New York, New York – January 28, 2008 – On Saturday, January 26th, winners were announced for the Directors Guild Awards, with AMC receiving recognition for Director, Alan Taylor who received the Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Series for the series' pilot of Mad Men entitled "When Smoke Gets in Your Eyes."
The following is a statement on behalf of AMC General Manager and Executive Vice President Charlie Collier:
"We're thrilled to receive this recognition from the Directors Guild of America and we thank them for honoring us with this incredible distinction.
Congratulations and thanks to Alan Taylor who brought the world that Matthew Weiner created to life in such a compelling way.
The recognition reaffirms AMC's commitment to create quality original programming that can stand side by side with the network's extensive hand picked library of the best films of all time."
In addition to the DGA wins, Mad Men also earned two 2008 Golden Globe awards for Best Television Series – Drama and Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama for Jon Hamm. The honors mark AMC's first-ever Golden Globes wins.
Mad Men is a smart and cinematic drama about the professional lives, social mores and sexual exploits of advertising executives on Madison Avenue circa 1960, when the industry was at its height of glamour, power, and prestige. The setting is the Sterling Cooper agency, which sells everything from cigarettes to political candidates. The protagonist, Don Draper, is a fast-rising creative director whose smooth exterior conceals any number of secrets.
The show's cast includes: Jon Hamm ('We Were Soldiers'), Elisabeth Moss ('West Wing'), Vincent Kartheiser ('Angel'), January Jones ('American Wedding'), and Christina Hendricks ('Kevin Hill'), as well as guest star John Slattery ('K Street', 'Sex and the City'). Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), the leading independent film entertainment studio, produces the series with AMC's Vlad Wolynetz, Vice President of Production, Series and Movies, and Christina Wayne, Senior Vice President of Scripted Series and Mini Series, overseeing the development and production of the drama respectively.
Mad Men received unprecedented accolades from the press, including being deemed the best series of 2007 by several leading publications like Time Magazine, USA Today, and The New York Times. In September the network announced that it has renewed the series for a second season which is slated to premiere in summer 2008.
Continuing its original programming momentum, AMC premiered its newest original series, Breaking Bad, on Sunday, January 20 at 10PM (ET/PT), 9CT. The series premiered to record ratings success for the network and received stellar reviews from the press including USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and Entertainment Weekly among others. The one-hour, weekly drama is created by Vince Gilligan (X-Files) and follows the story of a desperate man, played by Bryan Cranston (Malcolm in the Middle), who turns to a life of crime to secure his family's financial security.
About AMC
AMC is a multi-platform network that celebrates classic movies and high-quality scripted series. Among the elite services reaching over 94,000,000 homes, AMC defines what it means to be a classic movie network today, creating a distinctive viewing experience that celebrates all that is enduringly cool, personal and powerfully relevant about movies. AMC's comprehensive library of popular movies strike a meaningful chord with its audience, and its critically-acclaimed slate of originals all have a cinematic quality that allow them to complement and be complemented by some of the best movies of all time. A division of Rainbow Media Entertainment Services, AMC's sister divisions include WE tv and the IFC Companies. AMC is THE FUTURE OF CLASSIC.
About Rainbow Media Holdings LLC
Rainbow Media Holdings LLC is a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC). Rainbow Media is a leading producer of targeted, multi-platform content for global distribution, creating and managing some of the world's most compelling and dynamic entertainment brands, including AMC, IFC, WE tv, Rainbow Sports Networks managed FSN Bay Area and FSN New England, LIFESKOOL, SPORTSKOOL, and VOOM HD Networks. Through its IFC Entertainment division, Rainbow Media also owns and manages the following: IFC Films, a theatrical feature film distribution company; IFC First Take/IFC in Theaters, a day and date theatrical feature film/VOD initiative; the IFC Center in New York City; IFC Productions, a feature film production company; and IFC Entertainment, which owns and operates a film library. Rainbow Media also operates Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation, its advertising sales division, and Rainbow Network Communications, its full service network programming origination and distribution company.