<Tr> <Td> ← Previous--</Td> <Td> Next → "Cat's in the Bag ..." </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Breaking Bad (season 1) List of Breaking Bad episodes </Td> </Tr> <P> "Pilot" (titled "Breaking Bad" on DVD and Blu - ray releases) is the first episode of the American television drama series Breaking Bad . It originally aired on AMC on January 20, 2008, and was written and directed by series creator and showrunner Vince Gilligan . </P> <P> Walter White is a high school chemistry teacher living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with his pregnant wife Skyler and their teenage son Walter Jr . (RJ Mitte), who has cerebral palsy . Walt supplements his low teaching salary by working part - time at a local car wash, where he is often humiliated in front of the students he teaches . On his 50th birthday, Walt returns home to a surprise party arranged by Skyler . The following day, he collapses at the car wash and is raced to the hospital, where he is told that he has developed inoperable lung cancer and has, at best, two years to live . Walt opts to keep this news from his family and from Skyler's sister Marie Schrader and her husband Hank, a DEA agent . </P>

When did the first episode of breaking bad air