70-600: George Vincent Gilligan Jr. (born February 10, 1967) is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. He is best known as the creator, primary writer, executive producer, and occasional director of the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad (2008–2013) and its spin-off prequel series Better Call Saul (2015–2022). He also wrote, directed, and produced the Breaking Bad sequel film El Camino (2019). Gilligan's other work includes writing, directing, and producing some episodes of
140-563: A BAFTA Television Award . George Vincent Gilligan Jr. was born in Richmond, Virginia , on February 10, 1967, the son of grade school teacher Gail and insurance claims adjuster George Vincent Gilligan Sr. He was raised Catholic but would later describe himself as "pretty much agnostic ". His parents divorced in 1974. He and his younger brother Patrick were raised in Farmville and Chesterfield County , where they attended J.P. Wynne Campus School,
210-560: A basic service. Turner completed the acquisition of MGM in early 1986, but his ownership was short-lived and he sold it back to the previous owner months later. However, he retained the film library and executed his original plan to air the movies on WTBS and later on his new networks Turner Network Television and Turner Classic Movies , a direct competitor to AMC. The new movie network struggled to gain carriage. By March 1986, it had only 300,000 subscribers. To solve this problem, Cablevision and CBS (which became half owner of Rainbow about
280-473: A horror movie double feature on late Friday evenings. On September 26, 2008, AMC announced the launch of a new horror-themed movie marathon for its October schedule called "Fearfest" (which replaced Monsterfest); coinciding with this, the "Monsterfest" blog was renamed as the "Horror Hacker" blog. "Fearfest" also ran from mid- or late October every year for Halloween until the day after Halloween too from 2008 to 2021. Beginning in 2021, Fearfest now runs throughout
350-401: A lowercase and uppercase "a MC " text) and a new slogan that says TV for Movie people. Kate McEnroe, then-president of Rainbow Media, cited lack of subsidies from cable providers as the reason for the addition of advertising, and cited ad agencies who insist on programming relevant to their products' consumers as the reason for the shift to recent movies instead of just classics. At the time of
420-485: A mini-documentary series Making of a Classic . By 1989, AMC was available to 39 million subscribers in the U.S. On December 1, 1990, AMC began operating on a 24-hour-a-day schedule. Beginning in 1993, AMC presented an annual Film Preservation Festival to raise awareness of and funding for film preservation . Coordinated with The Film Foundation , an industry group that was founded by acclaimed director Martin Scorsese ,
490-516: A reduced price for existing AMC channel subscribers too like Xfinity , Dish Network and Sling TV . Holographic Studios Holographic Studios , located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City , is the world's oldest gallery of holography . It was founded in 1979 by Jason Sapan , one of the pioneers of holography. The storefront level gallery features the world's largest collection of motion image integral holograms. On display in
560-1117: A reputation on par with premium cable networks HBO and Showtime , both of which rejected Mad Men before it came to AMC. AMC also airs acquired programming , ranging from black-and-white filmed shows (such as The Rifleman and shorts from The Three Stooges ) to contemporary series (such as CSI: Miami ). AMC maintains movie licensing rights agreements with Warner Bros. Entertainment , Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (including films from United Artists and library content from The Samuel Goldwyn Company , Orion Pictures , and Cannon Group ), Universal Pictures (including some films from DreamWorks Animation as titles from Illumination Entertainment and most from Focus Features are absent), Paramount Pictures (including films from pre-2011 DreamWorks Pictures and Miramax ), Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (primarily film content from Touchstone Pictures , Hollywood Pictures , 20th Century Studios , Searchlight Pictures , Disney , Walt Disney Animation Studios , and Buena Vista International , while titles from Pixar , Lucasfilm , much of Marvel Studios , and
630-430: A result of this move, Turner Classic Movies became the only one of the two classic film-focused networks to present their films commercial-free. On September 30, 2002, AMC underwent a significant rebranding, changing its format from a classic movie channel, to a more general focus on movies from all eras – as well as shortening its name to just the "AMC" abbreviation, and introducing a new logo (a rectangular outline with
