“Breaking Bad” finished its run with an Emmy Award as Best Drama Series for the second straight year Monday night. This will be the last stop for the AMC drama at any awards show since the final episodes aired a year ago.
See complete list of Emmy winners and nominations
To prevail in the category for 2014, it defeated “Downton Abbey,” “Game of Thrones,” “House of Cards,” “Mad Men,” and “True Detective.”
Unlike most shows which win early and then crumble away over time, “Breaking Bad” was always a slow build at awards events. The show wasn’t even nominated in the top category at the Emmys for its first chance in 2008, although star Bryan Cranston did pull off a surprise victory.
Biggest Emmy shockers: Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Jessica Lange …
Unlike early success stories like “Mad Men,” “The West Wing,” or “Hill Street Blues,” the show’s trajectory was more in line with “The Sopranos.” That HBO crime series did not win as Best Drama Series until 2004 and also won for its final season in 2007.
Emmys: The good (‘Breaking Bad’), bad (Seth Meyers) and ugly (‘Weird’ Al)
It is a rare feat for a drama series to win the top award on its last chance. Other than “Breaking Bad” and “The Sopranos,” the last show to do so at the Emmys was “Upstairs, Downstairs” in 1977.
