15 Fascinating IMDb Statistics About Your Favourite TV Shows

4. Breaking Bad Was All About The Payoff

With a rating of 9.5 from over 1million votes, Breaking Bad ranks among the top-rated shows on IMDb, but there is a pattern within its seasons that is reflected in the ratings.

The show was very much driven by plot, building over the course of a season in such a way that it was designed to explode into life in the final few episodes. Looking at how the various instalments are rated, that rings true here.

Season 1, which admittedly only has 7 episodes, averages 8.58 for its first five episodes, then a solid 9 in its final two. In Season 2, which gives us a truer spread as Vince Gilligan could more fully realise his vision and serialise his story, the first eleven episodes averaged 8.69 with the last two at 9.1. It's then most pronounced in Season 3, with 8.6 against a whopping 9.5.

That represents the point where Breaking Bad started becoming a behemoth, and almost never dropping the ball. Season 4's first eleven average 9.1, and the first 14 of Season 5 are at 9.25, but the final two come in at 9.5 and then 9.75 respectively. Breaking Bad changed the game in terms of serialised storytelling, and that plays out in just how the seasons were structured and then paid off in such incredible fashion.