Is “Mad Men” coming back?

It’s March 1st, do you know when “Mad Men” is coming back? No? Neither does anyone else. As of this weekend there has been no movement in the negotiations between Lions Gate, AMC, and show creator Matthew Weiner.

Over the weekend, I ran into Jon Hamm, the nominal star of the show. He says nothing’s happened. He and girlfriend (accomplished writer director) Jennifer Westfeldt just wrapped their indie film, “Friends with Kids,” and now head off to edit it. I saw Jared Harris at SoHo House one night. Like most of the “Mad Men” actors, he’s trapped. He can’t really start anything because the show could come back at any moment. Indeed, the way Weiner works, if “Mad Men” were all set to begin pre-production today, Weiner wouldn’t be ready to shoot until June 1st. At least. Maybe July 1st. We wouldn’t see new shows until September. Last time, “Mad Men” debuted on July 25th. Certainly AMC’s strength is to debut in summer, away from the new fall season on the broadcast networks. But now that hope is dashed.

By procrastinating so long, they’ve pushed “Mad Men” to a late fall run at best. Get with it, AMC, Lions Gate! Wrap this up. There’s nothing Weiner could want than any other star show runner has ever gotten. This stalling is only making the companies and the network look bad, and not attractive to other TV producers.
Read more

Daily Shuffle: Lindsay Passed All Her Drug Tests

Lilo is good to go, guys. She’s made it. She’s in the clear. Right? Well, for now anyway. Lohan’s proud papa just bragged to RadarOnline that his daughter has passed up to 10 drug and alcohol tests in the two weeks that she’s been out of the Betty Ford Center “with flying colors.” Note to Mr. Lohan, as happy as we are for Lilo and her new-found abstinence, you should know that we generally reserve that phrase for situations in which passing a test means your daughter stayed up all night studying the ancient Roman empire.

• America’s sweethearts…er…okay, more like two really cute actors who were dating for a really short amount of time, SNL’s Jason Sudekis and Mad Men’s January Jones have split. They’ve announce they’re “done” but that they “could get back together.” Here’s a lesson from Hollywood royalty you two, if you’re going to split at all, split in a grand fashion, then let everyone get all excited when you get back together two weeks later. It’s called game; get some.

• Piers Morgan has a new CNN talk show (and I’m still not sure why) and he’s already burning bridges. He released the list of people he refuses to chat with on his show. Chief among them are Madonna, Heather Mills, Howie Mandel (because he’s “too irritating”), Cherie Blair (wife of Tony Blair) and Keith Olberman (“just because it would really annoy him”). Okay dude, most of America only knows you as a judge on some silly talent contest, are you really going to start being picky about who’s on your show? This early in the game you should count yourself lucky to have Howie Mandel as a guest, besides who else can tell you about the effect of sexy ladies and numbered suitcases on America’s youth?
For more info- http://www.hollywood.com/news/Daily_Shuffle_Lindsay_Passed_All_Her_Drug_Tests/7751056