Mad Men will not be ending next year. I’ve confirmed that Season 7 will air half in 2014 and half in 2015. Show creator Matt Weiner will shoot all 14 episodes as one season. The network will split them in two.
Of course, this does seem like AMC is just trying to milk a good thing, and squeeze what they can out of it, wring it dry– to use several cliches and metaphors. But Matt Weiner told me in an email he’s okay with it. He gets an extra episode– seven for “The Beginning” in spring 2014 and seven more for “The End of An Era” in 2015. Robert Towne, famed screenwriter of “Chinatown,” will be working on the shows with Weiner.
Will there be a cliffhanger at the end of episode 7? Weiner jokes: “Whether I like it or not every time we stop it seems to be a cliffhanger.”
PS You know, Matt Weiner is a great writer. But if you’re too young to know about Robert Towne he wrote a lot of movies besides “Chinatown.” His credits include “Shampoo” and “Heaven Can Wait” as well as “The Last Detail,” “The Firm,” “Mission Impossible II,” and “Days of Thunder.” He’s always been one of Warren Beatty’s go-to guys (like James Toback). It’s going to be a great two seasons of “Mad Men” with him in the bullpen.
