Russell Crowe Sets ‘The Water Diviner’ For … 
CNN’s ‘New Day’ Debut Up In Demo But … 
Liv Tyler To Co-Star In Damon Lindelof’s HBO Pilot … 
DreamWorks Animation Launches Effort To Re-Position Itself … 
‘Pacific Rim’ Sequel In Planning Stages, … 
Legendary “Down To Handful” Of Studio Suitors: … 
UPDATE: Dan Harmon Apologizes For Comments Slamming … 
Paramount- Montecito Set Black List Scribes Eyal Podell … 
‘Bioshock’ Creator Ken Levine Takes On … 
Deadline Expands: Hires Washington Post Journalist Lisa De … 
Ratings Rat Race: ‘The Voice’ Rises, … 
Angelina Jolie Stunt Double Files First U.S. Phone-Hacking … 
MGM & BermanBraun Sign TV Production Deal, First-Look … 
‘Venus And Serena’ Producer Calls Tennis … 
Kim Basinger In ‘Petit’ Lead For Danish Helmer … 
EMMYS: ‘Big Bang Theory’s Science 
Has Summit Pulled A Rabbit Out Of The Hat With Dean Parisot … 
‘Client List’ Season 3 Pickup In Limbo Over … 
New Myth, Toonz Ent. Help Launch Epiphany, A $200 Million … 
Amazon Orders Cop Drama Pilot Based On Michael … 
Third Point Raises Stake In Sony And Presses To Join Its … 
With the Lionsgate TV series Mad Men set to make its Season 3 bow in August on AMC, I’m told there’s a big fight leading up to the premiere over, of all things, ads. AMC has told the show’s producers to make allowances for another commercial break each hour — so that’ll be two minutes less of actual programming. That might not sound like such a big deal, but it’s galling given how well the show has done, how carefully it’s put together, and how much money it’s already making AMC and parent company Cablevision which recently announced a $20M 1st-quarter profit, while subsidiary Rainbow Media cited a 7.6% increase in ad sales. Naturally, the suits are blaming the bad economy and saying the show simply doesn’t bring in enough revenue. Producers are raising a big stink, but it looks like AMC isn’t budging. At a time when networks are cutting back on commercial breaks, you’ve got to wonder why AMC is screwing its golden goose. How can Mad Men compete with premium cable when basic cable is squeezing it for every penny?
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
Loading ...
I dumped my cable plan a few months ago and only get the ‘major’ networks these days (and there’s still nothing worth watching). But I’m going back to the vastly more expensive plan solely to watch Mad Men when it returns in August because that’s just how good the show is. I’d hate to lose two minutes of story though because, again, every minute is so incredible. Shame that AMC has to be so greedy.
I really hope Weiner can find a way to escape these clowns that have literally been trying to ruin his show ever since it garnered notice.
Clue in you MBA slackjaws – the show is great precisely because you DON’T have a hand in dictating its construction. If you can’t sell it as it is you are the problem.
American Movie Classics throttled its golden goose years ago by censoring feature film content, panning-and-scanning, and warehousing titles it wouldn’t show but refused to let anyone else license. No wonder TCM leaves them in the dust.
To be honest, the show is too long and boring to begin with — two minutes less show might actually make something happen in the time that’s actually on the air.
The commercial breaks on this show were already interminable. And since the DVR set (read: 18-49) just blows through the ads anyway, adding another act-out will only serve to termite the show’s structure.
I’m sure Matt’s howling — he knows there’s only so many times you can stop-and-start a 41 minute narrative before all the dramatic air is let out.
Bet Matt Weiner will not stand for it…. in fact, sure there’s a clause in his contract allowing for something like this NOT to happen.
Screwing their golden goose … of course AMC is … just goes to show they are clearly not in the HBO category just yet.
Sad sign of the times … great show, doesn’t deserve this. I predict will be a major media story and AMC will be forced to back off …
I think the studio should seek product integration deals with companies who will allow their product to be depicted as it was in 1962, for a steep fee!
Sounds like AMC wants us to record it and skip all the commercials. Short-term thinking on their part, but fine by me.
This is especially ironic given how much the show is able to integrate product placement into its storyline. I am sure AMC gets plenty of money from the real companies Don Draper, et.al work on campaigns for in the show.
