MAD MEN Season 5 Remains Delayed

Matthew Weiner has taken to the press to push AMC on contract negotiations. The creator of Mad Men spoke to Entertainment Weekly and delivered the bad news that he’s nowhere near making a deal with the network, and opined that this is devastatingly bad for everybody, but especially for you and me.

‘It would be a shame for fans to never get to see what great stuff we have planned for Don and company,’ he told the magazine.

Agreed, but I am a little tired of people using the press to send messages and attacks to other parties with whom they’re in talks. It leads to apocalyptic doom mongering and lots of ugly feelings. I like the days when everybody put on a smiley public face and saved the nastiness for behind closed doors.

What’s the hold up? Money, of course.

Says Weiner: ‘We have not started writing. I am not back at work. My contract expired.  They are fighting over a very lucrative property, and who is going to pay for it to get made; it’s one of the biggest perils of success — everyone wants a piece of it now and they are fighting over who is gonna get the biggest chunk. Then they will come to me because talent is last. It would be heartbreaking for me if they don’t work it out, horrifying really.’

The parties he’s talking about are AMC and Lionsgate, by the way. And as if they won’t work it out - neither side has anything to gain by going kamikaze in these negotiations.

By the way, Weiner also said something interesting that I don’t actually believe. To wit: ‘I have said over and over in public that I want the show to go on and on and on until it has worn out its welcome with viewers and we can’t think of anything more for the characters to do.’

That’s funny because I’ve heard it said that he wants the show to go six seasons, bringing Don Draper and friends into the 70s. Oh well, it’s all ammo in wars waged in the press!