Breaking Bad on steriods. It gets really fun."

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Our Favorite Lessons on Screenwriting from 'Breaking Bad'

Breaking bad left an indelible mark on television forever. it was exciting, emotional, and dangerous. but what did we learn .

When Walter White stepped out in his whitey tighties he became part of the cultural lexicon. He and meth became household names as we watched him cook his way into oblivion. But the real takeaway from Breaking Bad was the excellent writing. It had an interesting structure, unexpected twists , and lots of well-developed characters . 

Today, we're going to go over the writing lessons in Breaking Bad . We'll go through ten of the biggest ones, watch some clips from Breaking Bad , and relive our best days in the desert.  

Come with me if you want to cook meth. 

I meant...learn to write. 

What writing lessons can we learn from Breaking Bad? 

Watching a great television show can be intimidating. When the writing is *THAT* good, it can be daunting to start your own screenplay or to learn how to write a tv pilot . But even Breaking Bad was only an idea one. A joke kicked around by Vince Gilligan when he was out of work. It was a spark and he wrote the fire. So, when you get down or feel like you can't make anything this good, finish a first draft. Rewrite . Then, see where it takes you. 

And follow these lessons. 

Hook them right away 

The opening of Breaking Bad might be the best of any TV show ever. It grabs you right away. You HAVE TO know how this guy got in the desert with his pants flying in the air. That doesn't mean you should start your pilot with a flash-forward. It just means you should be creative when introducing your characters and world. Make some noise and give us a scene that shakes us up. 

Allow your characters to change 

One of the things that drew Bryan Cranston to the show is that he was used to being in projects where characters stayed the same. The ability to not only arc Walter, but to change him into Heisenberg, was unique and special. when you're writing, set your characters up to be different people. Let yourself take that complicated leap and your actors and viewers will thank you. 

Don't shy away from backstory 

One of the biggest breakthroughs they had in the writer's room of Breaking Bad was when Walt refused to take the money from his rich friends. It was a moment where Walt let his own ego get in the way. And a moment that drew his continuation of the creation of meth and his personality. When you're crafting what happens in your season, don't be afraid to visit the character's past. Think outside the box. What decisions in the past or present can affect the future?  

Role reversals 

When we meet Walt, he's a good guy but actually a dark criminal. When we meet Jesse he's a criminal but he desperately wants to be Walt. These role reversals were key to making that show tick. Who can we meet that has a secret inside? How can we switch the expected tropes or norms to create something that much more engaging? 

You don't have to like them 

One of the WORST pieces of advice to arise in the current screenwriting climate is the idea of "likable" characters. People don't have to be likable, but they do have to be interesting. Walt becomes a real piece of shit by the end of the series. And, if you think about it, even his "I am the one who knocks" speech is sort of an abusive jab at Skylar. He's cooking meth and ruining people's lives. But he's interesting. Always be interesting. And don't worry about if the character is likable. 

Writing is structure 

If you read No Film School regularly, then you know I am obsessed with screenplay structure . Breaking Bad writes in five acts. And they outline using a corkboard and notecards. They make sure every beat services plot and story . So plan each of your works out meticulously. 

Great scenes need to fit a great story 

We all know we are supposed to "kill our darlings," but do we actually do it? Sure, you might have a great scene written, but if it doesn't carry the story, and you can't repurpose it, then it might be time to leave it on the cutting room floor. This can be hard because nothing is scarier than the blank page, but you owe it to yourself to rely on your creativity. That means cuts.  

Question good and bad ideas 

On Breaking Bad , the writers constantly asked: "Where's THIS CHARACTER's head at?" You can learn a lot by getting in the headspace of everyone in the scene. Actions need to be motivated, so if you take a minute to walk in someone's shoes, you can determine actions, reactions, and next moves. This will keep your work true to the character and true to the story. 

Smart is good 

Tell me if this has happened to you: you write a bad guy and they kind of seem dumb, because, at the end of the day, your good guy has to thwart that bad guy. Well, Gus Fring is super smart. and when his face melts off, we love it. Because Walt is also a smart guy, and outsmarting Gus makes us understand just how smart Walt is at the end of the day. Don't make your characters dumb or easily surmountable. Challenge yourself to write smart characters that get outsmarted by our characters. It's hard, but it will be worth it. 

Look at your tools and options, then make use of them

"Write what you know" is kind of dumb. You should write what you want to explore because once you enter the world you need to steep yourself in it. But there is a value in doing a self-check. What do you know about? I like to use our Le Menu for ourselves. Learn about what you have in your life and use it to write your story. 

BONUS LESSON: Love "having written"

Writing is hard! So take joy in any pages or paragraphs that push this story forward. Reward yourself with a cookie or a box of cookies. Just find a way to love the process and to trust the process. Your story is a journey. Love where it takes you, and feel free to complain about the turns in the comments. Find your happiness and chase it.  

What's next? Learn writing lessons from Game of Thrones ! 

We're living in the Golden Age of television. There's been an embarrassment of riches of shows, and all of them come with their own lessons. We recently ran an entire series on  how to write a tv pilot  and a lot of the reactions to that article wants us to go over some of the greatest tv series of all time. We touched on  The Office  last week, and today we want to highlight ten writing lessons you can get from  Game of Thrones. 

So click the link to learn more! 

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We hang out at tiffen's nab 2024 booth to try out their phone camera-friendly nd filters and steadicam..

Love shooting on your phone but missing the control lens filters? The Tiffen Company has a solution with their magsafe filters perfect for smartphone filmmakers.

The Tiffen Company is widely respected for their production camera accessories, but now branching out to supply mobile-friendly options for filmmakers.

We got a chance to try out two new products—their filters, as well as their new steadicam for traditional cameras.

We stopped by their booth to check out what they had in store to show off at NAB 2024 . Check out the interviews below.

The Tifffen Company at NAB Show 2024—Smartphone Filters

NAB 2024: Tiffen Booth Part Two—Steadicam 

No Film School's coverage of NAB 2024 is brought to you by Blackmagic Design .

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How Breaking Bad ’s Science Adviser Keeps It (Mostly) Real

Meth could never be as blue as Walter White’s signature Blue Sky meth. “When you crystallize anything that’s colorless, which methylamine crystals are, they usually come out with a yellow tinge because of impurities , ” says Dr. Donna Nelson, a professor of chemistry at the University of Oklahoma. Unlike most chemists who grumble about molecular errors they spot while watching TV, however, Nelson has a forum to do something about it: She has been volunteering as Breaking Bad ’s science adviser since season two, making sure that Walt’s science lectures (and pedantic tutorials to Jesse) actually made sense. But just because she deals with hard facts as a scientist doesn’t mean that she isn’t willing to grant artistic license. While she did tell show creator Vince Gilligan that the meth’s “blue was a little too blue,” she recalls that “I think he wanted Walt to have a trademark. So, it’s a little exaggerated. That’s OK. It’s not supposed to be 100 percent factual.”

Nelson first made contact with Gilligan after reading an interview he gave to Chemical & Engineering News in which he admitted the show was in need of some assistance when it came to making Walt a believable chemistry wonk. “I thought, hey, this is an opportunity to build a bridge,” she said. “I knew how much the chemistry community wanted to see correct science in movies and television, and that they also wanted to see scientists presented appropriately.” Too long has popular media been getting it wrong, she said. Like when a rocket ship is seen flying through space “and you can see the smoke coming out of the rocket and it’s rising,” she laughs. “We know it’s ridiculous.”

Her main job has been not so much to scrutinize Walt’s meth cooks, but to make sure he walks and talks like a real, PhD-wielding organic chemist. During her first meeting with the writers, she was asked to flesh out Walt’s history; Gilligan quizzed her on why a person would pursue science professionally, and how a brilliant scientist might wind up as a high school teacher. During filming, she’d make herself available for quick-turnaround questions about balancing equations and calculations. One of her first projects was redoing a lecture Walt was giving to his class on alkyne nomenclatures. “It was clearly not written by a chemist,” she said. “I wrote them back some general information, like a ‘How Do You Learn Alkyne Nomenclature in Under Two Minutes’ memo, and I was really shocked when they used it as dialogue almost verbatim.” The show even recreated diagrams she drew, putting them on Walt’s white board. Sometimes, the writers would call Nelson with “dialogue emergencies.” “When Walt would be speaking to Jesse, they’d want to know that the phraseology was correct, but also to make sure that Walt was really speaking in a way that a chemistry teacher would speak to a student or a subordinate,” Nelson said. “They were interested in not just lab terminology but getting the flavor of the conversation right because, at least initially, Walt and Jesse were not equals.”

