AMC Makes Digital Moves

From http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/307111-AMC_Makes_Digital_Moves.php

Launches AMC Digital Media, acquires filmsite.com and filmcritic.org

By David Tanklefsky -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/29/2009 4:44:25 PM EDT

AMC continues to develop its online movie presence with the launch of AMC Digital Media and the acquisition of two film websites-filmsite.com and filmcritic.org.

The sites, along with amctv.com, provide film reviews and analysis, news, blogs, user-ranked movie lists, and web apps based on network series like Mad Men and Breaking Bad.

Filmcritic.com is a movie review site that was launched in 1995 and now contains more than 8000 reviews and stories from critics around the world.

Filmsite.org offers detailed plot summaries, movie commentary, and reviews of classic movies. The site also contains "best of" surveys of the most popular film quotes in all genres.

"AMC Digital Media combines Emmy-, Golden Globe-, and Oscar-winning content with a high-end interactive movie experience to attract a highly-engaged audience that is passionate about film and entertainment," said Mac McKean, AMC's V.P. of digital media and content.

"These latest acquisitions reinforce our ability to create an entertaining, interactive online experience that celebrates all things movie and story."

Having a bad day at the office...? ...Just go home and kick your dog.

Your Post

New TV Promos

Hopefully AMC will post the official links for these soon, but until then, take a look at four new Mad Men TV spots.....all clips from S1 and S2 scenes, reminding me again what a beautifully-filmed series it is.

From aceshowbiz.com.....

http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00025324.html

Jon Hamm vs. Gil Gerard

OK, my beautiful wife just purchased the entire series of "Buck Rogers" on DVD, for Fathers Day... She's the best!

While I was watching the 2nd episode, I shouted out loud... It's Don Draper in Space! My wife laughed and thought about it for a moment and agreed. Come to think of it, I think Gil is the only reason she got me the DVDs. Come to think of it I think that Jon is the only reason she watches Mad Men. Hmmmm.

If you haven't seen an episode of Buck Rogers, view it and let me know what you think!

Bad day......BAD DAY.......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux3joe0GdTA

The original Motown audition......Michael was about 7 years old.....he covered a James Brown routine.....
and how!


It was incredible.....Berry Gordy saw the whole thing, salaamed.....and hired the entire family.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux3joe0GdTA

WHY DO MEN CHEAT?

Don getting away with too much post made me wonder...why do men cheat.? Come on guys fess up and girls why do you think they do. What can you do to prevent it, etc. Do tell!

SEASON 3 THEME MUSIC.

Let's pretend AMC is a having a contest to pick new Theme Music for Season 3 of "MAD MEN".
What song would you pick and why?

Does Don get away with too much?

He disappears from work for three weeks and is rewarded with a half a million dollars when he returns.

He steals Don Draper's identity but instead of turning him over to the police when she discovers this, the real Mrs Draper ends up his secret confidant instead.

He mistreats his wife for years, but gets to stay married to her anyway.

Over and over again he gets away with it. What are the consequences for his behavior?

Here's the profile for a sociopath

http://www.mcafee.cc/Bin/sb.html

I think the only point that doesn't fit is that Don does seem capable of feeling remorse over what his behavior has done to his family.

Oh, gracious! Not another one?

"Established Men - Sugar Daddy Dating, where beautiful girls and successful men meet." C'mon AMC, you are really scraping the bottom of the barrel for ads these days. I suppose it fits in with the Mad Men story line, though. I can see Roger giving them a call. Would he want them as a Sterling Cooper client? How would he spin it so it didn't sound like just an expensive call girl operation? I can just see him ordering Don to ditch the Arthur Murray Dance Studio and concentrate on Sugar Daddy Dating.

Throw this ad back in the barrel along with the one for body shaving, and credit Mad Men fans with some taste and discrimination, for Pete's sake.

June Movie Mad-ness Discussion

This month, our attention is focused on three movies, "Cape Fear," "Rope," and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." Why should we talk about these movies here? Well, all three were mentioned during the season (be the first to share where and by whom), and the movie-buff Maddicts have great discussions about the actors, the era, and memories surrounding the viewing of the film. It's also a great deal of fun second-guessing Matt Weiner's motive for mentioning these three movies in the series.

