Finke offers one explanation from a source in the show...

"One of the great things about Mad Men is the tradition that Matt has established of offering higher-level opportunities to staff, writers and artists in all of the various departments. From the beginning, Matt has fought to get people approved by the studio which almost always lobbied for him to hire more experienced people instead."

"We think [Kater's] done a great job, particularly for someone whose career has progressed so quickly. Now, however, Matt has reluctantly decided that their relationship has reached its full potential. She'll be missed, but the series has consistently benefited from the influx of new writer talent, and there's absolutely no doubt that Kater will continue to have unprecedented success in her career as she spreads her wings. She leaves Mad Men with our love and respect and a well-deserved Emmy."

...that's clearly in Weiner's camp. Maybe this is the truth! Or maybe she might as well have placed an email from the show's flack in exchange for a better scoop later on. But the truth can't be this simple. Finke—who exercises a Machiavellian hand over the comments in her posts—left it to her commenters to speculate. And by speculate, we mean, speak for her. And I imagine someone at AMC is asking Finke why she's not deleting comments like she normally does on issues she wants to control.

Let's look at some of the more interesting theories:

• Matthew Weiner had a strictly unprofessional relationship with her, or as the commenter put it:

  *cough*LETTERMAN*cough*

  Well, Gordon did have a very quick rise through the rankings of Mad Men. Again: started as Weiner's assistant. Became a writers' assistant. Weiner then let her co-write the last season finale with him, and now, she's a staff writer for the third season. Or was, until she got fired. Staff writing jobs are not easy to come by, obviously. Sure, it's topical. And maybe it's worth noting that this is the first show Weiner's ever been a showrunner on. I somehow doubt this theory. If something inappropriate took place, why would he fire her? Probability: unlikely.
  
  

• Jealousy Issues. Another commenter writes:

  There was a really weird moment during the acceptance where Matt kind of 'snatched' the Emmy from her...The photo gets at it but I remember it being uncomfortable to watch. I always [sic] trhought they worked with these relatively inexperienced people on this show primarily for financial reasons. Allows them to put as much money as possible up on the screen.

  I'm not sure I buy the "inexperienced writers" line so much as the one above: that Mad Men hires writers with low quotes because they can afford to do so by reputation, and allocate the money elsewhere on the show. Weiner's a notorious control freak, as evidenced by the show, obviously. Hollywood loves a young, hot writer, and Gordon's cute and staffed on a hit show. Maybe this made Weiner uncomfortable. Or maybe Gordon's ego from the win outgrew Weiner's ability to micromanage, which could've been marginally. Even so, another commenter draws a comparison to Peggy and Don Draper's relationship, noting that this could give a certain scene from earlier in the season more significance...

  One just goes balls to the wall:

  Anyone who believes this horseshit is completely naïve. Matt Weiner is the lowest of the low in our business. He is a egomaniac and the likelihood is that he was incensed that he had to share credit and let alone an Emmy with her. A lowly former writer's assistant. As far as he is concerned, he is solely responsible for the success of this show and no other writer, producer, director, actor, key grip have done anything to contribute to the show's success. For Pete's sake, he didn't even let Kater Gordon say a word when they got up on stage. It was her moment as well but Weiner made it ALL about him.

  Though egomaniacs are kind of par for the course, no?
  
  

• And another one just thinks Matt was unloading unnecessary cargo:

  The only episode she wrote by herself was "The Fog" and it was terrible. Looks like Matt got too excited and promoted her too quickly…

Update: Finke posted from a writer who supposedly knows by Weiner and Gordon, who insists there was no "Letterman" play involved. "She totally got the show and deserved the break she got. There was NOTHING illicit in her relationship with Matt." 'Figured. But Finke has yet to posit any theories...

[Photo via Mark J. Terrill/AP]

Replacing Lyons and Mankiewicz as hosts of the long-running show, formerly hosted by Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, will be A.O. Scott of the New York Times and Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune, two men widely respected in the world of film criticism who have both served as fill-ins on the show in the past.

As the LA Times Patrick Goldstein notes, Ben Mankiewicz wasn't all that bad, but it appears as though he was brought down by the tremendous weight of Lyons' Herculean suckage.

To be fair, Mankiewicz, the scion of a fabled Hollywood family who hosts Turner Classic Movies presentations, was clearly more knowledgeable than his counterpart. As my colleague Chris Lee reported last December, Lyons, son of film critic Jeffrey Lyons, was held in such low esteem in the critical fraternity that others in the profession were lining up, happy to be quoted by name ridiculing his work, with Chicago-based film critic Erik Childress saying of Lyons: "He has no taste. Everyone thinks he's a joke."

So how awful was Ben Lyons? This awful:

You know what hurts a movie like Max Payne is the success of the Batman franchise. That obviously is about story and character so they think for all films of the genre it's gotta be about story and character and this whole backstory of him losing his wife. I don't care about that. I wanna see Max Payne shoot people. That's all I want from a movie like this.

Film lovers of the America rejoice — your own personal long national nightmare is finally over! But what will now become of the "Stop Ben Lyons" blog?

In this economy, ABC can't afford to only let go every gay, gay-adjacent, or gay-hating actor on Grey's Anatomy. Other ABC series are feeling the burn, and two newly departing actors were announced today.

The first? Nicollette Sheridan of Desperate Housewives, according to E!:

So how's she getting offed? Here are the exclusive details of the rumored exit...

