Breaking Bad's Forgotten Spinoff No One Should Watch Makes Me Appreciate Better Call Saul Even More

Published May 26, 2025

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Better Call Saul, is largely considered one of the greatest prequels ever. Both series feature complex characters with incredibly engaging plot lines, allowing them to grow and develop over the course of both shows. For Better Call Saul, the prequel not only further develops Bob Odenkirk's morally questionable criminal defense lawyer, Jimmy McGill (Saul Goodman), but it enhances Breaking Bad even more, which is one of the best things a prequel story can do.

Of course, there are some best TV spin-offs of all time and adds even more layers to Breaking Bad's already dense character writing, there is another part of the franchise that failed in nearly every metric possible. Following the growing popularity of Better Call Saul, Better Call Saul Presents: Slippin' Jimmy unfortunately made its debut ahead of the final season.

Slippin' Jimmy Is A Bizarre Reminder Of How Prequels Can Miss The Mark

Slippin' Jimmy Was A Terrible Prequel To Better Call Saul

While Better Call Saul expanded on the eponymous character and El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie wrapped up Jesse Pinkman's story from the series, Slippin' Jimmy was a generic, bizarre comedy about a young Jimmy McGill based on what we knew about the character from Better Call Saul. The short-lived animated prequel series detailing Jimmy McGill's high school days was released on AMC+ in 2022. Thankfully, Slippin' Jimmy was largely forgotten due to how pointless it is.

Slippin' Jimmy simply feels like a generic animated show that uses the Breaking Bad IP without trying to be anything great on its own.

Slippin' Jimmy highlights how bad prequels can miss the mark when they only seem to exist to capitalize on the popular IP it is spinning off from, instead of trying to add anything substantial in of plot or character development to the franchise. Slippin' Jimmy simply feels like a generic animated show that uses the Breaking Bad IP without trying to be anything great on its own. Perhaps the biggest blunder that Slippin' Jimmy commits is how tonally dissonant it is from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul as a whole, which was bound to happen since it is a comedy.

Better Call Saul Could've Been Just A Saul Goodman Spinoff With No Depth

Better Call Saul Was Originally Envisioned As A Sitcom

Another point that Slippin' Jimmy highlights is how easy it could have been for Better Call Saul to be nothing more than a generic spin-off of Breaking Bad with no depth. After Breaking Bad cemented itself as one of the best shows ever made, there were a variety of Breaking Bad spinoff ideas that were thrown around to expand the franchise. For Better Call Saul, it was originally envisioned to be a 30-minute sitcom starring Saul Goodman in a legal comedy. Funnily enough, that may have been closer to Slippin' Jimmy than to the Better Call Saul we got.

Fortunately, the creators pivoted away from that idea, and Better Call Saul premiered just two years after Breaking Bad ended, running for six incredible seasons before it ended in 2022. Better Call Saul embraced both the darker aspects of the Breaking Bad universe while also utilizing more nuanced humor than something like Slippin' Jimmy.

Breaking Bad Deserved A Spinoff As Great As Better Call Saul

Both Shows Are Some Of The Best Television Ever Made

If Breaking Bad was ever going to get a spin-off, Better Call Saul is arguably the best outcome anyone could have asked for. Breaking Bad is one of the standards of television as a whole, and a show of its caliber deserved a spin-off that could carry on its massive legacy. Thankfully, Better Call Saul is exactly that, and in some aspects, even sures Breaking Bad. Both are incredible from start to finish.

bob odenkirk as saul goodman wearing a suit with a red shirt and blue tie in better call saul

“My Real Name's McGill:” How Much Of Better Call Saul Was Really Set Up During Breaking Bad

Better Call Saul was never planned, but it did an incredible job of tying together any loose ends from Breaking Bad regarding Saul’s character.

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Instead of cashing in on the IP or doing something tonally at odds with what came before, Better Call Saul enhances the Breaking Bad timeline as a whole, giving more depth than ever to Saul Goodman and exploring other characters from the original series in exciting new ways. Better Call Saul is a masterpiece and a worthy spin-off of Breaking Bad, and, fortunately, Slippin' Jimmy doesn't feel like it belongs in this universe.