Come join us for the next week or so. Whether you're a movie buff or Mad Men addict, you're welcome to join us this month to discuss Alfred Hitchcock's movie about the guest who's dead on time. Or, maybe you have a juicy tidbit to tell us about the movie where John Wayne met James Stewart. Share how afraid you were whenever Robert Mitchum filled the screen in Cape Fear. Did you think Gregory Peck's character had a chance? This should be fun!

I look forward to another lively discussion and will post my comments right along with you. (...Just a reminder, I am not an AMC moderator, just a fan like yourself!).

Tilden Katz

Why did Roger introduce Don as Tilden Katz in Six Months Leave? Does he know about Don's affair with Rachel Menken in S1 and that she is now married to Tilden Katz?

Hello Maddicts

Hi Maddicts,
Clayton has other duties but fear not, you're not abandoned!
I'll be keeping an eye on your conversations -- the better to hand out mugs -- and to chime in when I can. And if there's anything you need to be in touch about, you can reach me at: lilyoei.amc@gmail.com.

Best,
Lily

The Draper house

Their house looks huge from the outside so how is it that there are only two bedrooms?? This has always confused me. I wonder if another room will just magically appear for the new baby. And Sally is getting too old to keep sharing with her brother.

Roger and Alice Cooper talking in "code;" Burt as child-like "seer" of ills to come at SC; and other random thoughts

"They're changing the guard at Buckingham Palace...
Christopher Robin went down with Alice..."

For AA Milne's full poem, seehttp://www.winniethepoohbear.net/poem_buckingham.php.)

Remember when Roger jumped up and recited this in Alice Cooper's face the moment she showed herself inside the door for the meeting of the partners' vote on PP&Lowe take-over/merger?

June 21,1958

On June 21,1958 the year as to which Mad-Men began.the million Dollar seller "Splish-Splash,written and recorded by Bobby Darin was released.It would be so great to hear it and his other top songs 1959(Beyond The Sea,Queen Of The Hop,Dream Lover,Mack The Knife) and so on in episode three.It would truly takes us back to those wonderful years.Kathy

Time Slot

Does anyone think the bad time slot simply has to do with the smoking? There has to be a reason, the time slot is just so bad. I've seen news story after story about over the past decade a huge Hollywood push to ban smoking from all media. (also seen recent stories of a similar push to only show child characters eating healthy food and vegetables. seriously.)
But that's my 2 cents. I think maybe it's the smoking that they're either forced, or just themselves just feel more comfortable, to put it on late. It just makes no sense having such a bad time slot.
Myself, I would hope not because that's just yet again taking something initially well-intended too far. I can't imagine legions of teenagers suddenly running out smoking because of a tv show on the AMC channel they don't watch. Not to mention it's probably harder nowadays for a kid to get his hands on ciggarettes than it is a case of beer.
But if the bad time slot comes down to it actually being because of the smoking, I say put the show on at 8 and puff away even more. They could use the bad publicity.

Story matters to AMC; so do new marketing mechanisms

From examiner.com
http://www.examiner.com/x-14278-SF-TV-Examiner~y2009m6d17-Story-matters-to-AMC-so-do-new-marketing-mechanisms

Story matters to AMC; so do new marketing mechanisms.

Something called Audience Identity Metric may yet redefine the term 'personal ad', if not the term 'acronym'.
AIM, as it's unfortunately known, is out of testing and coming fully-formed to basic cable. Its premise: to further isolate consumers inside a demographic. Its interface: AMC, formerly a wasteland of movies-you've-seen-twice-already, now home to high-end original shows like "Mad Men" and rebranded as a network "where story matters". If you're a regular viewer, prepare to be peddled to in ways far less generic than you might be familiar with.

AIM, like those kinds of software infantry known as spiders, is designed to get in your personal space. Essentially it enables microadvertising. Whereas before advertisers pitched mainly in the macro--tying demographically-skewed products to movies of any corresponding genre--AIM theoretically allows them to narrow the focus even more.

