{"id":707,"date":"2015-02-09T17:26:02","date_gmt":"2015-02-10T01:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wou.edu\/westernjournal\/?p=707"},"modified":"2015-02-09T17:29:14","modified_gmt":"2015-02-10T01:29:14","slug":"breaking-bad-spin-off-better-call-saul-to-premiere-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/breaking-bad-spin-off-better-call-saul-to-premiere-this-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cBreaking Bad\u201d spin-off \u201cBetter Call Saul\u201d to premiere this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"<pre>By NATHANIEL DUNAWAY\r\n Entertainment Editor<\/pre>\n<p>Television spinoffs get a bad rap. And when you look at shows like \u201cJoey,\u201d \u201cAfterMASH\u201d and \u201cSaved by the Bell: The College Years,\u201d it\u2019s not exactly hard to see why. Sometimes companion shows just don\u2019t work.<\/p>\n<p>This concern was the first to pop into many a viewer\u2019s mind when it was announced last year that \u201cBreaking Bad,\u201d one of the most critically-acclaimed and audience-adored television dramas of all time, would be getting a spinoff.<\/p>\n<p>But for every \u201cBuddies\u201d (spun off from \u201cHome Improvement\u201d), there is a \u201cFrasier\u201d (spun off from \u201cCheers\u201d) and for every \u201cJoanie Loves Chachi\u201d (spun off from \u201cHappy<br \/>\nDays\u201d) there is an \u201cAngel\u201d (spun off from \u201cBuffy the Vampire Slayer\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>For my money, \u201cBetter Call Saul,\u201d the \u201cBreaking Bad\u201d spinoff focusing on the early years of sleazy criminal lawyer Saul Goodman (played by Bob Odenkirk) will certainly fall into the same realm those latter examples reside in.<\/p>\n<p>We first met Saul in season two of \u201cBreaking Bad,\u201d when he became the full-time attorney of chemistryteacher-turned-drug-lord Walter White.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the series, Saul used his wits, charm, and legal know-how to keep Walt and his partner Jesse out of jail (or worse, the morgue or a ditch in the desert).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBetter Call Saul,\u201d produced and co-written by \u201cBreaking Bad\u201d showrunner Vince Gilligan, takes place five years before Walter White\u2019srise to power, when Saul was still known as James McGill, a struggling, unknown defense attorney.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Odenkirk reprising his role as Saul, actor Jonathan Banks will return to play fan-favorite hitman and fixer Mike Ehermantraut in the prequel series.<\/p>\n<p>So will \u201cBetter Call Saul\u201d find itself among the ranks of the great spinoffs like \u201cThe Legend of Korra\u201d (spun off from \u201cAvatar: the Last Airbender\u201d) and \u201cThe Simpsons\u201d (spun off from \u201cThe Tracey Ullman Show\u201d)? With much of the same talent that made \u201cBreaking Bad\u201d great returning, I\u2019d say it\u2019s a safe bet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBetter Call Saul\u201d premieres Sunday, Feb. 8 on AMC, right after the mid-season premiere of \u201cThe Walking Dead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By NATHANIEL DUNAWAY Entertainment Editor Television spinoffs get a bad rap. And when you look at shows like \u201cJoey,\u201d \u201cAfterMASH\u201d and \u201cSaved by the Bell: The College Years,\u201d it\u2019s not exactly hard to see why. Sometimes companion shows just don\u2019t work. This concern was the first to pop into many a viewer\u2019s mind when it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":367,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/367"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}