One of the biggest surprises when Breaking Bad premiered on AMC back in 2008 was how incredibly good the guy from Malcolm in the Middle was in a heavy drama about a high-school teacher (with cancer), who turns to a career in meth to take care of his family. It seems very obvious now that Bryan Cranston — currently starring in Your Honor — is one of the best television actors of his generation, but that wasn’t nearly as obvious when he took the lead in Breaking Bad. In fact, some of those early viewers initially tuned in to see the novelty of a sitcom actor starring in dark drama.