According to Advertising Age, which reported the story this week, Shell-Pennzoil is AMC's first client using AIM. Instead of pressing its product during movies typically (or stereotypically) big with 25-to-54 year-old fuelcentric males, like Die Hard or The Alamo, AIM found a more diffuse way. It attached ads to softer, more varied movies covering a range of genres.

AMC partnered with Nielsen for its test run; by all accounts the system produced better, more precise ad spots simply by going a step or two beyond the obvious. A member of a key demographic might be more likely to watch one movie than another, for instance, but the same person logically has second and third choices.

Naturally all this flies in the face of traditional market research. Psychographic data, which centers on observed behavior, is generally more fluid than demographic data, which is the reason so many marketers distrust it. But psychographics are the future of advertising; at any rate they drive it on the Internet and television may just now be catching up.

What's operative is whether or not ads that are more and more personalized will keep the average couch-potato from clicking over to South Park. For guys watching Fatal Attraction it may not be all Tampax and furniture polish much longer. The things you like are coming to you and it doesn't matter so much what you're glued to. Affixed to AMC's impressive transition from garbage network to trendsetter, AIM is at least noteworthy for being cool. If only the acronym weren't so reflective of the gay nineties.

IN HONOR OF ALL OUR DADS...STILL HERE... OR WATCHING OVER US...

If you are lucky enough that your Dad is still living, send him this link before Sun. (Father's Day) and tell him how much he means to you....you won't be sorry.

http://www.youube.com/watch?v=N-vYuV3OmhE

Still confused about Pete

Last night, i watched the episode where Peggy's copy is successfully presented to belle Jolie. The episode starts with Pete saying, "Do you know how hard it is for me to see you?", followed by sex. Laater at the bar, pete gets mad when Peggy is dancing and says, "I don't like you like this." So... thoughts on why it made him so angry?

photos of January on set for season 3

Don't click if you don't like spoilers http://gallery.januaryjonesfan.com/thumbnails.php?album=360

Christina Hendricks getting married

As reported in the Philadelphia news:

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20090617_Tattle__Christina___Mad_Men___Hendricks_to_tie_knot.html

October 11 - my wedding anniversary, too! (29 years and counting)

Could we conduct today's business on yesterday's whiskey intake?

I received my MAD MAN coffee mug in the mail today... It's great, I love it. It's surprisingly hefty to hold, and inside the mug is a dotted line which reads: FILL WHISKEY TO DOTTED LINE.
A joke which every maddict gets.
Some real-life MAD MEN, who were actually "there" in ad agencies in NYC in the 60's, like my uncle Paul was, say that, if anything MAD MEN under-plays how much booze was consumed over a full day, both within and outside the office.
I wonder: could today's offices function on this much whiskey intake? I suppose if one were a client of many NYC businesses during the 50's and 60's, it would not be a shock to have to have your customer representative slightly unsteady and smelling of alcohol. But today, we'd be indignant if a business officer greeted us with a hint of booziness.
Myself, I used to drink motre than I do now 9which is almost none at all). I find I have to keep a clear head about me just to juggle all the information coming and going on my computer. I just can't be tipsy when I'm working on the computer.

What say you?

Topic Title

Your Post

Good Lord!

Who chooses the ads for this Forum? I thought the Viagra ones were bad enough, now we're getting instructional videos on the removal of body hair? Once upon a time an ad like that would have been deemed pornographic. Now it is merely tasteless and crude.....at least in my opinion. What would Don Draper think of such an ad? Would he instruct Pete, Harry, Ken and Paul to put their razors to use and give informed opinions on whether American men were ready for this latest step in manly grooming? Who would judge the results from the feminine point of view? Would the office girls get to stand behind the two way mirror for a change and make comments on the boys?

Pete and Trudy

For any Sex and the City fans out there, do Pete and Trudy remind you of Charlotte and Trey McDougall? It's so easy to imagine a very insensitive Pete coming home with a cardboard cutout of a baby to try and placate his fertility challenged Park Avenue princess wife!

Absence makes the heart grow eager

I miss my show...

