AMC panel: 'Breaking Bad' & 'Mad Men'

TCA -- "'Mad Men' will return for a third season in the summer," says AMC president Charlie Collier to the critics and the elephant of the room is, "What about Matt Weiner?"

The "Men" creator's deal is still not done. After the session, Collier reiterated that he's confident Weiner will be on board and that the protracted negotiations won't cramp the production -- after all, the show made last summer's target despite the writers strike.

Yet the panel is for AMC's other critically acclaimed drama, "Breaking Bad."

"Bad" creator Vince Gilligan was asked about how the season, and series, will end.

"We start off with a big clue how the whole season is going to end," said creator Vince Gilligan. "We knew where we were going from first episode on. [As for the series ending], I do and I don't. There's certain things implicit with the idea of a character with terminal lung cancer that i don't need to spell out. The thing is my writers often come to me with better ideas. What I learned this season is to relax a little more and be a little more open to where the show is going to go."

Asked if there's been any controversy about the show's chemistry teacher-turned-meth-dealer storyline, Gilligan said there hasn't been.

"I didn’t set out to stir up controversy," he said. "I just wanted to tell a story about a good man doing a reprehensible thing. Maybe part of the answer is part of it is [it doesn't have a big audience] but I like to think that people see we’re not in any way, shape or form celebrating this lifestyle."

Oh, and "something very big happens at the end of episode two."