Mad Men's makeup department head explains how you can tell the age of the women by the way they apply their lipstick and recalls the day she had to buy 100 tubes of it for just one scene.

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Mad Men director Alan Taylor explains how even the camera techniques used to shoot the show adhered to the principles of 1960 aesthetics. Also, find out how he was able to infuse Pete and Peggy's first encounters with subtlety.

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Mad Men's costume designer explains how you can tell each character's backstory and motivations merely by looking at their silhouette.

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The Talk forum is making predictions for Season Two of Mad Men, so take notes and find out who is the best prognosticator. Granny Franny predicted Peggy's future saying, "Given the times, Peggy will give up her baby. Society did not embrace the single mother back then. Because Peggy has a brain, I predict she will rise through the ranks of Sterling Cooper over the decades -- let's hope the show lasts long enough to see her break through the glass ceiling." Sally focused on the future of the various relationships in the show: "I think Don and Betty will still be married, but their relationship will continue to deteriorate, and Betty will become more aware of how Don cheats on her and controls her," she said. "I think Pete and his wife's relationship will also continue to deteriorate, and he will still harbor some feelings for Peggy, which she will want no part of after the baby."

Scfan meanwhile was waxing conspiracy theories about the show: "Did anyone catch that picture of a young Roger-- and his father, I presume -- there on Bert's side table? Makes me wonder if maybe the ad agency was started by Bert and Roger's father or something. Maybe Bert owed Roger's dad somehow and so was inclined to hire Roger after his first partner died."

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The first season of Mad Men left fans begging for answers, and as rumors about the second season begin to swirl, the Talk forum this week began to make predictions. Will Peggy keep her baby? Will Roger return to work? These are just some of the questions fans attempted to answer. "Peggy will keep the baby, but with no love. She'll use it to gain Peter's affections. I credit Peggy as being more intelligent than the average bear, but she still holds Pete somewhat dear, violating her own credos it seems," said nicolew8ing. Sandunguera, however, disagreed: "I don't think Peggy will keep her baby. There is something eerily robotic about her." The post went on to speculate that "Betty will not leave Don. She will continue to spiral through life in a delusional state," and "Roger will try to return to work -- though I'm not sure what will happen to his relationship with Red..."

Meanwhile, Tootsie is pondering when women got a stronger hand in office interpersonal relationships: "I think the Eighties began an enlightenment by women in the workplace," she said. "More women attending college were interested in marketing, business, etc. instead of the Sixties where attended college to get the proverbial MRS degree. In the Sixties, the executive male approached his female subordinate as though it was his right to do so. The term 'sexual harassment' really didn't exist."

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The Mad Men Talk forum this week discussed 1960s office culture as fans described their own Mad moments -- and it turns out corporate executives really were rather deplorable back in the day. "I've BEEN in situations like the one with Roger and Don and the twins, and yes, they really are that crazy. Everyone is expected to play, and ignore the pink elephant in the room," says Grace Kelly. "The East Coast Contracts VP who grabs you out of nowhere after hours in the lobby and tries to stick his tongue down your throat? Uh huh. The ones that come by your desk, put their hands on your shoulders, or tell you that your lipstick is too dark? Or the ones who, if you have a good long-term relationship, come on to you, COMPLETELY unbidden, YEARS after working together by dropping by your house at 8:00 in the morning for a booty call?! Oh yeah."

Tootsie, too, had her own horror story to share: "Once, working late on a project, our international VP came into my office, came around my desk, picked me up and tried to lay me down on my desk all the while whispering that his wife was very 'broadminded' and that there wouldn't be a problem if we started 'seeing' each other," she said.

PaulLev meanwhile was noticing shows copycatting Mad Men's style: "Black bow-ties, white shirts, and all in tonight's flashbacks in New Amsterdam," he wrote. "I half expected to see Don walking down the street..." scfan responded, "I predict a surge of '60s copycat shows next season over all the networks...but we all know these will all be the palest of imitations of our Beloved Original...MM!!"

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Let's face it: Internet critics can be mean. Thanks to the ever-expanding blogosphere, all a person needs is a modem and a grudge to critique pop culture. So when a website called Television Without Pity comes along touting the maxim "Spare the Snark, Spoil the Networks," it's easy to assume you're about to read sarcasm without substance. The sarcasm is there, to be sure, but what makes the site remarkable is its ability to back up the attitude with in-depth analysis and critique -- a difficult balance to strike, and one that makes TWoP's Mad Men coverage all the more remarkable.

"Originally the site dealt with guilty pleasure TV," says John Ramos, who covers the series under the pseudonym Couch Baron. "We used sarcastic commentary to point out the flaws of a show in an effort to illustrate specific ways it could be better."

But as the site grew, so did the coverage to include programming that fell outside the "love-to-hate" arena. "I still tell jokes, but they're more often at the expense of certain characters than snarking on the show in general, because Mad Men is too good for that."

Continue reading "Site of the Week: Television Without Pity" »

Mad Men fans were dissecting Episode 9 ("Shoot") this week. Laary in particular was struck with the double-entendre of the episode's title, noting the scene at the end when Betty literally shoots the pigeons: "The closing scene, one of my favorite songs playing in the background, Betty in total control, with the cig hanging out of her mouth, shooting those damn pigeons who dared to harm her family. Priceless," he said, and then went on to comment, "It is one of the most compelling, most influential, most graphic scenes that I have ever seen. I have always thought that Betty was the most striking, beautiful, and sexy of all the women. This scene enforces it."

Meanwhile the forum considered the male attitudes of the era, wondering if all men styled themselves as "Masters of the Universe." Dixiegirl seemed to think so: "The writers have effectively nailed the game playing that went on back then," she wrote. "I find the opening imagery fascinating...in that it captures the soulless-ness of the men. And how they eventually fall through the cracks...into an empty space." McGillicuddy, however, wondered if there wasn't a bit of exaggeration going on there, stating that, "I would be offended, fifty years from now, if I saw a show about bankers that painted the illusion that all men were narcissists at the turn of the century," to which Dixiegirl conceded, "Well no, not ALL men / women are like the cast in MM. So hopefully 50 years from now...there would be a more inclusive group represented."

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The Talk forum was having fun with word games this week. MM, pondering one episode's title noted, "The title 'Red in the Face' anagramattically is 'infer cheated' - which is exactly the inference Don drew when he walked into the kitchen and scolded Betty for her, ostensibly, 'inappropriate' behavior." MM then went on to draw other anagramattical inferences, like "Don Draper = Ad Nerd-Pro" and "Dick Whitman = Mad Hick Twin."

McGillicuddy meanwhile wondered about the characters' narcissism. "Throughout the series we're given a glimpse into these men who are self-styled masters of their own universe," the post says. What do you think?

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