Kathy Lyford at Variety sat down with “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner to ask him a bunch of questions from readers of the entertainment trade rag.
Here’s one I like:
Q. Now that we’re in season two, is it difficult to deliver more of those interesting factoids during each commercial break?
A. I have nothing to do with those. As the sponsors (come in), whatever sponsors they get, it’s their problem. I love them. They are Tivo stoppers. It was a really brilliant idea; I had nothing to do with them. If it was up to me I would do things the way they did in 1960. I would have a single sponsor doing the whole show and tie them to the show. But because this is the way it’s done and they’re selling minutes, I think it’s the most palatable and innovative thing I’ve seen, especially considering what’s happened with TV advertising. I’ve been very impressed by it. I think it looks like something Don Draper would have thought of.
Another interesting aspect of the interview for me, is Weiner’s literary influences. “I loved John Cheever and those writers and that’s why I picked Ossining,” Weiner says. He also mentions Catch-22, Catcher in the Rye, Death of a Salesman and The Feminine Mystique.
