Online Chat With Mad Men Creator Matthew Weiner
Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner answered fan questions after the Season 2 premiere on this Sunday night. Read the full transcript below.
10:53:02 PM - Ron Johnson of New York, NY: Which Mad Men character do you identify with the most? Meaning, which character is most autobiographical?
10:59:01 PM - Matthew Weiner: I like to think that they are all fragments of my personality, but in the end, I'm probably most like Peggy. Although I wish I was Don. I'm perennially the new girl, I'm a pretty earnest person always shocked by bad behavior. But Don is all of our ids, I think. I have a lot in common with him, but I think I wish that I could live with indulging my needs. And I envy his confidence.
11:02:30 PM - Ashley: What is the most ridiculous claim or prediction you've heard about the series?
11:03:12 PM - Matthew Weiner: Wow. I heard a prediction that Don was Jewish. Although, thematically, I understand it. I set Jews up through Rachel Menken as being outsiders and somewhat existential. And I spent a lot of time worrying as Season 1 unfolded, "Did I ever say he wasn't Jewish?" But in the end, his role is much more complex than simply hiding his religion. I think that's the most ridiculous thing. Plotwise, I don't know.
11:04:44 PM - Holly Brockman: Who are your favorite authors and which ones have heavily influenced your work?
11:05:52 PM - Matthew Weiner: I like a variety of writers in different form. Certainly, John Cheever has been very influential. Arthur Miller, JD Salinger. Why? Because they have an incredible interest in humanity and how we react to challenges, disappointments, and family. The literature referenced in the show gives a great reference to the small moments in life that become huge after they pass. Stories become less about the world in a general sense and more about the individuals that we surround ourselves with. I try and live in that world of social rules being broken and twisted for our individual dream.
11:06:56 PM - Boo from Brooklyn: Will your son (who played Glen) come back for Season 2?
11:07:29 PM - Matthew Weiner: I can't tell you that.
11:07:51 PM - Lisa: New York's Jewish work experience is very well documented in Mad Men. Will New York's Black corporate experience be visited as well?
11:09:09 PM - Matthew Weiner: I think that the show is very historically accurate in not pandering to a rosy version of history. African-Americans at this period, with very few exceptions, were marginalized and occupied a completely segregated universe. As times change, the show will reflect that. I felt it was inappropriate to pretend that black people were not present, but equally inappropriate to pretend they were accepted or had positions of power during this period. It was a choice in the conception of the show, as integral as showing the smoking, to show the fact that although racism on a personal level was, as it hugely is, tame. Institutionally, it was horrifying.
11:10:41 PM - Beth: What made you decide to use"Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" in the closing minutes of the season one finale?
11:11:45 PM - Matthew Weiner: It was a song that reflected where we were going, i.e. the future -- 1962, and how different the sound would be -- but also being emotionally so related to Don having missed an opportunity to find his way home. I can tell you that the historical element of Bob Dylan aside, the song is an emotionally powerful statement about how lovers separate.
11:13:10 PM - Colleen: Today I watched "The Best of Season 1" and was intrigued to hear you describe yourself as a "vampire." Do elaborate, please!
11:13:15 PM - Matthew Weiner: This was a term given to me by actors on another job -- on The Sopranos. And I think there's some truth to the fact that I am an observer and can absorb other peoples' natures sometimes from their behavior. Let's put it this way: there are many qualities of the characters that are derived from spending time with the actors. I can't elaborate further than that. But if someone tells me a story of behaves in a certain way, there's a chance it will end up in the script. And hopefully, I think this is what gives the show a ring of truth.
11:15:23 PM - David Cote: Concerning Don's upbringing, were you familiar with the literature surrounding adoptees and their psychological issues, or did you have some firsthand experience with adoptees?
11:16:18 PM - Matthew Weiner: It was a combination of my own feelings about childhood, and a lot of literature and a lot of autobiography from great achievers of the 20th century, that they shared this background. And there are a lot of things -- I'm not personally adopted -- but i think the emotional understanding of this generation that adopted or not, that was born into the Great Depression, had a certain attitutde about life and love and work. I read Sam Walton, Lee Iacoca, Bill Clinton, John D. Rockefeller. And on the literature side, we can't pretend that Gatsby was pulled out of thin air.
11:16:39 PM - Myrna: I'm curious to find out if you and the cast of Mad Men have had a chance to look at the video entries for the Walk-on Role Contest. If so, what do you think of the videos your fans have created so far?
11:18:01 PM Matthew Weiner: We have. There has been some discussion and delight at the creativity, humor, and insanity of our fans. I can't weigh in on specifics, but it's been a pleasure.
11:19:36 PM - Packer01: Was there any resistance to Don's back story?
