Does anyone know the beginning date of MadMen Season three?

Great question! I'd like to know the answer too. One would think AMC would have the date on its web site.

S3 will open with footage of the Beatles landing at Idlewild Field. Their appearance on Ed Sullivan, and securing tickets to the show, will be a part of the plot in the 1st episode. Buying ad time on the show will be an issue- either Harry buys ads and gets a bonus, or fails to book the ads and gets reprimanded. Either way, this will be an issue.

Don and Betty have had a son. His name is Adam Whitman Draper. Don has been good in the sense that he has been faithfull, but will become increasingly distant during the season. Betty will be a fustrated angst filled suburban housewife, obsessed with the trappings of their new wealthier lifestyle. They have a new and bigger house and have joined the country club. Betty may have an affair.

Duck and Freddie ended up at the same clinic, where they both realise that their differences were due to alchaholism. They become friends and business partners- going to work for the same Ad firm when they get back on their feet. At their new firm, they try to poach business from SC and ultimately try to bring Pete and Peggy to their new company.

Sal and Kitty have had a child- a daughter. Sal is deeper in the closet, but is slowly becoming aware of his feelings and nature.

Pete and Trudy have seperated duing the off season but are back togethter at the beginning of the season. They will seperate for good during S3. Pete is head of accounts and does well.

Peggy has continued to do very well, but the stress has had effects- she is drinking more and engageing in reckless activities outside the office. No consequences---yet.

Jane is pregnant- causing Roger to rethink his marriage and pursue a new mistress.

Joan will have married her fiance, but will still work at SC. During the season she come to confide in Peggy more and more- ultimately they become good friends and very supportive of each other. Joan is promoted at the end of the season.

Harry will become a more important character. His TV department will now have responsibility for all of PPL US interests as well as those of SC. He will be overwhelmed. In the last episode of the season, Joan will finally be promoted to his department as his assistant.

Paul will suggest they hire a minority, which they do in the later part of the season.

Several of the characters will start to experiment with drugs.

Pop music will become an element for some of the secondary plotlines during the season. Music will be used as an example of how to appeal to the youth culture that is reshapping the country.

As the third season opens, it's 1964, and members of Sterling Cooper (or whatever its new name is) are still reeling from the assassination of President Kennedy. The world around them is beginning to change and they are oblivious.

Duck Phillips has crashed and burned in his new job, due to his alcohol problems. He's bounced from agency to agency, and as the show opens, is on his death bed from liver disease. His only visitors are Pete, who owes his job to him, and Don, who has a soft spot for those in need.

Don has returned to Sterling Cooper after spending two years in a rival agency, where he has been a great success. He returns in a Senior Director position at the request of Creative Director Peggy Olsen, the first female creative director in advertising. Peggy's worried about the future of Sterling Coo, and uses her pull to get him a very large salary...

which he needs because the Draper's third child, a boy, has been born with Down syndrome. The couple doesn't know how to deal with it, so they put the child in a very expensive private institution. This has further driven the Drapers apart, with Don blaming Betty for the child's issues, and Betty turning to "mother's helpers" to cope. They are still married, but very unhappy. Sally Draper is acting up in school, and Bobby is getting the brunt of his mother's unhappiness. Don seeks comfort from Rachel Katz, who still loves him.

In the meantime, Sterling Cooper has hired its first Jewish employee, a writer who suffers much anti-semitism but ultimately becomes accepted. He and his boss Peggy begin a secret relationship.

Joan becomes pregnant but loses the baby due to her husband's abuse. She throws herself into her work and rekindles her relationship with Roger, who realizes he made a huge mistake in marrying Jane, who is cheating on him with Ken Cosgrove.

Kurt begins a clandestine affair with Salvatore, whose wife leaves him after she catches them together. Sal embraces his new lifestyle, and ultimately comes out of the closet. Don makes sure he keeps his job.

Pete remarries another heiress after his divorce from Trudy, but he still can't forget Peggy.

Paul Kinsey has engulfed himself into the civil rights movement, which angers his conservative superiors.

Harry builds the TV department into a major success. He ultimately leaves Sterling Coo to work for NBC, but keeps ties with his old colleagues.

Cooper is losing his grip on reality and we only see him once or twice this season. Alice Cooper has "passed on." Brother Bert around the bend, she gives most of her money away in her will. But there is a nephew who retains her interest in the firm.

Roger has divorced Mona, married Jane, had a kid and is looking for action outside the confines of the marital bed. As is Jane.

Sal and Kurt meet at the Stonewall Inn. Kurt agrees not to mention their meeting but Sal is deeply worried about him possibly mentioning it to Smitty or someone else at work.

By the beginning of the season, Lois Sadler has taken the position of Pete's secretary after Hildy applies for and is accepted as Don's secretary.

