The truth is, Breaking Bad came at the right time. Who would have thought that a show that was basically a fluke would turn out to be seen as one of the greatest TV dramas of all time? As well as a show that paid Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul a ton of money and made them global superstars. And don't forget about the show's creator, Vince Gilligan, who also made an absolute fortune from his show and made him one of the most powerful and well-respected showrunners in Hollywood.

While die-hard fans of AMC's Breaking Bad seem to know a lot of the secrets behind-the-scenes, they don't seem to understand the true origin of the show. But thanks to an in-depth article by TV Guide, we have learned that Mad Men is what opened the door for Breaking Bad... Here's how...

Nobody But AMC Wanted The Script

According to the excellent oral interview about the origin of Breaking Bad, in 2006, AMC executives were looking for a new scripted drama to accompany Mad Men, which was set to premiere the following summer.

"We didn't want to do a period drama like Mad Men. We wanted something completely different," Christina Wayne, the former senior vice president of scripted programming at AMC said to TV Guide.

Related: The Truth About 'Breaking Bad's' Most Shocking Episode

While AMC had a thing about making shows they thought no other network would make, Breaking Bad was a longshot... After all, it was about a high school chemistry teacher who became a drug lord and cooked meth. Still, Vince Gilligan's script hit all of the executives the right way... After all, the script was downright brilliant and utterly unique.

Breaking Bad Pilot Walter White
Youtube

Vince, at the time, was known as a former writer on X-Files, but he wasn't known for much else. So making his submitted script would be taking a massive risk. Still, the script spoke for itself... It was electric and totally enthralling. But its uniqueness wasn't a draw for several other networks, such as FX, who all passed not the script. So, AMC was Vince Gilligan's last hope... And it worked.

What Inspired The Pilot?

In the interview with TV Guide, Vince Gilligan explained that the script for Breaking Bad was born out of his incredible desperation.

"What inspired the pilot was a certain amount of desperation on my part. I had been without work for a couple of years when the idea for the pilot hit me," Vince explained. "I was about to turn 40 years old, and I was thinking a lot about midlife crises, and was about to embark upon one myself. ... Of course, Walter White is having the world's worst midlife crisis, which in fact turns out to be an end-of-life crisis."

Vince was (and still is) one of the best writers in the business, so he was able to make the script an absolute-page turner. The fact that he could relate to the character's mid-life crisis made the show feel as though it was incredibly personal... Even though Vince has never made or even done meth... But it's probably a good thing that he hasn't...

Related: You Can Buy Breaking Bad's Hank Schrader's Medical Bill For $250.00

"A lot of places, we never even bothered pitching to because we figured the big three networks were never going to buy a show about a guy cooking crystal meth," Vince said, explaining the process about how he and AMC finally found synthesis. "Certainly not circa 2004, 2005. One great meeting -- which was almost as good as the AMC meeting, even though it was a no -- was with TNT. ... They said, 'We really love this, but at this point in time, if we buy this, we'll be fired.'"

But when AMC got ahold of the script, they were all for it. In fact, the executive consistently bugged Rob Sorcher, who was running the channel at the time, to read the script which sat on his desk for weeks on end. When Rob did end up reading it, he loved the story about a man who goes from 'milquetoast to Scarface'. And the entire AMC team was particularly thrilled to find out that Vince had written a rough arc for the entire series while sitting in a bar in Beverly Hills.

Breaking Bad Pilot opening
Fanpop

"This thing had been passed on by pretty much everybody in town when AMC came calling," Vince admitted. "I had had my heart broken and had adjusted already to the reality that this thing was never going to see the light of day. ... But I thought, at the very least, I'm going to get a $14 scotch out of this."

But Vince got a hell of a lot more than a scotch at the meeting.

"I thought, oh, that was a perfectly pleasant meeting and they say they liked the script. That's great. Bully for me. Whatever. But the damn thing's never going to happen. ... But lo and behold, they were serious about making it."

Soon after the meeting with AMC, the pilot was greenlit and Vince was even hired to direct it... And the rest is history...

NEXT: Everything Aaron Paul Has Been Up To Since 'Breaking Bad'