Longer Mad Men Episodes Arrive in August

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: Drama, Prime Time, Cable, News

Mad Men, the series about a fictional advertising agency, will have its share of commercials next season. This will mean extra work for our DVRs.

To accommodate an increase of ads while maintaining the same amount of drama, episodes will run longer than before. The AMC program will now overlap slightly into the 11:00 hour.

“The two minutes is troubling and I’m fighting it,” creator Matthew Weiner wrote in an online chat. “I am obviously a huge advocate of advertising and I love the ‘madvertising,’ but I am fighting the urge to change the show at this time, especially when the financials are meager and the urge to TiVo will just be further encouraged. If you oppose it, I see no reason not to let them know. I will make the best show I can, no matter what, rest assured.”

Season 3 is set to premiere on Sunday, August 16 @ 10pm. A marathon of Season 2 episodes will precede that debut on Monday, August 10.

Read More | TV Guide

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American Idol Finds New Ways to Make Money

Posted by K.C. Morgan Categories: Music, Prime Time, Reality, FOX, American Idol, Gossip, News

It’s the Number One rated series. It gets more press than any other program on TV. Product placement has totally gotten out of control on the show, and promos run almost all year long. How in the world could FOX possibly squeeze even more money out of American Idol?

Thank goodness for partner deals. Idol has inked a deal with Apple’s iTunes which will allow fans to buy performances from the Top 24 contestants, which will be whittled down to 20 later this week (so get them while you can). It will cost 99 cents for each song (already available), but for $1 more buyers can also have video of the Top 12 performers belting out tunes (this will be available March 11). You can even pre-order performances in anticipation.

Idol is already chock-full of sponsors, including Coca-Cola, Ford and AT&T (products from whom are featured every single episode). I’ve got an idea. Forget the show. Just show us sponsored products throughout, forget about pretending to offer entertainment and get on with the business of making as much loot as possible. The three existing big sponsors of the show, by the way, pay a cool $35 million a pop for commercial time.

Read More | Hollywood Reporter

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