Missing Mad Men

Summer is always a down time for TV when our favorite shows go on vacation, and this year has been no exception.  There hasn't been much on the tube lately, especially since "Friday Night Lights" had its series finale (I didn't watch, but understand it had quite the following), but at least we have "Entourage" (also in its final season) and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" back on HBO to help ease the pain.  What we're missing, though, is AMC's "Mad Men," which has been a mainstay during the past four summers.  I thought something was fishy when I didn't see any commercials or advertisements for the season premiere throughout June and early July, so I did some research a few weeks ago and came across some depressing information. 

Unfortunately the show won't return until March 2012 because creator Matthew Weiner put his foot down when the network wanted to tinker with the critically acclaimed series.  Apparently during recent contract negotiations, AMC and Lionsgate Television asked Weiner to incorporate more product placement, eliminate two of the supporting characters and trim two minutes out of each episode to allow for additional commcercial time, but he refused because he felt these changes would alter the dynamic of the show.  Weiner ultimately signed a huge three year, $30 million contract that rivals something a professional athlete would scribble his John Hancock on.  But kudos to him for not selling out and putting the show's quality in jeopardy; that takes a lot of guts and I'm sure weaker men would have followed the money and given in.

I'm glad the show has a stable future, but am still disappointed about its absence this summer.  I miss everything about it; the cool title sequence, Slattery's quick one-liners, and enough cigarette smoke drifting through the office to suffocate the entire floor.  "Mad Men," thanks to its outstanding writing, superb acting, strong production values and slick style for a period piece, is widely accepted as one of the best shows on television, now or ever.  Since it's a summer show, you can take the time to sit down, watch it, and appreciate its greatness without trying to squeeze it into a busy schedule.  Leaving us hanging in October, 1965, the series was finally starting to have a sixties feel to it (referring to the music, fashion, and vibrant color scheme here) and is about to cover the most turbulent events of the decade; Vietnam War escalations, race riots, anti-war protests, social turmoil and the Summer of Love. How would the writers integrate these pivotal themes into the plot?  How would the characters respond to their nation abruptly changing around them? Looks like we'll have to wait another half-year to find out, but on the bright side, Weiner guaranteed two more seasons and possibly a third, which would definitely be the final season in the series and would presumably end with Don Draper and co. on the cusp of the 1970s. 

And that will be a great time to stop, because there would be something profoundly weird about our favorite clean-cut advertising executives sporting shaggy hair and tight, polyester clothes.  Don's kids would be teenagers, Betty would have to get a job and some major character would have to die from alcohol poisoning or lung cancer (see what I mean? the show would be way too different if it goes beyond Woodstock). In the meantime, though, I guess we'll have to settle for ABC's "Pan Am," a show about the airline company during its heyday in the 1960s.  It looks like it will combine elements from "Mad Men" and "Catch Me if You Can" (you know, the parts when Leo DiCaprio poses as a Pan Am pilot when he's supposed to be a sophomore in high school) and it debuts on September 25th. 

I'll give it a shot because it looks halfway decent, but I'll still wait for "Mad Men" to return because in this case, I know the wait will be worth it.

P.S. Happy 36th birthday Alex Rodriguez, who could return from the DL within two weeks