Win a trip to the LA Premiere of Mad Men‏ (season 3

Enclosed a link to win a trip to the LA Premiere of Mad Men (season 3)

http://www.madmencasweeps.com/

Knowing a real "Joan Holloway"

Back in the late 80's and early 90's, my secretary was the real-life counterpart of Joan at Leo Burnett (NYC) in the early to mid 1960's. Her name was Naoma O'Meara. In her early 60's at the time she worked for me, she still had that walk just like Joan. Naoma used to show me the group photo pics of the employees at the the agency circa 1960-66. I'll guarantee you all one thing, her stories of the high jinx and how they partied are dead on in Mad Men. She also loved her vodka gimlettes. Naoma has since passed away and I miss her, but she would have been wild about the series. Naoma was THE professional secretary and a great friend to have watching my back when I was a young guy in the business world.

Patrick Fischler Talks

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=awardcentral&jump=emmys09&articleid=VR1118004972&cs=1

Spoiler Photo!!

http://www.eonline.com/photos/gallery.jsp?galleryUUID=624#36676

Guess the year!!

The new Don Draper Ad Agency

Many have predicted Don starting his new ad agency in Season 3. If Don went out on his own, what would he name his new agency? Who would he try to take with him? Who would be in charge of what department? What clients would he want? Which clients would he try to steal from SC?

Let's talk about JANE!

So Jane is young, beautiful, a creative writer, and has a wealthy old man near his death for a fiance. Now we know no one is going to kill off Roger, but what is ahead for Jane? I keep thinking about her sneaky side - not just going into Bert's office, but saying they could have stolen the painting when they're back in the elevator. She's been very quick to lie to Joan, and the way she manipulated Roger to keep her job was pretty sly. She does seem to have an iota of genuine concern for Mona and his daughter and that situation, but... I think Jane is going to pull something really big and really bad in S3! What will it be? Will it give her a reputation as someone not to cross (like Joan) or will it ruin her and expose her the way Glenn Close's character does at the end of Dangerous Liaisons? Will it be illegal or just immoral? Since she and Ken both write, maybe she'll end up in bed with him? Will it send Roger back to Mona?

I'm convinced Jane is going to be more than just an arm-charm for Roger in S3. What are your thoughts?

"Herbal" cigarettes?

I was listening to an old blog/webcast with Matthew Weiner, who said that the castmembers weren't allowed to smoke real (tobacco) cigarettes on the set, but were instead allowed to smoke what he called "herbal cigarettes".
What on earth would these be? Those AMERICAN SPIRIT thingees? And why would it matter one whit whether the cigarettes were tobacco or "herbal" ?

ras

oops

That link above doesn't work so just scroll down to the mad men post on this blog to see it
http://eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/index.html

OMG!!

A picture from season 3!! If you hate spoilers then don't look but for the rest of us it is here:
http://au.eonline.com/photos/gallery.jsp?galleryUUID=624#36676

More Bridges...

Ok gang...

One of the reasons I love this board is that it reminds me of college, when you stayed during winter break or summer break and there were less people around; yet you had the better time because of it.

I'm glad we had our more than 2c when it came to the 2 minutes issue and apparently we got our way (even though we really probably had nothing to do with it but at least they heard us) with a 2 minute overage to compensate like i wanted. Fine with me.

So I want to head back to what makes us best, our observations and critique. Let's get back to what we do best. So like you, probably disappointed that we don't begin until Aug 16, I'm putting the episodes back in. And here's my thing:

I posted up months ago about the concept of "blowing up bridges". That never left me, I think it's big, subtle, as oxymoronic as that is. We had a good long discussion on that.

But there's a subtle 3rd reference.

Now check this out. I'm re-watching when Don and Bobbie wreck in the car. Before they wreck, she pulls the same thing about bridges, yet she says it in a positive way, happy, "I love bridges".

But Don had said it twice basically negatively in prior episodes.

But Bobbie says..(and she passes Don the bottle in the car) "I don't know if it's the drop or just getting to see something disappearing behind you"

Ok now it's one thing hearing that from Don because it just makes sense.

But hearing Don's thoughts from another character is another.

So that's where I come in, originally curious if because I'm generally 20 yrs yngr the average poster, if blowing up bridges was a general slang from back in the day;

or if it's 3 times in two years of this show, writer's invention that they're trying hard to subtley push on us, blowing up bridges, to get us to think symbolically....

Make sense ?

