AceShowbiz -

Aimed for an early Fall shot, "Mad Men" season 3 has finally got a fixed premiere date, August 16. Airing at 10/9c, the premiere episode will be presented with limited commercial interruptions and preceded by season 2 marathon on August 10 which starts at 7 A.M. and ends at 8 P.M. EST.

It is not the only good news coming from the critically-acclaimed series because a deal has been reached between AMC and creator Matthew Weiner regarding the running time. Instead of cutting short each episode for commercial breaks as has been suggested previously, they have anticipated it by adding extra minutes in each episode which will make the show running a little over an hour. "It's wonderful to have partners who can respond to both a business and creative challenge in such a satisfying way," Weiner told Daily Variety.

AMC wanted 2 minutes dedicated to ads but Weiner was bothered by the request. "The two minutes is troubling and I'm fighting it," Weiner wrote in online chat hosted by the L.A. Times last week. "I am obviously a huge advocate of advertising and I love the 'madvertising,' but I am fighting the urge to change the show at this time, especially when the financials are meager and the urge to TiVo will just be further encouraged."

The episodes will now run a few minutes into the 11 P.M. hour although it already had generous running time of around 47 - 48 minutes which is around 5 minutes longer than many basic cable hours. AMC has also worked it out with its cable operator affiliates to make sure DVRs set to record the series would recognize the unusually long running time and not cut off at 11 P.M. sharp.