Despite my occasional disagreements with Jace Lacob, I think he’s one of the finest TV writers working today. He’s just written a new piece for the Daily Beast chronicling the AMC’s rise, beginning with the premiere of Broken Trail in 2006. The article is notable for including quotes from interviews with AMC President Charlie Collier and Senior VP of Programming Joel Stillerman:
“The greatest challenge for us comes with managing change,” Collier said. “Because once you have success, the drug is to replicate and continue to do the same thing.”
“The amazing benefit of having Mad Men and Breaking Bad is pretty evident,” added Stillerman. “The only downside, to the extent that there is one, is where do you go from there? You have to make sure that we are not the channel that used to have Mad Men and Breaking Bad…”