Love Among the Ruins

imdb is now listing a tentative episode title as Love Among the Ruins..... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1449612/

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Love Among the Ruins can be any of the following:

Literature
• "Love Among the Ruins" (poem), am 1855 poem by Robert Browning
• Love Among the Ruins (Warwick Deeping), a 1904 novel by Warwick Deeping
• Love Among the Ruins (Angela Thirkell), a 1948 novel by Angela Thirkell
• Love Among the Ruins. A Romance of the Near Future, a 1953 novella by Evelyn Waugh
• Love Among the Ruins (Robert Clark), a 2002 novel by Robert Clark
• Love Among the Ruins: The Erotics of Democracy in Classical Athens, a scholarly book by Victoria Wohl

Other
• Love Among the Ruins, an 1893-1894 oil painting by Edward Burne-Jones, named after Browning's poem
• Love Among the Ruins (film), a 1975 made-for-TV movie directed by George Cukor and starring Katharine Hepburn and Laurence Olivier
• Love Among the Ruins (album), a 1997 album and song by 10,000 Maniacs
• "Love Among the Ruins", a song by Peter Sarstedt

AMC resolves two-minute 'Men' issue

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118004745.html?categoryid=14&cs=1

Life imitating art... or vice versa...

I've picked up on something and was wondering what other's thoughts are. After listening to the commentary from S1, watching the many "Inside Episode X" videos on this site, and observing the cast at various awards ceremonies I've noticed a pattern in real life relationships similar to the show itself. I believe that John Hamm (Don) and January Jones (Betty) do not get along very well; likewise, I feel that Vincent Kartheiser (Pete) has a big 'ol crush on Elisabeth Moss (Peggy).

Whenever I see footage of the cast outside of filming, January Jones is always giving John Hamm looks that could kill. Also, in the Inside Mad Men video from the episode where Betty shoves Don, January Jones says that she really enjoyed filming that scene. Then, if you've ever listened to the commentary or watched an Inside video of Vincent Kartheiser, he ALWAYS gushes about how good an actress Elizabeth Moss is... to the point it becomes nauseating.

Just my thoughts...

What did you think of the teaser?

Anyone see this teaser for Season 3?

http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/2009/05/video-promo-season3.php

What did you think?

Matthew Weiner

I am fascinated by the writing in this show as I was in advertising at this time. Because many clients didn't believe a female could understand industrial trade data, the male artist often pretended to be me and I pretended to be the artist, rather than the copywriter that I was. Watching the show brings back so many memories. Is there a bio of Mr. Weiner available? What an amazing team you have. Looking forward to August!

Live Chat

Dry M mentioned the live chat from last week in the 2 minutes thread, here's a basic rundown of what went on:

On how many days of rehearsals they get before shooting, John Slattery answered they only run through each scene once or twice, so 0 days.

The infamous zipper performance: One of the writers saw a guy do that, so they wrote it in. Joel Murray apparently picked it right up, and what you hear is the real thing.

6 Month Leave is the one they believe they will be submitting for the Emmys.

John Slattery and Joel Murray did the commentary for the dvd for 6 Month Leave.

Everyone probably has heard this by now but if not, it's fake ciggs they smoke.

Someone asked about mirroring between characters, mainly between Peggy and Don, and mentioned some see the same thing with Betty and Pete. Matt Weiner said the mirroring is deliberate, but there's none intentional between Betty and Pete.

John Slattery was asked about Desperate Housewives, he said it was temporary knowing that he would be shooting Mad Men.

As far as clothing trends with the characters, Matt Weiner had an interesting answer:
If we are on the air long enough, I hope to get our characters into the next trends. But I can say that most people don't go with styles or fads. They dress the way they did whenever in their life they looked the best. That's usually high school or right after college.

The last two here are a little obscure but I was lucky enough to get 2 of mine answered.
For those like myself who absolutley love the photography in the show, I asked if they purposely often shoot upward with Don from a lower angle to emphasize his alpha male status and to make the viewer look up to Don. Matt Weiner say they made the decision of a lot of lower angles during the pilot, but to emphasise the celings and the scenery. So that was pretty interesting.