Duck is gone - crashed and burned as an alcoholic with no family or other support system after being terminated by the Brits.

In Duck's place is Pete. There is a competition between Pete, Don and Peggy for the top spot after Roger suffers yet another heart attack. By the beginning of the season he's taken Bert's place as head of S-C. He's not up to the challenge and S-C is suffering.

Mona still believes Don tipped the balance toward her divorce and uses her interest in the company (from the divorce) to promote Peggy's positions against Don and Roger. Pete, for Mona's support on an issue, tells her about Don/Dick's past. Lois (not forgetting about Don sending her back to the switchboard) overhears the conversation and tells Peggy.

Betty is using "mother's little helper," washing it down with wine. Carla becomes the surrogate mother for baby Adam and Bobby. Sally, who's eleven now, refuses to listen to her and uses a racial epithet. Carla goes to Don about the issue and tells him she's leaving because of it. Betty, who's also into the country club life now that they've moved, can't handle the kids. And then there's the tennis pro... And the man from the garage... She's living dangerously.

Don's under constant stress with Betty even less responsive, has started drinking more. He calls Midge, who's thrown off Dude by now. Unless Rachel's available. Or he could start making regular visits to San Pedro. There are flashbacks to his years before Korea and after Korea.

Peggy's started having a drink with Don after work. First in a bar but then in his office. They don't have sex or even kiss but Betty learns about it from a comment Lois makes and goes ballistic.

By the beginning of the season, Joan's still married and back at the office. No longer Office Manager after being gone for a year, Don puts her into Harry's department. Harry's wife, knowing her former reputation, is not pleased. Harry later notices Joan's bruises and tells Roger.

Paul meets Sheila again. Who's pushing a baby carriage. It seems that her relationship was somewhat more than platonic and there was a result she didn't tell him about the previous year.

There are a couple of token minorities in entry-level jobs. Hollis was offered a job but refused and left his job of elevator operator to go to Chicago.

Drugs begin entering the workplace. Don, who's had a flashback with pot, sticks with booze.

I'm pretty speechless with the great attention to detail you have all given. I think the over-achievers have gone from just writing the Premiere to writing all of Season 3. Nice work rl1856, Lois and Rhitt. Cheers! ;o)

I agree D&S....hope you are reading these, M. Weiner & Co.

All I wanna know....WHEN DOES SEASON THREE BEGIN????

Thanx, Pinky!

I had a dream about "Mad Men" starting. Trudy and Pete bought a house in Sweden and Pete got stuck behind a radiator. Offcourse, that is not how I think the show will start.

Don starts off by trying to be a good husband to Betty. They have a new baby. A girl. But there is no trust between them. Betty on the other hand have others or dream of others, but only because Don have done it to her. She find and confronts one of his mistresses and find out the mistress knows more about Don than she does.
Don concentrate on his work and lacks inspiration. Until he starts to sleep around again and the inspiration comes back.

I think Pete and Trudy has adopted. Pete continues to suffer at home and at work, but have managed to bond with his adopted child, who likes him more than he/she likes Trudy. He keeps a facade for the guys at S& C when it comes to Peggy but refuses to talk to her or even look at her when they are alone. Giving her bitter little remarks whenever he get the chance.

Peggy have her work and her religious beliefs. No man can satisfy her. Her work is what she have. But she is not 100% happy. She get hardened, only softening up to Don.

Roger runs Sterling&Cooper, but no one tells Cooper, who has alzheimers and still thinks he is the boss. They let him keep his office and do business behind his back. Meanwhile Jane have affairs behind Rogers back and Roger secretly longs to be back with Mona.

Joan lives in a controlling relationship but refuses to stop working. Her husband watches her every step. She keeps a facade but is getting more and more frightened of her husband. Still, she believes it is her fault intirely and suffer through it.

Kitty suspect something is wrong with Sal and figures it out by finding some of Kens belongings in a box.

Ken continues to be as he always been. Paul is jealous of him and finds out he payed to get his stories published. He exposes him infront of the entire office and loses his friendship.

Harry is under the foot of his wife and suffers from budget-cuts in the television-division.

Hey Pinky! Season 3 will be in July 2009 sometime. They haven't called for an exact date, but July seems to be the month of choice for AMC. It has usually been the last week of July, but you never know. Cheers! ;o)

Here's some highlights of what i'd like to see:

I'd like to see the first shot open with a close up of an unknown hand pulling open the bottom desk drawer, stack new never worn shirts of course, and bottle inside. the hand pulls the bottle out, refreshes a near empty drink. The intercom buzzes:
"Mr Rumson, Mr___ here to see you"
Freddy says send him in, and the client is brought in and introductions are made. In the background is seen on the door "Freddy Rumson: Creative Director".
Don then walks in, with the client expressing how impressed he is with the work Draper Advertising has done around town.
I'm operating under the assumption that Don left SC to start his own, but who knows. And i want Freddy back.

