I've always said that the show was the best engineered show I have ever seen, and I mean that as a very high compliment. Just like a very high-end luxury car. Most Hollywood types bitch about being given cost or content restrictions by the people actually writing the checks. They won't risk their own money on their 'vision' but get really snippy when the people funding the venture want to have their say.

Vince Gilligan says restrictions and limitations helped form his story. When they did the "Crystal Blue Persuasion" montage with Walt, Todd and Lydia. The fact that Walt and Lydia kept meeting at the same restaurant for the payoff was strictly because of budgetary concerns and he originally would have liked them to have met in a variety of locations, but couldn't strictly because of the budget. The fact that they met in the same location every time was explained as Lydia being a creature of habit and made it very credible for Walt to anticipate Lydia and poison her.

I would love to meet Vince and talk his ear off for about three hours.