700-408: A separate company, which was renamed AMC Networks, after its flagship cable network. Cablevision founder Charles Dolan and his family continue to retain a controlling interest in the company. Also during this year, the network introduced two new dramas ( The Killing and Hell on Wheels ), two original web series ( The Trivial Pursuits of Arthur Banks and The Walking Dead: Torn Apart ), and
770-413: A set timeslot with commercials added. In 1997, AMC launched "Monsterfest", a popular week-long marathon of horror movies and thrillers that aired from mid- or late October every year for Halloween until the day after Halloween. In the mid-2000s, AMC started a Monsterfest blog on its website, which chronicled news on horror-related film and television productions. In addition, AMC presented "Fear Friday",
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#1732858347187840-460: A solid gold block with the network's acronymic name retained in the center. 2013 saw the channel's unscripted slate double with the additions of Owner's Manual , Showville , the second part of the final season of Breaking Bad , the Breaking Bad discussion series Talking Bad , and the second season of the unscripted series Freakshow , before being cancelled. Also in April, Rectify , which
910-449: A stake in AMC – which it divested in the early 2000s. From 1996 to 1998, AMC aired its first original series, Remember WENN , a half-hour scripted series about a radio station during the peak of radio's influence in the 1930s. The show was well received by both critics and its enthusiastic fans, but was abruptly cancelled after its fourth season following management changes at the channel (WENN
980-504: A two-season order from Apple TV+ in September 2022, with confirmation that Rhea Seehorn , who played Kim Wexler on Better Call Saul , would be in a starring role. Gilligan first had a screenplay produced in 1993 for the romantic comedy film Wilder Napalm . While working on The X-Files , one of Gilligan's early screenplays was produced in 1998 as a film, Home Fries , which starred Drew Barrymore and Luke Wilson . He also rewrote
1050-442: A year earlier) worked out a deal with the nation's largest cable television provider, Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI). TCI gained a one-third interest in AMC (but not Bravo , Rainbow's other network) and in exchange made AMC available as an offering for most of its 3.9 million subscribers. (TCI's Liberty Media division eventually would create another premium service— Encore , which also originally focused on older films, mainly from
1120-540: Is an add-on subscription service only available as an extra to those already normally subscribed to AMC. It involves access to an expanded On-Demand library compared to the standard "AMC OnDemand" library packaged with the usual cable service. This is necessary to view many "locked" programs on the AMC website (such as complete availability to The Walking Dead all eleven seasons) which prompts someone to subscribe for ~$ 5/mo or ~$ 30/yr. For currently-airing programs it sometimes gives early access to viewing them before they debut on
1190-439: The AMC drama series Breaking Bad . He created the series with the premise that the hero would become the villain . "Television is historically good at keeping its characters in a self-imposed stasis so that shows can go on for years or even decades", he said. "When I realized this, the logical next step was to think, how can I do a show in which the fundamental drive is toward change?" He added that his goal with Walter White
1260-453: The Fox science fiction series The X-Files (1993–2002) and co-creating its spin-off series The Lone Gunmen (2001), as well as co-writing the screenplay for the superhero film Hancock (2008). He has won four Primetime Emmy Awards , six Writers Guild of America Awards , two Critics' Choice Television Awards , two Producers Guild of America Awards , a Directors Guild of America Award , and
1330-482: The MGM/UA film library. On July 30 of that year, Rainbow had paid $ 45 million to license up to 800 pre-1950 films from the library. Weeks later, Turner announced an agreement to purchase the film studio with the intention of airing the films on his Superstation WTBS . Rainbow claimed it had exclusive basic cable rights to the films for the next five years. Despite its widespread cable carriage, Turner claimed that because WTBS
1400-546: The Walking Dead discussion series Talking Dead . In 2012, AMC premiered three original reality series: The Pitch , Comic Book Men and Small Town Security ; along with a second web series spun off from The Walking Dead , The Walking Dead: Cold Storage . In July 2012, AMC was dropped from Dish Network , in conjunction with a carriage dispute with the satellite provider, citing that AMC Networks charged an excessive amount in retransmission consent payments from
