Matt Weiner is still taking an Abbey Road approach to the finale of Mad Men, but he has a more specific goal now, too. “I just want it to be entertaining and I want people to remember it fondly and not think it ended in a fart,†he told Jeff Garlin at a Q&A in L.A. on Friday. “It came to me in the middle of last season. I always felt like it would be the experience of human life. And human life has a destination,†he said. No, not death.
“It doesn’t mean Don’s gonna die. What I’m looking for, and how I hope to end the show, is like … It’s 2011. Don Draper would be 84 right now. I want to leave the show in a place where you have an idea of what it meant and how it’s related to you.†He also told Garlin and the audience about some contentious encounters — with an actor, with Alex Trebek (“Alex basically said, ‘You have bad grades. No Centrum Silver for you’â€), with AMC, and also with the Internet. Some people did not like Don’s voice-over last season, Weiner said. “Some people were like, ‘You’re not allowed to do that. There’s no voice-over on the show.’ And I’m like, ‘Go fuck yourself. Go get your own fucking show. Don’t write on the Internet what I’m allowed to fucking do.’†The phrase you’re looking for is “haters gonna hate,†Matt.