Video taking off 22x its usual first day

Bryan Cranston's "deep despair" over RJ Mitte leads CBS Mornings' tribute

The short segment sets Cranston's memories of the Breaking Bad pilot beside Mitte's own words about advocacy and pushing forward.

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CBS Mornings Story of October 14, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 355,100 views a day, 22 times a normal first day on this channel (15,818).

Bryan Cranston in "deep despair" over death of "Breaking Bad" co-star RJ Mitte

Cranston begins with grief. "I'm in deep despair," his statement reads, in lines Nischelle Turner reads aloud on CBS Mornings as the program reports the sudden death of RJ Mitte at 34. Mitte played Walter White Jr., the son known as Flynn, across all of Breaking Bad.

The heart of the tribute is a memory from the start of the show. "That kid was pretty raw when we started shooting the pilot in February 2007, but little by little we watched him grow into a really fine actor," Cranston wrote. The segment runs scenes of Mitte as Flynn alongside Cranston and Anna Gunn, the parents of the story.

It also gives Mitte room to speak for himself. In a clip from The Joe Vulpis Podcast he talks about disability advocacy and his wish "to be able to lend my voice to causes that make a meaningful impact, that change people's lives." A second excerpt closes on him urging people to keep living their dreams and keep pushing forward.

The anchor opens by citing a TMZ report that Mitte died by suicide. Back in the studio, the co-anchors point viewers to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, and one reflects that "you never know what people are going through."

The Short reached about 260,000 views in its first 13 hours. Its comment section filled far faster than usual for the channel. Many viewers recall the Breaking Bad scene where Walter confronts the boys bullying his son, and others ask anyone who is struggling to reach out for help.

Cranston's statement ends on the future he had pictured for his co-star: "All that promise and potential now is such a loss."

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