Jeffrey and Jane

Did anyone else think that Jeffrey, the drug dealer, bore a striking resemblance to a young Tom Cruise? He even sounded like Tom.

Also in an unrelated observation, could Jane be ill? When she visits the office, she tells Joan that she keeps losing weight. And at the party, I'm sure Jane was drunk, but could some illness be affecting her motor skills and balance? Just wondering . . .

Also, it was great to see so many of the characters show their hidden talents - dancing, playing the accordian, singing - fun!

Blackface ?

Why ?

It's a mans hat

Somebody please tell the producers to tell all male actors in Mad Men how to properly remove they're headwear. Anyone who knows anything about wearing hats knows this....never remove a hat by it's crown. You always lift the hat off by the brim. Just watch any movie from the 30's and 40's...when hats were really popular...and you'll see the proper way to remove a mans hat. You cetainly can tell Jon Hamm knows not how to doff a hat. He probably never had one like that to doff. JC

Lily

Thank you, Lily, for your prompt response to my request. I appreciate AMC's swift action on this unpleasant issue.

Betty, Betty, Betty...

At this point I am so unenthralled with this character that I wish someone would just shake some sense into her.

When Sally came to Betty's room and exclaimed that she had walked backwards all the way up the stairs, what did mama say? "ZIP"...not even acknowledging Sally's remarkable feat. Where is her understanding and compassion for her children. Her focus is always on herself. Oh, yes, she did buy some very nice riding boots for Sally, but we have yet to see Sally using them.

I find no warmth or charm in this character, except when she's faced with a stranger who wants to touch her belly bulge. Hmmm, wonder how she would explain that to Don???

First she wants to dance then she doesn't want to dance. All the while just looking bored. She didn't even try to have a conversation with one of Don's co-workers and his wife (can't recall their names) when they came up to their table.

This is her third pregnancy. You'd think by know she'd know that her lovely, lithe body will tend to expand and it will be uncomfortable.

She has no pleasant interaction with Bobby or Sally. Whenever she speaks to them it's always to scold or bark at them. I feel sorry for both of the children and even more so for Bobby who will become the "middle" child once the new baby gets here. In this episode he was no more than a shadow in the background.

I don't think it's just her hormones because she's pregnant. I think it's her true nature: icy, cold and after all, she is "Nordic"...

Just had to get that off my chest. Betty really irks me!

"My Name is Carla...."

Carla, the Drapers' housekeeper and now "elder caregiver" for Betty's father, Gene is such an unsung hero. She perseveres through Gene's lost money drama, gets the dinner on the table and basicaly lets old Gene know that she is running the show and he's just one of the kids as far as she's concerned. When he called her "Viola"(HIS former maid) and asked if she knew "Viola" it was then she informed him, "My name is Carla....we don't all know each other, Mr. Hofstead..." Her facial expression was priceless. I think he likes her...I think i saw kind of a twinkle in his eye. Better watch out, Carla!

$5 Sally

So what was the deal with Sally and the $5 bill? I know that $5 was worth a whole lot more in '63 then it is now (a nickle could still get you a cup of coffee then, but $5 is what you need to get one now...well, a good latte at least). Sally thought she could get away with taking the money and forgetful Granddad would never notice, but he did and wouldn't stop searching till it turned up.

But there's an interesting point that Matt W. made in a recent interview regarding Sal being caught with the bellboy. He said that "Sometimes you get away with it." Meaning, you do something you think is wrong, but you don't get caught.

Did Grandpa know Sally took the $5? Or didn't he? Sally looked really guilty and obviously expected to be called on the carpet for the crime, but it never happened. Did she "get away" with it or not? She didn't get to keep it, obviously, but she wasn't punished for the theft either.

Thoughts on Sally, Granddad and the missing $5?

Betty Draper's idea of pre-natal care...

http://www.amctv.com/videos/mad-men/?bcpid=8803972001&bclid=34804835001&bctid=35606054001

Some fun gif files of the Charleston and Peggy getting high

Here:
http://thisrecording.com/

Harry's wife

Anyone else see what's going on with Harry's wife? I thought that was one of the more understated things going on this episode. She wants to go chat with Harry's co-workers, is she interested in taking on the role of Sterling Cooper wife like Betty, or is she just bored and happy to be out? Little bit of both? I don't know.

