Mad Men Season 5 Super Sized Return

AMC has shown once again that Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner tends to get special treatment when his show is concerned.

Back in March, when negotiations were heated over Mad Men’s future, a decision was made to give the first and last episodes of the Emmy award-winning series’ fifth season 47 minute running times, with the remaining 11 episodes receiving 45 minutes. This went along with how things worked in seasons prior. The idea is the missing two minutes would allow for more commercial time, and then the full 47-minute episodes would be released online.

Now things have changed inexplicably. AMC has decided to extend all episodes of Season 5 to 47.05 minutes in length. Weiner spoke at Variety’s Emmy Elite Showrunners breakfast and couldn’t quite explain what motivated the change: “I don’t know how they managed to make that work out,” Weiner said during the drama showrunners’ panel at the Emmy Elite gathering. “It was a lot of worry. I’m so thrilled.”

As I hear more and more stories like this, I begin to worry. Don’t get me wrong, I love Mad Men and I’m happy for Weiner and the rest who work on this amazing show, but this really does come off as special treatment. At this point though, there’s not much else to say except “Woot! More Mad Men!” How can you not be stoked for more of the Best Outstanding Drama four years in a row, even if it’s just an extra two minutes?