“Breaking Bad” returns to AMC for Season 3. Will you be there?

Well, I certainly will be, that’s for sure.

The writers of Bullz-Eye – and, by extension, Premium Hollywood – have never been afraid to throw their love behind television series that aren’t necessarily embraced by the general viewing public, and it’s no surprise that AMC’s “Breaking Bad” falls into that category. Certainly, it gets a great deal of love from the nation’s TV critics, but in fairness, it does have the sort of premise that doesn’t necessarily lend itself to mass consumption: a high school chemistry teacher with a pregnant wife and a teenage son with cerebral palsy is diagnosed with stage-three terminal lung cancer and, in order to provide for his family, decides to start making meth.

Bryan Cranston, previously known primarily for his work as Hal, the patriarch on “Malcolm in the Middle,” took the role of Walter White – the aforementioned meth-maker – and ran with it. Indeed, we’re pretty sure that the only times he has stopped running since the premiere of “Breaking Bad” have been to accept his back-to-back Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

Although Cranston is the only member of the ensemble to win thus far, he’s not the only one to have been nominated. His co-star, Aaron Paul, pulled in his first nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2009 for his work as Jesse Pinkman, Walt’s partner in crime, and it would not surprise us in the least if 2010 found Anna Gunn in the running for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series. (Season 3 is, we have been reliably informed, somewhat Skyler-centric.)

Now, if you haven’t been following “Breaking Bad” but you’ve heard good things and have been wondering if there’s way you can possibly catch up in time to watch the premiere of Season 3 without feeling completely lost, you’re in luck: AMC has managed to successfully distill the first two seasons of the show into one reeeeeeeally intense six-minute video. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go back and watch Season 1 and Season 2 in their entirety when you have the chance, but this will definitely put you in a position to sit comfortably in front of the TV with the rest of us on Sunday night.

Now, as you may have seen elsewhere, Bullz-Eye was fortunate enough to visit the set of “Breaking Bad” in January, where we were provided with the opportunity to have lunch with series creator Vince Gilligan, then followed that up with dinner with Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. And prior to that, the Winter 2010 TCA Tour provided me with several other “Breaking Bad” opportunities: a one-on-one with Aaron, followed by a chat with Bob Odenkirk, the “Mr. Show” alumnus who now plays the series’ resident attorney, the ever-slimy Saul Goodman, and then wrapped things up by (quietly) participating in a roundtable interview with Cranston, Paul, Gunn, and Odenkirk.

Yes, we realize that’s a lot of information to take in before the premiere, but at least you can’t say we don’t provide you with a great deal of preparatory material…including this sneak preview of what you can expect on Sunday night:

Season 3 of “Breaking Bad” premieres on Sunday, March 21, at 10 PM EST/PST.

(Be sure to meet back here after the season premiere – and every episode thereafter, for that matter – to check out our blog!)