The figures are in from Sunday night, revealing that the Mad Men Season 5 finale, “The Phantom”, is the highest rated finale of the series. The excellent episode had 2.7 million views on Sunday night, not accounting for repeat viewings or online viewers. This boost in viewings towards the end pushes up the season average viewers to 2.6 million, which means that Season 5 is the most watched season of Mad Men‘s entire run.
As AMC president Charlie Collier pointed out:
As in each season prior, season five is now Mad Men‘s most-watched season, an uncommon television growth record and a testament to the ongoing quality and uniqueness of this rare property.
It is strange for a show to gain viewers after such a long run, but the critical word of mouth on AMC’s awards darling has been positive enough to make more people tune in each year, which is bizarre for a niche show which works mainly on the level of character rather than narrative.
The reasonable success here means that Mad Men is more than likely to return next year and in a recent press conference, Matthew Weiner teased what we can expect to happen. In response to the question of whether or not Don will betray his marriage and sleep with the two women who propositioned him at the bar, Weiner was very reticent, saying: “You have to watch”. However, he did confirm that we will see more of Peggy Olson next year despite her exit from SCDP during this season:
She’s still part of the show. So far. We want to know where she is in this world. I can’t tell you what’s planned for her, but there she was [in the finale].
Personally, I’m happy Peggy is staying if only for the opportunity to have more scenes between her and Don.
The success of this season is great. Season 5 will surely go down as being one of the show’s most consistent, with several stand out episodes that were totally perfect. I can’t wait to see what Mad Men will have in store for us next year.
Source: Ace Showbiz