The second, and this is obscure probably only to me, is I'm in suburban Philly and asked given I've caught a number of PA/Philly/Jersey Shore references if he has ties here in the Philly area. When Don suggests to Betty to tell the kids he's in Philadelphia at the William Penn (Inn), that's real close to me, that was kinda weird. Anyway, M.W. said he lived here when younger, so if anyone out there is from from here and caught some things over the two seasons, you weren't hearing things. It's one of those ultimately pointless but kinda neat things.

TWO MINUTES

This is the place to post your opinion regarding the two minutes being hijacked from each episode of Season 3 for advertising revenue. Matt mentioned that fan input might make a difference, so please lend your support here.

Fifth-hand gossip

My co-worker's wife's hairdresser's boyfriend knows a vintage shop owner who sold set design items and clothes to MM! He says they have a really small budget because they have an estimated fewer than 1 milion viewers. Now Jon and Kate Plus Eight boasts about 11.5 million, so MM is really needing more publicity!

She's Nothing Like Peggy, or Is She?

This is long, but a good read..... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/arts/television/07barn.html?_r=1

She's Nothing Like Peggy, or Is She?

By BROOKS BARNES
Published: June 5, 2009
LOS ANGELES

The latest on the arts, coverage of live events, critical reviews, multimedia extravaganzas and much more. Join the discussion.

TAPED to the wall of Elisabeth Moss's apartment here a large, hand-lettered sign reads, "Lock the Door." The woman who plays the tightly controlled Peggy Olson on "Mad Men" needs to be reminded of this?

"Fred put it there," Ms. Moss said, referring to Fred Armisen, the musician and "Saturday Night Live" comic who is her fiancé. "Sometimes I'm just a little," she said, pausing and looking thoughtfully upward, "forgetful."

An effervescent 26-year-old trained as a ballerina, Ms. Moss has earned Emmy chatter for her work on "Mad Men" and critical raves for her recent turn in the David Mamet play "Speed-the-Plow" on Broadway. She is currently filming "Get Him to the Greek," a big-screen comedy co-produced by Judd Apatow, in which she plays a put-together medical resident, the foil to Jonah Hill's hedonistic music-industry gofer.

Contrary to what one might expect of a person who inhabits difficult roles so seamlessly, Ms. Moss can come across as a bit of a space case. There is the door thing. A question about "Circus of the Stars" leads to an awkward moment. It's one of the weirder things on her résumé, but she can't remember anything about it.

And what's up with the ukulele on the armchair? "Fred and I like to keep instruments around the house," she said, taking a careful sip of Pellegrino.

The contradiction between her characters and her real-life persona extends to appearance. While she plays something of a dump truck on "Mad Men" -- all bumper bangs and dreary dresses -- Ms. Moss is every bit the sexy ingénue off camera. (Check out the photos online of her attending this year's Golden Globe Awards in six-alarm red.)

Ms. Moss spoke in an interview about wanting to be taken seriously as an actress and not becoming the kind of Hollywood cliché that trades on her looks. But perhaps her "Mad Men" character could be a tad more attractive? "I'm always crying around the set for more makeup," she said. "For the love of humanity, give me some lipstick!"

Peggy Olson, alas, isn't that kind of woman. The character, a secretary turned copywriter at an advertising firm in the early 1960s, is simple, a little self-righteous and overtly determined. She's only 20, but comes off as much older by contemporary standards. "She's good at her job and really bad at a lot of other things," said Matthew Weiner, the show's creator.

Mr. Weiner said that he was familiar with Ms. Moss's work from "The West Wing" -- she played a presidential daughter, Zoey Bartlet, for seven seasons -- but that he didn't expect what walked into the audition room. "I was shocked at how quickly she metabolized the material," he said. "She is that kind of actress where we don't intellectually ever delve into what is going on with her character. It's almost like it doesn't pass through Elisabeth's brain. It's completely instinctive.

"She works hard, but I think she also works hard to hide it. Either that, or she's an alien."

Asked why so many television critics describe her "Mad Men" character as a cipher, Ms. Moss suddenly focuses, answering immediately and aggressively. "I like that they don't understand Peggy," she said curtly. "That makes the performance more interesting."

Suddenly Ms. Moss's contradictions are starting to make sense.

