I realize that it's a little premature to start up a thread on this, especially considering that it has just been announced that season 5 hasn't even begun production (and will most likely not air until March 2012, a whole year from now), but I thought I would start the speculation train a-rollin'. It has been reported (as I'm sure you've heard) that AMC wants Weiner to chop two main characters, AMC wants more product placements (as if there weren't enough of those already) and two minutes shaved off of every episode to make way for more commercials. Essentially, it sounds to me like AMC is getting greedy and Matthew Weiner is (understandably and thankfully) digging in his heels. These were apparently some bones of contention when negotiating season 4 but apparently they compromised through it. It's not turning out so well this time: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118034602" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118034602</a> What I want to know from you is: 1) Which two cast members do you want to see go and why? and 2) Should Weiner cave to the demands and/or do you think AMC is asking too much/being too greedy? Unless a mod modifies it otherwise, this ought to carry on to be the official Mad Men Season 5 thread.
I wouldnt mind 2 minute shaved off. I download them shits and don't see commercials anyway. I don't see 2 minutes killing the expert episodic flow of the series. Taking out up to two characters is shitty though. If given the choice of actually taking out big names instead of axing a handful of smaller ones (which theyve done a few times now), I think I could safely say goodbye to Betty. Honestly she has already almost become a background character as it is. Her new life with the politico guy is kind of boring and her interactions with Don have been pretty brief. Their daughter has actually become a decent character in herself. It wasnt until season four that I started to come around too Joan being a decent character, but theyd ax fucking John Hamm before they axed the marketing dream that is her titanic rack. Id say just get rid of a bunch of underlings, Ken Cosgrove, the dude who ran the tv department, and Bert Cooper (which they kind of did at the end of the last season anyway) to name a few. As much as I love Pryce and his black bunny chasing ways, he could probably go and the core group of the show wouldnt be as effective.
For clarification, it seems that the Daily Fail is insinuating that the potential chop'ees could be culled from this group: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1371282/Mad-Men-finally-gets-green-light-season-5-rumoured-cast-getting-chop.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... -chop.html</a> I think that Lane Pryce could go without a second thought. I don't give a hoot about his racial politics and I think he could have been completely written out of the last season or two with little consequence. Granted, I haven't watched ANY Mad Men since the season finale but still... Ditto for Harry Crane. He just seems unnecessary. Decent actor. Crummy character. Even Bert Cooper is getting a little long in the tooth. He's always been little more than a thorn in the side of the other Mad Men. Back when they occasionally came to him for some Eastern enlightenment, it was all fine and dandy but now it is bordering on ridiculous. I loathe Betty Draper and inasmuch as I hope she takes a long walk off a short pier, her absence from the show wold leave a ridiculous sized hole that it would be difficult to fill. They honestly could never have gotten a more fitting person to play that role.
Betty Draper has, indeed, been annoying as all hell these past few seasons, but I still have hopes for her character. I've been suspecting from the beginning that she's going to have this classic housewife awakening when the sixties come into full swing, burn her bra and go running off with the flower children. By now, that seems a bit drastic for her character, but she's gotten so stale that I'm hoping something juicy happens with her. And, yeah, it would be ridiculous to cut her for obvious reasons. I'm also going to defend the ad agency minions like Ken and Harry etc. Sure, they rarely move the plot forward, but they add the flavor and well-roundedness to the show that we all love. I think it would feel so flat without them puttering around with their one-liners. I'm going to cast my vote for Lane. I don't think I've ever cared about him, or really understood his significance as a character. He had that one great episode (I think with the black Playboy bunny) and that was about it. I also still hate Horse Face (Don's fiance), so I wouldn't mind her disappearing between the seasons somehow. (Obviously this ain't happenin.) The ensemble nature of the show is what makes it great, though. If I had to choose, I'd go with more product placement. They're a freaking ad agency, and certainly they can find a few products that existed then that are still around today and willing to pay for a spot. They can just be working on a campaign of theirs and that's that. I think they could work it so it didn't affect the integrity of the show. If it wasn't reported as an option, I don't think the audience would even notice if that was the solution they came up with. All that being said, I am freaking pissed I have to wait that long. I'm crossing my fingers that this shit gets sorted out soon and the season starts up in Fall. Maybe with the media pressure it will?
Yay! Deal is inked. No cast cuts. Product placement where organic to the storyline. They are cutting the episodes a wee bit shorter but hopefully we won't notice. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.tvline.com/2011/03/mad-men-creator-signs-longterm-deal-show-now-renewed-through-season-6/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.tvline.com/2011/03/mad-men-c ... -season-6/</a> Now get to work, guys! I'm jones'in over here!
Yeah damn quit making me wait around like The fucking Sopranos did. Can I at least hope Breaking Bad will be back on within the year?!?!