Last night’s premiere of Better Call Saul is going over well with Breaking Bad fans.
—
Update (12:50 p.m. pacific): The ratings are in, and AMC says that Better Call Saul is cable’s highest-rated series premiere ever with 6.9 viewers in total during the 10 p.m. hour. Despite the interesting fact, The Walking Dead had 15.6 million viewers at 9 p.m. That’s a major drop off between shows.
Ratings for episode 2 – airing tonight – will give us a better glimpse into the show’s popularity.
—
While no one watching the new prequel series needs to watch Breaking Bad to understand the show, the Bob Odenkirk-led drama is obviously being watched primarily by those who loved Bad.
We checked in with Breaking Bad fans on Twitter to see what they thought of the series premiere.
One of our readers loved Saul’s witty remarks, which were an important part of his shtick on Bad:
@Hypable #BetterCallSaul awesome opening and great to see Jimmy aka Saul back! Love the Saul-isms like ass over tea kettle and go with God!
— Moneyinthegarage.com (@MoneyntheGarage) February 9, 2015
One viewer found that Saul can stand on its own — very high praise!:
I loved the first episode of #BetterCallSaul. It is similar and different enough than #BreakingBad to be its own thing. Purely entertaining.
— JBG4 (@JeremyGoodson4) February 9, 2015
Another found episode 1 to be better than Bad’s first episode! We’ve seen this remark appear in a few reviews:
Can I say #BetterCallSaul pilot better than #BreakingBad pilot?
— Nikhil Surve (@nikhilsurve20) February 9, 2015
This person thought all Bad viewers should be tuning in for the new show:
if you're a #BreakingBad fan and you haven't watched #BetterCallSaul yet, stop what you're doing and GO WATCH IT. So. Freakin. Awesome.
— belle warbler (@LittleRedRia) February 9, 2015
Another was inspired to binge watch Bad after last night’s Saul premiere:
Such a good first episode of #BetterCallSaul! Makes me wanna watch #BreakingBad again.
— Amy Berresford (@am_yyy) February 9, 2015
This person said that the show feels just like Bad (and after seeing episode 2, we’re sure they’ll be saying this again):
#BetterCallSaul was awesome and way better than I expected, it truly feels like #BreakingBad, and was better than #TheWalkingDead last night
— Charlie Mann (@CharlieMann69) February 9, 2015
One person took to Twitter to appreciate Saul’s opening scene:
"In a couple months I'll be a manager at a Cinnabon in Omaha" AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED #BreakingBad #BetterCallSaul
— Mike Streer (@MikeStreer) February 9, 2015
But not everyone immediately fell in love with Saul:
The #BetterCallSaul premiere wasn't bad. A little slow perhaps, and the best parts were #BreakingBad tie-ins. Still promising for a spinoff.
— Nicholas Strange (@NicholasStrange) February 9, 2015
After browsing through Twitter for feedback, our unscientific study found that the majority of viewers enjoyed what Saul’s series premiere had to offer.
In our opinion, the show gets even better in the next couple of episodes, so we expect this kind of good feedback to continue.
Better Call Saul episode 2, titled “Mijo,” airs tonight at 10 p.m. on AMC (the series’ regular time slot going forward). “As his troubles escalate to a boiling point, Jimmy finds himself in dire straits. An act of carelessness puts Chuck at risk,” the episode’s synopsis reads. Check out a trailer featuring some familiar Bad visuals below: