AMC is having a hard time saying good-bye to its signature dramas. After splitting the final season of Breaking Bad into two parts to air in 2012 and 2013, the network is doing the same for Mad Men, the series that launched the AMC original series brand. To do that, the seventh season order of Mad Men has been upped from 13 to 14 episodes, seven to air in spring of 2014 (“The Beginning”) and the final seven (“The End of an Era”) airing in the spring of 2015. “This approach has worked well for many programs across multiple networks, and, most recently for us with Breaking Bad which attracted nearly double the number of viewers to its second half premiere than had watched any previous episode,” said Charlie Collier, AMC president. “We are determined to bring Mad Men a similar showcase.” Added Mad Men creator/executive producer Matthew Weiner. “We plan to take advantage of this chance to have a more elaborate story told in two parts, which can resonate a little bit longer in the minds of our audience.” The first half of the final season of Mad Men will premiere on AMC this spring.

Veteran screenwriter Robert Towne is among Matthew Weiner’s new recruits to “Mad Men’s” writing staff for the upcoming seventh and final season, which AMC announced Monday will unfold in two seven-episode batches in spring 2014 and spring 2015.

Towne is serving as a consulting producer for the AMC/Lionsgate TV drama series. He won an original screenplay Oscar for 1974′s “Chinatown” (a source of many oft-quoted lines including: “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown”). He earned three other Oscar screenwriting noms, for 1973′s “The Last Detail,” 1975′s “Shampoo” and 1984′s “Greystoke: the Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes.” Recent credits include “Mission: Impossible II,” “Without Limits” and “Days of Thunder.”

Another film vet, Patricia Resnick (“Nine to Five”), is also on board as a consulting producer. Comedy scribe David Iserson, an alum of “Saturday Night Live” and laffers including “New Girl” and “United States of Tara,” has signed on as a co-producer. And writers’ assistant Carly Wray has been upped to staff writer from writers assistant last season.

Exec producers for season seven, along with creator Matthew Weiner, are Scott Hornbacher and Janet Leahy.