When, if ever, will we get more "Mad Men"?

Not having heard any "Mad Men" news for a while, I just assumed that that was a good thing and that everyone had worked things out and the show would return for its fifth season by late summer as usual. Silly me ...

It seems that not even has production not started yet, as it usually does this time of year or very soon after, but creator Matthew Weiner is still negotiating a lucrative new contract with Lionsgate. Assuming that that will get done, and the two sides are apparently now very close, that still means production won't get going for a few weeks or so after that, meaning no "Mad Men" until at least the fall.

Nards. In the meantime, AMC will have a few potentially great things to fill the void. I'm really looking forward to the new series "The Killing," which has its two-hour premiere April 3. The show, based on a popular Danish TV show, will focus on the murder of a teenage girl in Seattle in its first season, and the widening net of possible suspects. It's been ages since I found a good police procedural, so here's hoping this is it.

And fans of "Breaking Bad" (of which I'm not one simply because even I can only watch so much television and, well, I just never got around to it) can look forward to new episodes in July or so, and then there's the return of "The Walking Dead" (of which I certainly am a big, big fan) for season two this fall. Still, no firm date yet for the return of "Mad Men"? Bring it on already!

The other thing that caught my eye this morning is that there will hopefully be another "Narnia" movie, though not the one many people may have been expecting.

I've always wondered why it's been such a difficult proposition for Walden Media and Fox to keep making these flicks. I know there's an innocence about them that's genuinely out of place in our often crass world (but that I love), but the movies consistently make money: "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" was made for $155 million and made $403 million worldwide, while No. 2, "Prince Caspian," was made for $225 million and brought in $419 million worldwide. "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" is still the most lucrative in the series, with a budget of $180 million and a worldwide take of $745 million.

Besides all that, there just good, really fun movies. "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" had the most problems of the three, but they've just gotten better, and I flat out adored "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." And now, in a case of me burying the lead behind my own blathering on, comes word that the next movie in the series, assuming Walden gets Fox to sign, will be "The Magician's Nephew." Here's what Walden's Michael Flaherty had to say about it to The Christian Post:

"We are starting to talk to Fox and talk to the C.S. Lewis estate now about the Magician's Nephew being our next film. If we can all agree to move forward, then what we would do is find someone to write the script. So, it could still be a couple of years."

Here's hoping they work out the plans soon, because though I can't claim to remember all the details about all these books, I read them all as a kid, and loved them all. Here, for those of you like me who might need a refresher course on just what "The Magician's Nephew," an origins story for "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," is all about, is the synopsis from Amazon:

When Digory and Polly are tricked by Digory’s peculiar Uncle Andrew into becoming part of an experiment, they set off on the adventure of a lifetime. What happens to the children when they touch Uncle Andrew’s magic rings is far beyond anything even the old magician could have imagined. Hurtled into the Wood between the Worlds, the children soon find that they can enter many worlds through the mysterious pools there. In one world they encounter the evil Queen Jadis, who wreaks havoc in the streets of London when she is accidentally brought back with them. When they finally manage to pull her out of London, unintentionally taking along Uncle Andrew and a coachman with his horse, they find themselves in what will come to be known as the land of Narnia.

I wouldn't go so far as to say the world needs more "Narnia" movies, but I certainly like it when they're around, so good news there. And with that, I'm off to the job that somehow still plays my bills. Peace out.