For the most part, however, she’s left the actual meth production evaluations to the Drug Enforcement Administration, which participates in making sure Walt’s illegal labs look legit (“Quite honestly, I wouldn’t know about that,” she said) and but don’t provide an actual tutorial. She says they’ve been crafty in how they’ve made the process faulty while keeping it realistic. “It’s a valid synthesis, the way they’re using methylamine,” she says. “That process was patented in Germany in 1957. It’s a very old method. They aren’t revealing anything new. What they are doing is leaving out steps. Or sometimes they show some steps from one synthesis and subsequent steps from another synthesis, which prevents Breaking Bad from becoming an illegal meth cookbook.”

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Breaking ABD

A portrait of the phd candidate as a middle-aged high school chemistry teacher.

In the hit TV series  Breaking Bad , it takes the main character, Walter White, five seasons to traverse the trajectory from high school chemistry teacher to meth kingpin. If Walter were a PhD student in history, he would earn rave reviews for completing this journey so quickly – hardly anyone finishes a history PhD in only five years (seven is the norm), and the pace isn’t exactly as riveting as the AMC series. I’m sure there are many more dissimilarities between Walter White and a PhD student – no one gets a PhD in history for the money, am I right? – but I wanted to introduce this blog about what it means to be a PhD candidate in a history program by drawing some (mostly) lighthearted comparisons between my life and everyone’s favorite meth-making anti-hero. Here it goes.

Alienation and Isolation (I know, I said lighthearted comparisons.) Once Walter starts down the track of a life of crime, he has to commit to shutting out his family and friends from this part of his life in order to protect both them and his operations. Obviously, PhD students don’t face these kinds of constraints when they decide to pursue a career in academia. Nevertheless, academic work does lend itself to a degree of isolation that takes conscious effort to overcome. In terms of research and writing (in contrast to teaching), there is no day-to-day accountability or even need to interact with other human beings. Additionally, it is particularly difficult to talk to family and friends about research at any length or with any substance. Cursory explanations of research projects often leave both speaker and listener bewildered. Even if by some odd chance the PhD candidate in your life manages to explain his/her project to you in a way that is comprehensible, he/she has probably been racked by insecurity in the process: What should I leave out? Is my research really so simple? Do they really care anyway? Unlike your neighborhood meth-producer, though, isolation does not have to be part of the PhD candidate’s life. An important part of what we do is to seek out opportunities to speak with our colleagues through informal conversations, presentations at workshops and conferences, etc. But still, day-to-day life can be quite lonely. Maybe a blog will help.

Skill Diversification The foundation of Walter White’s foray into the world of drugs is his knowledge of chemistry. He soon discovers, though, that this seemingly narrow set of knowledge has a broad range of applications, from bomb-making to body disposal. Additionally, he has to broaden his skills in order to master the art of illicit commerce, becoming an expert in product distribution and money laundering.  Similarly, graduate students start down the road to a PhD with a set of specific skills and generally expect to refine those skills. In actuality, the process of earning a PhD entails acquiring skills that are applicable outside the (already and increasingly) narrow field of academic employment. These include public speaking, project management, use of digital technology, editing, and potentially many others depending on a student’s own strengths and interests. One of the topics of this blog will be the expansive range of tasks that are necessary and skills that can be developed in the process of earning a PhD.

Process vs. Product One of the persistent tensions in  Breaking Bad is between Walter White’s perfectionism and the desire for quick and easy money off a good-enough product, embodied initially by his understudy Jesse Pinkman. One of the great puzzles of PhD programs in subjects like history is why students take so long to finish. Don’t we just have to sit down and write (a lot)? We find ourselves in the same conundrum as Walter White: you can’t get anywhere without a product, but you also can’t get anywhere without a good product. Balancing having something to show for your work and ensuring that what you have produced is of the best possible quality is a constant torture. This challenge is exacerbated by the isolation described above. If you expect to come into a PhD program and be told how exactly to go about writing your first book-length project (the dissertation), you’ll be sorely mistaken. Under these conditions, the process itself becomes an object of fetishization that threatens to overtake the actual goal of writing a dissertation: to produce new knowledge for your field. I’m hoping that through this blog I can talk through some of my own insecurities about the process and also share some of my product, at least in a rudimentary and preliminary form.

A Messy End Game From the beginning, it is manifestly clear to viewers of Breaking Bad  that things just can’t end well for the protagonist. Walter himself, of course, is not afforded such an objective view of his fate, and in any case, he has to keep imagining that his increasingly out-of-control life is leading to a promising end result. Sadly, many students entering PhD programs are in a similar boat. The academic job market is severely depressed, but you wouldn’t know it from the application cover letters that dutifully express an intention to to pursue a career in academia. The good news is that universities, including my own, are increasingly being proactive in altering students early on to the reality that they can’t just expect an academic job to be waiting for them at the end of the PhD process. Even though I want to work in academia, I know I need to be prepared for other options. Facing this reality on a day-to-day basis, though, is a real challenge. Sometimes it feels like you’re in a cage match where the grand prize is a chance to buy a lottery ticket with million to one odds. This is to say, I don’t know where this journey is taking me (so stop asking! – just kidding), but if you keep following this blog, we can find out together.

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, stylized realism: the cinematography of breaking bad, season 1.

[ Editor's note: Last year, RogerEbert.com contributor Dave Bunting began editing a series of video essays that arrange images from seasons of "Breaking Bad" in ways that highlight the show's motifs, colors and textures. His latest piece, about the cinematography of Season 1, is embedded below. You can also view the video and an accompanying essay by Max Winter at Press Play . Bunting previously published videos about Season 3, Season 4 , and the first half of Season 5  at Press Play , and is finishing the series as a coproduction between that site and RogerEbert.com. You can find his video essay and the transcript of an interview with series cinematographer Michael Slovis about Season 2 here or at Press Play , with an accompanying essay by Arielle Bernstein. Bunting's concluding video, about the second half of Season 5, will run after the series finale. ]

Gliding Over All: The Cinematography of Breaking Bad, Season 1 from Press Play Video Blog on Vimeo .

While cinematographer Michael Slovis has, since he came aboard in season two, helped define the visual signatures of "Breaking Bad," the show's aesthetics were firmly established from the beginning. Over the course of its maiden seven episodes, AMC's hit series set itself apart from much of its small-screen competition via a distinctive and daring look, one whose bracing realism evolved to include ever-more-inventive stylization.

That development grew out of its narrative, which details high-school chemistry teacher Walter White ( Bryan Cranston ) entering the criminal world of meth production and sales alongside former student-turned-dealer Jesse Pinkman ( Aaron Paul ). Like its protagonist, "Breaking Bad"'s style is one that regularly segues between the mundane and the outrageous, charting its various characters' emotional, psychological and logistical circumstances through an exciting blend of anxious handheld camerawork, tense spatial compositions, evocative visual angles, and vibrant use of shadow and light.

Those hallmarks are present from the pilot, in which Walt, shortly after his 50 th birthday, learns that he has lung cancer and strikes up a meth-cooking partnership with Jesse. Directed by creator Vince Gilligan and shot—on film, per the show's custom—by John Toll (" Braveheart ," " The Thin Red Line "), this first episode sets up much of the show's formal template, including a palette of burned-in colors, textured chiaroscuro, frequent use of natural (or natural-looking) light, and cinematography that's alternately tranquil and edgy.

It's an aesthetic founded on contrasts, and mirrors both Walt's own state of mind and his literal caught-between-different-worlds situation. When Walt and Jesse first meet in the pilot, their faces are half masked in shadow—an expression of their good/bad duality, as well as their two-sides-of-the-same-coin kinship. And when Walt confronts bullies mocking his cerebral palsy-afflicted son Walt Jr. (RJ Mitte), Gilligan and Toll utilize a series of straightforward camera set-ups to highlight the humdrum ordinariness of the locale as a means of making Walt's ensuing violent outburst all the more shocking.

Season one's first episodes are typified by the deft interplay between visual stasis and bumpiness. While there's a constant restlessness to "Breaking Bad"'s handheld cinematography, more static compositions often reflect a given on-screen character's confidence, power or suppressed rage. There's virtually no movement when Walt—newly empowered by getting away with murder—potently pounces on Skylar (Anna Gunn) in bed at the close of episode one, or when an angry Walt patiently sits through his relatives' pleas and outbursts, and then asserts his own agency, during episode five's intervention. The stationary camera is one of control.