1470-476: The laboratory school run by Longwood College where their mother also taught; Gilligan would later use the J.P. Wynne name for the fictional high school where Walter White teaches in Breaking Bad . Growing up, Gilligan became best friends with future film editor and film title designer Angus Wall . His interest in film began when Wall's mother Jackie, who also taught alongside Gilligan's mother at J.P. Wynne, would lend her Super 8 film cameras to him. He used
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#17328583471871540-557: The 1960s to the 1980s – five years later in April 1991). During its early years, it was not uncommon for AMC to host a marathon of Marx Brothers films, or show classics such as the original 1925 release of The Phantom of the Opera . In 1987, the channel began to be carried on the basic cable tiers of many cable providers. In July 1988, AMC added its first original programming: Classic Stories From Classic Stars (featuring interviews), followed later that year by Star Facts (biographies) and
1610-596: The 1960s. The show was immediately lauded by critics, and won 16 Primetime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award . Breaking Bad , a drama about a cancer -stricken chemistry teacher involved in making and dealing methamphetamine (played by Bryan Cranston , who had been known primarily for comedic roles in series such as Malcolm in the Middle prior to the series), premiered in 2008; also garnering critical acclaim, winning 16 Primetime Emmy Awards. Breaking Bad and Mad Men ended their runs in 2013 and 2015, respectively, with
1680-474: The 1970s – that aired during the afternoon and early evening hours in a commercial -free, generally unedited, uncut, uninterrupted and uncolorized format. The new network replaced Montage , a channel with a similar format that was being offered to Cablevision subscribers in the New York area. In 1985, Rainbow became involved in a dispute with Ted Turner 's Turner Broadcasting System over broadcast rights to
1750-555: The 1978 Jonestown tragedy. The series would be based on the 1982 non-fiction book Raven , and would be co-produced by Octavia Spencer and Gilligan's longtime collaborator Michelle MacLaren . However, in 2018, Gilligan said that he had slowed down on developing the project. Gilligan married Holly Rice in 1991. They have no children. Raised Catholic , he identifies as an atheist. Gilligan has proclaimed that he finds it "hard to wrap my head around it (atheism)". AMC (TV channel) AMC (stylized as aMc ; an abbreviation of
1820-585: The Festival for creating "not only a greater awareness, but [...] more of an expectation now to see restored films." In 1996, curator of the Museum of Modern Art Mary Lee Bandy called the Festival "the most important public event in support of film preservation." By its tenth anniversary in 2003, the Festival had raised $ 2 million from the general public, which The Film Foundation divided among its five-member archives. In 1993, Cablevision's Rainbow Media division became
1890-491: The Saturday morning infomercial block was eliminated after its March 25, 2011, airing as AMC added a Saturday block of western series and films the following week. 2010 also saw the premieres of Rubicon and The Walking Dead . While Rubicon was cancelled, The Walking Dead became an enormous success and has become the most watched scripted program in basic cable history. In 2011, Cablevision spun off Rainbow Media into
1960-722: The United States co-production of the sci-fi drama Humans from Xbox Entertainment Studios . AMC Media recently bought the European media giant Chello Media from Liberty Global . At the end of October, it was announced that AMC had won the bidding war to air the miniseries The Night Manager . In November, AMC Networks renamed the European MGM Channel to AMC . In January 2015, the Asian MGM channel also became AMC as well. In January 2015, AMC announced that they would be airing
2030-504: The World . On September 1, 2006, AMC officially became available in Canada for cable customers of Shaw Cable and satellite customers of Shaw Direct (formerly StarChoice), marking the first time the network was made available outside the United States. In late 2007 the network debuted its first original drama series Mad Men , a period piece about Madison Avenue advertising executives in
2100-427: The cable providers that maintained carriage agreements with the channel. However, in 1998, AMC began accepting traditional advertising, incorporating limited commercial interruptions between films (its sister movie channel Romance Classics , which had launched only one year earlier, became an entirely ad-supported channel at that point). By 2001, AMC had also incorporated commercial breaks during its movie telecasts. As
