This week, the cultural impact of the show hits a high with four references in the New York Times on everything from advertising to automobiles. Also, reviews of Episode 10, "The Color Blue" and Betty's big discovery.

• The New York Times ran an op-ed piece this weekend about the show's appeal during tough economic times. "To a generation beaten down by skyrocketing unemployment, plunging retirement savings and mounting home foreclosures, 'Mad Men' offers the schadenfreude-filled message that their predecessors were equally unhappy..."

The Times also covered last weekend's New Yorker Festival advertising panel which featured Matt Weiner on the bill. A quote from the series creator, "'I'm a hard-core materialist," Mr. Weiner said, "yet I resent someone trying to whip me into a frenzy to buy something I don't need.'"

• Still more from the Gray Lady, an advertising story about the release of Windows 7 referenced Mad Men and the Lucky Strike "It's toasted" slogan, while a story in a special Automobiles section featured a large photo of Don Draper next to a Zipcar.

• Reviews of this week's episode in the New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, New York magazine, EW, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune , Buzz Sugar, the AV Club and TV Squad, who says, "I didn't realize that this was going to be a HOLY CRAP episode."

• The Star-Ledger says the episode was chock full of talking points and says: "what's interesting in 'The Color Blue' are those moments where one character after another briefly has their own prejudicial filters lifted so they can see the color blue ... for what it really is, and not necessarily what they always thought."

• TV Guide points out: "this episode reminded me of the pilot. Don changing shirts in his office after spending the night with Suzanne made me think of her as the new Midge even more than I had previously."

• The San Francisco Chronicle suggests five local spots to experience the Mad Men era.

• Speaking of which, amNY has a story discussing the changes in the ad industry over the years since the Mad Men period.

• A Chicago Tribune style piece talks about a new brand that caters to fuller-hipped women, a la Joan Harris.

• The Oct. 26 issue of TV Guide (no link) mentions Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi likes to "eat noodles in a big deep bowl and pop in my DVDs of Mad Men."

• The Columbus Dispatch talks about the unflagging influence of Grace Kelly in fashion, mentioning how it inspired the show's costumier Janie Bryant. 

• The New Haven Register has a local feature on the family of script supervisor/director Jennifer Getzinger.