Conversely, greater visual shakiness emerges whenever a character is wracked by stress, fear or some sudden shock to their system. "Breaking Bad"'s cinematography oozes furious frustration when, for example, a fed-up Walt approaches a fast food counter after suffering the company of a cell phone-blathering sexist in episode four. And it erupts with exhilaration when drug distributor Tuco (Raymond Cruz) first snorts Walt's pure crystal meth in episode 6. In those moments, the jittery camera is an outgrowth of internal agitation or stimulation.

"Breaking Bad"'s more traditionalist elements—like domestic and workplace scenes marked by a combination of standard close-ups, American two-shots, and master shots—were, from the outset, invigorated by moments of conspicuous flair, as in the pilot's depiction of Walt standing in the middle of a desert road, his gun raised at approaching vehicles. It's an arresting image whose diagonal-line arrangement is repeated throughout the first season (see, also: Walt showing a coin to Jesse in episode two, and the lines of chairs in a doctor's waiting room in episode five). Other similar gestures also reappear, such as jazzy music montages of Walt and Jesse cooking, and creative POV shots from the bottom of a bathtub and the inside of a refrigerator or clothes dryer—all unique, tightly framed perspectives that reflect the characters' claustrophobic positions.

Further action movie-ish embellishments become prevalent as the season advances. Those include the monster-movie silhouette of Walt at the top of a staircase in episode three, the whiplash editing used for Walt's homicide in that same episode, and the clichéd sight of Walt not turning around or flinching as he walks away from a car explosion in episode four. That stylization reaches an apex in episode six, whose first fifteen minutes boast almost as many flamboyant strokes as the previous five episodes combined: an opening view of sparkling columns of light shining through a door's bullet holes; cross-cutting between Walt laying down the law to Jesse and forthcoming curbside chaos, highlighted by a dramatic zoom out from bald Walt's bloody face; a series of hallucinatory time-lapse views of the city, highway and desert; and a schizoid montage of Jesse slinging dope to a variety of colorful customers.

"Breaking Bad"'s aesthetic progression toward more overt dynamism is to some extent a reflection of the show's increasing confidence in itself, likely aided by the fact that cinematographer Reynaldo Villalobos (" A Bronx Tale ") helms six of the initial run's seven episodes. However, it's also a fundamental articulation of Walt's own transformation from someone straddling a line between the everyday and the extreme, to a man more fully aware of, and comfortable embracing, his darker, radical impulses.

That shift is felt most forcefully in the season's canniest recurring image: Walt seen from a low, upturned camera angle. It's a vantage point that casts the character in an imposing, larger-than-life light. Yet when first employed—in the pilot's shot of Walt speaking to a classroom full of kids ignoring his every word, and again in episode two's closing sight of Walt and Jesse staring at a hallway covered in human remains—it carries with it a strong sense of sarcasm, as if the show is subtly mocking Walt for his nascent Big Man pretenses.

Just as Walt himself goes from pretender to real deal, though, so too does this particular shot undergo a tonal swing, so that when Walt introduces himself to Tuco as Heisenberg in episode six, and is spied behind a table full of bubbling beakers in Jesse's basement in episode seven, he no longer comes across as a wannabe hood, but instead as an honest-to-goodness badass. He's a sick shlub reborn as a sinister stud—a makeover that, like the show's visuals, continues in even more elaborately ingenious ways in the seasons to come.

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The Science of Breaking Bad

Dave Trumbore is an editor at Collider.com and a freelance science writer.

Donna J. Nelson is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oklahoma and past President of the American Chemical Society. She was the science advisor to Breaking Bad .

All the science in Breaking Bad —from explosive experiments to acid-based evidence destruction—explained and analyzed for authenticity.

Breaking Bad' s (anti)hero Walter White (played by Emmy-winner Bryan Cranston) is a scientist, a high school chemistry teacher who displays a plaque that recognizes his “contributions to research awarded the Nobel Prize.” During the course of five seasons, Walt practices a lot of ad hoc chemistry—from experiments that explode to acid-based evidence destruction to an amazing repertoire of methodologies for illicit meth making. But how much of Walt's science is actually scientific? In The Science of “Breaking Bad, ” Dave Trumbore and Donna Nelson explain, analyze, and evaluate the show's portrayal of science, from the pilot's opening credits to the final moments of the series finale. The intent is not, of course, to provide a how-to manual for wannabe meth moguls but to decode the show's most head-turning, jaw-dropping moments. Trumbore, a science and entertainment writer, and Nelson, a professor of chemistry and Breaking Bad' s science advisor, are the perfect scientific tour guides.

Trumbore and Nelson cover the show's portrayal of chemistry, biology, physics, and subdivisions of each area including toxicology and electromagnetism. They explain, among other things, Walt's DIY battery making; the dangers of Mylar balloons; the feasibility of using hydrofluoric acid to dissolve bodies; and the chemistry of methamphetamine itself. Nelson adds interesting behind-the-scenes anecdotes and describes her work with the show's creator and writers. Marius Stan, who played Bogdan on the show (and who is a PhD scientist himself) contributes a foreword. This is a book for every science buff who appreciated the show's scientific moments and every diehard Breaking Bad fan who wondered just how smart Walt really was.

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The Science of Breaking Bad By: Dave Trumbore, Donna J. Nelson https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.001.0001 ISBN (electronic): 9780262353229 Publisher: The MIT Press Published: 2019

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Table of Contents

• [ Front Matter ] Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0049 Open the PDF Link PDF for [ Front Matter ] in another window
• Foreword Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0001 Open the PDF Link PDF for Foreword in another window
• Acknowledgments Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0002 Open the PDF Link PDF for Acknowledgments in another window
• I: Meet Walter White Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0003 Open the PDF Link PDF for I: Meet Walter White in another window
• [ Opening ] Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0050 Open the PDF Link PDF for [ Opening ] in another window
• II: Chemical Credits Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0005 Open the PDF Link PDF for II: Chemical Credits in another window
• III: Playing with Fire Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0006 Open the PDF Link PDF for III: Playing with Fire in another window
• IV: It’s a (Phosphine) Gas Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0007 Open the PDF Link PDF for IV: It’s a (Phosphine) Gas in another window
• [ Opening ] Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0051 Open the PDF Link PDF for [ Opening ] in another window
• V: DIY Battery Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0009 Open the PDF Link PDF for V: DIY Battery in another window
• VI: A Magnetic Conversation Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0010 Open the PDF Link PDF for VI: A Magnetic Conversation in another window
• VII: Trouble Brewing Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0011 Open the PDF Link PDF for VII: Trouble Brewing in another window
• [ Opening ] Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0052 Open the PDF Link PDF for [ Opening ] in another window
• VIII: Explosives: Fulminated Mercury and the Wheelchair Bomb Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0013 Open the PDF Link PDF for VIII: Explosives: Fulminated Mercury and the Wheelchair Bomb in another window
• IX: Pyrotechnics: Thermite Lockpick Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0014 Open the PDF Link PDF for IX: Pyrotechnics: Thermite Lockpick in another window
• X: Corrosives: Hydrofluoric Acid Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0015 Open the PDF Link PDF for X: Corrosives: Hydrofluoric Acid in another window
• [ Opening ] Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0053 Open the PDF Link PDF for [ Opening ] in another window
• XI: Psychiatry: Fugue States, Panic Attacks, and PTSD Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0017 Open the PDF Link PDF for XI: Psychiatry: Fugue States, Panic Attacks, and PTSD in another window
• XII: Pediatrics: Cerebral Palsy Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0018 Open the PDF Link PDF for XII: Pediatrics: Cerebral Palsy in another window
• XIII: Oncology: Cancer and Treatment Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0019 Open the PDF Link PDF for XIII: Oncology: Cancer and Treatment in another window
• XIV: Toxicology: Ricin, Lily of the Valley, and ... Cyanide? Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0020 Open the PDF Link PDF for XIV: Toxicology: Ricin, Lily of the Valley, and ... Cyanide? in another window
• XV: Pharmacology: Drugs, Addiction, and Overdoses Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0021 Open the PDF Link PDF for XV: Pharmacology: Drugs, Addiction, and Overdoses in another window
• [ Opening ] Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0054 Open the PDF Link PDF for [ Opening ] in another window
• XVI: Methylamine: The Solution Is Dilution Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0023 Open the PDF Link PDF for XVI: Methylamine: The Solution Is Dilution in another window
• XVII: Let’s Get Analytical Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0024 Open the PDF Link PDF for XVII: Let’s Get Analytical in another window
• XVIII: The Lab Maketh the Meth Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0025 Open the PDF Link PDF for XVIII: The Lab Maketh the Meth in another window
• XIX: Finale/Felina Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0026 Open the PDF Link PDF for XIX: Finale/Felina in another window
• Glossary Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0027 Open the PDF Link PDF for Glossary in another window
• Notes Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0028 Open the PDF Link PDF for Notes in another window
• Index Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0048 Open the PDF Link PDF for Index in another window
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• *** DELETE ME, WAS: Chapter XIV Doi: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11696.003.0042
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August 21, 2013

The Straight Dope: A Q&A with the Prof Behind the Good Science in Breaking Bad

Since 1983, Donna J. Nelson has taught some 10,000 students as a professor of organic chemistry at the University of Oklahoma. Her research extends to characterizing carbon nanotubes and examining carbon–carbon double bonds every which way and even promoting chemistry education as a means to increase the number of chemists and chemical engineers in the [...]

