Sigh of Relief: 'Mad Men' Deal Reached, Will Continue For Three More Seasons

Alright, fellow "Mad Men" fans. We can all rest easy now.

Director Matthew Weiner has finalized his contract with AMC, and "Mad Men" won't be going anywhere anytime soon. The bad news, as we already know, is that "Mad Men" won't be back on the air until March 2012 (it pains me every time I say it!). But there's good news out of this deal: the show will get three more seasons.

That will put "Mad Men" into its seventh season, which Weiner is happy with. Happy enough, in fact, that he thinks it will be the end of the show: "Seven seasons seems like the right length for the life of the show and I'm very excited knowing that I have that canvas to paint on," Weiner said.

While thinking about the end of "Mad Men" might be sad, it's actually a good thing for us fans that the creative team will know when their last season is. Too often, great shows get pushed off the air too soon without knowing whether or not they will be renewed. That leads to a less-than-satisfactory ending (see "Pushing Daisies")...but of course, that can happen to shows that know they're filming a finale as well (see "The Sopranos").

Weiner may be right: seven seasons seems like it's the right length for the show. Any longer and the team might have to dig for more stories or "jump the shark." Plus, we don't want to see Don Draper and the rest of the cast go into the decidedly un-debonair 1970's, do we?