11:22:03 PM - Matthew Weiner: No. Once it was clear that although it was complex, it rang true, everyone was impressed by the natural explanation of this man and his behavior. I always had this in mind for the character, because it explained to me why he was the way he was. He fits into an American reality of people of this time. I think he's emblematic of successful people of this time. Richard Nixon's biography is far more Dickensian.
11:23:10 PM - Dan Jaspers: Is there any overarching statement about the human condition that you are trying to make with the show?
11:24:26 PM - Matthew Weiner: It's hard to simplify with something that is creatively this large, but I'll try and say simply, everyone has a reason for what they do, good and bad.
11:25:23 PM - Guillermo Montes: Mr. Weiner, the show obviously has had to do its share of research for creative and continuity reasons,which is what makes the show so unique and fascinating. What would you say has been the hardest part of the era to research and why?
11:29:41 PM - Matthew Weiner: The language, because literature and movies are often not drawn from real life, and individuals do not have very good memory, so we try and find places where things are used and try and get a sense of what the slang is. But in the end, we only have our ear to go on, and I think we're about 95% accuracy. But it's very difficult. It's also hard to tell what peoples' interest is in events because the media now as then, can exaggerate or underplay it. I always use the example of 9/11, which I lived through and how huge it was to our experience and how strange it was that life returned to normal, outside of Manhattan at least, far more quickly than would be suggested by research. Equally, the 200 election, with the recounts and the chads, we've all forgotten that despite the fact that there were 40 days of insanity. How does one tell that story? It's really hard.
11:30:39 PM - Steve from the Bronx: Has your experience with The Sopranos has been any sort of influence on Mad Men?
11:30:42 PM - Matthew Weiner: Being associated and working in the environment of one of the greatest shows in the history of television has made me humble and at the same time striving for excellence. The most important lesson was to not discount emotional truth and always try to be entertaining. I try and tell a story that you don't know the ending, but when you see it, it seems inevitable.
11:32:06 PM - Mary: I've read opinions comparing Mad Men to Billy Wilder's films. I've also heard that you consciously looked to Wilder's The Apartment for inspiration. Could you discuss this inspiration, and any other influence you've had from classic films for the series?
11:33:59 PM - Matthew Weiner: When one is writing screen drama, Billy Wilder is about the best there is, and he succeeded in many genres and a lot of this has to do for me with the mix of humor, visual storytelling, and emotional reality. I love his films, I love his writing, and it's like asking someone in baseball what they think about Babe Ruth. I also love the film The Best Years of Our Lives, by William Wyler. It was made in 1946 and it was about the human and social reality of life after World War II, and it was done without any purpose or propaganda. Real people living with a real problem in the most dramatic way.
11:34:12 PM - Matthew Weiner: I think that people forget that there were, even in the Hollywood mainstream, the culture was supported financially and creatively by people who where telling the truth about life. Films like that and The Sweet Smell of Success and hundreds of others showed a social and a personal consciousness that was also commercially successful, which means that the world is interested in people, not agendas. If anything, these classic movies are about hypocrisy, and reality. And that's always inspiring.
11:36:24 PM - Zachary Snyder: A recurring theme in Mad Men is how the next generation behaves. It seems to both be shown sometimes as a forward thinking and sometimes as disrespectful (i.e. the elevator scene tonight). How do you think today's generation compares to that of the 1960s?
11:38:18 PM - Matthew Weiner: In a general way, I think that, and it was said in Episode 4 last year, that older people always think younger people have lost their morals and manners, but I do think society has become cruder and that actually I'm hopeful that the young people I meet now, are more respectful than they have been in a few generations. I know it makes me sound like an old person, but there is an experience you have as you get older that the rules are changing about what is acceptable between people, especially when it comes to sexual politics. And this is cyclical, so who knows where we are right now. But I definitely believe that for Don's generation, despite growing up int he uncivilized environment of the great depression, felt that their standards were being lowered as language changed, and the sexual revolution began.
11:39:13 PM - Roberta Lipp of Little Falls, NJ: Do you have faith in all the characters on this show? So many of them have done awful things, or just don't get it. Is there anyone who just won't change, or do they all have the potential to grow?
11:44:00 PM - Matthew Weiner: That question is about how I feel about people rather than how I feel about the characters on the show. I think that people who want to change get as much credit from me as people who actually do. We do change, people do change, but it requires tremendous effort, and I feel that the characters on the show -- some are trying and some aren't. As I said before, everyone has a reason for what they do, has the potential to change, and I try not to put it in good or bad terms. Sometimes they don't even know what they want. I think that all of us are lost, and we cling to our jobs, and our families, and our institutions, and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. And you add the opportunities that come along historically, and it will be interesting to see where people end up.
11:45:02 PM - Sarah: If the show is intended to capture the decadence of the 1960s preceding hippies and Vietnam, then when do you envision the show ending?
