Diving Into Better Call Saul

Back in 2008, AMC took a chance on a cutting-edge drama about a morally bankrupt high school science teacher who cooked meth to make ends meet. Little did network execs realize that their gamble would soon change the landscape of American television. Now, almost 15 years later, the reach of Breaking Bad can still be felt through the legacy it left behind — and, a little more directly, through its spinoff prequel Better Call Saul.  

Starring funnyman Bob Odenkirk reprising his dramatic role as Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill and created by Breaking Bad guru Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, the AMC drama follows the tragic misadventures of the “criminal” lawyer in the years before he teamed up with Walter White. The sixth and final season of the critically lauded and much adored drama kicks off on April 18 on AMC, and as much as it might pain the network, it seems that this is the beginning of the end for the channel’s IP golden goose. With the Breaking Bad story all but fully realized, where will AMC turn next?

Filling the gap left by its flagship series won’t be possible if AMC isn’t able to pinpoint what draws viewers to it in the first place. What drives the popularity of Better Call Saul, and what other series tend to excite its audience? Insights is taking a dive into the Better Call Saul fan base to answer these questions and better understand the qualities that make it such a beloved drama.

The sixth season of Better Call Saul is set to debut on AMC on April 18.

What Do Fans Love About Better Call Saul?

Better Call Saul currently holds the top spot on three Ranker lists, each of which represents a different aspect of the show’s appeal: its strong writing, nostalgic charm, and cast members.

First and foremost, it’s #1 on The Best-Written Current TV Shows (12K votes), where it beat out two wildly popular comedies in Curb Your Enthusiasm and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, though it seems to be trading that #1 spot back and forth with Netflix’s crime drama Ozark (also ending in April 2022). Better Call also tops our list of The Greatest Period TV Shows Set In The 1990s, overshadowing entries like Hulu’s acclaimed miniseries Little Fires Everywhere, CBS’s Silence of the Lambs prequel series Clarice, and Channel 4’s Brit teen comedy Derry Girls. Finally, Saul also tops the list of The Best Shows Featuring The Breaking Bad Cast, which includes entries such as Bryan Cranston’s vehicle Sneaky Pete, Aaron Paul’s animated effort BoJack Horseman, and Giancarlo Esposito’s fantasy romp Once Upon a Time. 

Better Call Saul nabbed the #3 spot on the list of The Best AMC Original Shows (5K votes), on which it beat out The Terror, Hell on Wheels, and even prestige TV heavyweight Mad Men. But perhaps most impressively, the AMC drama came in at #3 on the list of The Best Shows Currently On The Air (276K votes), one of the most competitive TV lists on Ranker. It was outpaced by Netflix’s Stranger Things and Starz’s Outlander, but beat out over 150 other programs, including Westworld, The Boys, and The Crown. 

Surely AMC would want any show it puts out to be worthy of the title Best Show Currently On The Air, and it might be nice if it involved an actor or two from the Breaking Bad universe. But the most telling ranking from this impressive list of lists, from our perspective, is its top spot on The Best-Written Current TV Shows. To keep pulling in viewers, the network should continue to invest in the kind of strong writing that made AMC such a powerhouse in the early days of prestige TV — and it couldn’t hurt to make the network’s next well-written show a ‘90s period piece.

• #1 - The Best-Written Current TV Shows

• #1 - The Greatest Period TV Shows Set in the 1990s

• #1 - The Best Shows Featuring The Breaking Bad Cast

• #3 - The Best AMC Original Shows

• #3 - The Best Shows Currently On The Air

• #6 - The Greatest TV Dramas Of All Time

Who’s Watching Better Call Saul?

A drama that’s at times heartwarming, at others heartbreaking, and often surprisingly funny, Better Call Saul appeals to all different kinds of TV viewers. From those who love crime dramas to those still chasing the golden days of “prestige TV,” here are a few categories into which many Better Call Saul viewers fit.

PRESTIGE TV DEVOTEES

Fans of Better Call Saul watch the show for its pedigree roots, and there are other shows that create conversation thanks to their extraordinary writing, impeccable storytelling, and amazing casts. According to Ranker Insights, people who watch Better Call Saul are almost 8X more likely to watch Netflix’s Ozark, 6X more likely to watch Succession and 7X more likely to watch the gone-but-not-forgotten HBO landmark The Sopranos.

These viewers love Better Call Saul and… Ozark, Succession, The Sopranos

HIGH-END CRIME DRAMAS

Better Call Saul fans are also fans of first-rate crime dramas — shows that resemble classic police procedurals, but with a darker tone and far more awards. Friends of Saul are 8X more likely to check out FX’s Fargo, which shares a similar balance of quirky comedy and violent crime with the AMC series. These viewers are also 7X more likely to check out True Detective and 7X more likely to watch Mindhunter, two series that transformed and revitalized the crime genre during the 2010s.

These viewers love Better Call Saul and… True Detective, Mindhunter, Fargo

AMC AFICIONADOS

And finally, fans of Better Call Saul also have the tendency to stick around Saul’s home channel to see what else the network has to offer, which is great news for AMC. Over the past decade, it’s made a name for itself by releasing one prestige show after the next, including Breaking Bad. So of course fans of Saul are likely to watch the original. According to Ranker Insights, Saul watchers are 10X more likely than the average viewer to be Breaking Bad fanatics. They’re also 7X more likely to watch AMC’s beloved period drama Mad Men, which should tell people at the network that the Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul crowd doesn’t need a ton of violence to latch onto a TV drama. That said, they’re also 3X more likely to watch The Walking Dead, so maybe don’t throw the idea of violence out altogether. 

These viewers love Better Call Saul and… Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Walking Dead

These stories are crafted using Ranker Insights, which takes over one billion votes cast on Ranker.com and converts them into actionable psychographics about pop culture fans across the world. To learn more about how our Ranker Insights can be customized to serve your business needs, visit insights.ranker.com, or email us at insights@ranker.com.

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