At one point, it seemed like AMC was becoming the new face of prestige television. With their inaugural entry into the world of television by way of the critically acclaimed Mad Men, AMC became a serious contender in the world of drama. Prior to Mad Men, HBO essentially possessed a monopoly on "awards bait" television, but once AMC launched Breaking Bad, HBO's reign was in question.
Several years later, HBO is still one of the kings of high-quality television, and AMC is just the zombie network. At the same time, AMC's most celebrated hit in Breaking Bad is still widely considered one of the best drama shows ever produced. How did AMC's status as a network diminish so quickly?
In the video linked above, YouTube Captain Midnight charts AMC's ascent and how the network briefly challenged perceptions about the kind of content cable could produce. As a die-hard Mad Men fan, I'll always wonder how AMC dropped the ball so spectacularly, but after watching the video, I walked away with a better understanding of how they capsized.