11:45:22 PM - Matthew Weiner: I don't envision the show ending. I have no idea what the future plans are for the network or the studio. I don't see this time as any more decadent than any other time, but it is a historically fascinating period filled with change. And it's been my intention to show where people were when it began, and as society actually changes, and eventually changes back, I would love to see what happens to these people's lives. I think that you look at the sexual revolution, look at the tradiitonal view of the turbulence of the late '60s with out leaders being murdered and a war and the public mobilized and the children adrift and rules with race and gender being broken and changed, a lot of that did not stick. And I don't know what the future will bring, but I know that for imagining Don Draper in 1980, if he lives that long due to his smoking and drinking, I wonder if he'd feel right at home -- as if it was 1959 all over again.
11:48:04 PM - AMCtv.com: Thank you so much for your time, Matthew. We're all very excited to see what happens in the upcoming season. Congratulations on the recent Emmy nominations.
11:48:09 PM - Matthew Weiner: It's amazing that there's a way for me to interact with the people who watch the show, and it's especially gratifying to know the audience is so intelligent and thoughtful and curious. And I hope that you're ready for a ride, because this season is going to be very, very gratifying.
I love, love this show! In the past year I think Don and Betty have had some therapy. Perhaps, they worked on his 'indiscretions' and he is having trouble 'performing' because Betty still wants him. The situations with the other women- Don wanted them. It's a lot more exciting to have the forbidden...Betty is always available.Either that or his blood pressure medicine is giving him problems!LOL When Betty came to the hotel and Don was watching her float down the stairs...did he mix his Pheno-barb with the booze?...Took a little trip and never left the farm!LOL No, No Donny! Nice to see that Betty has something warm and alive between her legs ie the horse-beats the washing machine, huh Betty?!! Maybe, Don is going to moonlight as a meditation writer.The Campbells make me sick to my stomach...where's that ad for Alka-Seltzer?
Can you please identify the name of the song that was played as Don's wife descended the stairway at the hotel for dinner on Valentine's day. I believe it is a song from at least 1961 or 62 that came from a Hawaiian record album.
Just finished watching the season premiere. I'm really excited to see where this season will go. It was strange to see an episode where Joan and Peggy don't bump heads at all. Can anyone explain why Don didn't think sex sells? His explanation was a little vague. Who was he demeaning when he said "they hate us for it"?
I am SO glad Season Two is here at last!
I see that the lobby of the LA Biltmore hotel was used in the scene where Don and Betty had their drinks on Valentine's Day. I love the hotel and always notice it in various movies.
I am glad to see Betty is changing and discovering herself..little by little.
Peggy is getting on my nerves (good sign) with her bossy behavior towards the other girls. I'm sorry she gave up her son for advancing her career amid the office politics.
I hope we see the divorced neighbor again. I feel that story line was left in the background.
LOVE THIS SHOW...
Great work cast members...thank you.
First show, a bit dissappointing. Don't know why. Needs more smoke, drink and Amy Winehouse. Something of the hipness has vanished. When I first saw the show last year I became nostalgic for an era I missed by twenty years. Someting in the show informed a sense of manhood, gone and dead where the cigaretttes and liver disease buried it, but still vibrant and needed by todays cromags. The men on season two seem less dynamic, maybe becasue its the second date and we are getting to really know them warts and all. I long for the fantasy, but as they say, the genie is out of the bottle. Cheers and onward.
I believe Don thinks that sex grabs attention, with him asking to raise the girl's skirt a couple of inches in the Mohawk ad. But like he said in the office to Peggy, the ad needs to make the customer feel something to want to buy the product. And when you think about it that makes sense, because people usually don't buy products just because it has a sexy ad campaign. They buy it because of the perceived benefits of the product that are featured in the ad campaign.
As to who "they hate us for it" is? He was speaking of other ad agencies that don't really understand advertising, thus they can't be like Stanley Cooper creatively.
I was twenty in 1964. My first real job was as a "page" (mailboy, gofer) at WBBM Chicago and the look and sense of this show is so right. Cigarette soaked executive offices, woozy after-lunches. Tight skirts and lots of sexism. I can find very few flaws in the "look" of the series and the feeling of alienation is right on. It's why the "love generation" happened. All that power madness after the war had to burn itself out, ending in cynicism in Vietnam. America in the mid-fifties was at its zenith, and by 1963 it was losing its way.
The lighting is tremendous: the street scenes vs. the luxo hotels. The play with light and dark are almost like paintings each frame. I felt distant to the characters, though. Although there were some allusions to past story. Guess I have to warm up to them again as they grow. I wanted to know so much about Peggy's baby. Is Pete not going to be able to have children and demand to have Peggy's boy? Is he going to take over Don's command? Is Don going in another direction? It looks beautiful, but left me empty. Last season, I felt more alive after each episode.
