MAD MEN -- FINAL Season Official Thread (possible spoilers)

Now that filming has begun, it's time to speculate and talk about the seventh and final season...which will be split. Fourteen episodes will be filmed in one batch, but only seven will air in the spring of 2014, the remaining seven will be held until 2015.

Any production/filming/casting reports that appear in mainstream media are okay to post here, but if you somehow got hold of a juicy plot spoiler, please try and hide it or make it a link....

Here are the first tidbits about filming locations for the new season...

http://variety.com/2013/tv/news/man...-deadly-shooting-says-crew-member-1200786046/

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/art...r-final-season-at-pasadena-american-red-cross

 

Your title should read "FINAL Seasons." Maybe legally speaking it's all "one season," but for all intents and purposes this is two separate seasons.

I'm amazed that they're going to sit on the second half for literally a year. Won't there be major leaks and spoilers by the time the second half airs??

 

I thought of that after it was too late to change it...

 

I reallllly hate this splitting of seasons that shows are doing now. I hadn't heard that about Mad Men until reading this thread. Hugely disappointing.

 

Yeah, I thought Matthew Weiner would be above such nonsense, but they must have flashed enough dollar signs to make him change his mind.

 

It doesn't really involve any more work from him...Before this was announced, Weiner was actually asked about this type of scheduling and he said he didn't mind it.

 

I predict the last episode will end with Don Draper waking up in bed with Suzanne Pleshette next to him, and realize the whole thing was a dream.

 

I predict a puff of gas will come under his door and he will wake up in this really quaint village which is subtly creepy and some guy named Number Two will keep insisting he reveal next years Twinkie campaign. But he refuses. Because he has ethics.

 

It really pisses me off that they're splitting THIS show into two half seasons. It will not work out well.

 

AMC's decision, not his. Same deal as Breaking Bad.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: the execs at AMC are cheap bastids.

 

They're also running out of programming. With BB gone they've got to stretch MM out so they're not left with just walkers. I for one think "Hell on Wheels" is about as good as any of the others, but it hasn't caught on the way they did.

 

True, but Weiner didn't fight it and even agreed to do an extra (14th) episode....

 

I don't mind it for Walking Dead. One whole season straight through could be a bit unrelenting (IMHO of course).

 

Keep in mind, for The Walking Dead the gap is only about 2 months. For Breaking Bad and now Mad Men, it's a year.

 

Yikes! That's not good.

 

Mad Men is a slow-building show -- how much momentum or even story will they build up in only seven episodes? Breaking Bad got away with it because every episode was exciting. Mad Men will do an episode about Sally going to camp.

 

As much as I love this show, you're right, Squealy.

 

Exactly. Although I'd have to think that the producers of the show realize this as well. I'm sure there will be a "mid-season" cliffhanger of some sort.

 

I have the feeling Mad Men's moment in the spotlight has come and gone. Splitting the final season in two will also split a diminishing audience....

 

I wonder what the logic is behind splitting the season in two. Do they think they will get more viewers this way? This late in the game, I doubt that will happen.

 

Spreads out the money. Also lets them pad the rest of the schedule with lots of reruns.

 

Actually I've read it's to give the show a better shot at winning some Emmys. If they ended it this coming season, it would be up against Breaking Bad still.

 

And heaven forbid they actually try to make strong episodes that can compete with Breaking Bad as opposed to gaming the system.

 

Call me out on this in 2 years if I am wrong. My guess for the finale is Don's past catches up with him and right before everything closes in, he changes his name again, grows a beard and the last thing you see is him and some love interest getting on a plane for an undisclosed foreign destination as CSN&Y's "Teach your Children" plays. Or he dies.

 

If so, it must be for the sake of the actors, none of whom have ever won. They won the best drama series Emmy four years in a row and the show has won several writing awards too.