My two favorite TV dramas these days are Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Both are on AMC. I don’t like The Walking Dead, but I love that it was a project AMC wanted. In other words, I think AMC is a cool network. Yet the latest news coming from Deadline and The Daily – regarding Mad Men – is painting them in a decidedly uncool light.
Once more creator Matthew Weiner is battling with network bigwigs, endangering the possibilities of a fifth season renewal. Last time things got tricky behind-the-scenes for Mad Men it was simply because Weiner wanted more money/etc. But this time the two sides have already settled on a juicy two-year $30 million deal for Weiner. So what’s the beef then?
Apparently AMC wants to cut two minutes from every episode to make room for more commercials. They also want to integrate product placement in the show itself. Worse yet, AMC wants two actors cut from the show to save money. I can’t imagine the two minutes from the show or the product placement are what is chapping Weiner’s wiener. The two minutes thing is stupid, but I’m sure that could be worked around. And product placement frankly seems easy. It’s a show about advertising after all. But cutting two actors just seems miserly. And keep in mind, cutting smaller re-occurring side characters can’t possibly save the show a noticeable amount of money. Surely AMC is talking about cutting central cast members.
So things are currently at a standstill, with neither side budging.
Now, realistically, I can’t imagine AMC would be stupid enough to cancel Mad Men. I can imagine Weiner being a hardass/badass and walking off into the sunset. But I can’t imagine AMC pointlessly giving up on one of the most pop-culturally relevant scripted series in recent memory, just because they’re trying to make an extra buck. So I wouldn’t get too worried. The real tragedy here, is that even if the show does get renewed for another season, we probably won’t get to see it until 2012! Boooo!
11 comments
Perfect use of Sad Don Draper. Bravo, sir.
Look, they can get rid of any two from: Burt Cooper, Lane Pryce, Harry Crane, Betty Draper, Ken Cosgrove. None of them would be missed. The beating heart of the show are the quartet Don Draper, Roger Sterling, Pete Campbell and Peggy Olsen. Oh, and you have to keep Christina Hendricks for her big tits (can’t do without em!).
That’s the worst news i’ll read all week. Sounds like AMC is getting a little too big for its britches.
I thought it was ridiculously clear that product placement was already a huge factor in this show. In fact, I feel like I read an article a couple of months ago that made it pretty clear Mad Men has done huge product placement and many of the companies have seen increases in sales. Utz in particular.
If it’s fair for Weiner to make an extra buck (or $30 mil), it’s only fair that AMC should want to offset those cost increases with increased ad revenue. The first two options should offset the need for cast cuts. Hopefully Weiner doesn’t dig his heels in too deeply, and understands that AMC isn’t running a charity…they want to make money too so that they can start up new series like Breaking Bad and Walking Dead. A basic cable network gotta get paid, playa!
I’m sure Lucky Strike also enjoyed a sales boost. The show is practically doing product placement already – what the fuck is that bald coot Weiner complaining about?
Who cares? Where’s my MAD MEN XBox 360 game? I hear that MAD MEN 12′ has a completely redesigned pitching feature and an all new graphics engine. The dumbest thing tho’ is that now there’s an option to turn the smoking off. Yeah right. Like that’s gonna happen. I hope it still has the “sleeping with a co-worker” mini game.
How many AMC Network executives does it take to change a light bulb? Zero: it’s cost cutting.
How many AMC Network executives does it take to change a light bulb? Zero: you don’t change it and save the costs.
Dump January Jones, the other cut is harder, unless he can just work Betty’s new husband into the deal, since that would be an automatic cut with Betty gone.
I can’t wait to see Don Draper working on his Macbook Pro while sipping Starbucks, banging a waitress with a Trojan condom, in the back of a Toyota Prius.
NETFLIX BUY MAD MEN!
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