The 2011 Emmy Awards air Sunday, and Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb took a look at the field Friday on 'Today' (weekdays, 7AM on NBC) with People Magazine's style and beauty editor Pamela Edwards Christiani. They went through the major categories and picked a few favorites from 'Mad Men,' 'The Good Wife,' and 'The Office.'

Christiani picked Jon Hamm over Steve Buscemi, Kyle Chandler, Michael C. Hall, Hugh Laurie, and Timothy Olyphant for lead actor in a drama. "It's his year. I don't know if you paid attention to 'Mad Men' last season, his character was so intense. The downward spiral -- Don Draper brought it to us this year." She also likes Julianna Margulies for 'The Good Wife,' citing the show's critical acclaim and fan popularity.

'Mad Men' fans struggling through the dry spell between Seasons 4 and 5 can rest easy in the knowledge that Don Draper will be on the show until the end.

And, for those fans looking to maintain the 'Mad Men' mood through the long wait, Banana Republic has announced that in August it will launch a range of clothing and accessories inspired by the '60s-set drama.

Deadline.com reports that in the wake of 'Mad Men' creator Matthew Weiner's new three-year deal, star Jon Hamm has renegotiated his contract with Lionsgate-AMC.

He was previously committed to a further two seasons, but that's now been upped to three in exchange for a whopping pay-day -- estimated to be an eight-figure sum -- which makes him one of the highest-paid actors in a cable series.

The first annual Critics' Choice Television Awards honored many Emmy favorites, but gave some love to the underdogs during its June 20 ceremony.

Actors and actresses from 'The Good Wife,' 'Mad Men' and 'Cougar Town' were amongst the winners at the inaugural awards ceremony.

The show, which was hosted by 'So You Think You Can Dance''s Cat Deeley, was streamed live on VH1.com, and will air on ReelzChannel Wed., June 22 at 8PM.

Check out a full list of winners below.

'Mad Men' and 'Lost' have a lot in common. Both are critically acclaimed shows with small but fiercely devoted followings. Both feature square-jawed men and feisty dames, many of them with unresolved daddy issues, trying to understand life on a mysterious island characterized by brutal power struggles. Both shows center on thick plumes of smoke.

Now there's one more similarity: Both shows' creators decided about three seasons into their runs to end their series after six seasons. According to The Weekly Blend blog, 'Mad Men''s Matthew Weiner announced last week at the National Association of Broadcasters' convention in Las Vegas that he could not envision writing the show beyond a sixth season.

What do you look for in a DVD set? Are you the type of person who expects to see a lot of extras (commentaries, behind-the-scenes footage, interviews, bloopers, deleted scenes, documentaries, etc) because DVDs allow us to have all of those things and it would be a ripoff for the consumer if we didn't get them? Or are you the type of person who is just happy to have the actual episodes to watch over and over again whenever you want and you don't really care about the extras?

You're in the middle? What a politician.

I lean towards the former for newer shows and towards the latter for older shows. Though I would love to have commentaries and features for older shows, I realize that's not always possible. I ask this because the DVD set for the third season of AMC's 'Mad Men' has cast and crew commentaries for every single episode. Let's take a look at that feature and everything else in the set.

'Breaking Bad' comes back for its third season this Sunday on AMC (10PM ET / 9PM CT), and after watching the last few episodes of season two, the new season can't come soon enough. The dramatic ante was upped for meth-making science teacher Walter White (a role for which Bryan Cranston won another Emmy) and his partner Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), and the season ended with the fallout of Walter's actions spreading from his family to the greater Albuquerque area.

Creator and executive producer Vince Gilligan is the man behind the dark but wryly amusing world of 'Breaking Bad.' After watching the first two season three episodes while I was at the TCA tour in January, I got a chance to sit with Gilligan poolside at the Langham Huntington for a few minutes.

We talked about the "holy crap" moment of season two, on how he and Cranston see Walter differently, how many seasons he envisions the show running, how Walter might transform over the season's run, and what it's like to be on the same network as 'Mad Men.'

Stay tuned for interviews with the cast later in the week.

(SPOILERS AHEAD! Stop here if you haven't seen season two yet...)

This is one of the funniest things we've seen all day. On 'Community' (Thu., 8PM ET on NBC), Abed channeled Don Draper of 'Mad Men' to show how he'd get the girl.

And it was spot-on, right down to the voice, the smooth moves and even the cigarettes. If you close your eyes, that's not Abed in the video. That's Don Draper.

