The Forgotten Breaking Bad Spin-Off That Never Should Have Happened

Spoilers for "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul" ahead.

Fewer series have been more influential this century than "Breaking Bad." Widely considered one of the greatest television shows of all time, "Breaking Bad" immersed viewers in the life of Walter White (Bryan Cranston), a high school chemistry teacher who gets diagnosed with stage-three lung cancer. With the help of his ex-student Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), Walter manufactures and distributes methamphetamine to ensure his family's financial security after his death, only to find himself transforming (and morally degrading) into the drug kingpin Heisenberg. And while Walter would claim that he alone brought himself to the top of the mountain, he would not have achieved his power level without the help of one Attorney at Law, Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk).

Saul Goodman, whose real name is James Morgan "Jimmy" McGill, was introduced in "Breaking Bad" season 2 as the new source of comic relief for an otherwise dark character drama. In 2013, during production of the show's final season, a spin-off series centered on Saul was put into development before eventually being greenlit. Thus, we got "Better Call Saul," one of the few spin-off shows that is just as good as (and, in some cases, even better than) its predecessor.

However, the expanding "Breaking Bad" franchise did not stop with "Better Call Saul." In 2019, an original film titled "El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie," which saw Paul reprise his role as Jesse, was released on Netflix, serving as an epilogue to the "Breaking Bad" finale. For what started as a prestige drama, "Breaking Bad" has become an unlikely shared universe, with the original series winning a whopping 16 Emmy Awards for its five-season run. This impressive statistic also makes it all the more surprising that "Better Call Saul," which was subject to comparable critical acclaim, received a whopping zero Emmy wins out of 53 nominations. 

In the grand scheme of things, the "Breaking Bad" franchise is an unprecedented artistic achievement in television history with very few blemishes on its record. That is, with the notable exception of one notoriously awful spin-off series that remains forgotten for good reason.

Yes, for the uninitiated, "Slippin' Jimmy" was the "Breaking Bad" universe's foray into animation. A short-form spin-off of "Better Call Saul," the series revolved around Jimmy McGill (Sean Giambrone) and his best friend,  Marco Pasternak (Kyle S. More), during their adolescent years in Cicero, Illinois. The title "Slippin' Jimmy" is taken from a nickname Jimmy earned from his early years as a con artist, in which he staged "slip and fall" accidents and frequently scammed people. Jimmy's penchant for cutting corners and conning people would eventually play into his career as a lawyer.

Ironically, when one watches an episode of "Slippin' Jimmy" without any knowledge of the show it was spun off from, one would assume that the nickname would be due to all of Jimmy's jokes falling flat. This short-form series ran for a single season with six episodes, each under 10 minutes a pop, meaning the entire show combined is just a little longer than the average length of an episode of either "Breaking Bad" or "Better Call Saul." However, even the darkest installments of both those shows can boast more laughs than any of the poor attempts at humor that "Slippin' Jimmy" showcases in its entirety.

Each episode parodies classic genres of cinema, including Spaghetti Westerns in its first episode, "Fistful of Snowballs," horror in "The Exor-sister," and silent films in "City Fights." (Because get it? Like Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights!") And yet, instead of finding clever ways to send up those genres, the jokes often resort to juvenile humor and references that do not relate to "Better Call Saul" at all. Perhaps the most cringe-inducing "joke" comes in "The Exor-sister," in which one of Jimmy's classmates goes on a tirade talking about cryptocurrency. 

As absurd as it is to consider "Slippin' Jimmy" canonical to the "Breaking Bad" universe, the mere presence of a joke about cryptocurrency in a show that probably takes place in the late 1970s or early 1980s reeks just feels so hackneyed. Likewise, the decision to use childish comedy pandering to a demographic that's unlikely to catch your series due to its inseparable ties to a prestige adult drama is so baffling that one wonders how this entire production got greenlit in the first place.

Perhaps the wildest thing about "Slippin' Jimmy" is its release window. All episodes of this cartoon were unveiled on AMC+ on May 23, 2022. This coincided with the release of the final episode of the first half of season 6 of "Better Call Saul," titled "Plan and Execution." This episode concludes with one of the most shocking television scenes in recent memory, as Jimmy's professional and criminal worlds collide when Howard Hamlin (Patrick Fabian) meets Lalo Salamanca (Tony Dalton) for the first and, tragically, only time. (You can read /Film's glowing review of season 6 here.)

In some ways, releasing "Slippin' Jimmy" on AMC+ on the same day that "Plan and Execution" aired makes sense on paper. Given the tragic ending of the episode, viewers reeling from the revelation may want to release some of that tension by watching something more lighthearted, so an animated comedy series centered on the misadventures of a young Jimmy seems appealing on the surface. However, not only would they be greeted with some of the unfunniest material in modern television animation, but they would also be reminded of another character's tragic demise. Given that Jimmy's animated stories often involve his best friend Marco, one cannot help but think of the "Better Call Saul" season 1 finale, "Marco," in which Jimmy reconnects with his old friend, who has remained in Cicero, Illinois, in the years since Jimmy moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico to start working at the law firm of his brother Charles "Chuck" McGill (Michael McKean). The episode ends with Marco (Mel Rodriguez) dying from a heart attack after he and Jimmy pull off one last scheme in an attempt to relive their glory days.

Even as an alternate, perhaps Elseworlds-esque comedic take on the "Breaking Bad" universe, "Slippin' Jimmy" fails to land in every way. As dark as "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul" can get, both featured quite a bit of gallows humor. Sure, in "Breaking Bad" we might see Gustavo "Gus" Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) slice one of his loyal henchman's throat with a box cutter in one episode, but there is also an entire episode dedicated to Walter and Jesse attempting to kill a simple housefly in the meth lab, which is filled with great physical comedy. In the case of "Better Call Saul," it has comedic powerhouse Bob Odenkirk as the lead actor, which already ensures some laughs alongside the interpersonal character drama. The comedy of the "Breaking Bad" universe is one of its most underrated aspects, and works fine as it is — something that leaves "Slippin' Jimmy" as nothing more than an embarrassing blemish on the legacy of some of the best television series ever produced.