Good lord I hope Betty cheats on Don at least once this season! She deserves it. He's very John Kennedy-esque in his extramarital excesses. I realize the series has to be historically accurate but I'm pretty sure some wives were getting action on the side in the '60s. How else would Jim Morrison have sung about the "Backdoor Man"?
I agree with you Nora, about Peggy's baby. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of that plotline. It was telling how Pete asked Peggy what she thought about having children. I loved Peggy's composed response. I also agree that this season opener was a bit disappointing. But I'm going to trust the producers to build up the suspense. I'm still excited about next week's episode.
Brilliant. Firstly because it's over a year later from the long Thanksgiving weekend where we were left. So much happens- so fast- even more so in our technology based society today. A freakin' Xerox machine! What a hoot! I expect that distance will provide us with the all the benefits of "nostalgia" in regards to the main, and especially, the peripheral characters (Romano, Hildy & Harry, Paul, Helen, and the likes) whom we've had just a taste.
Secondly, the apparent new dynamic in Don and Betty's relationship seems extremely intriguing from the stand point of her new found confidence level.
And for me personally, I'm excited to see what transpires between Peggy and that f'n weasel "Humps the Camel Campbell!" That situation, in and of itself, is so risquée for the period. Yet, just a microcosm of things today. So many women choose jobs over having families. It makes one ponder how far we've come as a nation in our views and actions in comparison to today- how many intelligent people are having kids today? That glitch in the generation is why our country is being ruled by a corporate lackey now!
Anyway, I'm excited to see how things unfold, regardless of the direction it takes! Kudos crackers!
Wasn't the piece, "Song of India" I think by Rimsky-Korsakov?
What a bucket of worms, nothing this good since Dallas and JR.
Would prefer to keep program more on office life, changes, people, clothes etc., little on home life just to know they have one.
Darwinn B. Rutz..
This is to Mathew Weiner.....I want to thank you for bringing back all the memories of the '60's. I am 61 and this is the world that I encountered when I was fresh out of secretarial school.
I lived this show and these lives. I know have my younger
generation of kids, nieces and nephews watching so that they
can understand where we came from and how we have evolved.
Next time they complain about their jobs I will remind them to
watch your show so that they can easy how much easier they
have it now. I can't imagine how we lived without computers....maybe it was an easier life!!!
Thanks to I pajak for identifying that song! My wife and I went back and forth over it for an hour last night (she was convinced it was Debussy).
As for Don's "sex sells" comment, I think he just hates how insultingly simplistic that is. It totally ignores the insight, the poetry that goes into a good ad, as if just flashing some thigh will sell a product. I think Don feels that whoever came up with "sex sells" is belittling what Don does. It's like saying all you need is good ingredients to make a souffle. And when he says "they hate us" he's not just talking about the competition, but about everyone who looks down on the creativity and artistry that goes into advertising.
Welcome back! LOVE the show!
Episode 13 was so strong I'm having a little difficulty making the leap into the characters of Don & Betty at the point we're picking them up - and find myself having to construct a pretty elaborate backstory to explain who they are now. Don's change was prefigured in the brilliant Carousel episode, but Betty seems to be flying on a trapeze. How did she get there? There were so many ideas entering (or assaulting) the culture at that point - from DH Lawrence to Kinsey to Miller. Friedan's book was being written - hadn't been published yet. Betty has made a decision about her life and how she's going to live it; what did she do with all her feelings about Don (she does love him - we believe that)? Looking to future episodes for the answers.
PS - The Season One DVD set is awesome! Love the packaging and the audio comments are superb!
>>> It was strange to see an episode where Joan and Peggy don't bump heads at all
Hmmm ..... that new-fangled copy machine ended up in Peggy's office, didn't it? I love Joan. She handles everyone beautifully.
I love Mad Men but was disappointed in the premier of Season 2. Too much change too soon in such a short period of time. Also, I read the transcript of the Online Chat with Mr. Weiner and he mentioned several times about 1962 being the start of the sexual revelution and the love generation. That is totally not true. I lived through those times and the sexual revelution and the love generation did not begin until much later in the 60's. He's pretty accurate on many things of that time period but he is off on other things. The office life is almost dead on the real thing of that time period. I would have loved to have seen Peggy keep her baby, but women working in the corporate world of that time would have almost never have kept a baby out of wed-lock - NOT because they wanted to further their careers, not at all. That hadn't started yet - again not until much later. For a girl or women to have had a baby out of wed-lock at that time would have ostersized her in her entire community - not to mention a stuffy, absolutly no scandal here type Corporate Office. Which is how they all were back then. They would have been mortified. By they, I mean all concerned. So for Mr. Weiner to say she gave up the baby to advance her career was wrong, wrong wrong for that time period. Had she kept the baby out of wed-lock she would have been looked down on as a whore, tramp, slut, you name it - people didn't quite have the open minds the most people have today and certainly weren't as liberal as they are today and hadn't been desensitized by TV and Movies as made in Hollywood today about single women going out and looking for sperm doners to have babys. Having babies out of wed-lock in the 50s & early 60's were huge No's, No's. A women didn't give up a baby to further their careers. Men still thought women belonged in the home or behind a secretarial desk. He says he has done extensive research on this era - yet he didn't live it - I did - I was there, he should know this - his reseach should have told him this.