Now he just needs to bed down every woman that comes within earshot, make a few hardcore business deals, lie to his wife and assume someone else's identity. Oh, and get a hat.

Watch the video after the jump.

Don't you just love it when life sort of imitates art?

Jon Hamm, who plays the chain smoking Don Draper on TV's 'Mad Men,' has been hired by Mercedes Benz as a pitchman for their car commercials, which will premiere during the Academy Awards.

This means, of course, that Mr. Hamm will replace actor Richard Thomas who has done the voiceover for Mercedes' car commercials for the last four years. Good night Jon-Boy.

The company's marketing VP Stephen Cannon called Hamm "a hot actor." That must have been one awkward audition.

Usually during a press tour all-star party, there's one or two unexpectedly popular stars who just seem to attract throngs and throngs of reporters for the entire night. A couple of years ago, it was George Takei right after he started on 'Heroes.' This year, the NBC star attracting the attention at their all-star party in Pasadena last month was Alison Brie.

Why? Well, besides being cute and chatty, having significant supporting roles in two critically-acclaimed shows probably helped. Brie not only plays the uptight and naïve Annie on the comedy 'Community,' but she also plays Trudy, the hard-driving wife of Pete Campbell (played by Vincent Kartheiser) on 'Mad Men.'

I managed to wait out the crowds and get a few solo minutes with Brie. We talked about how she shifts between the high comedy of 'Community' and the intense drama of 'Men,' and if her presence in 'Men's' finale means she'll be back for season four.

News that New York Times reporter Bill Carter is working on a pseudo-sequel to his groundbreaking book The Late Shift' made a smile creep across my face. I haven't yet read the book, but the buzz it caused and the weird stories that came out of it just by word of mouth gave it an aura of mysterious wonder that made the television industry infinitely more fascinating than it already was.

It also spawned a pretty decent made-for-TV HBO movie. Now I don't know what kind of craziness "Round Two" has to offer, but the players involved are definitely going to have all sorts of wild secrets revealed from Carter's work and when it does, HBO is going to want the movie rights. So here's who should play who in this new tragic merry-go-round of television programming hilarity that shall be called 'The Late Shift 2'.

No surprise that Valentine's Day isn't all that great for Liz Lemon on '30 Rock' (Thurs., 9:30PM ET on NBC). She celebrates by having a root canal. But lo and behold, three of her former boyfriends show up in her hallucinatory anesthesia haze.

Oh well. Even if they weren't the real deal, at least we got our Jon Hamm fix, since 'Mad Men' won't be back until lord knows when (hopefully, July or August).

Watch the video after the jump.

When shows go off the air in between seasons, the actors use this long break to do some profound beard growing. The actresses might do the same thing, but I've never seen a picture of them in the papers to prove it.

The entire male cast of 'Mad Men' did the same thing and cast member MIchael Gladis gave his review of all of his co-workers' "break beards".

[via Pop Candy]

As host of 'Saturday Night Live' (Sat., 11:35PM ET on NBC) this week, Jon Hamm took a break from Don Draper, the repressed, buttoned-up guy he plays on 'Mad Men.' In fact, Sergio, the "crazy sexy" saxophonist he plays in this digital short is about as far as you can get from Don Draper.

Watch the video after the jump.

A clean-shaven Jon Hamm hosted 'Saturday Night Live' this week, and the 'Mad Men' star brought the laughs during his second time hosting the show -- especially as a "crazy sexy" saxophonist named Sergio.

The 'SNL' crew also took the politicians to task with bits on Obama's State of the Union speech, Sen. Scott Brown's new gig, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor's visit to Weekend Update. All that, and some Michael Bublé tunes.

Watch the videos after the jump.

(S35E13) The first time Jon Hamm hosted Saturday Night LIve, back in 2008, it was before I had seen his work on Mad Men and 30 Rock (the latter was due to the fact his guest appearances didn't exist at the time). I was super-excited that the seemingly perpetually serious Hamm actually turned out to be hilarious, and his performance led to one of the best episodes of the entire season. Taking all this into consideration, I was walking on dangerous ground as I prepared to watch Hamm's return to the SNL stage.

Were my expectations too high to be met? Did Hamm's pre-SNL beard somehow take funny away from him (I've heard beards can sometimes do that)? As it turned out, I had absolutely nothing to worry about. Hamm did yet another stellar job as host, bringing a level of charm and commitment that made just about every sketch work.