The third season of "Mad Men" will have its debut on AMC sometime in August. (The cable channel won't be more specific.) In the first season Ms. Moss's character concealed a pregnancy, a plotline that required the actress to wear increasing amounts of padding. Season 2 was marked by a big promotion for Peggy and several heart-wrenching monologues for Ms. Moss. What's next?

"She's not going to get a sex change, and she's not going to shoot anybody," Mr. Weiner said. "You know I'm not going to give that away."

Ms. Moss didn't want to give too much away either. Sitting in her living room, decorated with Crate & Barrel furniture, she politely confirmed information but did not elaborate on it. Yes, she practices Scientology. No, she doesn't collect French Revolution cookware, whatever that is, as some celebrity blogs have invented.

She didn't want to talk about Fred -- too much. "I could talk about Fred for three hours," she said, fluttering her eyelids and beaming. "But we are very private people." Ms. Moss met her fiancé, who is 16 years her senior, last October when Jon Hamm, who plays the charismatic Don Draper on "Mad Men," hosted "Saturday Night Live," and she joined him for a couple of skits. A date for the wedding has been picked, but no details were forthcoming.

But she was more than willing to talk about her career choices. Ms. Moss said the role in "Get Him to the Greek" interested her because it was a chance to work on a different set of acting muscles. Where "Mad Men" scripts are very specific and "you don't vary a word," she said, "Get Him to the Greek" involves a lot of improvisational humor. "I love anything that makes me a better actor," she said.

Nicholas Stoller, the director and co-writer of the movie, said: "I think she's enjoying the opportunity to be kept a little off balance in front of the camera. She's a natural at being very funny, which I didn't quite expect."

She got more than she bargained for with "Speed-the-Plow," Mr. Mamet's three-character satire about the movie business. As if the pressure of learning the rapid-fire dialogue and performing on Broadway for the first time wasn't enough, she had to work overtime helping to get the two replacements for Jeremy Piven (Norbert Leo Butz and William H. Macy) up to speed. (Mr. Piven withdrew from the show, saying that mercury poisoning had left him exhausted and disoriented during some performances; it was a claim that producers had a hard time swallowing. An arbitration hearing resulted in a split decision, and Mr. Piven avoided any penalties.)

"I was worried she would feel like she was slumming it when she got back to our show," Mr. Weiner said. "I mean, I encouraged her to do theater during our hiatus thinking she would do some little workshop somewhere. Instead the woman goes out and does David Mamet in a Broadway debut."

Hollywood has never been far from home for Ms. Moss. She grew up in Los Angeles as the daughter of musicians. Ron Moss is a jazz musician and music manager, and Linda Moss is a professional blues harmonica player. Musical ability runs in the family: at the age of 10 Ms. Moss starred as Baby Louise in a production of "Gypsy" that was shown on CBS and featured Bette Midler in the lead role.

Ms. Moss said she was a "serious, focused child." As a youngster, she would play "library," a game that involved lining up books on a staircase; her parents would check them out. She graduated from high school two years early. Her first acting job came at the age of 6 in a Jackie Collins mini-series called "Lucky Chances." By 16 she was working with Angelina Jolie in "Girl, Interrupted."

But Ms. Moss was more focused on dancing than acting during her early years, something that she thinks kept her grounded. She studied at the School of American Ballet in New York and with Suzanne Farrell at the Kennedy Center in Washington.

"It took all the pressure off of auditioning for acting roles," she said. "If I didn't get a job, I just went on dancing. It saved me from becoming that 9-year-old who has everything riding on getting that one part."

"We all know that 9-year-old," she added, with a smile, "and she's not a pretty picture."

With that, Ms. Moss escorted a reporter to her door and sweetly bid him goodbye. A loud click followed as soon as he was in the hallway.

It seems the sign on the door works.

"Don Draper's" Divorce

I don't know if this question has been presented before, I'm new to this blog, but I wonder how Betty would react if/when she finds out about Don's divorce.
Since I don't think Don/Dick will come clean about his true identity.
How will she react to being married to a divorced man especially since she doesn't know anything about his past or his family.
It would have me wondering who the hell did I marry.

