MovieChat Forums > 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996) Discussion > The Breaking Bad Connection?????

The Breaking Bad Connection?????

posted 12 years ago by kowalski1977
8 replies | jump to latest

I only watched most of the series of this show recently after only catching the occasioanl episode and liking on Tv back in the 90's, but I noticed between seasons 4 & 5 main characters from Breaking Bad have played minor cameos.

Walt/Bryan Cranston is a Neil Diamond impersonator in "Paranoid Dick".

Jesse/Aaron Paul is a band member on stage at the school prom in "Dick's Big Giant Headache: Part 2".

Saul/Bob Odenkirk/the shifty lawyer plays a similar shifty role as a insurance salesman in the episode "The Fifth Solomon".

I was knocked back to see Walt and Jesse playing parts in different episodes from the same season, I mean like they're the two main characters from Breaking Bad, and then a few episodes into the 5th season Saul shows his face as a dodgy insurance man and I'm like WTF??????? Surprised to say the least, now I 'm wondering do these actors know they've all played small parts in 3rd Rock? Could Breaking Bad be in the same universe as 3rd Rock? Have all these actors ever been on the BB set and one said "I starred in 3rd rock once" and another one say's "hey that's far out I was in that show show too" and a third goes "no freaking way man I was too" and then all their minds are blown.
I'm quite a fan of both these shows and gives me quite a small sense of smuggness to discover I'm probably one of the only people in the world to notice that all these actors played a small roles. I'm a few episodes into season 5 just after the Saul incident but I will be even more blown away if I find any more BB cameos in there lol.

[–] LuFDPF 12 years ago

Same here. It's like they foreshadowed BB's character's faiths. Jesse with the band(Twathammer) and Saul's corrupted ways. OK, maybe I'm reading too much into this :)). Anyway, I couldn't tell anyone because none of my friends watch/watched these shows.

[–] teddyg86 12 years ago

Mind=blown.

Now go home and get yer fuccin' shinebox.

[–] Scott-101 12 years ago

Bryan Cranston was on a lot of shows at the time.
Odenkirk wrote for SNL and the creators of the show were from SNL.
They bought on Jan Hooks and Jane Curtain from SNL and used Kevin Nealon and some other SNL alums in guest roles

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[–] jerichofan_101 11 years ago

There were also a lot of actors who had appeared on Seinfeld. Wayne Knight being the most obvious one. There were quite a few others, including Bryan Cranston, who played Tim Whatley on Seinfeld.

[–] hubcap18 10 years ago

Phil Hartman of SNL appeared twice, each time as a different character. During his second appearance, he kidnapped Harry as and end-of-season cliffhanger, and died before the next episode could be filmed. The writers solved this problem by saying he had sold Harry to a circus, where people came to watch him transmit messages from The Big Giant Head.

_______
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[–] EurydiceBarzane 11 years ago

Jim Beaver, who played the bar owner 'Happy Doug' in 3rd Rock appeared in two episodes of Breaking Bad as 'Lawson' the arms dealer. The episodes are 'Thirty-Eight Snub' and 'Live Free or Die'.

[–] PrickWithAFork 10 years ago

The Phil Hartman as Randy ("Cos I'm a bad bad apple and I'm rotten to the core!") episode is my favourite (though I don't usually like Big Giant Head episodes).

I can play those scenes over and over - Harry is making out with the beautiful, also sadly departed, Vicki/Jan Hooks in the bedroom and, impersonating Harry in what she thinks is a sex-game, says, very sexily, "IN-COMING MESS-AGE!" Harry takes fright and, as he passes through the living room, there's Randy sitting at the table casually finishing off some food! Hartman is almost unrecognisable as Randy - "Oh yeah!" - and it's tragic that he could never finish the role. Heartbreaking to watch it now and realise Jan and Phil are no longer with us.

I'm a Prick With a Fork.

[–] shaw-michael24 9 years ago

No connection. It is as simple as actors work and they were actors who worked. Maybe Odenkirk was in mind cuz they knew him from snl and they probably hired Cranston cuz he is good at his craft and maybe liked him from Seinfeld. And no you aren't the only person to notice stuff like that oh pretentious one.