By Gary Stix

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Since 1983, Donna J. Nelson has taught some 10,000 students as a professor of organic chemistry at the University of Oklahoma. Her research extends to characterizing carbon nanotubes and examining carbon–carbon double bonds every which way and even promoting chemistry education as a means to increase the number of chemists and chemical engineers in the workforce.

On her 31-page, single-spaced CV, one item that leaps out is the notation of her role as a science consultant to the smashingly popular cable TV show Breaking Bad . Nelson decided to help the show’s writers when she read in Chemical & Engineering News that they were looking for expertise to ensure accuracy of the dialogue and plot devices related to chemistry. Since then she has gone on to suss out answers to questions such as how much meth you could synthesize with 30 gallons of methylamine using the P2P meth recipe.

[ An edited transcript of the interview follows. ]

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Scientists often criticize the way that their various disciplines are depicted in popular media. How does Breaking Bad stand up as far as that goes?

I have heard people at professional meetings, such as AAAS [American Association for the Advancement of Science], who were in symposia about taking science to the public. They did not know that I was in the room and they would start talking about Breaking Bad . They asked one of the speakers what was going on with the show because it seems to get the science right, disproving the myth that it’s impossible to get the science right and still have an interesting show.

Can you give me an example of where your input has had an impact on the show?

In season 4, episode 1 , there’s a lot of dialogue about enantiomers and diastereomers and how a reaction creates chiral centers , things like that. I did work with them on that scene. It’s where Walt is really trying to impress people, telling them that they're not going to be able do the synthesis without him and his knowledge.

Anything else?

One thing I thought was sort of humorous was when I was to talking to them about methylamine and I said when you use that precursor—and the writers stopped me and said, “Precursor? What’s a precursor?” And if you notice they now they throw that word in all the time.

Another suggestion I made was when Walt was teaching high school and there was a scene on alkenes. They asked is there anything that Walt would write on the board. I told them I could send a drawing of alkenes and that is indeed what’s on the board. The alkenes are missing a couple of hydrogens but otherwise they did a pretty good job of drawing them.

Didn’t they ask you to calculate the exact yield you get from 30 gallons of methylamine using the P2P method of synthesizing meth?

The story behind that is that the first step in the synthesis is pretty much the same in any P2P method. Step two, the reduction step, can vary from one synthesis to another, and there’s a lot of differences in the reducing agents . And so I said, I don’t know what reagent you want. They said to send them a list, and they liked the one that was aluminum–mercury because it would be easier for the actors to say those words. I looked at the other reducing agents and they would, indeed, have been difficult for the actors to the say on the air.

That’s another example of where I let them be boss. I wouldn’t go back to them and suggest another reagent because it might be safer, cheaper or have a higher yield, I just said “yes sir.”

That reagent turned out to be obscure, and I had to go to a German patent from the 1950s to get the information to make the calculation. Fortunately, when I was a graduate student, I had taken German. So I was able to get back to them and tell them the quantity of meth produced, in pounds. So it worked out, but it was a little trouble.

A lot of people harp on the fact that meth would not really be blue, the way Walt’s supposedly hyperpure meth is. Did you talk to them about that?

When advising them I didn’t run into the lab to try to reproduce these syntheses. I can only draw on my own experience as an organic chemist making crystals, I did one time make one compound with huge needles, similar to what they show in Breaking Bad . That was 9-Borabicyclo[3.3.1]nonane . Some people call it "banana borane." I used that when I was a postdoc with H. C. Brown [a 1979 Nobel chemistry laureate] at Purdue. I was usually able to get it very, very pure just like Walt was able to get his very pure. If these large needles are really pure, they are colorless. But when I looked at them closely, it was almost as if they had a slight bluish tinge.

What Walt is supposedly synthesizing is powder blue. I can tell you the pure crystals I made never looked anything like that. I don’t think that’s realistic. but it’s part of artistic license that we must allow allow creative artists to have. I think it was just meant to be Walt’s trademark. There are times I think people try to make too much of these details as if Breaking Bad were a science education show. That perhaps is one time in which we just need to let the writers have a little bit of artistic license and let them go with it. Overall, I was not uncomfortable with the way they showed things because of my own experiences.

Were there things changed to ensure that you wouldn’t teach people how to make meth?

I’m sure there were. Vince [Gilligan, the show’s creator and producer] had DEA [U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration] agents advising the show and checking everything written. The DEA helped to ensure that certain critical steps were omitted and that everything in this regard was kept legal. That was very smart of Vince. That ensured that any complaints they received could be referred to the DEA.

How did you get involved with the show?

During Breaking Bad season 1, Chemical & Engineering News— an American Chemical Society magazine—interviewed Vince. He said his writers had no scientific background and he would welcome constructive comments from chemically inclined people. I recognized this as an opportunity to help the show and the public, as well as an opportunity to do something really fun. I volunteered to help, and Vince took me up on the offer.

Do you think Breaking Bad has fostered interest in science?

I think it has. My students will say that they just love that show and that they’re so interested in science now. Previously, very few students would come up and talk enthusiastically about chemistry, and now they do.

Did the chemistry-related theme, making meth, ever give you pause?

I hadn’t seen the show before when I read an interview with Vince Gilligan in Chemical & Engineering News . So before deciding to offer to help, I watched season 1, and I saw it show Walt getting beaten up and dragged through the sand. At that point, I realized that no kid watching this would want this as a lifestyle, so I decided I could volunteer as an adviser with a clear conscience.

Image Sources: Donna Nelson and Wikipedia

Breaking Bad: A Masterclass in Character Development and Storytelling

Breaking Bad is one of the most popular and critically acclaimed television series of all time. It is considered to be a masterpiece of modern television, and it has gained a devoted fan base that continues to grow. Breaking Bad follows the life of Walter White, a chemistry teacher who, after a sudden and unexpected diagnosis of terminal cancer, turns to the illegal drug trade to ensure his family will have financial security after he is gone. The series is filled with complex characters, compelling storylines, and unexpected plot twists. We will explore the character development and storytelling techniques that make Breaking Bad so special and influential.

What is Breaking Bad?

Breaking Bad is an American television drama series created by Vince Gilligan. The series follows the life of Walter White, a middle-aged chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Faced with the prospect of leaving his family with no financial security after he is gone, Walter turns to the illegal drug trade in order to provide for them. Along the way, Walter is forced to confront the dark side of himself and the criminal underworld he has become a part of. The series aired on AMC from 2008 to 2013 and has since been considered one of the greatest TV series of all time.

Character Development in Breaking Bad

One of the things that makes Breaking Bad so special is its complex and compelling characters. Each character is fully developed and is given an opportunity to grow and evolve throughout the series. Walter White, the protagonist, goes from a mild-mannered chemistry teacher to a criminal mastermind. His transformation is gradual and believable, and it is captivating to watch him grapple with his own morality and make difficult decisions. Jesse Pinkman, Walter’s partner-in-crime, is also an interesting character. He is a rebellious former student of Walter’s and is initially portrayed as a drug-addled troublemaker. But as the series progresses, Jesse’s character arc reveals that he is much more than a caricature. He is given moments of genuine kindness and humanity that make his character even more compelling.

Storytelling in Breaking Bad

In addition to its compelling characters, Breaking Bad is also known for its masterful storytelling. The series does an excellent job of building tension and suspense as the stakes get higher and higher. Every detail is carefully woven into the narrative, from the smallest plot twist to the series’s major turning points. Breaking Bad also makes use of non-linear storytelling, allowing for unexpected plot twists and turns that keep viewers on the edge of their seats.

