Heisenberg Lives, In Downtown Los Angeles

Spotted in downtown Los Angeles' arts district: Heisenberg Lives!

Celebrate the End of Breaking Bad and "Dance B!tch"

Can't wait for tonight's series finale of "Breaking Bad"? Neither can I. My dream this morning even involved Walter White and Jesse Pinkman. But as we wait, here's something to tide us over: Aaron Paul lends a few vocals to this hard-driving dance track. Naturally, it involves the word "Bitch!"

Separated At Birth?

"Babe" actor James Cromwell...


... Glendale City Council candidate Mike Mohill...


... and "Breaking Bad's" Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks)?

Jimmy Kimmel Lives, on TV Guide Magazine

There have already been a ton of highlights in my early (just a year and a half so far!) tenure at TV Guide Magazine, from two Comic-Cons to two major, newsy Chuck Lorre/"Two and a Half Men" covers. But this ranks right up at the top: Our big cover package on late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. Jimmy, who's hosting the Emmy Awards on September 23, agreed to dress up as characters from all six of the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy nominees ("Mad Men," "Breaking Bad," "Downton Abbey," "Homeland," "Boardwalk Empire," "Game of Thrones"). Plus, I had the opportunity to spend a day at the "Jimmy Kimmel Live" studios on Hollywood and sit down with the host for a lengthy interview.

There was a ton to talk about. This has been an amazing year for Kimmel, who was tapped to host both the White House Correspondents Dinner and the Emmy Awards for starters. Then there was his big Oprah moment on his annual post-Oscars special. Just a few weeks ago he got engaged to his longtime girlfriend. And now, ABC has rewarded him with a timeslot upgrade (come January) to 11:35 p.m. This story was already in the works when he got the official greenlight for his promotion -- and it just solidified the reasons behind doing this story now.

All four covers are on stands now:



And you can read an extended version of my Q&A with Kimmel here.

Meanwhile, direct from the photo shoot, I also had a second opportunity to interview Kimmel, this time while he was dressed as "Breaking Bad's" Walter White. Watch a video of the photo shoot below:

Mike at Comic-Con: A Photo Gallery Round-Up

Whatta Comic-Con! For starters, that's Crystal the Monkey (of "The Hangover," "Community" and now "Animal Practice" fame) giving me a little bit of a lick. I think I now have Ebola. Here are some pics of my Four Days in Comic-Con geekville.


The cast of "Breaking Bad" on stage.


Aaron Paul in hazmat gear with fake baby.


Bryan Cranston dons his hazmat suit for the "Breaking Bad" panel.


The "Community" panel, up close.


The view of Ballroom 20's 5,000-strong crowd from the stage.


Gus Fring (Giancarlo Esposito) recruits me for some sort of "cooking" job.


The cast of NBC's new "Revolution."


"Mockingbird Lane" and "Hannibal" writer Bryan Fuller with director David Slade (who has donned the real "Hannibal" face prop).


Me with Butch Patrick, who played Eddie Munster on the original "The Munsters" abd may now have a recurring role in the reboot.


Team TV Guide Magazine poses with Crystal the Monkey at NBC's Comic-Con party.


Danny Pudi "saves" Joel McHale's life on the TV Guide Magazine yacht.


Group shot of the "Community" stars who could make it to San Diego.


"Community" cast has some fun on the TV Guide Magazine yacht.


Terry O'Quinn and Vanessa Williams of ABC's new "666 Park Avenue" on the TV Guide Magazine yacht.


Vanessa Williams poses as Terry O'Quinn looks on.


Looking dapper, John Locke -- er, Terry O'Quinn!


The cast of "666 Park Avenue."


"Fringe" star Joshua Jackson on the yacht.


Welcome to the TV Guide Magazine yacht!


View from the yacht.


Costume of the 'Con?


Mega Domo!


Spider-Man will take your Starbucks order now.


Captain America keeps the San Diego Convention Center safe.


Either "Wilfred" fans... or more likely, "Wilfred" promoters from FX. Either way, cool costumes.


"Spottacus."


More than meets the eye, it's the Transformers!


Nickelodeon's revived Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles meet the fans.


