Mad Men Season 4

Well, it would be easy enough to put Bert Cooper out to pasture based on how last season ended, though I'm not sure he counts as a "regular" anymore. And kicking Lane back to London would probably work fairly seamlessly.

Then again, they could go big and kill off Roger Sterling the way everyone assumes they will eventually ...

 

Weiner sounds like an insufferable douche. Given the ratings of The Walking Dead and the critical acclaim of Breaking Bad, AMC will cut bait with him and Mad Men at an earlier point than they would have in 2009.

 

Not sure that Cooper is a "series regular". You can easily get rid of Betty, Cooper, Ken and Lane. Dumping Roger would suck, but he's not essential.

The show is Don, Peggy, Pete and maybe Joan(s). The rest are extra.

 

You could see from last year that Morse might be going, going, gone, but that would be a shame, given he made his bones in one of the great "What Makes Sammy Run?" musicals of all time (How To Succeed . . . ), set in a timeframe mirroring that of MM.

Slattery IS essential, in that nobody in that cast delivers a laugh line better than he does . . . and it's not close.

 

Too bad it's barely a real book.

Talk about a quickie . . .

 

Well at least Breaking Bad will be back this year.

 

I'm really looking forward to Don Draper using Axe Body Wash, Peggy chugging Amp during an all-nighter ahead of a presentation and Roger breaking out his Blackberry.

 

— I'd be very disappointed if they cut Betty out of the show. I'm genuinely interested in her demise.

— I think if the show stays on the air for a few more years, Sally Draper becomes a major focal point and maybe even THE focal point of the show. And Betty must stay around if we're going to find out how Sally lives out the 1960s. If the show isn't back on until 2012, Sally is going to starkly older. They're going to jump into 1966 or 1967, I'm guessing. Kiernan Shipka is 12 and looks and acts older than she is.

Maybe they flash back to what happened in the aftermath of Don's second marriage. He might even already be out of that relationship by the time Season 5 opens.

— That Slate piece also makes me wonder if money concerns weren't the reason Sal and Kinsey never resurfaced. It seemed like they wanted to do much more with Sal's character and never got to it.

— Does Harry Crane serve any purpose on the show anymore? I'd have no problem cutting him loose.

 

The odd thing is, I'm sure most of, if not all of, the actors are paid on a per episode basis. If they don't appear, they don't get paid. I can see Weiner wanting the freedom to use or not use actors as he sees fit, but he needs to understand that AMC can't pay their staff with good reviews. For a successful show, it's not widely viewed.

 

Those points, all good ones, make me even more anxious to have it come back.

 

I really like Harry's character and I liked Kinsey too. They could also cut out one of the young creatives, the guys always working with Peggy

 

Weiner says he'd take less money to save the cast ... and also the running time of the show (supposedly AMC wants to cut it by 2 minutes again).

http://www.lippsisters.com/2011/03/29/%E2%80%9Cdont-worry-im-fighting-for-the-show%E2%80%9D/