Can January Jones survive the Mad Men negotiations?

Can Betty Draper - otherwise known as the American actress January Jones - survive the current negotiations to keep the hugely acclaimed Madison Avenue series Mad Men on television?

Latest from the Mad Men crisis centre is that while the money talks between AMC and the series' creator and producer Matthew Weiner - reported here last week - remain unresolved, some tough demands from AMC have leaked out.

One is that Weiner should cut each episode by a further three minutes to allow for more ad slots. Another is that he should further 'integrate' products into the story lines. Third, and perhaps the most do-able, is that he should drop two leading characters from the show to save on the salary bill.

Naturally the talk in Hollywood - and among Mad Men addicts on both sides of the Atlantic - is which two characters could the show do without?

Top of the early lists to be bandied about is Betty Draper. First, she's been hard enough to keep in the story anyway since she and Don split up.

Second she's a pain in the neck - hence such enthusiastic suggestions as "drop her down an elevator shaft" - and third it'll save not only January Jones's salary but also that of Christopher Stanley, who plays her second husband, Henry Francis.

But good TV character decisions always drive the story forward. So The First Post's favourite scenario comes from a TV drama exec - and Mad Men addict - who put this plot development on the table earlier today:

Megan, the French Canadian secretary Don has fallen for at the end of series 4 - and whom he says he wants to marry - dies in a car crash along with Betty Draper and Henry Francis. Or they could all drown at the Niagara Falls - whatever. The important thing is that Don and Betty's daughter Sally survives.

It may seems a little unfair on actress Jessica Pare, who probably saw a future for herself as Megan, but let's face it, the marriage was never going to last anyway.

All these deaths will, of course, be a tragedy - but one we can cope with because we don't know Megan well enough and everyone loathes Betty anyway.

And it gets rid of three adult actors, a child actor (Sally's brother), even a baby, and leaves Don with a feisty daughter (played by Kiernan Shipka) to bring up on his own. Ruthless - but perfect! ·