Matt Weiner Is Using Mad Men to Enact His Devious Revenge
Remember on last week's Mad Men where a British ad man got his foot run over with a lawn mower? Well, the gossip is that he is based on one of Mathew Weiner's mortal enemies, but who?
The scoop we're hearing is that the suave, slick-talking Brit was a stand in for AMC president and general manager Charles "Charlie" Collier. Weiner had some notoriously tumultuous contract renegotiations after season two and even threatened to leave the show if they wouldn't pay him the kind of money he felt he deserved.
After securing him for the third season of the channel's most visible creative and ratings success, Collier told Weiner and the show's other producers that the hour would have an additional commercial break. Of course the writers were none too pleased that they'd lose two minutes of air time each episode and have to work in another awkward pause to their weekly festivities—especially because this never came up during the contract brouhaha. How does a creative type strike back? With fictional bloody violence of course.
So, what does Collier have in common with his Mad Men alter ego, Guy MacKendrick? Well, both have British parents, both were salesmen (Collier at Court TV before joining AMC), both wear suits, and both know Matt Weiner. Oh, and they sort of look alike. So far Weiner's voodoo doll has not caused Collier to lose his job like it did to poor Guy MacKendrick. Considering Collier has ad revenue up 10% we have a feeling that even with only 5 toes, he'll still be standing on top of AMC.