The Influence of Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad has had a lasting impact on the television landscape. Its influence can be felt in many modern shows, from its careful and precise storytelling to its complex and compelling characters. Its success has opened up new opportunities for television writers to explore darker themes and stories, and it has inspired a new generation of television producers to push the boundaries of the medium.

Breaking Bad is an iconic television series that has left an indelible mark on the television landscape. Its characters are complex and compelling, and its storytelling is masterful. It has influenced a new generation of television writers, and its success has allowed for more daring and creative storytelling. Breaking Bad is a true masterpiece of television, and it is one that will be remembered and enjoyed for generations to come.

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INTERVIEW: Breaking Bad Creator/Executive Producer Vince Gilligan

Breaking Bad images and logo ©AMC Television and Sony Pictures, all rights reserved.

Last year around this time, ScriptPhD.com posted Breaking Bad, Chemistry Good , an in-depth article about AMC’s breakout hit Breaking Bad , and its stunningly accurate science content. Walter White, the show’s anti-hero, is a cancer-stricken high school chemistry teacher who starts cooking and dealing methamphetamine for financial security. In our article, we highlighted several clever uses of chemistry throughout the show’s run that not only integrated brilliantly into the plot but had realistic real-world applications as well. What a difference a year makes! Last week, Editor Jovana Grbić sat down with Breaking Bad ‘s delightful Creator and Executive Producer Vince Gilligan to talk about the show’s origins, the science, and some behind-the-scenes secrets that will surprise even dedicated fans. We hope you enjoy reading our interview as much as we enjoyed chatting with him. The secrets of Breaking Bad , under the “continued reading” cut.

From the Lab: Breaking Bad, Chemistry Good

ScriptPhD Grade: A+

The Premise If the pilot episode doesn’t get your attention in the first five minutes, then I don’t know what will. A man wearing nothing but his skivvies and a gas mask careens a Winnebago in the New Mexico desert, a passed out body beside him, two more dead in the back, and a toxic sludge of chemicals seeping on the floor. With impending sirens approaching, he videotapes a final goodbye and apology to his family. Through flashbacks, we come to find out that the man is Walter White, an unassuming chemistry teacher in Albuquerque, NM. While on his humiliating moonlighting shift as a car wash attendant, because we pay our public school teachers so well, Walt collapses. The culprit? Lung cancer. Terminal. Inoperable. He decides to infuse some excitement into his life on a bust ride with his brother-in-law, a DEA agent. Only instead of discouraging Walt, the bust shows him how much money can be made. While pondering the possibility of leaving his family financially secure after his passing, he spots an old flunky student, Jesse Pinkman, fleeing the scene. “You know the business, I know the chemistry,” he proposes to Jesse. An idea is born, and the metamorphosis of Walter White begins. Back to the original scene, the sirens turn out to be fire trucks, one of the many hair-raising escapes to come, and Walt and Jesse live to sell meth another day.

In addition to Walt (played by the talented Bryan Cranston), and Jesse (dazzling newcomer Aaron Paul), we meet Skyler (Anna Gunn), Walt’s supportive but perplexed wife, who grows to be very suspicious of him as he has a harder time curtailing his clandestine activities, and Walt, Jr., a teenager with Cerebral Palsy, sensitively portrayed by RJ Mitte. The relationships serve as a centerpiece of the show are unraveled like the plot, in layers and tantalizingly. As Walt’s own family unit faces turmoil, Jesse, too, is disowned by his for his drug use. What started out as a business transaction between a teacher and former student blossoms into a tender father-son relationship. Meanwhile, while Walt’s well-meaning DEA brother-in-law Hank (Dean Norris) closes in on the hottest new meth dealer in town, Walt and Jesse face a series of personal and professional setbacks. For every two steps forward, for every dollar made, there is a new foe, a new nemesis, or new unintended collateral. All of the action culminates in an electrifying Season 2 finale sure to generate buzz and anticipation for Season 3.

The Science Science on Breaking Bad is given the red carpet treatment: it’s sleek, sexy, geek-chic, tongue-in-cheek and everywhere. The show revels in delightful touches such as the title credits interspersing elements from the periodic table. Walt’s classes brim with interesting blink-or-you-miss-it factoids, such as H. Tracy Hall inventing the first reproducible process for making diamonds. To a stupefied, gun-happy Jesse, he makes the suggestion of killing a drug lord with castor beans, the source of the protein toxin ricin. And let’s not mention the two separate synthetic methods he comes up with to cook and crystallize the best meth the New Mexico DEA has ever seen. The darkly comedic highlights of the show are Walt and Jesse’s interactions in their “laboratory”, a beaten-down Winnebago camper. Shocked by Jesse’s sloppy street cooking, Walt pilfers glassware and equipment from his classroom—gas masks, round bottom flasks, reflux condensers, crystallization dishes—to build a setup worthy of Pfizer. Along the way, Jesse gets some remedial chemistry that he failed back in high school. I mean, sure, they’re making a devastating and highly illegal narcotic, but at least it’s via a proper Grignard reagent amination of a Schiff base!

On a more serious note, Breaking Bad also strives for a VERY candid and unrelenting portrayal of both cancer and the ramifications of the modern-day drug trade. Often whitewashed in entertainment, Walt’s cancer, and the side effects are shown in a brutal way, but the stark realism also underscores his desperation as the illness unfolds. Easily on par with David Simon’s brilliant The Wire on HBO, in the world of Breaking Bad no one is absolved from the intertwining effects of drugs—the rising body count, both from use and dealing, the strain on law enforcement, and families torn apart. In an astute opening TRULY ripped from the headlines, a Season 2 Breaking Bad episode starts with an original narcocorrido, a Mexican drug ballad evolved from its folk music tradition that is often used to chronicle the drug trade and escalating violence over the last two decades. Take a look:

Bottom line: the science is white-hot, the writing is red-hot, the meth is blue and the humor is black, so why aren’t you watching?

Accolades Breaking Bad has been the recipient of a number of recent awards and critical acclaim. They won a 2009 Peabody Award for excellence in television achievement. Bryan Cranston won the 2008 Emmy for Outstanding Leading Actor in a Dramatic Series. Series creator and executive producer Vince Gilligan won a Writers Guild of America award for the Pilot episode. Many more achievements are sure to come for their outstanding sophomore effort!

For the ScriptPhD.com Top 4 Walter White Chemistry Moments in the show thus far and an in-depth discussion of the neat science behind them, click “continue reading”…

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All 62 Episodes Of 'Breaking Bad' Have Been Edited Into A 127-Minute Film

James Dawson

Pretty much everyone agrees that Breaking Bad is one of the best TV shows ever made. But it's undeniable that beginning to watch it from scratch, or even to re-watch it, can seem a pretty daunting task.

There are 62 hour long episodes in total, so it's a lot of time to set aside for the notoriously slow-paced show.

'If only there was another way to watch it, all in one go,' I hear you say.

Well lucky for you there now is, as somebody has edited the series into a movie.

Here's what the creator of the re-edit had to say about it: "After two years of sleepless nights of endless editing, we bring you the answer to that very question.

"A study project that became an all-consuming passion. It's not a fan-film, hitting the highlights of show in a home-made homage, but rather a re-imagining of the underlying concept itself, lending itself to full feature-length treatment.

"An alternative Breaking Bad, to be viewed with fresh eyes."

What a cool project.

Man, just thinking about the show, has me reminiscing on Bryan Cranston's career.

Bryan Cranston - The Man, The Myth, The Legend

Cranston i seems to have been everywhere over the past few years. Mainly down to his performance as Walter White in Breaking Bad.

Last year published his memoir, A Life in Parts , which talks about when he was investigated for murder, and also the time he lost his virginity to a prostitute .

In his early life, his family nicknamed him 'Sneaky Pete' because of his tendency to look for the shortcuts in life. He admitted this in an award acceptance speech at the 2014 Emmys when he won 'Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series'. Despite his lust for the easy way out, he did find that acting was the one thing that made him passionate. That planted a seed which steadily grew.

Cranston grew up in Hollywood, California, but his childhood was a bit broken. He admits his parents were "broken people" and that they were 'incapacitated as far as parenting [is concerned]'. His mother was a radio actress and his dad was an actor and former amateur boxer, but he wasn't particularly successful in either field.

Failing to secure enough roles, his father couldn't provide for his three children and eventually left the family when Bryan was aged 11. It would be another 11 years before he and his dad would meet again, after the actor and his brother tracked him down. They maintained a relationship until his death.