I am glad to see Betty get a little backbone but not too much too soon. The show is moving too fast and is losing it's nostalgia already in Season 2. I will certainly keep an open mind as I watch and hope I am wrong in this.
I would love to hear a lot, lot more of the music of the time. Mr. Weiner had a grand opportunity last year add an awesome sound track to Mad Men such as doo woop, The Platters, early Sinatra, Henry Mancini, etc. He wants to get the whole thing right - he cannot ignore the importance music was back then, more so then now I think. He really does need to add more music of the times to his shows, it would make the shows even more believeable. To most people - you hear a song you haven't heard in 20 - 30 years and immediately it takes you back to a certain time and place. Yes, Mr. Weiner, you need to include more music of the times wether it be in the background of a restaurant or to change a scene, or to set up a scene - music of the times would make everything even more believeable. It is an extremly important piece to the period you are leaving out of this wonderful show.
Also, I didn't even begin to believe some of the things that happened in the final episode of Season 1. Don wanting to just walk out on his wife and children because he's afraid - such BS! The final ending of Season I when Don comes home and his family had already left and he just sits down and sits there. Give me a royal break. They have you believing that he really wants to be with them now - he can't wait to get to Betty and just because he missed them he just sits there - I know you have to make a show - but that was just not believeable to me.......get off your azz and hop back in your car and drive to where they are going for Thanksgiving and surprise them!!!!!! I don't care if it is a 4 hour drive or not. That ending was just too unbelieveable - My husband who watched that show with me - thought that was absolutely stupid. He said, "doesn't he have a car - go after them for pete sake, if he loves them, he goes after them." Even though just earlier he was willing to leave them all behind - which never would have happened with a man like that. That too was not believeable.
So, I am waiting for the show to bust wide open this year. Make up for the bumbles in the final episode of Season 1. I want them to blow me away like Season 1 first did or they will lose me in Season 2 forever and I loved season 1 was a huge fan. They started losing me in the last episode a bit. Mostly for the ending for the reason I stated above. Then the disappointing premier of Season 2..........So, Mr. Weiner, now - Blow Me Away!
Sorry for any and all typos
Yep, if I was employed by Sterling Cooper, Joan (the "HBIC" as someone on these boards so accurately called her!) is the main one I would not want to get on the wrong side of! She gets 'em exactly where they live, doesn't she?? It's hard to choose between her and Pete as a favorite on MM, but Joan is devious and smart and sooooo "love-to-hate"--- just as much as Pete--or Roger...or Don...well, let's say almost everyone on the show. LOL :- }
Did anyone realize that the two guys at the interview were modeled after Kavalier & Clay, two main characters from the novel called "the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" by Michael Chabon (albeit the novel's characters were created for a different time period)? I hope they bring those boys back!
I just loved the first season of this show. I was transported right back to the 60's. Maybe because of where I live, when I entered an office environment in 1974, things were very much still the same as the show. The secretaries had IBM selectric typewriters, there was the huge xerox copier, and we actually had a switchboard which I learned how to use. But most of all, the style of dress, the "coolness" of everyone (so cultivated at my high school and college) is familiar terrain for me. I could watch Don be cool forever. I seem to recall that in those days, cool guys didn't necessarily marry cool girls. They often married "nice" girls in order to further their careers. They fooled around with cool girls. And where better to find girls who "knew the score" than at the office?
I was thrown off completely by Don and Betty's relationship in this Season Two premiere. I think Don's lost his footing and has decided to "cool it" for a time until he can figure out how to proceed. In working things through, I think he could be more focused at the office (not work longer, just think harder) and less acting like a "puppy" at home. I think that accounts for his "failure" with Betty. He doesn't do "puppy" well at all.
Betty never got to be a bad girl. Mom wouldn't let her, even a little. Now that Mom's gone, how bad can Betty be? Also, looks like her dad's thinking about fooling around with someone other than Betty's mother?