A "Once Upon a Time"-themed pedicab on the San Diego comic-con streets.


Nerd Domo!


NBC's presence at Comic-Con.


Crowd looking for free Iron Man 3 swag at the Marvel booth.


Oh, Captain America, what happened??

Mike at Comic-Con: Watch the 'Community,' 'Breaking Bad,' Bryan Fuller and 'Revolution' Panels Now

Couldn't make it down to the Comic-Con? All four of the panels that I got to moderate are now online. Re-live the craziness below.



ABOVE: The long-anticipated "Community" panel, featuring Joel McHale, Yvette Nicole Brown, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, new showrunners David Guarascio and Moses Port, veteran exec producer Russ Krasnoff and writers Megan Ganz and Andy Bobrow. I start the panel by asking the audience to help me in a little call and response: "SIX SEASONS... AND A MOVIE!" Later, I ask Guarascio and Port to tell us whether everything's going to be OK.



ABOVE: "All hail King Heisenberg!" I kick off the "Breaking Bad" panel with a salute to the dastardly alter ego of formerly mild-mannered school teacher Walter White. Executive producer Vince Gilligan, stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul and the rest of the cast joined me for the show's first-ever Comic-Con Q&A. I think they were all taken aback by the huge crowd and massive response.



ABOVE: A chat with Bryan Fuller about "Mockingbird Lane" (the "Munsters" remake) and "Hannibal." I kick things off my asking Fuller if he's crazy -- but in a good way. Later, he drops some big "Pushing Daisies" hints.



ABOVE: A quick panel with "Revolution" creator Eric Kripke and some of the show's cast, including Giancarlo Esposito and Bryan Burke. "What the F is going on?" I ask Kripke.

Mike at Comic-Con: Moderating 'Community,' 'Breaking Bad,' More

(Flickr photo by titi-.)

Perks of the job: For the second year in a row, I got to experience San Diego Comic-Con as the moderator of multiple TV-themed panels. And they were good ones -- including "Community," "Breaking Bad" and one devoted to writer/director Bryan Fuller, who's currently adapting both "Hannibal" and "The Munsters" (reimagined as "Mockingbird Lane") for NBC. My fourth panel was a quick one for NBC's new post-apocalyptic drama "Revolution."



My panels kicked off on Friday morning with "Community," which I had the honor of moderating last year as well. But there was a big difference this year: Not only could Chevy Chase, Ken Jeong, Jim Rash and Donald Glover not make it to the panel, but this was the first panel for the show since creator Dan Harmon was shown the door. That meant it also was the "coming out" party for new showrunners Moses Port and David Guarascio.

Guarascio and Port acquitted themseves quite nicely, and said all the right things -- that they love the show too. After I asked them if "everything was going to be OK. They said yes. And they also started promising several fan favorites -- including more animation, and another one devoted to fake show-within-a-show "Inspector Spacetime."



Next up, on Friday night I got to moderate the first-ever Comic-Con panel for "Breaking Bad." Clearly this was a long time coming, as fans gave the show two standing ovations. I think the entire cast, as well as creator Vince Gilligan, were in awe of sitting in front of a crowd of 5,000 adoring fans.

Vince was pretty tight-lipped, but he did hint that the Germans would be a part of season 5, and that Walt does something this season that strips away any last shred of decency he may still have had.

I shared a few backstage pics on our new Franklin Avenue instagram account. And I'll post some here in the next few days -- including shots of Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul climbing into hazmat suits.


(Photo by: Trae Patton/NBC)

One of the more interesting panels I moderated was a chat with "Pushing Daisies" creator Bryan Fuller, who brought along and screened the first five minutes of his "Mockingbird Lane" pilot and revealed some details about it and his new take on "Hannibal." He also tantalized the crowd by hinting that there might be some sort of "Pushing Daisies" revival on some sort of platform.



My final panel on Saturday was a quick one for NBC's new drama "Revolution." The pilot was screened, which left just about 8 minutes to chat with creator Eric Kripke and the show's stars, including Billy Burke and Giancarlo Esposito. That's right, "Breaking Bad's" Gus Fring was on my "Revolution" panel. It was full-circle, "Breaking Bad" weekend!