2170-541: The camera to make science fiction films with Patrick. One of his first films was entitled Space Wreck , starring Patrick in the lead role. One year later, he won first prize for his age group in a film competition at the University of Virginia . Jackie would take Wall and Gilligan to Richmond and drop them off at Cloverleaf Mall to see films, encouraging both of them to pursue a career in the arts. Gilligan later said, "I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for Jackie. She
Vince Gilligan - Misplaced Pages Continue
2240-460: The carriage agreement on its own terms. However, the two companies came to a resolution, bringing back the channel (and sister networks IFC , Sundance Channel and WE tv ) to Dish in October 2012. On March 31, 2013, during the third-season finale of The Walking Dead , AMC unveiled a rebranding campaign with the new slogan "Something More", and inverted the logo from a rectangular outlined box to
2310-469: The channel's original name, American Movie Classics ) is an American basic cable television channel that first launched in 1984, and is the namesake flagship property of AMC Networks . Since 2002, the full name has been de-emphasized as a result of a major shift in its programming . AMC's primarily produces original scripted dramas and documentaries, while airing theatrically released films , and acquired television programming. In July 2015, AMC
2380-612: The company's 1996 acquisition of the Turner Broadcasting System) also attempted to acquire at least part of Liberty Media's stake in AMC. In June 1995, AMC became involved with another dispute with Turner. It filed a $ 550 million breach of contract lawsuit against Turner Entertainment , which alleged that the company violated AMC's exclusive cable television rights to the pre-1950 Warner Bros. Pictures film library to broadcast approximately 30 times between July 1994 and April 1995, charging that Turner's objective in violating
2450-590: The contract was "to gain unfair advantage for the Turner Classic Movies cable network (which debuted in April 1994) at the expense of AMC."; Turner owns rights to the RKO Radio Pictures film library and licensed RKO's films to AMC in an output deal that was slated to last through 2004. Under the terms of the deal, AMC obtained the RKO titles in exclusive windows. Around this time, General Electric / NBC owned
2520-612: The defunct Blue Sky Studios are not included because of other channels' agreements, including those owned by Disney themselves) and Sony Pictures Entertainment (including Columbia Pictures , TriStar Pictures , Sony Pictures Classics , Screen Gems , and Triumph Films ). Since the 2002 format change, the network's film telecasts usually are "television" cuts meant for basic cable, which feature content edits, censoring or dubbing of profanities , and some time edits by removing some superfluous plotting or toning down scenes with adult content inappropriate for basic cable broadcast to fit within
2590-644: The eight part miniseries The Making of the Mob: New York . In March 2015, Sling TV announced it would soon add AMC Networks (including BBC America , IFC , Sundance TV , and We TV ) to its service. In 2016, AMC introduced a new slate of original unscripted series, including Ride with Norman Reedus , Geeking Out , and new expansions of the Talking Dead format with Talking Saul , Talking Preacher , and Talking with Chris Hardwick . Although movies remain an integral part of AMC's schedule,
2660-407: The event), as well as other specials from DreamWorks Animation . As expected, AMC saw ratings gains over the holiday season; primetime viewership for the first two weeks of the event was up 40% year-over-year, airings of Elf and Christmas Vacation both peaked at 1.5 million viewers, and average viewership of feature films on Freeform fell by 36% year-over-year in the same period. AMC Premiere
2730-436: The festival was originally conceived as a multi-day marathon presenting rare and previously lost films , many airing for the first time on television, along with behind-the-scenes reports on the technical and monetary issues faced by those engaged in archival restoration. Portions of the festival were often dedicated to all-day marathons focusing on a single performer. During its fifth anniversary year in 1998, Scorsese credited
2800-552: The final season of Breaking Bad ). The former two would both be renewed for second seasons while the latter two were cancelled after their first seasons. AMC would then pick up Into the Badlands for a six episode first season and Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul for two seasons. On October 9, 2014, it was announced that AMC would scrap its entire current and future unscripted slate outside Talking Dead and Comic Book Men . This announcement came shortly after AMC took over