The time he and his brother spent looking for their brother was during a road trip which came just after Cranston had finished college. The pair apparently jumped on his motorcycle and left California with hopes to travel the country. Unfortunately they had run out of money by the time they got to Texas and so they started taking any jobs they could, including operating the game booths at carnivals.

During the trip, which happened in the mid-1970s, Bryan was genuinely investigated for murder. He and his brother had taken up jobs at a Polynesian restaurant called the Hawaiian Inn. While there they came to hate the chef who was called Peter Wong. They often joked with co-workers about killing him but by unfortunate coincidence it just so happened that they left the town at pretty much the same time as Wong's death.

Obviously, he wasn't guilty. But the police's timeline checked out, so he was a legit suspect.

Credit: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Following the road trip he dipped his toes in the acting circle, performing at local and regional theatres. Unfortunately, since both his mother and father had been involved in the Hollywood life, his dear old mum preferred that he didn't pursue a career in acting. Who says mums know best? He heeded his mum's advice, and wouldn't return to acting for a few years. In the mean time he got ordained as a minister by the Universal Life Church and found himself conducting wedding ceremonies for $150 a service to help with money.

Throughout the 1980s he appeared in advertisements and minor roles, before jumping into a few voice acting roles. His most notable voide role probably came in 1993 when he took on the voice of one of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. He put in so much work, and was such an important part of the plans, that the creative team are rumoured to have decided to name the Blue Power Ranger as 'Billy Cranston'.

In between '93 and '98 he would mostly pick various temporary roles in TV series, even one in Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and a slightly longer role which saw him appear in five episodes of Seinfeld.

In 1998, though, he'd get what actors would consider as their 'big break', featuring in Saving Private Ryan as the one armed colonel who insists that Private Ryan must be saved.

His biggest TV role would eventually come in the form of popular sitcom Malcolm in the Middle. He played Hal, the dad of the main character. Cranston was in the part until the show's conclusion in 2006 and he was nominated for three Emmys along the way, as well as directing several episodes.

His role in Malcolm in the Middle stayed with him for a very long time, with one fan theory asking whether or not Breaking Bad was the prequel to the sitcom. The theory reckons that Walter White started a new life and family as 'Hal'. For many different reasons, it doesn't fit. At all.

Following his role as Hal he landed a lot of guest appearances on other sitcoms and television series, but his biggest role to date came in 2008.

Vince Gilligan, who'd previously worked with Bryan on The X Files, cast him as Walter White in Breaking Bad. The character was a high school chemistry teacher who begins to manufacture crystal meth after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

From 2008 - 2011 Cranston was noted as turning 'acting into art', managing to make us all fall for Walter White, but eventually making us hate Heisenberg. Even after the fifth and final season of Breaking Bad¸ we weren't really sure whether we should ultimately hate or love the character.

My favourite moment in the series came not from cooking meth, blowing up Mexican cartel members or smoking a joint in Jesse Pinkman's kitchen, no no, it came because of a pizza.

After Walter and his wife, Skyler, decide to get divorced, he tries perilously to win her back and at one point brings a big takeaway pizza to her home. When she rejects his advances he throws the pizza onto the garage roof, with the box flying away and the pie landing and sticking on the tiles. How many takes did it take to get the shot? Just the one. Mega.

Credit: AMC

Throughout the series he won many awards, collecting the 'Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series' in the first three seasons, receiving nominations for the same category in seasons four and five, and winning the same award for the latter half of season five.

Due to how much he and his co-star, Aaron Paul, loved the show, they both got matching Breaking Bad tattoos on their fingers, pledging their allegiance to the series that gave them so much.

Since its finale, he took up a few roles in film and none of them are to be sniffed at. He starred in The Lincoln Lawyer , Drive and Contagion in 2011, as well as appearing in a number of films and series in 2012.

More recently he's been reportedly working with Sony, developing TV projects, as well as starring in Godzilla, Kung Fu Panda 3 and The Infiltrator.

Cranston is set to star in 2017's reboot of Power Rangers, which is fitting considering he had one named after him all those years ago. The guy is a living legend.

Topics:  Breaking Bad , Movie

James Dawson is a Journalist at LADbible. He has contributed articles to LADbible’s ‘Knowing Me, Knowing EU’ series on the EU referendum, the 'Electoral Dysfunction' series on the 2017 general election, the ‘U OK M8?’ series tackling mental health amongst young men, and for its ‘Climate Change’ initiative in partnership with National Geographic.

@ thejaytoday

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Album review

On ‘The Tortured Poets Department,’ Taylor Swift Could Use an Editor

Over 16 songs (and a second LP), the pop superstar litigates her recent romances. But the themes, and familiar sonic backdrops, generate diminishing returns.

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By Lindsay Zoladz

If there has been a common thread — an invisible string, if you will — connecting the last few years of Taylor Swift’s output, it has been abundance.

Nearly 20 years into her career, Swift, 34, is more popular and prolific than ever, sating her ravenous fan base and expanding her cultural domination with a near-constant stream of music — five new albums plus four rerecorded ones since 2019 alone. Her last LP, “Midnights” from 2022, rolled out in multiple editions, each with its own extra songs and collectible covers. Her record-breaking Eras Tour is a three-and-a-half-hour marathon featuring 40-plus songs, including the revised 10-minute version of her lost-innocence ballad “All Too Well.” In this imperial era of her long reign, Swift has operated under the guiding principle that more is more.

What Swift reveals on her sprawling and often self-indulgent 11th LP, “The Tortured Poets Department,” is that this stretch of productivity and commercial success was also a tumultuous time for her, emotionally. “I can read your mind: ‘She’s having the time of her life,’” Swift sings on “I Can Do It With a Broken Heart,” a percolating track that evokes the glitter and adoration of the Eras Tour but admits, “All the pieces of me shattered as the crowd was chanting ‘more.’” And yet, that’s exactly what she continues to provide, announcing two hours after the release of “Poets” that — surprise! — there was a second “volume” of the album, “The Anthology,” featuring 15 additional, though largely superfluous, tracks.

Gone are the character studies and fictionalized narratives of Swift’s 2020 folk-pop albums “Folklore” and “Evermore.” The feverish “Tortured Poets Department” is a full-throated return to her specialty: autobiographical and sometimes spiteful tales of heartbreak, full of detailed, referential lyrics that her fans will delight in decoding.

Swift doesn’t name names, but she drops plenty of boldfaced clues about exiting a long-term cross-cultural relationship that has grown cold (the wrenching “So Long, London”), briefly taking up with a tattooed bad boy who raises the hackles of the more judgmental people in her life (the wild-eyed “But Daddy I Love Him”) and starting fresh with someone who makes her sing in — ahem — football metaphors (the weightless “The Alchemy”). The subject of the most headline-grabbing track on “The Anthology,” a fellow member of the Tortured Billionaires Club whom Swift reimagines as a high school bully, is right there in the title’s odd capitalization: “thanK you aIMee.”

At times, the album is a return to form. Its first two songs are potent reminders of how viscerally Swift can summon the flushed delirium of a doomed romance. The opener, “Fortnight,” a pulsing, synth-frosted duet with Post Malone, is chilly and controlled until lines like “I love you, it’s ruining my life” inspire the song to thaw and glow. Even better is the chatty, radiant title track , on which Swift’s voice glides across smooth keyboard arpeggios, self-deprecatingly comparing herself and her lover to more daring poets before concluding, “This ain’t the Chelsea Hotel, we’re modern idiots.” Many Swift songs get lost in dense thickets of their own vocabulary, but here the goofy particularity of the lyrics — chocolate bars, first-name nods to friends, a reference to the pop songwriter Charlie Puth ?! — is strangely humanizing.

Taylor Swift’s New Album Reviewed

For all its sprawl, though, “The Tortured Poets Department” is a curiously insular album, often cradled in the familiar, amniotic throb of Jack Antonoff’s production. ( Aaron Dessner of the National, who lends a more muted and organic sensibility to Swift’s sound, produced and helped write five tracks on the first album, and the majority of “The Anthology.”) Antonoff and Swift have been working together since he contributed to her blockbuster album “1989” from 2014, and he has become her most consistent collaborator. There is a sonic uniformity to much of “The Tortured Poets Department,” however — gauzy backdrops, gently thumping synths, drum machine rhythms that lock Swift into a clipped, chirping staccato — that suggests their partnership has become too comfortable and risks growing stale.

