The cast and creator, Matt Weiner, of Mad Men made an appearance on the Today show with Matt Lauer.

Mad Men has been on hiatus for 17 months and will return on Sunday with a two hour season premiere.

Weiner says that the decision to take the long break was AMC’s decision.

The cast had mixed feelings about what the final impact of the delay would be. January Jones (Betty Draper) had a baby while on break and seemed to enjoy the time to bond with her infant who is now six months old.

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John Slattery (Roger Sterling) feels that the hiatus was unfortunately long but said fans were able to DVR shows and “find the show in ways you couldn’t before. So we’re actually hoping it whetted peoples’ appetites more.”

John Hamm (Don Draper) jokingly said the time off allowed people to get gender reassignment surgery.

In an attempt to provide viewers with an overview of the show, Weiner noted that one of the show’s appeals is that it never shows people in black-or-white shades; everyone lives in a world of gray. “It’s also not judgmental,” he said. “There’s something about it that embraces on some level that we are flawed people…. People behave badly; it’s why the 10 commandments are there.”

He also went on to explain that it comforts sinners in that no matter how far they wander off the righteous path they couldn’t possibly be as naughty as these characters.

Do you think that the show lost fans for taking such a long break?

Twitter users are going mad over the premiere and many are planning a party to honor the show’s return.

I will be looking forward to watching January Jones reclaim her role as Betty, the pervasively discontent Barbie doll.