Mad Men nomatined for Television Critics Association Awards

Mad Men is up for Program of the year, oustanding achievment in Drama and individual achievment in drama for Jon Hamm

http://tvcritics.org/television-critics-association-announces-2009-award-nominees/

Hey, Maddicts! Are you lurking out there?

It has been a looooooong time since the end of the first running of Season 2, and the re-runs have just concluded. Some of us have hung around the Forum waiting for Season 3, and we've tried to keep the conversations going about Mad Men, and we admit we strayed waaaaaay off topic many, many times. Somebody should have quoted Bette Davis way back in November: "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy ride", 'cause it has, indeed, been that. Things were said, and sharp retorts were made, and feelings got hurt, and folks got angry, and then someone would post a thought about the show and off we would be again, chattering away about all things Mad Men.

Perhaps you joined in the hashing and re-hashing of our favorite show, or perhaps you looked in occasionally but kept your comments to yourself (all the while thinking "what a bunch of nuts", hmmm?). Well, if you haven't visited the Forum in awhile, other than to read and run, how about taking the time to post a short note just to check in with your fellow Maddicts and assure us that this wonderful show still has you enthralled. Did you watch the re-runs? Have you been as disappointed as some of us at the lousy time chosen by AMC to re-run Season 2? Are you looking forward to the new season? Are you still conflicted over Don and Betty's reconciliation? Still not sure what happened to that baby of Peggy's?

C'mon, we know you are still out there, you elusive Maddicts who haven't been heard from in many moons. Drop in and say hello, do! It's always a pleasure to hear from old friends.

Did Pete play football?

One thing that has seriously bugged me about Pete's office is that football trophy that he has behind his desk. I mean, come on... Pete... football? Those two just do NOT go together. Now Don has mentioned that he played a little football in high school but I just can't picture Pete playing anything other than the clarinet. Has anyone else noticed the trophy? Thoughts?

David Carradine R.I.P.

Just saw where David Carradine has died. There was a discussion recently on one of the threads here of the Kill Bill movies. He was so good in them - I swear at the end when he walks away from Uma Thurman, I was sorry to see him go, in spite of everything. Somewhere Beatrice Kiddo is crying....

Live Chat with Matt Weiner and John Slattery

Just saw this posted on The Envelope.....

http://goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldderby/2009/06/mad-men-matt-weiner-tv-news-37825184-story.html

Chat live with 'Mad Men' creator Matt Weiner and star John Slattery on Thursday.

Join us here at Gold Derby on Thursday at 4 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. ET for a live chat with "Mad Men" producer/writer/creator Matt Weiner (above left) and star John Slattery. You can dish with them casually or ask tough questions.

Last year, "Mad Men" pulled off an historic breakthrough at the Emmys, becoming the first basic cable show to win a best-series award (drama or comedy). In addition to being declared the best TV drama of the 2007-2008 season, it won five more Emmys, including an award for Weiner writing the episode "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." Slattery was nominated for best supporting actor.

Considering how strong the show's second season was creatively, "Mad Men" will surely be a strong player again at the upcoming Emmy derby. Right now use the boxes below to send yourself a reminder to join us in time for the chat so you don't miss out!

Season three -this is for real!

Since the Six Months Leave of the show, I have been in the Ladies' Room, wearing nothing but my Maidenform and playing sad tunes on my Gold Violin.
But I hope that before Indian Summer, MM reurns and that will be A Night to Remember for sure, as we can watch it for Three Sundays in a row if we want to or over and over on Tivo for a Long Weekend. Of course, I will be very Red in the Face if it doesn't happen and will have to tell The New Girl that Smoke Gets in my Eyes but it will really be tears. If that does hapen, I will have to catch Flight 1 and Jet Set to the Mountain King at AMC. I will tell him we are Meditating in an Emergency and we need him to be The Benefactor and bring back the show or we will have to cut him out of The Inheritance.

Yes, another slow day (at work.)

New Baby Draper

Well, is it a boy or a girl? What do you think they'll name him/her?

Is Betty Draper's pregnancy a result of her adultery?

As I watched a rerun it suddenly dawned on me. How Ironic if Don ends up raising a son who is not his, just as he was raised by a man who wasn't his real father. I don't remember the timelines of her pregnancy anymore.