2870-547: The format switchover, the company also attempted to launch a spin-off digital cable channel, AMC's Hollywood Classics, which would have required viewers to pay an extra fee to receive the channel. This commercial-free channel would have aired black-and-white classics from the 1930s through the 1950s that American Movie Classics had been airing up until its format changeover; however, the new channel never debuted. The network also gradually brought back original programming. In 2004, AMC aired its first reality series , FilmFakers ;
Vince Gilligan - Misplaced Pages Continue
2940-424: The former receiving a spin-off in the form of Better Call Saul . On May 31, 2009, during the second-season finale of Breaking Bad , AMC rebranded with the introduction of a new slogan, "Story Matters Here". Later that year, the network premiered its second miniseries, The Prisoner . On January 4, 2010, AMC began airing infomercials on Monday through Saturday mornings from 6:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time;
3010-520: The gallery are a variety of different types of holographic images, including a collection of celebrity hologram portraits. There are also cylindrical 360° floating images, multiple image holograms that change as you walk by, and computer generated holograms as well as a selection of novelty hologram items and stickers. Directly below the gallery is the laser laboratory where holograms are created. Holographic Studios creates custom holograms, holographic portraits, offers classes, and operates tours. The studio
3080-417: The greatest television dramas of all time. Gilligan has been awarded numerous times for writing, directing, and producing the series. The Writers Guild of America has awarded him four times in straight succession, from 2012 to 2014; three as a part of the Breaking Bad writing team and one individually for writing the episode " Box Cutter ". He also received two Primetime Emmys in 2013 and 2014 for producing
3150-529: The main AMC channel. AMC+ is a premium, commercial-free streaming bundle that includes the same benefits of AMC Premiere, early access to additional AMC series, as well as additional library content from sister networks BBC America, IFC, and SundanceTV, and the complete collections of fellow AMC Networks streaming services including Shudder, Sundance Now and IFC Films Unlimited. The service is available through most streaming services for $ 8.99 per month like Apple TV , Amazon Prime Video and Roku and it's also at
3220-581: The majority owner of the channel, when it bought out Liberty Media's 50% stake in AMC; incidentally in August of that year, Liberty announced its intent to purchase the 25% stake in the channel that Cablevision held at the time, with the Turner Broadcasting System helping to finance the buyout that included an option for TBS to eventually acquire AMC outright. The following year, Time Warner (which later purchased rival Turner Classic Movies following
3290-420: The network announced that it had given series orders for two dramas: Turn: Washington's Spies (which premiered on April 6, 2014) and Halt and Catch Fire (which premiered on June 1, 2014). This marked the first time that AMC had four pilot orders picked up to series in the same cycle, the other two being The Divide and Low Winter Sun (the latter premiered on August 11, 2013, after the season premiere of
3360-556: The network has garnered attention in recent years for its original series. The channel's first original series was the game show The Movie Masters , which ran from 1989 to 1990 and was otherwise notable for being Gene Rayburn 's last hosting role; outside Remember WENN and Filmfakers , most of AMC's original programming prior to September 2007 consisted of film history-related documentary and review programs. The establishment of Mad Men in 2007, followed by that of Breaking Bad in 2008, and Better Call Saul in 2015, has given AMC
3430-445: The ninth episode of the fifth season of NBC 's comedy series Community . He plays a cheesy actor hosting "Pile of Bullets", a fictional 1990s VCR-based video game. In 2007, Gilligan and fellow The X-Files producer Frank Spotnitz wrote a sci-fi pilot entitled A.M.P.E.D. , which was not picked up for a full series. In 2016, it was announced that Gilligan would be developing an HBO limited miniseries about Jim Jones and
3500-514: The partnership of two police detectives who must compete with a seemingly-perfect FBI agent. Gilligan co-wrote the first episode with Shore, the showrunner of the series. CBS ordered thirteen episodes and the series aired on CBS starting March 1, 2015. CBS decided not to renew the series for a second season. After Better Call Saul finished its run, Gilligan worked on a new show, a science fiction genre piece that has been compared to The X-Files and The Twilight Zone . The show, Wycaro , received
