AMC will not be chopping Mad Men Season 5 to 45 minutes. If you’ll recall, after the contentious negotiations between Matt and AMC, they agreed that every episode would be 47 minutes long (as they’ve been all along) but that episodes 2–12 would air at 45 minutes, and the extended episodes would be available digitally. Now we’re delighted to learn that all 13 episodes will air at least once at full length.
The second news item is that the Mad Men marathon will continue into Season 3 starting this coming Sunday morning.
Yay! I’m very glad to hear this.
One article specified that the episodes would be 47:05 long. Most eps. from season 4 ran between 47:20 and 47:35. So we are still losing about half a minute in running time. Also, given the fact that they have been in production for a month and a half, we might still end up with a few 45-minute episodes near the beginning of the season.
I wonder why they can`t return to the season 2 format, when most episodes ran over 48 minutes. It`s not like viewers will be outraged if AMC airs DEATH WISH 4 (for the hundredth time in a month) five or ten minutes past midnight.
Airshow, there won’t be any 45 minute episodes. The deal we reported was that all episodes would be 47 minutes long, and that the season premiere and season finale would air at that length, but that the remainder of the season, the 47 minute episodes would be available digitally a week after airing, and the on-air length would be 45 minutes. That’s what has changed.
So, all episodes were filmed for 47 minutes.
They are still cutting out precious seconds from the average running time.
At the Olympics, a mere second can mean the difference between first place and last place. For what many critics are calling the best show in America right now, losing even thirty seconds of running time is a travesty that shakes the very foundations of dramatic television.
[...] AMC will air the full 47-minute versions of Mad Men Season 5, icymi. [...]