Drawing the battle lines

Johnson, whose string of movie credits include an Oscar for Rain Man, knew Gilligan prior to Breaking Bad and together pitched the idea for Battle Creek before pairing up again on the AMC hit years later.

CBS finally gave Battle Creek a straight-to-season order last year, with House creator Shore coming onboard as showrunner. The series, slated to air in mid-season 2014/15, “has traces of Vince Gilligan but is very much a David Shore show,” says Johnson.

Shore also reflects on his writing process: “I hate being in a room with 10 people talking about any issue for any length of time,” he says. “I only work with people who are talented and I like, and are not divas, and that’s really important to me.”

He also talks about cable's impact on the US broadcast networks: “Cable has changed everything and, honest to God, I try not to think about that. The networks worry about it too much. [They] feel more pressure to reach a larger audience. I personally think that works against them. I think they sometimes kill their babies.”