As it's been penned: Edie [Sheridan] finds out her husband, Dave, plans to kill her-and Dave almost does kill her. She runs out of the house, but alas, poor Edie gets in an accident, something involving her car and an electrical wire. More details to come; the script is still being released for table reads.

Our condolences, Nicollette; may David Spade offer you a spindly shoulder to cry on. Also getting formally fired is the much-rumored-about Balthazar Getty, says E!:

After weeks of rumors that Getty has been causing problems on the set, sources tell us exclusively that episode 19, titled "Spring Broken," will be Getty's last of the season.

According to insiders who work on the show, Getty's character, Tommy Walker, will have a very dramatic and surprising storyline in coming episodes, in which he will-spoiler alert!-go to jail, get out on bail and go on the lam in Mexico.

But here's the really scandalous part...

Sources tell me that before he goes, Balthazar's Tommy will get thoroughly wasted, flirt with young girls and get a nice slap across the face from his mother, Nora (Sally Field).

Is it a case of art imitating adulterous life, or were Getty's future plotlines swallowed-up by Field's maniacal scene-chewing? Whatever it is, we're sure the tumbling economy didn't help; it's a good thing Lost announced an end-date it's working steadily toward, or we have a feeling that the May sweeps smoke monster would leave no one on the show besides Michael Emerson and the dog who plays Vincent. Actually, we would still watch that.

• Exclusive! Nicollette Sheridan's Desperate Housewives Days Numbered [E!]

• BREAKING NEWS: Nicollette Sheridan Leaving Desperate Housewives [E!]

Subject: [THING 2] To everyone at Showtime - I am writing this letter to let everyone know what really happened to our good friend [THING 1], who worked at our company for over 13 years.

[THING 1] did not resign - she was blindsided by Mr. Untouchable, [THING 2], and the "powers that be" at our wonderful company Showtime.

About a month ago [THING 1] was asked to go out to dinner by [THING 3] and [THING 2] for [THING 3]'s birthday party. The attendees were [THING 3] , his parents, his sister, [THING 1], her husband, and [THING 2], and his wife.

At the end of the dinner [THING 2] told [THING 1] to pay for the dinner on her Showtime American Express card. [THING 2] being [THING 1]'s boss, she didn't hesitate and paid the bill. After all he was the one who approved her expenses.

About 2 weeks later [THING 1] was called down to HR to talk about this particular incident. [THING 1] responded with nothing but the truth. Implicating herself in the process. Yes she lied on her expense report, however [THING 2] told her to do so.

This is where it gets good. After her conversation with HR [THING 3] called [THING 1] in a panic, asking her what they had asked and what he should expect when he was called down to HR. While on the phone with [THING 1], [THING 2] stormed into [THING 3]'s office (also in a panic) and told [THING 3] to outright lie, and say that [THING 2] was there for only one drink and then left. And to then tell HR that [THING 1] volunteered to pay for the dinner. Removing [THING 2] from the dinner and therefore out of harms way. [THING 3] at first was reluctant, but [THING 2] said, "I need you to protect me so I can protect you and [THING 1]" almost verbatim.

[THING 2] left the room and [THING 1], still on the phone and hearing all of this told [THING 3] to do what is right and tell the truth.
Spineless [THING 3] in turn went down to HR and did exactly what [THING 2] wanted him to do. He lied. After the meeting with HR [THING 3] slithered his way up to [THING 1]'s office crying and profusely apologized. "I can't believe I did that to you." He wept.

The very next day (after a sleepless night I would imagine) [THING 3] stormed down to HR and did the right thing. He told them he had lied and that [THING 2] not only was at the dinner the whole
night, not only told [THING 1] to pay for the bill, but he also told him to lie to HR not more than 12 hours ago.

After all this, Showtime not only fires a woman who has dedicated years of her life to this disgusting company, but they let [THING 2] off without so much as a slap on the wrist. They should all be ashamed of themselves. Disgusting.

The funniest thing about [THING 2] is that he really thinks we all genuinely like him. The fact of the matter is we ALL secretly despise him, but because we all fear him so much we would never say it to his face. And by the way [THING 2], everyone talks about you behind your back. How does that feel? This is just another reason for all of us to fear him. If he can walk away from this and the other countless things he's done to previous employees, we should all beware. Who's next on [THING 2]'s list? This is a disgusting excuse for a human being, who has made more enemies at every job he's ever worked, accepts absolutely no culpability, and still he moves up the ladder. Crazy, the innocent get flushed down the toilet and the ruthless assholes move forward.

This is not entirely [THING 2] fault. Showtime is hugely to blame here. How many people have to suffer, for Showtime to actually get off their asses and do something about a guy who has a file on him thicker than Webster's dictionary. He's a lawsuit waiting to happen, and I know many people who can't wait for that day.

We all know [THING 1] and how she conducted herself here at Showtime for 13 plus years and how classy of a lady she is. She has been nothing but a friend to all of us (even to [THING 2], blech), and it is just so sad that a woman like that gets the shaft.

I for one would like to say that [THING 1] being fired for this Asshole shows what kind of people we work for. She did nothing wrong, except listened to [THING 2].

[THING 1] you should know, you're so much better than them. Sleep well at night knowing that. Thank every day you are not part of this disgusting company any longer. Enjoy your life. You have a beautiful
new baby, a great husband, and real friends who you know you can count on. I love you and will miss you very much.

I thought everyone had a right to know the truth.

Anonymous