3570-541: The prestigious Interlochen Center for the Arts . After eighth grade, he moved back to Chesterfield to attend Lloyd C. Bird High School. After graduating from Lloyd C. Bird High School in 1985, he went on to attend NYU 's Tisch School of the Arts on a scholarship, receiving a BFA in film production. While at NYU, he wrote the screenplay for Home Fries and received the Virginia Governor's Screenwriting Award in 1989 for
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#17328583471873640-540: The screenplay for the 2008 Will Smith film Hancock , which was originally written by Vincent Ngo. Gilligan was hired by The X-Files creator Chris Carter to be a consulting producer on his new series Harsh Realm . After The X-Files , Gilligan wrote an episode of the short lived police procedural series Robbery Homicide Division and an episode of the ABC series Night Stalker . Gilligan made his acting debut in 2014 in " VCR Maintenance and Educational Publishing ",
3710-463: The screenplay, which was later turned into a film. One of the judges of the competition was film producer Mark Johnson , who was impressed by Gilligan and called him "the most imaginative writer" he had ever read. Gilligan also studied holography under Jason Sapan at Holographic Studios in New York City. Gilligan's big break came when he joined the Fox television drama The X-Files . Gilligan
3780-502: The script for El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie , which wraps up the story of Jesse Pinkman following the events of "Felina", Breaking Bad 's finale, ahead of the show's tenth anniversary. Gilligan subsequently led its direction and filming. The movie was released in a limited theatrical screening and on Netflix in October 2019. Breaking Bad , Better Call Saul , and El Camino , along with various short-form web series associated with these series, have been described informally by
3850-578: The segments that AMC played to fill out the timeslot (Saturday nights from 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time ): classic movie trailers , drive-in movie ads and snipes (bits extolling viewers to visit the snack bar, etc.), along with music videos cribbed from movie musicals from the period. The majority of the films presented on AMC during the 1990s had originally been released by Paramount Pictures , 20th Century Fox , Columbia Pictures , and Universal Pictures . The channel also occasionally showed classic silent films . The regular hosts of
3920-463: The service for carriage which was in disproportion with the lower audience viewership for the channels. AMC Networks cited the removal as being related to a breach of contract lawsuit filed against Dish Network by the channel's former parent Rainbow Media's Voom HD Networks in 2008 for improperly terminating its carriage contract; Dish Network denied that the lawsuit had any relation to the decision to remove AMC and its sister channels and that it ended
3990-479: The show featured out-of-work actors who believed they were auditioning for a major role in a real movie, only to be told that they were the subject of a prank and no film actually existed. A New York Times article on the show said that " FilmFakers may go down as one of the meanest reality series yet." From 2003 to 2007, AMC was a channel focused on American films partially classics as well as documentaries about film history such as Backstory and Movies that Shook
4060-469: The show's debut. Gilligan remained involved in Better Call Saul ' s production in a reduced role, directing episodes in the fourth and fifth seasons, before returning to the writers room in the sixth. In July 2018, it was announced that Gilligan had agreed to stay with Sony TV on a new three-year deal. His deal via his High Bridge Productions company was renewed in 2021. Gilligan quietly developed
4130-531: The show. In 2014, he won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing in a Drama Series for directing the finale of Breaking Bad , " Felina ". In September 2013, Sony Pictures Television announced a deal with AMC to produce a Breaking Bad spin-off prequel entitled Better Call Saul , to focus on character Saul Goodman from the original series, before he became Walter White ' s lawyer, and to star Bob Odenkirk reprising his role as
4200-403: The shows' staff and fans as the "Gilliverse". Following the broadcast run of Better Call Saul , Gilligan said he does not plan to create any more works related to Breaking Bad . In September 2013, Sony struck a deal with CBS to produce a new television series created by Gilligan and David Shore entitled Battle Creek . Based on a script written by Gilligan ten years prior, the show follows
4270-518: The telecasts were Bob Dorian and later, Nick Clooney (brother of singer Rosemary and father of actor and businessman George ), as well as New York City radio personality Gene Klavan from WNEW (1130 AM, now WBBR ). Another WNEW alum, Al "Jazzbo" Collins , provided his voice for the "Jazzbo's Swingin' Soundies" series of interstitials . For most of its first 18 years in existence, AMC provided uncut and uncolorized films without commercial interruption. Its revenue came from carriage fees provided by
