"Mad Men" is one of those shows that doesn't attract a huge audience, but its viewers are loyal. Complain as they may, they'll tune in early next year when the show finally returns to AMC's schedule.
Those viewers got some good news at the end of last week when a deal was finally struck not only to do a fifth season of the stylish show set in the 1960s, but to bring back the show's creator, Matt Weiner. To add to the good news, the show will run for three more seasons.
To further add to the good news, the early talk of two cast members being cut to save money is out. Those decisions won't be made for financial reasons.
There's some minor changes -- a few minutes of additional commercial time here and there -- so AMC can make a bit more money out of the show.
But the best news is that TV's best drama (in my opinion) will be back roughly a year from now, with Weiner still the creative force behind it.
Take the good news about great TV where you can get it.
Gearing up for weekend mornings: Channel 6's re-launched weekend morning newscast means the Fox affiliate has made a string of new hires.
The first isn't part of the weekend morning news (back after a two-year absence caused by the economic downturn). Channel 6's news now airs from 7 to 9 a.m. Saturdays and Sunday.
Laura Langemo, starts April 18 as weekday morning reporter, replacing Sarah Platt, who left for a job at Time Warner Cable. Langemo had been morning anchor at KBJR-TV in Duluth.
The new weekend morning crew all come from WICD-TV in Champaign, Ill. The first is weekend morning anchor Ben Handelman, who had been the weekend anchor at that station. The Connecticut native is due to arrive April 18 and begin by co-anchoring with Tami Hughes for a few weeks. Hughes will return to the Saturday night anchor desk and he'll be the sole anchor.
Weekend morning weather forecaster Brittney Sager will be re-teamed with Handelman, and reporter Bret Buganski -- who's already been reporting on the air -- will be the weekend morning reporter.
News director Jim Lemon reports that he wasn't targeting the downstate Illinois station. He hired Buganski late last year, and it was Buganski -- who started last month -- who told him about the other two.
On TV: Channel 12 is using today's Brewers' home opener to launch a new traffic system. The ABC station says "Beat the Backup" will be an "advanced 3D animated, life traffic system."
- Speaking of today's home opener, Channel 4 says it's been picked as "the official weather forecaster of the Milwaukee Brewers." So if the weather affects your tailgating, you know who's responsible.
- HBO says Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" will be back for season eight July 10 in the 9 p.m. Sunday slot. "True Blood" returns June 26 and the final season of "Entourage" begins July 24. "Treme" is back April 24.
- Fox says it's making "Mobbed," its flash-mob "reality" show, a series with eight episodes. The Howie Mandel-hosted special last Thursday did well enough in the ratings to make the investment.
- TV Guide is warning that ABC may be canceling both "All My Children" and "One Life to Live."
Naima offers an explanation: You likely know that Milwaukee's lone "American Idol" finalist, Naima Adedapo, got the ax last week after her reggae take on Elton John's "I'm Still Standing." The good news for the talented singer-dancer is that she'll be part of the live "Idol" tour this summer.
Frankly, that choice is most likely what did her in.
Adedapo told reporters in a conference call that "sometimes people just didn't know where to place me." She noted that "more than 50 percent of the audience is little teenage girls."
They likely didn't get the whole reggae thing.
Here's Adedapo's finale "Idol" performance and you can judge for yourself:
Tim Cuprisin is the media columnist for OnMilwaukee.com. He's been a journalist for 30 years, starting in 1979 as a police reporter at the old City News Bureau of Chicago, a legendary wire service that's the reputed source of the journalistic maxim "if your mother says she loves you, check it out." He spent a couple years in the mean streets of his native Chicago, and then moved on to the Green Bay Press-Gazette and USA Today, before coming to the Milwaukee Journal in 1986.
A general assignment reporter, Cuprisin traveled Eastern Europe on several projects, starting with a look at Poland after five years of martial law, and a tour of six countries in the region after the Berlin Wall opened and Communism fell. He spent six weeks traversing the lands of the former Yugoslavia in 1994, linking Milwaukee Serbs, Croats and Bosnians with their war-torn homeland.
In the fall of 1994, a lifetime of serious television viewing earned him a daily column in the Milwaukee Journal (and, later the Journal Sentinel) focusing on TV and radio. For 15 years, he has chronicled the changes rocking broadcasting, both nationally and in Milwaukee, an effort he continues at OnMilwaukee.com.
When he's not watching TV, Cuprisin enjoys tending to his vegetable garden in the backyard of his home in Whitefish Bay, cooking and traveling.
