Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Mad Men’s fifth-season premiere received 3.5 million viewers on Sunday night, after a 17-month hiatus from the airwaves. That’s a 21 percent increase from the fourth-season premiere in 2010, which was the show’s previous all-time high. The critically acclaimed show had been delayed for more than a year because of a protracted renewal negotiation between the show’s creator Matthew Weiner, production company Lionsgate, and the channel that houses the show, AMC.
