Over the weekend during its anniversary Breaking Bad marathon, AMC Networks premiered the first extremely short teaser for the upcoming spin-off series Better Call Saul.
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An intrepid youtuber managed to capture the footage. Though the audio level is low, it immediately brings a smile to your face because Saul god-damn Goodman is one of television's best characters. And he was on a show full of them.
No official online release of the trailer has been made available yet.
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Mr. Show mastermind and comedy legend Bob Odenkirk will once again don the tacky outfits of everyone's favorite scummy lawyer. The 9 second teaser features Goodman buttering up a client. "Lawyers. We're like health insurance. You hope you'll never need it, but man oh man not having it? No."
Spoken like a true bottom feeder, Saul!
When Breaking Bad ended its final season last year, it did something no modern show has done: stuck the landing. A deep, philosophical and thrilling indictment of the American dream, the final episode was equal parts catharsis and relief. The entire show will go down in history as being one of the all time great 'get in, get out and nobody gets hurt' tv series.
Or it would, if it weren't for AMC, who are severely lacking in great original content (did anybody watch Low Winter Sun?) Alas, they must return to the well of what works. On paper, the idea for Better Call Saul, which follows Saul Goodman before he ever met Walter White, is just terrible. It is terrible because I do not care about Saul divorced from his role in Vince Gilligan's masterpiece. It's like taking Captain Jack Sparrow and then crafting an entire movie around him! Oh wait, they did that and it was called On Stranger Tides and nobody cared.
Goodman is a great character, but he's not the star. He's the plot point, he's the comic relief. He is there to help Walt and Jesse out of a jam. Well, AMC is hoping he can be that for them and sell us on nostalgia and the warm fuzzies we get whenever we think of Breaking Bad. It is possible the whole thing could work out, the original creative team is pretty much back and there's no denying the appeal of Odenkirk.
But you cannot help but think that the whole venture just reeks of desperation and money. AMC tried to swim with the big boys like HBO and for a time, succeeded. But the key difference is that they require eyes, not just subscriptions and they have been dropping the ball recently. The final "season" (half season) of Mad Men is airing next year and then what big shows do they have anymore?
If you find out, you Better Call Saul. They're going to need his help.
The show premieres next February for its inaugural 10 episode run. And surprise, surprise, it's also already been picked up for a second season, too.
