‘Mad Men’ Season 7: Will the Final Season Live Up to the Hype?

It’s the end of the 1960s as we know it. As AMC’s “Mad Men” heads into its 7^th and final season, the pressure is on to go out in a record breaking way. Part of the plan: A split finale season, a la “Breaking Bad, with seven episodes airing in 2014 and the final seven in 2015.

Showrunner Matthew Weiner has already commented on “Mad Men’s” mini finale seasons, recently telling Rolling Stone, “It was more work, and challenging, but I think, creatively, it was kind of invigorating. I hope the audience feels that way, but from our end of it, it was definitely a good thing to have. A good shake-up.”

Of course, AMC previously had mega success with “Breaking Bad’s” two-year finale, with a whopping 10 million viewers tuning to see Walter White’s (Bryan Cranston) final days. And Weiner admits his show is following the “Breaking Bad” model, even if it wasn’t his idea.

“The whole reason we're splitting the season like this is because it was tremendously successful for the network,” he said. “I have a lot of control, and I certainly am given a lot of freedom creatively. But that was not up to me, and when I saw what happened with ‘Breaking Bad’ how could you argue with them? Honestly, part of me thinks, as a viewer: Let it go on a little bit longer. “

But can ratings history repeat itself? There’s already naysayers. A recent Vulture article acknowledged that both AMC dramas are highly acclaimed, but added that the odds of the “Mad Men” actually “experiencing a ‘Breaking Bad’–size surge are slimmer than those of Don Draper turning down an old-fashioned.“ (Translation: Not likely. At all.)

And from the Baltimore Sun: “The idea of presenting one season's worth of episodes as two distinct seasons worked wonderfully for AMC with ‘Breaking Bad.’ But that series had a crime-drama, action-adventure component. I'm not so sure it will work nearly as well for ‘Mad Men," especially if Don is wandering around in a near-comatose cosmic funk…”

Indeed, back in the day (okay, 2007) “Mad Men” was AMC’s flagship series and garnered a ton of buzz. Within  a few years, Banana Republic partnered with the show for “Mad Men” inspired clothing line, while ‘60s era dramas—albeit all of them short-lived - popped up all over the small screen: "Pan Am," "The Playboy Club" and "Magic City."

But in some ways, “Mad Men’s” ship may have sailed. The show, once an Emmy darling, has been shut out from the primetime awards ceremony the past two years. Ratings have fluctuated, and the ridiculously long gap between season 4 and 5 turned off some viewers. Ratings were up for the Season 6 finale, “In Care Of,” but they took a plunge for the Season 7 premiere, “Time Zones.” It remains to be seen if they will climb, or even remain stable, as Season 7 progresses.

Weiner has already gone on record as saying he’ll miss “Mad Men” More than any of us will. While he may be underestimating the show’s most devoted fans, we’ll have to do a time jump to see if that sentiment rings true.

“Mad Men” airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on AMC.

1990s Flashback! Five ‘90s Stars Who Guest Starred on ‘Mad Men’

Mad Men” may be set in the 1960s, but the critically acclaimed AMC drama definitely makes us nostalgic for the ‘90s. The series’ Season 7 premiere, “Time Zones,” featured a face that’s very familiar to Millennials. Yep, that was “Party of Five” alum Neve Campbell playing the widow who snuggled alongside Don Draper (Jon Hamm) on the red eye back to New York.

Campbell -- whose breakout role as Julia Salinger on the 1990s teen drama led to roles in a slew of  the  big screen ‘90s flicks like “The Craft,” “Scream,” and “Wild Things”--  told  Yahoo TV that her guest star stint on “Mad Men” could signal her more permanent return to TV: “This is the first time, I think, really since ‘Party of Five’ that I've been open to returning to television properly,” she said.  And although she wouldn’t dish on the future of her “Mad Men” character Lee Cabot, Campbell’s got plenty of company when it comes to “Mad Men” cameos.

Here are five more 1990s TV stars who’ve gone back in time for a guest role on “Mad Men.”

Bess Armstrong

Actress Bess Armstrong, who played sensible, breadwinning mom Patty Chase on ABC’s 1994 drama “My So Called Life,” turned up in the “Mad Men” Season 5 episode “Far Away Places,” playing Jane Sterling’s (Peyton List) acid-dropping shrink Catherine Orcutt. While Roger Sterling’s (John Slattery) trip is the one viewers go on in the episode (the ad exec hears flute music when he opens a liquor bottle, hallucinates an image of Don, and time travels back to the 1919 World Series), there’s no bigger trip than seeing Angela Chases’ mom as an LSD party hostess.

Dennis Haskins

 It was a brief cameo, but diehard “Saved By the Bell” fans couldn’t miss it: Mr. Belding -- er, actor Dennis Haskins -- played a test kitchen scientist (official title: Head of Desserts for General Foods) for Cool Whip in the Season 5 episode “Lady Lazarus.” His character’s name was credited as Phil Beachum, but he’ll always be Belding to us!

Linda Cardellini

Lindsay Weir is all grown up! “Freaks and Geeks” star Linda Cardellini scored a multi-episode arc as Don Draper’s seductive neighbor Sylvia Rosen on “Mad Men’s sixth season, and the role even earned her an Emmy nod. In  an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Cardellini compared the two retro-themed shows: “[‘Mad Men’] is a very different vibe from something like ‘Freaks and Geeks,’ where the scripts are incredible but it’s a lot looser,” she said. “When it comes to something like ‘Mad Men,’ it’s very precise, and you may not even understand the part that you’re playing in the bigger picture.”

Harry Hamlin

Harry Hamlin made a name for himself as new ad agency partner Jim Cutler with a recurring role on “Mad Men.” But the former “L.A Law” star wasn’t exactly sure what he was getting into when he signed on to the show. Hamlin told GQ that he was given virtually no info on is character, but he took a leap of faith: “I didn’t know that I was going to be Jim Cutler, who is actually on the door of Cutler, Gleason, and Chaough.” He said. “Or that I would be wearing glasses the whole time.”

Ted McGinley

Back in the day, Ted McGinley played Jefferson D’Arcy on “Married With Children,” but two decades later he played a married swinger on the “Mad Men” episode “To Have and To Hold.” McGinley’s character, Mel, was the head writer on Megan Draper’s (Jessica Pare) soap opera of the same name. Given Mel’s swinging status, perhaps sex-starved Peggy Bundy would like his number!

The final season of "Mad Men"  is set to air on AMC next spring.