This is precisely the reason that I have stopped watching
“Damages” on live TV. I either get the show via Bit Torrent with no commercials or I tape the show and FF over the commercials. I realize that there has to be some commercials of course. “Damages” averages about 39 minutes of Product per show, which yields about 21 minutes of commercials. The show is then unwatchable in my opinion due to the long breaks. Hope that advertisers realize that they are paying for commercials that alot of viewers are avoiding. In any event the consumer pays anyway as the cost of advertising is rolled into the product. We just need to bend over and take it.
What evidence do you have that the networks are cutting back on commercial breaks? Even Fox is ending its “remote free TV experiment” on the two shows where it reduced commercials (and don’t think the ads removed from those shows weren’t sprinkled back in throughout the Fox lineup the rest of the week0.
Just because the networks ad revenue is down does not mean they are running fewer ads.
When did AMC tell the producers about the extra commercial break? If they’re telling them to remove two minutes from already written or already shot episodes, then it’s really lousy, but if they told them about it before the episodes started being written, then it’s not really all that bad.
Good for you, AMC. Producers need to grow up and look at the bigger picture. If a hit show can generate revenue that helps sustain the network, the producers should look past just their own pockets and realize we’re all in this together. If it’s so carefully designed, then carefully design it with 2 less minutes.
You’re overreacting. If someone can make a great 48 minute show, they can make a great 45 minute show. “How can they compete with the premium cable shows”? They’ve already surpassed them in prestige. This show won the Emmy last year and is the frontrunner again this year. AMC now is HBO 10 years ago. The classic HBO dramas from the beginning of this decade are all off the air. The only quality originals they have left are comedies. No matter how good Showtime’s shows get, they’ll always be seen as secondary to HBO.
I’m surprised this wasn’t an issue sooner. Even on premiere episodes of Mad Men, there’s usually at least a minute of local cable ads every break (usually in-house ads promoting the cable company’s phone and/or Internet services) and the same spot twice in a hour from the same national advertisers every week (car company, Heineken, Viagra, movie, direct response ad). They should be thrilled that people want to buy time on this show.
Mad Men is my religion. Would AMC have God drop the Book of John so it can squeeze in a few more Tampax commercials?
Seems everyone’s default position is that the suits are idiots and that the creatives are unimpeachable. Breaking Bad has plenty of commercial breaks and I don’t feel the dramatic air being let out one bit.
Man Nikki, you’re really in Matt Weiner’s pocket. This seems like a silly thing to gripe about. Networks do this kind of thing all the time and people are still watching more TV than ever.
Hell, make the uncut episodes the lure for buying the DVD (Mad Men may have mediocre ratings and demos, but it has sold very well on DVD)
All that said, is it really so hard for AMC to let their biggest program run past the hour by 2 minutes? The networks do that all the time too.
So this is why the S3 premiere is entitled “And Now With More Commercials.” Clever.
Why not just let it run 2 minutes over like they do with Lost with sometimes? It’s not like it’s a lead in to anything (is it??)
Losing two more story minutes is less objectionable than the addition of another break, because it also breaks the flow and means having to write another “button,” a moment of artificially heightened drama, on which to end the scene before.
the show obviously should not be judged like a b’cast show since AMC collects fees from cablers AND it has a benefit to AMC beyond the number of people who actually watch. however i would love to see this story reported with more relevant stats and numbers. how many minutes are current episodes (pre 2 minute cut)? what’s is AMC paying for the show? what does a spot cost in the show? i need more information to know whether “AMC is screwing their golden goose”
AMC bought the show, then can do whatever they want. What they should do is just start the show one minute earlier and end it one minute later, believe me, this happens all the time.
If a couple extra minutes of commercial time means that AMC can afford to keep the show on the air for another season, then I’m all for it. Mad Men is an expensive, beautiful show with tons of critical love but very low ratings. Rather than pouncing on AMC for tampering with the number of ads, I would be thanking them for finding a way to keep it going despite the impossible financials. Besides, I watch it ON DEMAND anyhow
As much as this sucks, welcome to the world of the Great Recession. Or maybe they’re trying to make up for the big fee Matt now makes a year? Yeah, selling more Viagra will really help!
Well then, if you do your job at 100% of your salary, you can do it on 93% of it instead too.
See how easy and painless it is when you knife someone else?