Breaking Bad due to commitments with Malcolm In The Middle.Cranston played Hal in the sitcom, which ran for seven seasons between 2000 and 2006, with Breaking Bad beginning in 2008.In a new interview on the Smartless podcast with Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes, Cranston revealed that an eighth season of Malcolm… was in the works, and if it was green-lit, would have prevented him from shooting the Breaking Bad pilot.“[In 2006] Fox said, ‘Keep the sets up.