Awww, Birthday Cat threw them a surprise party.

Here’s some “Breaking Bad” news, and also breaking bad news: series creator Vince Gilligan has said that AMC’s critically acclaimed won’t be back with new episodes until July of 2011, an unusually long creative hiatus. ScreenJunkies got the details from Gilligan:

“We are going to get back in the room in early July and we’re looking forward to doing that. We’re going to go back on the air in I think July of 2011 so it’s a little ways off but we’ve got a lot of lead time to hopefully make the best show we can make… It’s going to be a lot more pre/writing time which is very good for us.”

Yeah, good for the show, but TERRIBLE for the viewers. Dude, A YEAR?!? And if AMC keeps “Breaking Bad” on Sunday nights, its fourth season will be in the same lineup with “Mad Men’s” fifth season. That’s two hours of mandatory viewing on Sunday nights during the summer. Mandatory viewing with mandatory drinking. I can’t watch “Mad Men” without a glass of whiskey in my hand, and I need booze to calm my nerves during “Breaking Bad.” Oh well, looks like I’m gonna be hung over every Monday in August 2011. That’s kind of nice to know, actually. I usually don’t plan that far in advance.