The Remote Island

The Future of "Mad Men" Revealed

Posted by Ben Kallen

 

All good TV shows must come to an end -- it's the bad ones that seem to go on forever. But with Mad Men, at least, that ending won't occur for another four years. 

According to TV reporter James Hibberd, Mad Men's creator-showrunner Matthew Weiner has announced that he's planning to produce the retro drama for a total of five seasons. During that time, he intends to cover 10 years of the characters' lives -- from 1960 to 1969 -- by jumping forward about a year in between each season. (Season 2, which starts on July 27, will take place 14 months after the end of season 1.)

At a Television Critics Association panel discussion yesterday, Weiner explained his reasoning behind the season-to-season time leaps: "I can start the story fresh, and at the same time there will be all these events that happened in between that will provide additional storytelling energy."

That sounds pretty good to us. Apart from the great characters, the best thing about Mad Men's first season was how perfectly it managed to capture its 1960 setting. We can't wait to see how übermensch Don Draper handles the social changes of the later '60s, when the hippies and free-love types really start to take over. Whatever happens, we're sure he'll find a way to sell the revolution right back to them.

 
Image: AMC

Previously:
Win a Role on Mad Men!

Sopranos Fever, Over The Wire, Hits Mad Men 

 


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About Ben Kallen

Ben Kallen is an entertainment, health and humor writer who's been lectured to by Sidney Poitier, argued with by Lea Thompson and smiled at by Jennifer Connelly. He's the coauthor of The No S Diet and author of The Year in Weird, along with hundreds of magazine articles. He lives near the beach in Los Angeles, just like the gang from Three's Company.

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    Ben Kallen is an entertainment, health and humor writer who's been lectured to by Sidney Poitier, argued with by Lea Thompson and smiled at by Jennifer Connelly. He's the coauthor of The No S Diet and author of The Year in Weird, along with hundreds of magazine articles. He lives near the beach in Los Angeles, just like the gang from Three's Company.

    Nicole Ankowski has lived in Ohio, Oakland, and on the high plains of South Dakota, but is now proud to call Brooklyn home. She wrote for alternative weekly papers in the first two states, and tried to learn Lakota in the last. (The vowels can be tricky.) She just earned her MFA in Creative Writing and has been published in Beeswax literary journal. She is unable to resist good writing or bad TV.

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