'Breaking Bad' Hits Series High Ahead of Mid-Season Finale

AMC

Breaking Bad may not be long for this television world, but the AMC drama continues to grow its audience as it nears the end of its run.

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Following record ratings achieved during the season four and season five premieres, this past Sunday's episode reached a new high for the series with 3.0 million viewers according to overnight Nielsen returns. It was a six percent boost from the previous episode, matching its 2.4 households rating, a promising sign for this week's mid-season ender.

In the targeted adults 18-49, Breaking Bad posted even bigger gains -- 15 percent -- by pulling 1.85 million in the younger demographic.

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Following July's 2.93 million premiere, Breaking Bad took a steep 20 percent drop in total viewers before ultimately regaining most of the haul after the Olympics. Still, even this season's lowest-rated episode -- July 29 brought in just 2.2 million viewers -- eclipses all but one episode from the first four seasons of the series.

Breaking Bad will return for eight final episodes in 2013.