As the album goes on, Swift’s lyricism starts to feel unrestrained, imprecise and unnecessarily verbose. Breathless lines overflow and lead their melodies down circuitous paths. As they did on “Midnights,” internal rhymes multiply like recitations of dictionary pages: “Camera flashes, welcome bashes, get the matches, toss the ashes off the ledge,” she intones in a bouncy cadence on “Fresh Out the Slammer,” one of several songs that lean too heavily on rote prison metaphors. Narcotic imagery is another inspiration for some of Swift’s most trite and head-scratching writing: “Florida,” apparently, “is one hell of a drug.” If you say so!

That song , though, is one of the album’s best — a thunderous collaboration with the pop sorceress Florence Welch, who blows in like a gust of fresh air and allows Swift to harness a more theatrical and dynamic aesthetic. “Guilty as Sin?,” another lovely entry, is the rare Antonoff production that frames Swift’s voice not in rigid electronics but in a ’90s soft-rock atmosphere. On these tracks in particular, crisp Swiftian images emerge: an imagined lover’s “messy top-lip kiss,” 30-something friends who “all smell like weed or little babies.”

It would not be a Swift album without an overheated and disproportionately scaled revenge song, and there is a doozy here called “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?,” which bristles with indignation over a grand, booming palette. Given the enormous cultural power that Swift wields, and the fact that she has played dexterously with humor and irony elsewhere in her catalog, it’s surprising she doesn’t deliver this one with a (needed) wink.

Plenty of great artists are driven by feelings of being underestimated, and have had to find new targets for their ire once they become too successful to convincingly claim underdog status. Beyoncé, who has reached a similar moment in her career, has opted to look outward. On her recently released “Cowboy Carter,” she takes aim at the racist traditionalists lingering in the music industry and the idea of genre as a means of confinement or limitation.

Swift’s new project remains fixed on her internal world. The villains of “The Tortured Poets Department” are a few less famous exes and, on the unexpectedly venomous “But Daddy I Love Him,” the “wine moms” and “Sarahs and Hannahs in their Sunday best” who cluck their tongues at our narrator’s dating decisions. (Some might speculate that these are actually shots at her own fans.) “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” is probably the most satisfyingly vicious breakup song Swift has written since “All Too Well,” but it is predicated on a power imbalance that goes unquestioned. Is a clash between the smallest man and the biggest woman in the world a fair fight?

That’s a knotty question Swift might have been more keen to untangle on “Midnights,” an uneven LP that nonetheless found Swift asking deeper and more challenging questions about gender, power and adult womanhood than she does here. It is to the detriment of “The Tortured Poets Department” that a certain starry-eyed fascination with fairy tales has crept back into Swift’s lyricism. It is almost singularly focused on the salvation of romantic love; I tried to keep a tally of how many songs yearningly reference wedding rings and ran out of fingers. By the end, this perspective makes the album feel a bit hermetic, lacking the depth and taut structure of her best work.

Swift has been promoting this poetry-themed album with hand-typed lyrics, sponsored library installations and even an epilogue written in verse. A palpable love of language and a fascination with the ways words lock together in rhyme certainly courses through Swift’s writing. But poetry is not a marketing strategy or even an aesthetic — it’s a whole way of looking at the world and its language, turning them both upside down in search of new meanings and possibilities. It is also an art form in which, quite often and counter to the governing principle of Swift’s current empire, less is more.

Sylvia Plath once called poetry “a tyrannical discipline,” because the poet must “go so far and so fast in such a small space; you’ve got to burn away all the peripherals.” Great poets know how to condense, or at least how to edit. The sharpest moments of “The Tortured Poets Department” would be even more piercing in the absence of excess, but instead the clutter lingers, while Swift holds an unlit match.

Taylor Swift “The Tortured Poets Department” (Republic)

Inside the World of Taylor Swift

A Triumph at the Grammys: Taylor Swift made history  by winning her fourth album of the year at the 2024 edition of the awards, an event that saw women take many of the top awards .

‘The T ortured Poets Department’: Poets reacted to Swift’s new album name , weighing in on the pertinent question: What do the tortured poets think ?  

In the Public Eye: The budding romance between Swift and the football player Travis Kelce created a monocultural vortex that reached its apex  at the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. Ahead of kickoff, we revisited some key moments in their relationship .

Politics (Taylor’s Version): After months of anticipation, Swift made her first foray into the 2024 election for Super Tuesday with a bipartisan message on Instagram . The singer, who some believe has enough influence  to affect the result of the election , has yet to endorse a presidential candidate.

Conspiracy Theories: In recent months, conspiracy theories about Swift and her relationship with Kelce have proliferated , largely driven by supporters of former President Donald Trump . The pop star's fans are shaking them off .

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NPR suspends veteran editor as it grapples with his public criticism

David Folkenflik

NPR suspended senior editor Uri Berliner for five days without pay after he wrote an essay accusing the network of losing the public's trust and appeared on a podcast to explain his argument. Uri Berliner hide caption

NPR suspended senior editor Uri Berliner for five days without pay after he wrote an essay accusing the network of losing the public's trust and appeared on a podcast to explain his argument.

NPR has formally punished Uri Berliner, the senior editor who publicly argued a week ago that the network had "lost America's trust" by approaching news stories with a rigidly progressive mindset.

Berliner's five-day suspension without pay, which began last Friday, has not been previously reported.

Yet the public radio network is grappling in other ways with the fallout from Berliner's essay for the online news site The Free Press . It angered many of his colleagues, led NPR leaders to announce monthly internal reviews of the network's coverage, and gave fresh ammunition to conservative and partisan Republican critics of NPR, including former President Donald Trump.

Conservative activist Christopher Rufo is among those now targeting NPR's new chief executive, Katherine Maher, for messages she posted to social media years before joining the network. Among others, those posts include a 2020 tweet that called Trump racist and another that appeared to minimize rioting during social justice protests that year. Maher took the job at NPR last month — her first at a news organization .

In a statement Monday about the messages she had posted, Maher praised the integrity of NPR's journalists and underscored the independence of their reporting.

"In America everyone is entitled to free speech as a private citizen," she said. "What matters is NPR's work and my commitment as its CEO: public service, editorial independence, and the mission to serve all of the American public. NPR is independent, beholden to no party, and without commercial interests."

The network noted that "the CEO is not involved in editorial decisions."

In an interview with me later on Monday, Berliner said the social media posts demonstrated Maher was all but incapable of being the person best poised to direct the organization.

"We're looking for a leader right now who's going to be unifying and bring more people into the tent and have a broader perspective on, sort of, what America is all about," Berliner said. "And this seems to be the opposite of that."

Conservative critics of NPR are now targeting its new chief executive, Katherine Maher, for messages she posted to social media years before joining the public radio network last month. Stephen Voss/Stephen Voss hide caption

Conservative critics of NPR are now targeting its new chief executive, Katherine Maher, for messages she posted to social media years before joining the public radio network last month.

He said that he tried repeatedly to make his concerns over NPR's coverage known to news leaders and to Maher's predecessor as chief executive before publishing his essay.

Berliner has singled out coverage of several issues dominating the 2020s for criticism, including trans rights, the Israel-Hamas war and COVID. Berliner says he sees the same problems at other news organizations, but argues NPR, as a mission-driven institution, has a greater obligation to fairness.

"I love NPR and feel it's a national trust," Berliner says. "We have great journalists here. If they shed their opinions and did the great journalism they're capable of, this would be a much more interesting and fulfilling organization for our listeners."

A "final warning"

The circumstances surrounding the interview were singular.

Berliner provided me with a copy of the formal rebuke to review. NPR did not confirm or comment upon his suspension for this article.

In presenting Berliner's suspension Thursday afternoon, the organization told the editor he had failed to secure its approval for outside work for other news outlets, as is required of NPR journalists. It called the letter a "final warning," saying Berliner would be fired if he violated NPR's policy again. Berliner is a dues-paying member of NPR's newsroom union but says he is not appealing the punishment.

The Free Press is a site that has become a haven for journalists who believe that mainstream media outlets have become too liberal. In addition to his essay, Berliner appeared in an episode of its podcast Honestly with Bari Weiss.

A few hours after the essay appeared online, NPR chief business editor Pallavi Gogoi reminded Berliner of the requirement that he secure approval before appearing in outside press, according to a copy of the note provided by Berliner.

In its formal rebuke, NPR did not cite Berliner's appearance on Chris Cuomo's NewsNation program last Tuesday night, for which NPR gave him the green light. (NPR's chief communications officer told Berliner to focus on his own experience and not share proprietary information.) The NPR letter also did not cite his remarks to The New York Times , which ran its article mid-afternoon Thursday, shortly before the reprimand was sent. Berliner says he did not seek approval before talking with the Times .

