Breaking Bad won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series in 2014. The award was presented at the 66th Primetime Emmy Awards on August 25, 2014, honoring the second part of the show’s fifth and final season.
Created by Vince Gilligan, Breaking Bad follows Walter White, a chemistry teacher who enters the illegal drug trade after receiving a cancer diagnosis. Its final season was split into two parts, and the concluding episodes—including “Ozymandias” and “Felina”—were eligible for the 2014 awards.
The victory was Breaking Bad’s second win in this category. It had also won in 2013 for the first part of its fifth season, making the two-part final season especially successful with Emmy voters. The series competed against acclaimed programs including Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, House of Cards, and Mad Men.
The year can cause confusion because award ceremonies recognize television seasons from an eligibility period rather than simply shows that aired during the calendar year. In 2014, the ceremony honored programming broadcast between June 1, 2013, and May 31, 2014.