I am so glad MM is back on TV! I enjoyed the first episode and realized how much I missed the show. I'm a little confused about Betty - what was that scene about where her car broke down? She didn't have enough money for the mechanic yet she charms him with $3. Didn't get it. I don't think I like the role reversal of Betty and Don. Loved how Peggy is finding her own way and I hope she gains more office power than Joan. There's a Joan in every office and sometimes it's nice to see the princess knocked off her pedestal. Funny how the guys assume that Peggy probably slept with Don because they can't fathom that Peggy's intelligence/creativity got her a promotion. I can't wait to see if the baby given up for adoption by Peggy will become central to Pete "I'm shooting blanks" Campbell's life. Obviously, the Campbell's are not a good match. This is a great show and I look forward to watching every episode - nothing else matches its quality. Thank you!
SheeDreems - Matt Weiner is right about the sexual revolution being already underway in the early 1960s. It had been, in fact, since the 1920s, sexual mores having been loosened in the aftermath of WWI. The Kinsey reports on male and female sexuality (1948 and 1953 respectively) blew the lid off what was really happening between the sexes. Masters and Johnson began their collaboration in 1957. Hugh Hefner's first issue of Playboy came out in December 1953 and his television series, Playboy Penthouse, began broadcasting in the Chicago market in 1959. And Helen Gurley Brown published "Sex and the Single Girl" in May 1962. The difference between 1962 and, say, 1969 was media coverage - colorful hippies, Summer of Love, later Woodstock - and the rise (once again) of feminism.
I would like to know what happened to the ORIGINAL writers of MAD MEN. The entire first episode was a cartoonish, ridiculous attempt to make us believe anyone writing now has a clue as to what last season developed as characters.
Don, the "too dashing" executive leader, has now become a whimpering shell and cuckold. He's now the yes man at Sterling's becoming personnel manager? He is idiotic in his feminized role- good PC change guys
What is it with Peggy? When did she turn into a SHREW?
Don's WIFE??? When did she start wearing the pants in the family? Formerly she was an airhead, pretty much brain dead character with no real grasp of the present. Now she coddles "Mr. Limp ",her husband, so she can be his mommy. Of course she takes over and does the meal order where before she couldn't make up her mind whether she should go to the bathroom.
Where is the perverse Peter? He is now Husband of the year?
Not enough imagination so the writers had to use the monotonous whine of Jackie in the background??
I'm sorry I suffered through this episode and was very disappointed. This will be the last season I fear.
I forgot- when did the rico suave homosexual Italian go straight on us?
Thanks for coming up with Mad Men; it's one of only a few TV shows that attract thinking adults as its target audience. I am sorry that I missed the opening night dialogue with viewers of the show.
My thoughts keep returning to the evolution of some of the characters as 1960s begin to unfold.
About Don Draper: I am intrigued about whether you portray him as a man who can handle the huge changes to come and still come out on top, or be overwhelmed; about Peggy Olson: will you have her open her own agency; about Joan Holloway: does she find the love and happiness she so desperately seeks, or kill herself with an overdose of sleeping pills; does Pete Campbell survive and prosper, in spite of himself; does Betty find the courage to leave Don because of his many infidelities, and does she become more of a person in her own right?
I trust that you're not going to give away anything important, but I'd like to know - are these questions some of the ones you are considering answering in season 2?
Native New Yorker
July 28, 2008
My favorite episode from the first season was the one where Don goes to the beatnik style restaurant/bar where the performer is reading the latest wedding announcements (!) as satire and the bit with the poetess that follows. Very funny!
Please make sure wife Betty no longers licks her fingers when serving up cake (especially to Don's boss). If she is supposed to be from an upper or middle upper class background, she would have either used a napkin or excused herself to wash the icing off her hands! On the second season, it lacked the vivacity of the first, but left us wanting to know what on earth our little office girl did with the baby! Heavens! Please resolve this. And I very much missed seeing Don's former paramour (dept. store owner). I know she wasn't kind to him in their last meeting, but she is coming back, isn't she?
A very intelligent program and overall,I believe a good and true look at the times.
K.
I am a huge fan of the show, and it is accurate portrayal of how I remember the early 60's as a child. I have to say that I love love love the fashions and am even a little envious, the outfit that Don's wife was wearing on Valentine's Day was just stunning. I am really interested in what happened to Peggy and how she even got 3 months off back in the day for her supposed visit to a fat farm. I have a feeling that this is not the end of her relationship with her baby, but was a little disappointed that we didn't get to see more. The Xerox machine was a hoot, as well as each of the couplings on Valentine's Day. I'm really interested in the gay Art Director as well, and want to see his story told. Will he have to have a "beard" or will he finally be brave enough to try out his life? And I do agree with one of the other commenters who said, no we don't want to see Don as weak, he is our leading man. Please!
