TVSquad

Is there a new trend in the television landscape? Could be. At the TCA panel for Mad Men, creator Matt Weiner, revealed that the show is only going to run four more years.

That's right, the man has a plan. Each season of Mad Men will jump ahead approximately two years, so that when Don Draper's story comes to an end, it will be 1969. Can you imagine how radically the show will look by the end of the 1960s? With their attention to detail, it'll be amazing.

So what's the trend? It's setting an endpoint for a series. Battlestar Galactica did it, and Lost has as well. Traditionally, American television series run and run and run until the creators choose to end or the network calls it quits which usually corresponds to viewers having tuned out.

The biggest news to come out of the pre-lunch session with the creators and most of the cast of Lost? Uh, nothing much, just that the producers see an endpoint to the show and are have been talking about such an endpoint to the network for some time now.

Interesting, huh? Executive producer Carlton Cuse let the news slip, when asked about whether they've planned on a closed end to the show, that they are in discussions with ABC to pick an endpoint for the show. No real timetable was confirmed -- speculation ranged from two more to four more seasons -- but the producers want to make sure the show doesn't overstay its welcome. "We don't want to be to the point where we're doing the stalling show," explained co-creator Damon Lindelof. He then joked by giving such an example: "We're building sand castles this week!" He cited The X-Files as a show that was great but went on "two seasons too long," and that once they've determined when the endpoint will be, they will announce it right away.

At lunch, reporters surrounded ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson (more on that later to day) about this little tidbit. He didn't know that the producers had mentioned this, but didn't seem to be surprised, as he told the group that they had been talking with the show's producers about an endpoint almost from the beginning of the series. I'm sure we'll hear more of this later.

More tidbits and some funny lines after the jump.