The television world was rocked this week by the news that the cult series Breaking Bad hit 5.9 million viewers with its season opener. This nearly doubled the 3 million.level.for the first episode of its previous season. Breaking Bad has always been a bit of a niche show: Its first season started with 1.4 million viewers and the second season grew only by a modest 300,000 viewers. So why on earth is the last season of the show suddenly.a ratings bonanza? Variety has an interesting theory: Netflix has turned into a cable kingmaker, able to turn critically acclaimed shows with mediocre initial ratings into blockbusters. The starting point to the argument is that five-year-old shows almost never grow substantially, even

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