I love the show and I don't think the first episode of season 2 was all that bad. What did bother me was that it's suppose to be two years later, and yet ( for the most part ) everyone looked the same. Same hair styles, same clothes. Also, all of the office staff is still there ( Hildy, etc. ) In two years, there surely would have been a turnover.
Some things rang true, such as Betty ( who Don seems to call "Betsy" now and not "Birdie" ) telling Sally that it was too dangerous to go horseback riding. That's how many of us grew up in the 60s. Maybe that's why our boomer generation pushed our kids to do EVERYTHING : we were not allowed to do ANYTHING ... we might get hurt.
I have my own theory as to why Peggy is so fiercely protective of Don ( the scene with his office assistant. ) Perhaps it was Don who came to her rescue after having the baby. There's a backstory there that ( I hope ) will eventually surface.
And speaking of "eventually", this is the cryptic answer Peggy gave Pete when he asked her if she ever wanted to have children. We really don't know what the situation is with her baby. "Eventually" may be when she hits him with truth. The time isn't right yet.
That's IF Pete is the father. The irony would be that he's shooting blanks and it turns out that somebody else was involved with Peggy.
The plot thickens.
Oysters! Betty should have ordered oysters. :-)
I agree Joan is the HBIC but the poor dear still isn't happy. We don't know what happened to her roommate who had "deep feelings" for her. But when Jackie Kennedy on a black and white TV can take precedence over a hot session on the couch with the guy she's thinking about marrying...
Sal? I'll have to watch the episode again to look for rings. Wasn't that the telephone operator who was interested in him?
Betty, with the revelation that her old roomie is a call girl, has to be thinking, "That could have been me." Loved Don's answer when she asked how he knew. - "How stupid do you think I am?" when actually she was the one who couldn't put two and two together. She did nicely cover when talking with Francine the next day though and even added some detail. Starting to live a little dangerously (just a little) with the auto mechanic. Think Lady Chatterly's Lover.
Don as the good, home by seven, husband? You just know that's not going to last. Maybe not even through the next episode, given the sneak peek. But I doubt he'll go for the Chinese restaurant girl. The copy of the book he dropped into the mail - to Midge, Rachel or someone else? Hmmm... Artsy, bohemian thought would fit with either woman.
Pete, Pete, Pete. What can I say? When everyone else is watching Jackie on TV with their "beloveds", he's watching a comedy alone and eating the chocolates he brought home for Trudy.
To glenp827:
Matt Weiner wrote the episode according to the opening credits. I think he has, at a minimum, an vague idea of who the characters were last season.
As far as Sal goes, nobody says he's gone straight. That doesn't mean he doesn't know how to cover well and/or how to keep a woman happy.
Peggy's not a shrew. But she's had over a year to watch how Joan keeps people in their place. Don was her boss and had to be the one who signed off on the "fat farm" idea. So yes, she's protective, even very assertive about of his reputation. Loved the bit about "just imagine he's standing right there (pointing) behind you when you talk about him."
I also noticed Joan referred to Peggy as "Miss Olson" when talking with Lois. On the other hand, I think the copier in Peggy's office in the next episode is Joan's own assertiveness with the much younger woman and for disrupting the smooth flow of secretarial work/morale. If asked, she'll reply the hallway would have been messy and Peggy, only a copywriter, had a whole office to herself.
Here is exactly when the sexual revolution began.
"It's the little pill that changed the world. On August 5, 1960, the American government approved the world's first commercially produced birth-control pill."
I am a real fan of Mad Men and could not wait for Season 2. I am of the age to remember all the events and details in the series, yet I view them from a perspective the writers should include more deeply in the story.
Weiner mentions in this interview that the show will realistically portray minorities in the occupations that they worked in circa 1960s, and will avoid casting to appear what may be politically correct hiring in 2008. This being said, I would definitely like to see more of the complete story of their lives.
My mother was the just like the woman that worked in the Draper home as a domestic. My grandfather could have been the janitor that was fired when Peggy complained about her missing money. Our home looked very similar to Betty's; my mother wore the same style clothing, brought home children's hand-me-down clothing, used the same appliances, and watched the same TV shows.
I remember Season 1 included one extended scene with these supporting characters. Mad Men would increase in popularity if they expanded the minority storyline to show them as more than mere catalysts or casualties of the storyline. I'm still wondering if Peggy tried to undo her actions or how emotional was the janitor's denial....
Matt Weiner's comments gave an interesting insight into the characters and the show. His line, "[b]eing associated and working in the environment of one of the greatest shows in the history of television has made me humble..." was hilarious to me. It's hard sometimes to tell if he was being sardonic in a forum like this, but I thought it was very funny.
I was disappointed in the 1st episode of this season as some of the others were. Betty seems like a completely different character. And even though Peggy has obviously gone through huge personal and professional changes, she seems very much the same.
