Mad Men Season 5 Starts March 25
Title says it all.
Appropriate since it will have been an astounding 525 days since the season 4 finale.
Oh and Don Draper himself, Jon Hamm, directs the first episode.
Surely there’s an Apple ad in here somewhere.
(via Webomatica via Mail Online)
Chuck Klosterman Argues That Breaking Bad Is The Best Show Of This Generation
I can’t fully argue this because I’ve only seen a handful of episodes of The Sopranos — shocking, I know. But I do agree with the basic premise that Sopranos, Mad Men, The Wire, and Breaking Bad are the four shows that most consider to be the “four horsemen” of this generation of television.
Removing The Sopranos for now, I’d personally rank them:
1) Mad Men
2) The Wire
3) Breaking Bad
I’d argue that Mad Men has seen a small amount of backlash in this discussion because it is the most mainstream-friendly of the shows. As Klosterman notes, it’s the only one what doesn’t regularly feature threats of death and/or violence. This may make it seem “soft”, though I’d argue that the subtlety in many episodes outweighs this. But, as the word implies, most overlook it.
Also worth noting that Klosterman has argued that Lost is the best show on television before, but he rules it out here because it’s a network show, so in a different category. The others in this category that I think you could make an argument for are Deadwood and the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica (the re-imagined SciFi version, obviously).
Mad Men On Netflix Streaming Tomorrow
All four seasons. Season 5 starts in early 2012.
You’re welcome.
[via Webomatica]
Don Draper Signs A Contract
Jon Hamm has finalized a three-year deal with Lionsgate/AMC to ensure he’ll be back for the fifth, six, and seventh seasons of Mad Men.
No word on if his “Honeybaked” nickname was brought up in negotiations.
Mad Men '12
Well, it won’t be back until 2012 — but it will be back. And for at least two more seasons, and very likely three more.
Not surprisingly, AMC/Lionsgate caved.
Truly Mad Men
Apparently season five has been pushed to early 2012 (at the earliest) because AMC and Lionsgate are arguing with Weiner over cost-cutting measures. Specifically, they’re said to want each episode to be two minutes shorter (so they can run more ads) and they want to eliminate two regular cast members to save costs.
Such bullshit.
Sure, maybe this is Weiner leaking stuff to the press to get support for his side, but it doesn’t matter — if that’s what AMC wants, it’s bullshit. The show is a cash cow for them and has taken the network from nothing into a player.
I’m wondering if it would be worth it from a monetary perspective for Netflix to put up the money to back the show? I bet it would.
In reality, AMC and Lionsgate would never let that happen. But still. If they’re being cheap bastards, they don’t deserve it.
Mad Men: What Don Draper’s Wall Street Journal Hedcut Would Look Like
Cool, even though the dot-ink portraits didn’t appear until 1979.
Matthew Weiner wants Mad Men to end in 2012 | The A.V. Club
The best show on TV, like the world, will end in 2012.
While I’m a little bummed, I think this is the right call. Far too many great shows go on far too long and stop being great. It’s better to burn out than fade away.
[via Kottke]
