Breaking Bad will end after sixteen more episodes

Sorry, Bryan Cranston fans: I hate to bring down your mood as you're currently enjoying the fourth season of Breaking Bad, but it was announced today that AMC and Sony Pictures Television have decided to stop the show after sixteen more episodes. But don't get too sad! While this might sound at first like another show ending before its time — specially a show many people consider to be the best thing on TV right now — this is actually good news for those of you who want to see more of Walter White's meth-dealing antics. You could have had even fewer episodes, according to Vulture:

Creator Vince Gilligan had said he could only see making 13 more episodes of Breaking Bad, while AMC started talks with Sony requesting the series end with fewer than 13. AMC has spent the summer in a major juggling act, figuring out way to keep costs under control in the wake of a blockbuster deal with Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner and rising production costs overall.

As a person who gets much too invested in his favorite TV shows, I understand the temptation to hope a series goes on forever, but it's probably better when everyone involved commits to a finite length. (Especially if one of those people is the creator — no one wants this thing to limp off into ignominy.) The sixteen episodes will most likely be split into two shortened seasons, so you'll be all set until 2013.