Matt (the credited writer) for this episode missed a huge opportunity. He could have easily written a more compelling initial episode for this season by building some of the drama from last season. It would have secured the huge audience created by the buzz of all of the accolades the show has gotten since the first season. Instead, he put out a vague episode with stuffy dialogue and little development or drama.
I'm already a big fan (despite my comments), so I will be watching and hoping for big things later. But, I think it's a shame the show is already not living up to its billing.
I agree with a previous comment regarding the writers of this show. The season opener was like a parody of the original and I'm glad I didn't tell any newcomers to watch it. They would've thought I was nuts to be raving about this show so much.
Maybe this was done on purpose so there's nowhere to go but up. It's only 15 months later and already Don is acting like he's had a lobotomy and good ole Peggy is in a time warp with her ponytail and her out of date clothes. Everyone seems to be either just going through the motions or out of character.
I don't feel like getting into to any of their heads or discussing their motives because this first episode had no life.
i love the show! the work is so good and the detail. i was hope to have Bryan Batts character get a boyfriend. maybe it could be me. it would be so great to see how gay people had to live in those days. In real life I think he may of had a "roommate" to help with the high price of NY apts...a guy who he would has to tell to be more butch it up in front of friends who drop buy unannounced. i am one of those actors who has been in over 100 film & tv shows and is waiting to do the kind of work you all are doing on your show...www.jasonstuart.com its still not easy being gay in the workplace
Please help me as I just started watching AMC on Demand yesterday at 5pm, and I've barely slept!! This show is so sexually exciting, romantic and unnerving at the same time. I wish I were living in those days when secretaries married their bosses and drank on the job. Not to mention, that my 2 packs a week, has now turned into 5! Everytime that they light up, so do I, and I even mixed a martini! The continuity is so exacting,(glass Coke bottles, women in their lingerie preparing dinner, etc.) with the music just adding a hint of the period, not like "Swingtown" which overplays every song to the point where you don't know what's going on, not to mention that it is not stimulating or sensual. I like the use of normal, everyday women, and men, who enjoy each other. Please Mr. Weiner, I live in NJ and I believe that you shoot at Silvercup. Please get me on as an extra. I have that look of a girl from those days, not the plain ones though, more Betty-like! (how immodest!) If you shoot in LA, I'm there half the year too, come on, it would make my year!! I am a true addict.
Thanks for a great show..I agree the characters have changed & I am eager to see the flashbacks showing how...
I love this show! I'm in the "Benefactor" episode coming up as background! That was truly exciting to do since this is my favorite show. See me on the picture behind Jon Hamm to the left in the first photo still showing this week on the Mad Men site. There I am all spiffied up by the great artists of this show! Also, vote for me as I did Peggy Olson for the contest. I would love to do a speaking role. I've seen each episode at least 5 times. This season though, its taking me some time to warm up to it. Though, the look is even more perfect. Everything is done to perfection. I wonder if that is conflicting with the spontanaety of the actors. It seems that the only actor really alive this season so far is Peggy Olson. I love her. I know it will all evolve and I will be at the edge of my seat again watching the upcoming episodes, especially, the one coming up this Sunday that I'm in, "The Benefactor". I've been doing this since 1989 professionally and really need some good representation. Does anyone know someone? Enough plugging for myself. It's just that the show, the actors, the crew, the creators, Matt Weiner, have inspired me so much. I'm saying enough already, I want a great part! Talk to you again soon!
Here's a picture of me on Mad Men. The great artists of the show made me look really authentic '60s look. Love it!
Thanks for congratulating me cad men and jamm. It was like a fresh perk of coffee this a.m. I just love the show!!!!
Please watch me on this Sunday's episode Mr. Weiner. Also, I've entered the contest as Peggy and sending a couple more this week. Could I get a speaking role on the show?? Wish Wish! I think every part of this show is just perfect. Thank you for the inspiration. I have never asked for anything in the business like this. Thank you.
Did anyone notice the actor with Betty's friend at the hotel in Episode 1 Season 2. He did so well without saying one word. Was he just a featured background? It was very effective, but would have been even more so had he said something. Wonder if he got under 5?
I love the Cinematography see my forum and please add to it.
Episode 1 Season 2 left me so empty. That walk of Don's towards the mailbox showed such emptiness. The play of dark and light was so striking and communicate such a feeling of isolation and loneliness. That wintery night sky and tree in the background remind me of one of my mother's paintings of darkness. It was so artistically done to evoke such a feeling in me. Each frame looks like a painting. Some like an Edward Hopper painting adorning Don Draper. I saw it in season one as Don first meets his brother at that diner. Could you tell me more about the cinematography and how you achieve this? I hope outside of many emmys you'll win one will be for cinematography!
Tonight's the night I'm on Mad Men Hooray!!!!!!!!!