AMC to Launch New Original Drama Series "Breaking Bad"

Created by "X- Files" Writer Vince Gilligan and Produced by Sony Pictures Television

Stars Bryan Cranston ("Malcolm in the Middle"), Aaron Paul (Mission: Impossible III), Anna Gunn ("Deadwood"), Dean Norris (Little Miss Sunshine), Betsy Brandt ("CSI") and RJ Mitte ("Hannah Montana," "Weeds")

Series Premieres in 2008

NEW YORK, July 15, 2007 - From AMC and acclaimed writer/producer/director Vince Gilligan ("X-Files") comes BREAKING BAD, the dark tale of a desperate man who turns to a life of crime to secure his family's financial security. The one hour drama series will debut on the network in 2008.

Created, executive produced and written by Gilligan, BREAKING BAD stars Emmy-nominated veteran actor Bryan Cranston ("Malcolm in the Middle," Little Miss Sunshine); Aaron Paul (Mission: Impossible III); Anna Gunn ("Deadwood"); Dean Norris (Little Miss Sunshine); Betsy Brandt (CSI); and RJ Mitte ("Hannah Montana," " Weeds").

The drama series revolves around Walter White (Bryan Cranston) a mild-mannered chemistry teacher who lives in New Mexico with his wife (Anna Gunn) and teenage son (RJ Mitte) who has cerebral palsy. When White is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of only two years left to live, he becomes filled with a sense of fearlessness and an unrelenting desire to secure his family's financial future at any cost as he enters the dangerous world of drugs and crime. The series explores how a typical family man is transformed into a kingpin of the drug trade when the daily concerns and constraints of normal society no longer apply.

BREAKING BAD is produced for AMC by High Bridge Productions, Inc. and Gran Via Productions in association with Sony Pictures Television. Joining Gilligan is co-executive producer Mark Johnson (The Chronicles of Narnia, What Lies Beneath, Donnie Brasco). Oscar-winning Cinematographer John Toll (The Last Samurai, Braveheart, Legends of the Fall) served as Director of Photography for the pilot.

AMC entered the original programming arena in 2006 with Broken Trail, the award winning movie event starring Robert Duvall and Thomas Haden Church, and also produced by Sony Pictures Television. The premiere of the epic western set a new standard for the network, ranking as the number one most watched cable movie of the decade. Continuing the original programming momentum, AMC will premiere its first ever original dramatic series, "Mad Man" from Emmy Award winning Executive Producer and Writer Matthew Weiner on July 19, 2007. "Breaking Bad" is set to air on the network in 2008. In addition, AMC recently announced an extensive slate of original series in development with industry vets including: Tom Fontana ("OZ"); Freddy DeMann (The Life and Death of Peter Sellers); William Finkelstein "Law & Order"); Kip Koenig ("Grey's Anatomy"); David Semel ("Heroes," "House"); Karen Hall ("E-Ring," "Judging Amy"); Michael Oates Palmer ("Shark," "West Wing"); Jason Rothenberg (Girlfight), Scott Villa ("The Simple Life," "Medical Investigation"); Adam Glass ("All About the Andersons"); Bob Cooper and Orin Woinsky of Landscape Entertainment; and Stacy Title and Jonathan Penner ("The Lone Ranger," 2003).

About AMC

AMC, a division of Rainbow Media's Entertainment Services, which also includes WE tv and IFC Companies, is a 24-hour, movie-based network, dedicated to the American movie fan. The network, which reaches over 91,000,000 homes, offers a comprehensive library of popular movies and a critically-acclaimed slate of original programming that is a diverse, movie-based mix of original series, documentaries and specials. AMC has garnered many of the industry's highest honors, including 14 Emmy awards, and three Golden Globe nominations for its first original movie, "Broken Trail."

About Sony Pictures Television

Sony Pictures Television is one of the television industry's leading content providers. It produces and distributes programming in every genre, including series, telefilms, theatrical releases and family entertainment for network and cable television, as well as first-run and off-network series for syndication. With more than 25 programs on the air, SPT boasts a program slate that includes the top-rated daytime dramas and game shows, landmark off-network series, original animated series and critically acclaimed primetime dramas, comedies and telefilms. Sony Pictures Television also oversees all of Sony Pictures Entertainment's (SPE) domestic digital efforts across all platforms. Sony Pictures Television, advertiser sales, is one of the premiere national advertising sales companies, handling the commercial inventory in SPT syndicated series as well as in all of SPE's digital businesses, for Sony BMG and for iN DEMAND's high definition channel INHD. SPT (www.sonypicturestelevision.com) is a Sony Pictures Entertainment company.