Breaking Bad And Preacher Producer Enlists With Team Apple In The Streaming Wars

Just like the chicken sandwich wars, the streaming wars are an ongoing conflict that is quickly turning into a forever war that will haunt our credit card payments for as long as we shall live. We recreated cable on the internet and it's clearly going great! There's nothing wrong with having to set up a dozen reoccurring payments for streaming services that run the gamut in quality and content and disappear as quickly as they're introduced. Ah well, when things get bad we'll always have that shining beacon of excellence, Tubi.

The latest dispatch from the frontlines shows that Apple is continuing to feed the fire by throwing sweet, delicious cash at anyone and everyone with a pedigree. This time it's Sam Caitlin, who has served as showrunner and executive producer on AMC's "Preacher," consulting producer of Fox's "Rake," and more importantly, co-executive producer of AMC's "Breaking Bad." Caitlin joins the Apple TV+ team along with his company Short Drive Entertainment, which he helms along with his producing partner Tiffany Prasifka.

Between the full suite of talent Apple TV+ has already pulled into the streaming wars, including Jon Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, Idris Elba, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and its series hits so far, including the undeniable "Ted Lasso" and the quickly-gaining-ground "Foundation," you can't deny that they're doing this in the most Apple way possible. Step one, lure the best people in the business in with some cash. Step two, give them more cash and/or spare no expense. It's a fun strategy to watch play out on the sidelines and I can only imagine how much more fun it must feel to be one of the people getting all of the cash.

Of course, Apple being Apple, they've been cagey about the numbers. If you count success by the number of Emmy nominations, Apple is certainly doing well with their 35 noms, but we have no idea how many people are subscribed to Apple TV+ so it's impossible to fully compare the platform to Disney+ or HBO Max or the patriarch of the household, Netflix.

As of July 2021, Apple counted 700 million paid subscribers across all of their services, including music, games and everything else they have going on. There could be 100,000 Apple TV+ subscribers for all we know. Hell, there could be 20 subscribers (plus all the people they're sharing their accounts with). Until Apple opens up, we won't be able to truly measure the success of Apple TV+ or fully understand their hiring strategy. Like Ted Lasso himself, we'll just keep watching from the sidelines.