Battle Creek: 10 Things We Already Know About Vince Gilligan's Next Masterpiece

3. It Won't Be As Heavily Serialized As Breaking Bad

Let's face it: buddy cop shows more often than not follow a formula, excepting the recent example of True Detective, which is only eight episodes a season and is really a recurring anthology miniseries and thus not really a buddy cop show. Not that I'm expecting Battle Creek to be your average Law & Order or CSI, but with the premise being what it is and David Shore on board then we're bound to see much more procedural elements than in Breaking Bad. That's not necessarily anything bad; Shore and Gilligan have both worked wonders from sticking to formulas in the past, either on House or The X-Files, which both managed to have interesting ongoing character work while also keeping casual audiences interested with diseases/monsters of the week. And we've seen that Gilligan can accomplish wonderful things with odd-couple partners: Walter White and Jesse Pinkman couldn't be more dissimilar, but but them in a bullet-ridden RV together and magic starts to happen. Gregory House, too, conflicts with everyone he's supposed to work with, especially those who are ostensibly on his side like Wilson and Cuddie, so we know that David Shore has the chops to keep the core relationship of Battle Creek an entertaining one. It seems like that will be the main focus of the show instead of an overarching narrative propelled by one man's pathological desire to leave behind a gigantic legacy.