Earlier this week, a college announced it’s intentions to capitalize on people’s addiction to “Breaking Bad” by cleverly seducing them with a college course (which may or may not have a 96.2 percent purity) focusing on the classic AMC show.
Mercyhurst University, located in Erie, Penn. will figuratively don a college credit hazmat suit and cook up a syllabus to convince people that paying money to discuss a TV show in a classroom setting will feed their “Breaking Bad” addiction.
According to Mercyhurst’s website: “When it comes to audacious, complex, badass characters, Shakespeare reigns supreme. Or does he? Kenneth Schiff, Ph.D., associate professor of English at Mercyhurst, used to think so. Mercutio, Lady Macbeth, Richard III, Henry V – they were a gnarly bunch. But along came Walter White, who took badass to a whole new level….” a college website states, even bringing their inner Gustavo Fring by using the term “badass” to prove they mean business and are professionals.
It continues: “Certainly Schiff, who watched all 62 episodes, didn’t expect to be so ‘blown away’ by this television genre, which is why when the opportunity arose to share his enthusiasm in the Mercyhurst classroom, he jumped. He joins associate professor of criminal justice, Tina Fryling, J.D., and chemistry/biochemistry department chair Clint Jones, Ph.D., in teaching what arguably is the hottest course on the Mercyhurst campus this fall: an interdisciplinary offering called ‘Breaking Down Breaking Bad.’ And it’s just for freshmen – 75 in all.”
It goes on the describe how the operation is set up, divvying up the market into three different turfs: “Schiff examines the Emmy Award-winning series as a work of narrative art; Fryling dissects the criminal justice thread throughout; and Jones teaches the science piece. They take turns doing lectures and then each takes a group for weekly break-out sessions.”
So there you go. Mercyhurst is finally going to break bad.
The JOE-DOWN 