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#17328583471874340-464: The title character. Gilligan co-created the series with Breaking Bad writer Peter Gould , with both of them acting as showrunners . The first episode , which Gilligan directed and co-wrote, premiered on February 8, 2015. He would leave the Better Call Saul writing staff early in the third season to focus on other projects, resulting in Gould becoming sole showrunner. This transition had been planned since
4410-723: The whole month of October. AMC had typically aired a rotating lineup of five to six Christmas movies during the holiday season. In 2018, the channel introduced a more extensive holiday lineup branded as Best Christmas Ever, running from November 26 to December 25, featuring a mix of popular Christmas and family films, along with other acquired specials. The schedule included notable acquisitions from Warner Bros. , including Elf , National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation , The Polar Express , and 12 Rankin/Bass specials (the films had been recent mainstays of Freeform 's competing 25 Days of Christmas schedule, with Elf in particular having received extensive airplay and high viewership during
4480-492: Was a broadcast station, the restriction did not apply. This led to both companies filing lawsuits against each other in September, and MGM/UA terminating the agreement with Rainbow after alleging that Rainbow had breached it by announcing its intention to offer a premium tier to the AMC cable service. By October, the lawsuit was settled. Rainbow received $ 50 million and agreed to terminate the licensing deal on December 31, 1985, before which time AMC would not be allowed to convert to
4550-485: Was a fan of the show, and submitted a script to Fox which became the second-season episode " Soft Light ". He went on to write 29 more episodes, in addition to being co-executive producer of 44 episodes, executive producer of 40, co-producer of 24, and supervising producer of 20. He also co-created and became executive producer of The X-Files spin-off series The Lone Gunmen . The series only ran for one season of 13 episodes. Gilligan created, wrote, directed, and produced
4620-406: Was a wonderful lady and a real inspiration." Gilligan was recognized for his talents and creativity at an early age. His father described him as a "kind of a studious-type young man, and he liked to read, and he had a vivid imagination". He introduced Gilligan to film noir classics, as well as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood Westerns on late-night television. Gilligan won a scholarship to attend
4690-512: Was followed up by The Lot , which lasted for only 17 episodes). Despite a well publicized write-in campaign to save the series, the show was not renewed for its originally scheduled fifth season. One popular AMC program was American Pop! (originally intended as a preview of a new 24-hour cable channel), which ran from 1998 to 2003 and featured movies from the 1950s and 1960s aimed at baby boomers (such as Beach Blanket Bingo and Ski Party ). Of particular interest to movie completists were
4760-563: Was originally developed for AMC, premiered on AMC's sister channel Sundance Channel to jump-start that network's emerging slate of original scripted programming. It was then followed by the July announcement that fellow sister channel WE tv had picked up another series originally developed for AMC for the 2012-13 development slate, The Divide , to series. During this timeframe, AMC had started to run marathons of certain shows and cross-promote programs from its co-owned sister channels. In July 2013,
4830-510: Was received by approximately 94,832,000 households in the United States that subscribe to a pay television service (81.5% of U.S. households with at least one television set). By December 2023, that number has dropped to approximately 65,054,000 households. American Movie Classics, as AMC was originally known, debuted on October 1, 1984, as a premium channel by Rainbow Programming Services (a subsidiary of Cablevision ). Its original format focused on classic movies – largely those made prior to
4900-527: Was to turn him from " Mr. Chips into Scarface ". While pitching the show to studios, Gilligan was initially discouraged when he learned of the existing series Weeds and its similarities to the premise of Breaking Bad . While his producers convinced him that the show was different enough to still be successful, he later stated that he would not have gone forward with the idea had he known about Weeds earlier. Breaking Bad received widespread critical acclaim and has been praised by many critics as being among
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