New contract reached with ‘Mad Men’ creator

“Mad Men” creator Matt Weiner has signed a new deal to remain with the Emmy-winning cable series for at least two more seasons.

The fifth season of the show, which normally runs in the summer, already had been pushed to early next year, in part because of the contract dispute. It will probably return to the air in March 2012.

Cable network AMC had wanted to add additional commercials to “Mad Men,” and producer Lionsgate wanted to find ways to cut costs in production of the expensive period drama, which uses the lifestyles of Manhattan ad men as a lens into 1960s culture.

AMC had also wanted to pursue more product placement in the show to help recoup its costs.

As a compromise, the first and last episodes of the upcoming season will run at 47 minutes, and the rest will run at 45 minutes to allow for more ads.

In regard to proposed cast cutbacks, sources said the main characters are all locked in for the next two seasons, the length of AMC’s current deal with Lionsgate.

Betty gets real

Betty White is taking on reality TV with a hidden-camera show that turns senior citizens into merry pranksters.

NBC has ordered 12 episodes of “Betty White’s Off Their Rockers,” the working title for a series based on a hit Belgian program.

The reality show follows seven seniors who band together to play pranks on “the unsuspecting youth of America.”

White, 89, starred in NBC’s “The Golden Girls” for seven seasons and appears in the TV Land sitcom “Hot in Cleveland.”

Arnold will be back

With his years as governor behind him, Arnold Schwarzenegger will soon return to his acting career with a new animated TV series.

“The Governator,” a planned action-comedy cartoon, will focus on a superhero living a double life as an ordinary family man. Schwarzenegger will provide the voice of the title character.

Comic-book legend Stan Lee is another partner in the project.

Burns returns to war

Having already done the Civil War and World War II, Ken Burns is working on a documentary about the Vietnam War.

The 10- to 12-hour film by Burns and longtime partner Lynn Novick will be broadcast in 2016, according to PBS.

Burns said it will tell the human stories of Americans and Vietnamese affected by the war, along with those who protested against it.