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I became a fan of Breaking Bad after it had ended (I detest watching series with a continuity that is ruined by being cancelled). So at that time, I went and ordered the boxed set of all 6 seasons. 6 seasons? you ask with arched eyebrow.

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Yep, 6 seasons, and I got the same look from my brother in-law who had watched it live. He expressed that he thought it had been 5 seasons, but he made it as a passing comment so I didn't take much notice.

But now, going through questions on this Q&A Site, as well as the BB Wiki, it seems the '6th/Final season' was actually the 2nd half of the 5th season.

Does anybody know:

  1. If this way of releasing the DVDs is specific to Australia only?
  2. Why release it that way? (I mean, if I were going that way, I'd be tempted to break every season into two and sell it as '10 total', but splitting the 'last season only' seems ..rather odd.)
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    "Why release it that way? (I mean, if I were going that way, I'd be tempted to break every season into two and sell it as '10 total', but splitting the 'last season only' seems ..rather odd.)" - Haha, tell this to the makers of your favourite teenage fantasy/SciFi adventures. ;-)
    – Napoleon Wilson
    Commented Jul 24, 2014 at 13:58

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This was because the Final Season was in effect split over 2 years. Take a look at the Wiki page showing the release dates for the episodes.

Whereas most seasons started in July and finished in October in the same year, the fifth season started in July 2012, finished at episode 8 in September 2012, then took a year break and came back in August 2013 before finally wrapping up in September 2013.

In that gap, to capitalise on sales, a DVD of the "first half" of the season was released. Then, a year later, the "Final Season" was released.

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    If it makes you feel any better, the final 16 episodes were split into two different DVD/Blu-ray sets here in the United States as well, although we do have complete season sets as well. See this listing for Breaking Bad on Amazon. amzn.to/1uiztQ9
    – MattD
    Commented Jul 24, 2014 at 13:29
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    And why then did they call it a single season at all and not just 2 normal seasons?
    – Napoleon Wilson
    Commented Jul 24, 2014 at 13:56
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    @NapoleonWilson: Good question. Not sure if it's relevant, but I know Apple got into trouble for advertising Season 5 on iTunes, getting people to pay some $20 for it and then having the people realise the Season was only half complete (with the rest of the episodes in "The Final Season"). Think they got sued actually.
    – Andrew Martin
    Commented Jul 24, 2014 at 14:01
  • @NapoleonWilson I believe they simply referred to the hiatus as a "mid-season break", thus it was one season, just stretched over a year instead of 16 weeks. I mean, they had to keep something on the air while the ground breaking Low Winter Sun was on the way, right? :P
    – MattD
    Commented Jul 24, 2014 at 18:17

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