We knew that the years of all day drinking would catch up with them eventually.. and it has. Well that’s what we suspect. Of course the official line is that the highly-anticpated fifth series of Mad Men has been delayed because of a financial dispute (which may or may not have been started when one member of cast tried to get out of buying a round)..
In all seriousness, the word on Madison Avenue is that the new run – which was supposed to start shooting soon – will be put back because AMC, the US cable network which broadcasts the series, have so far failed to strike a deal for the new season with producer Lionsgate or its creator Matthew Weiner. This will of course come as a blow to Sky Atlantic, who had lined up the next installment as a key part of their opening gambit when it launched in February.
Sky outbid the BBC for the rights to the show last year, but now speculation is growing that the fifth series will not be ready for broadcast until late autumn or January next year. AMC pays more that $2m per episode for the show based upon the lives of those involved in the advertising agency of 1960s Manhattan and a deal is reportedly imminent.
The show’s star Jon Hamm, who plays Don Draper, recently described the series as “still in limbo” according to The Guardian. “Usually we start shooting in April or May, and it doesn’t seem like it’s happening now because the writers’ room is not in place,” said Hamm. “I don’t know if it even exists.”
However creator Matthew Weiner told Entertainment Weekly in January that negotiations have reflected the size of the show: “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.”
Presumably he is also fighting over a chunk as well of course..
