Bob Odenkirk on "Better Call Saul" second season, success
"Better Call Saul" averaged nearly 6 million viewers an episode in its first season and earned seven primetime Emmy nominations.
It stars actor Bob Odenkirk as Saul Goodman, a slimy attorney for drug kingpins. The show is now making a return for its second season.
"The audience that watched 'Breaking Bad' sort of immediately took to him. I think they found him funny. He was the only guy in the story who had nothing at stake so he was making jokes and being a wise ass," Odenkirk told "CBS This Morning" Wednesday.
Odenkirk's character is a spinoff from the hit TV crime drama, "Breaking Bad," and follows Jimmy McKill - better known by his alias, Saul Goodman -- six years before he became Walter White's attorney in "Breaking Bad." But Odenkirk thought his character would never make it.
"Every single time I opened the script, I thought, 'Well this is the one, let's see how it's going to happen,'" Odenkirk said. "In fact, I told Vince Gilligan- who created "Breaking Bad" and Peter Gould - who created the character of Saul Goodman -- 'Listen, when I go, let's make it really good.'"
Odenkirk also had reservations about doing a spinoff from the successful TV show.
"I was very concerned that people would just hate us for even trying," Odenkirk said. "'Breaking Bad' was so beloved so we were afraid people wouldn't even give us a change. I was very shocked how people watched 'Better Call Saul' with an open mind..."
The actor never auditioned for his original gig in "Breaking Bad" - in fact, he had never even seen the show when Gilligan scouted him because of his background in comedy. The show also stars other comedy actors and stand-up comedians -- including Lavell Crawford and Bill Burr.
"I guess he does trust comedy actors to play it straight," Odenkirk said of Gilligan.
Odenkirk himself was a writer on Saturday Night Live and at the Second City Theater in Chicago. He made his mark there with his sketch of a fictional character, Matt Foley, played by Chris Farley.
Ahead of the second season premiere, Odenkirk promised his character would have a "lot more fun." You can watch the episode on AMC Monday, Feb. 15, 2016.