The inset photo of “Breaking Bad” stars Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston in costume as different “Breaking” characters has been floating around Tumblr for several weeks now (click for larger), but I’d never actually looked closely enough to see that it was Cranston in the wheelchair, not Mark Margolis, the actor who played Hector “Tio” Salamanca.

Credit goes to PopWrap for finding the original source of the photo, and also for revealing that this is a tradition for the show’s wrap parties: in previous years, Paul and Cranston have dressed as each other’s characters and as Skyler and Jane (see below).

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Quick! To the Genocycle!

I’ve got two TV news stories and only one allotted post for them, so you’re getting them both: (1) “Sons of Anarchy” has been renewed for a fifth season, and (2) “The Walking Dead” season premiere broke its own ratings records.

“It is no small challenge to bring the themes of a great, ancient play like Hamlet into a wholly original television setting and to tell this complex story in a way that is both riveting and accessible to a broad audience,” network President John Landgraf said… This season has been averaging 5.8 million viewers, with the premiere episode the most-watched program in the network’s history. [TV Guide]

7.3 million zombie lovers tuned in, shattering all previous records for the show and dramatically improving on last year’s series premiere tune-in of 5.3 million. The story was even better for AMC in the key demo of adults 18 to 49, where the show averaged 4.8 million viewers under 50 and scored a 3.8 rating — bigger than just about everything else on network TV Sunday, save for NFL football. [Vulture]

It’s so weird that these shows are doing so well on cable, considering that they’re not cop shows on TNT. But if I’ve learned anything from following the TV industry, it’s that nothing stays fresh for long before it’s copied poorly. So get ready for shows about zombie motorcycle gangs, shows about motorcycle gangs fighting zombies, and of course the new Discovery docuseries “Zombie Vs. Motorcycles.” Can’t wait!

(banner image via)

There’s a reason that I stay faithful to “The Walking Dead” even when others have complaints about its characters or plot: it’s the only thing like it on television. Sure, “True Blood” has the gore, but it’s little more than a campy soap opera. “Breaking Bad” builds greater tension, but its payoffs are fewer. “The Walking Dead” is not just the only horror show on TV, it’s a very good one. And yeah, I can quibble about plot and character with the other eggheads if I want to, but within its genre, “The Walking Dead” is a scary, tense, and eye-gougingly gruesome television show. In a word, it’s badass.

So let’s get to these badass parts. I can’t possibly list every “zombie gets/hatcheted/stabbed/bludgeoned in the head with a rock,” but these are the moments that stuck out at me. (Spoilers follow, obviously.)

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UPDATE: Apparently AMC didn’t like us advertising their show, so the video got pulled. Excellent idea on their part.

Whatever complaints you might have about the uneven first season of “The Walking Dead,” the show has always done one thing exceptionally well: gruesome, horrifying carnage as zombies get their skulls caved in. And this video from Flavorwire takes every zombie death from Season 1 and packs it all into five minutes of bloody head shots and shovel-swinging. The musical choice (a cover of “Zombie”) leaves something to be desired, but it can’t stop this from making me want to swing an axe into someone’s head. Good thing I don’t work in an office building.

(Season 2 of “The Walking Dead” premieres this Sunday, and the early word on the street is that the story and writing are much improved since last season. Hell yes. For more zombie ownage, check out this collection of zombie kill GIFs.)

Close enough.

Here’s what I can say about last night’s episode of “Breaking Bad,” “Face Off,” without spoiling anything:

1. They sure like their Aerosmith and Def Leppard in New Mexico, don’t they?

That’s it. For everything else that happened, see after the jump.

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