We'd see Sterling Cooper at their traffic meeting, run by a hardnosed Brit, where at some point we learn Duck has met his demise. It is someting grisley and booze-laden, like he fell out a window or something, or got attacked by an animal on a hunting trip, nothing heroic.
At the meeting we find SC is plumetting and in disarray and the Brits want out. We also see 2 people missing, with Joan stating that Miss Olson has a family issue, and Mr Cambell is off dealing with a very important account.
It then cuts to a courtroom, with two tables in front fo a judge, Pete on one side and Peggy at the other table. Far in the background as the only figure in the gallery is Trudy.

At some point we see an interior of an NY apartment and a look at the tv. We see the Beatles descending the plane, it's 1964. We hear the front door open with Don Draper entering. Anna Draper gets up to greet him.

Afterward, we have a bar meeting with Roger Sterling and Don, hatching a plan for Don to get back in the fold. Don will only do it if he runs the whole thing, including now being Roger's boss.

After other drama, in the end we see Betty Draper at home, with Don coming home, kids greeting him gleefully. They basically ignore each other. There's a neighborhood gathering/cocktail get-together and they go. They put on the act as if normal, lovey-dovey. When back at home, they retire upstairs, getting ready for bed in silence. Don gets in bed, but we see it is a rather small bed. And there is another identical bed, separated by the nightstand, Betty's bed.
Betty, coming out of the bathroom bypasses Don, yet surprisingly bypasses her own bed as well and leaves the room. She goes in the room of their newest young one, and sleeps in a bed in his/her room.

Wow Greg, join the group of Maddict writers who are in tune with makings of good story line. I was actually seeing the scenes in my head.

The Pete and Peggy storyline should be the shocker, with Don & Betty running a close second and Joan and the Doctor coming up behind. The demise/demoted or deduction of Duck will not be a surprise.

I can't wait for Freddy to come back. I think we'll all be curious how he's brought back into the fold.

Great job Maddicts!!!

I agree, holotta, I'm so proud of all our Maddicts' creative minds!

Yes, these are excellent posts. ;o) I can't help but to think MW will do a number on Don (and us!). I can see Don coming into SC to collect his cool half million from the SC sale. Roger and Bert have to tell Don that when he ran off for several weeks, he didn't sign the contract that made him a partner. There was not a contract for parternship as well as a no compete contract. Since Bert Cooper has passed away, no one can verify that the conversation to make Don a partner was official. They decide they cannot go on Roger's word as an official contract. Don is suddenly not a partner , without his cool half million and still an employee of SC. Don cannot quit because he bought a new home, another new car and lots of other items on credit. Not to mention another kid on the way. Duck has a grin that is ear-to-ear. Pete and Peggy are looking scared and don't know which side of the fence to be on. It's not what we would like to see, but I have found the tension between Duck and Don rather interesting. Cheers!

Sorry, I forgot. I placed Roger and Bert telling Don he didn't sign the contract. Roger is the one who has to break the news to Don.

Do we have any evidence at all that Matt and writers EVER look at the amazing things that are written on these threads? It seems such a shame that we have all these ideas for story lines and they never see the real light of day. In the same vein, do we ever get any feedback when a story line is misinterpreted? I just took a bit of time to read the season episode summaries and found there were a number of things that I had either overlooked or just didn't get (and that's after watching most of the episodes at least twice) For example, I never noticed that in the flashback where Peggy had just had her baby, her sister was pregnant. Was that why there is a baby that she was asked to look in on before she left? I always thought that was her baby and her sister was taking care of it. Or (this is reaching I know) did her sister pretend to be pregnant so that she could take Peggy's baby and no one would question it. Otherwise, why would her sister "confess" that she hates her ?

Sorry if this is what you all call off topic. But my point is, all of this forum seems rather pointless if we can't at least occasionally reach the folks that are creating the series.

draper, they did have MW do an online Q&A a while ago, but nothing recently. I guess AMC/MM Crew will do more when the new season picks up....let's hope anyway.

I agree...there are some fantastic creative minds around this joint! If nothing else, it is wonderful reading.

Because of the leaping forward, seems that we are all conjuring up whole off-season arcs instead of just recaps.

Some thought went into these posts. I suspect Fallon or Campbell-Mithun.

Anyway, I hope the season starts shortly before the Kennedy assassination. It was such a moment in history, and it should not be just passed over. As far as story, the tension needs to be on Don/Betty. Maybe she loses the baby. She barely knows where her kids are now. Her parenting skills are surreal. I keep thinking of little Caroline and John-John Kennedy. The show likes the "contrast" in their writing.

But, who will the new clients be? I would like to see Ideal toys (Mr. Machine) or Tang!