NPR defends its journalism after senior editor says it has lost the public's trust

Berliner says he did not get permission from NPR to speak with me for this story but that he was not worried about the consequences: "Talking to an NPR journalist and being fired for that would be extraordinary, I think."

Berliner is a member of NPR's business desk, as am I, and he has helped to edit many of my stories. He had no involvement in the preparation of this article and did not see it before it was posted publicly.

In rebuking Berliner, NPR said he had also publicly released proprietary information about audience demographics, which it considers confidential. He said those figures "were essentially marketing material. If they had been really good, they probably would have distributed them and sent them out to the world."

Feelings of anger and betrayal inside the newsroom

His essay and subsequent public remarks stirred deep anger and dismay within NPR. Colleagues contend Berliner cherry-picked examples to fit his arguments and challenge the accuracy of his accounts. They also note he did not seek comment from the journalists involved in the work he cited.

Morning Edition host Michel Martin told me some colleagues at the network share Berliner's concerns that coverage is frequently presented through an ideological or idealistic prism that can alienate listeners.

"The way to address that is through training and mentorship," says Martin, herself a veteran of nearly two decades at the network who has also reported for The Wall Street Journal and ABC News. "It's not by blowing the place up, by trashing your colleagues, in full view of people who don't really care about it anyway."

Several NPR journalists told me they are no longer willing to work with Berliner as they no longer have confidence that he will keep private their internal musings about stories as they work through coverage.

"Newsrooms run on trust," NPR political correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben tweeted last week, without mentioning Berliner by name. "If you violate everyone's trust by going to another outlet and sh--ing on your colleagues (while doing a bad job journalistically, for that matter), I don't know how you do your job now."

Berliner rejected that critique, saying nothing in his essay or subsequent remarks betrayed private observations or arguments about coverage.

Other newsrooms are also grappling with questions over news judgment and confidentiality. On Monday, New York Times Executive Editor Joseph Kahn announced to his staff that the newspaper's inquiry into who leaked internal dissent over a planned episode of its podcast The Daily to another news outlet proved inconclusive. The episode was to focus on a December report on the use of sexual assault as part of the Hamas attack on Israel in October. Audio staffers aired doubts over how well the reporting stood up to scrutiny.

"We work together with trust and collegiality everyday on everything we produce, and I have every expectation that this incident will prove to be a singular exception to an important rule," Kahn wrote to Times staffers.

At NPR, some of Berliner's colleagues have weighed in online against his claim that the network has focused on diversifying its workforce without a concomitant commitment to diversity of viewpoint. Recently retired Chief Executive John Lansing has referred to this pursuit of diversity within NPR's workforce as its " North Star ," a moral imperative and chief business strategy.

In his essay, Berliner tagged the strategy as a failure, citing the drop in NPR's broadcast audiences and its struggle to attract more Black and Latino listeners in particular.

"During most of my tenure here, an open-minded, curious culture prevailed. We were nerdy, but not knee-jerk, activist, or scolding," Berliner writes. "In recent years, however, that has changed."

Berliner writes, "For NPR, which purports to consider all things, it's devastating both for its journalism and its business model."

NPR investigative reporter Chiara Eisner wrote in a comment for this story: "Minorities do not all think the same and do not report the same. Good reporters and editors should know that by now. It's embarrassing to me as a reporter at NPR that a senior editor here missed that point in 2024."

Some colleagues drafted a letter to Maher and NPR's chief news executive, Edith Chapin, seeking greater clarity on NPR's standards for its coverage and the behavior of its journalists — clearly pointed at Berliner.

A plan for "healthy discussion"

On Friday, CEO Maher stood up for the network's mission and the journalism, taking issue with Berliner's critique, though never mentioning him by name. Among her chief issues, she said Berliner's essay offered "a criticism of our people on the basis of who we are."

Berliner took great exception to that, saying she had denigrated him. He said that he supported diversifying NPR's workforce to look more like the U.S. population at large. She did not address that in a subsequent private exchange he shared with me for this story. (An NPR spokesperson declined further comment.)

Late Monday afternoon, Chapin announced to the newsroom that Executive Editor Eva Rodriguez would lead monthly meetings to review coverage.

"Among the questions we'll ask of ourselves each month: Did we capture the diversity of this country — racial, ethnic, religious, economic, political geographic, etc — in all of its complexity and in a way that helped listeners and readers recognize themselves and their communities?" Chapin wrote in the memo. "Did we offer coverage that helped them understand — even if just a bit better — those neighbors with whom they share little in common?"

Berliner said he welcomed the announcement but would withhold judgment until those meetings played out.

In a text for this story, Chapin said such sessions had been discussed since Lansing unified the news and programming divisions under her acting leadership last year.

"Now seemed [the] time to deliver if we were going to do it," Chapin said. "Healthy discussion is something we need more of."

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editor Gerry Holmes. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.

• Katherine Maher
• uri berliner

Breaking down borders: ASU grad learns importance of international trade for global economy

Humberto Camacho received the Undergraduate Barton Kyle Yount Award. This award is presented to a student who best represents the values and standards envisioned by the founders of Thunderbird in 1946 and is the school’s highest student honor.

Editor's note:  This story is part of a series of profiles of notable spring 2024 graduates. 

Humberto Camacho was born and raised in the border town of Nogales, Arizona. As a Mexican American and bilingual speaker, he always knew he wanted to pursue a degree that would enable him to make a meaningful contribution to U.S.-Mexico relations and global cooperation.

Camacho will graduate with a Bachelor of Science in International Trade  from the  Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University. He believes that the synergy between ASU and Thunderbird was the perfect environment for him to study and equip himself with the tools necessary to make a lasting, positive impact on the world. 

"I have always had a global mindset and wanted to make a difference, starting with my community. ASU prides itself on who it includes, rather than who it excludes, and is dedicated to tackling society's most significant challenges. Similarly, Thunderbird's vision is to promote sustainable and inclusive prosperity worldwide. I learned from that language, culture, or location are not barriers for like-minded individuals who want to make a global, positive impact on the world,” he said. 

Currently, Camacho is interning with the Attorney General Alliance Partnership, a cooperative program that strengthens the U.S. and Mexico legal systems. He also works as a supplemental instruction leader at Thunderbird, assisting students in understanding complex concepts in accounting and finance courses. After graduation, Camacho aspires to explore international relations and supply chain realms, poised to make a tangible difference on a global scale. 

Looking toward the future, Camacho shared that he takes life one step at a time and has learned to fall in love with the journey, not the destination.

"I wake up every day trying to be a better person in all areas of my life: personally, professionally, academically, athletically, socially, emotionally, etc. Even if I get just 1% better every day, sustained long-term growth will inevitably lead to success. You can't change the world overnight, so start by changing and improving yourself," he said. 

Camacho is the recipient of the Spring 2024 Barton Kyle Yount Undergraduate Student Award. This award, presented to a student who best represents the values and standards envisioned by the founders of Thunderbird in 1946, is the school’s highest student honor.

Camacho said his advice to incoming Thunderbird students is to “seize every moment, embrace the journey, and invest in relationships.” He encourages them to cherish the unique experience and strive for personal growth.

Question: What has your experience at Thunderbird been like?

Answer: My experience has been nothing short of amazing. Not only have I learned so much about being a successful global manager and leader, but I have also built lasting relations with peers and professors whom I am happy to call my friends and mentors.

Which professor taught you the most important lesson while at Thunderbird?

Answer: I can not choose one professor since every professor here has taught me invaluable lessons in academia and the real world. One of the most important lessons learned was that those who succeed can adapt to change and seize emerging opportunities, especially in the rapidly evolving world we live in now.

Question: What is your favorite story from your time at Thunderbird? 

Answer: Again, I have so many great memories from Thunderbird, but one that stands out is my group project for our Global Marketing class. It was one of my first-ever group projects at  Thunderbird. I remember how amazing it was to work with peers from different countries, sharing unique, creative perspectives, approaches, and solutions to the project. After we delivered our final presentation, I worked with a team of international consultants.

Question: What would you tackle if someone gave you $40 million to solve one problem on our planet?

Answer: I would work to solve the lack of education in developing countries. While I could not completely solve this problem, I would significantly improve our situation. For as long as I can remember, education has been the most determining factor for newer generations, improving their socioeconomic status or quality of life. We are all born with innate curiosity and a desire to learn more about the world around us. For many kids, all it takes is a bit of encouragement and support and the right resources to provide them with the life-changing experience of education. 

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