Prime seat for ‘Mad Men’ creator
As far as James Lipton is concerned, “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner is entitled to be a Hamm. After a reliable source told us that Weiner raised eyebrows when he “insisted” on joining members of his cast onstage for a taping of “Inside The Actors Studio” on Wednesday, Lipton insisted that he wouldn’t have done the show without Weiner.
According to our insider, AMC executives who attended the taping were among those taken aback when Weiner demanded to sit with his “Mad Men” actors during their discussion with Lipton.
“The show is called ‘Inside the Actors Studio,’ not ‘the Creators Studio,’ ” noted our source, who said that during the taping, Weiner took a prime seat next to the studly star of his 1960s advertising-industry drama, Jon Hamm.
Christina Hendricks, January Jones and John Slattery also took part in the episode. Elisabeth Moss was in Australia and unable to join the other cast members.
Our source observed that when Lipton interviewed the “Modern Family” cast on “Actors Studio” in June 2011, Steven Levitan, who created the show with Christopher Lloyd, fielded questions from the studio audience.
Lipton responded that it was his idea to have Weiner appear with his actors. “Matt was the first invited,” the host said. “The others joined him. I would not have done this show without Matt Weiner onstage.”
A spokesman for the longrunning Bravo show also noted that, at Lipton’s invitation, “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy shot an episode of “Inside” with members of his cast in December. The spokesman added that the “Glee” episode will air before the “Mad Men” Q&A.
Weiner, who was one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2011, is apparently not shy about exerting that influence. Last March, he clashed with AMC after the network offered him $30 million to renew the show for another three seasons provided he cut two characters and two min- utes from each episode so that more ad time could be inserted.
“I don’t understand why, with all of the success of the show, they suddenly need to change it,” Weiner bristled in an interview with The New York Times.
Weiner ended up striking a compromise with AMC: No cast cuts were made, and though two minutes will reportedly be edited from upcoming episodes during their first run on AMC, the excised scenes will be restored when the shows are offered on AMC’S on-demand channel.
When negotiations were finalized in April 2011, Weiner announced that the next three seasons of “Mad Men” would be the last.
Looks like he’s making them count. The new season debuts Sunday at 9 p.m., and the Daily News’ David Hinckley gave the twohour premiere a glowing five-star review.