Though fans were surely pleased to see Breaking Bad get some love with a whole slew of Emmy nominations (including one for the spectacular star Bryan Cranston), they may be disappointed to know that the fourth season of the highly praised drama series won't come around until July 2011. That's over a year after the conclusion of the third season which happened this past June. But Deadline has news that will ease fans' suffering since AMC is planning to bridge the gap between the two seasons by producing short mini-episodes that will run about 3 or 4 minutes a piece. The plan is to start shooting them early next year when the show goes back into production and post them on AMC's website.

Hit the jump for my thoughts on webisodes.

Personally I've never paid to much attention to any webisodes or mini-episodes of television shows online no matter how much I love the series itself, but I'm sure people will be desperate for more Breaking Bad with such a large amount of time between seasons. Honestly I wish Breaking Bad could go the same route as 24 and produce an hour and a half TV-movie of sorts to bridge the gap. If a high-action show like 24 can pull it off, I would think the crew of Breaking Bad would have no troubles. But even with less time to bridge the gap, Cranston is dedicated to making these mini-episodes integral to the life of the series. The actor says, "I for one am eager to make these little interstitials important. I don’t want them to be simply filler or recap, but something that actually moves the storyline forward. If we’re going to do it, it ought to be a real part of the larger show.” Sounds good to me. We'll be sure to let you know as soon as these mini-episodes become available so stay tuned.