And the way she looks at Pete and Trudy. She's clearly jealous. And when everyone stops and lets those 2 have the floor, after Cosgrove says next time he needs to bring a date, she just leaves in this subtle but disappointed or frustrated jealous way.

Of course Harry being a guy doesn't catch it and continues to just stand there.

Anyway what was up with that? Trouble on the horizon for Harry or just one of those things?

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

Evidently, this is the book that Sally is reading to Grandpa. It certainly reflects the second episode's "Love Among the Ruins" theme--the on going idea of the old crumbling and the new on the rise.

Just to get everyone up to speed (from Wiki): "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire was written by English historian Edward Gibbon and published in six volumes. Volume I was published in 1776... It stands as a major literary achievement of the 18th century because it was adopted as a model for the methodologies of modern historians. This led to Gibbon being called the first modern historian of Ancient Rome."

It's certainly hard going for Sally, also not, perhaps, appropriate given that it's discussing such things as "licentiousness."

You might want to go here and read up on Gibbon's theory of why the Empire fell: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_History_of_the_Decline_and_Fall_of_the_Roman_Empire#Gibbon.27s_theory

Gibbon's theory includes his belief that Rome declined and fell in part because it was too deeply into pacifism (thanks to Christianity), that there was a loss of civic virtues, outsourcing of their duty to defend the Empire, and that the Romans became more "effeminate" and less manly.

My pick for line of the night...

Not an exact quote, but along the lines of:

Smitty: "OK! We get it. You're educated..."

It reminds me of when Joan had to put Kinsey in his place by calling him out on his open minded, well read, cultured attitude.

Mad Men The Musical

It was a regular "Revue"! Nice of Weiner to showcase the incredible talent of these great actors, but could it have been done differently and not so obvious. Here, look a me, look a me! I have talent! They are fantastic no question!

No Mad Men before Labor Day??!!

The next new episode is Sept. 6th? In this day of DVRs why not run the episode and let people who wouldn't ordinarily stay up on a Sunday night and watch?

Some Overused Words or Phrases...

OK, please get your thesaurus' out. If I read another...
Snarky...snarky...snarky!
Kudos!
"Just my two cents...."
troll.troll.troll.troll
"I know I said I wouldn't post..."
"that's what the scroll button is for..."
Diatribe
Martyr-like, martyr-wannabee (whoops, that's me overusing!)
"I'm a bit off-topic but I'm going to do it anyway!"
"I'm not going to talk about (fill in name) anymore"...well u just did!

There's sooo many more, got any?

Three Parties

This episode features three distinct parties:

(1) The Kentucky Derby Club Party with invitees who are either rich and blue blood enough to be comfortable at it, or those who were born poor, watched rich folk attend such parties at such clubs, and now are getting their own chance at being on the "inside." It's a party locked in the past, keeping to old traditions, some which shock us like Roger thinking nothing of doing a song in black face, some which are quaint and lively, like Pete and Trudy doing a perfect and energetic Charleston. This is the party of "the past" with nothing new or modern to it, from the old fashioned band in their straw hats to traditional cocktails to talk of such old names as Rockafeller.

(2) Dinner Party with Doctors: This is our middle class party, with those trying to be solidly middle class. Joan tries to fit herself into it, but the real Joan peeks out when she surprises us with her song and playing of the accordion. A saucy French ditty. It's a hint of the past, just as there are hints of the future to come, but all-in-all, this is the party of the present. Of the now.

(3) The Bohemian Party is at the office, those who are supposed to be working passing around a joint instead, getting high. There's singing in this one too, just a pair of voices. Chips and sandwiches instead of an elegant dinner, casual dress, all young people, all looking to the future. This is the party of tomorrow.

Other thoughts or observations on these three parties?

Peggy's Evolution

Olive: You're not thinking about your future.
Peggy: The thing is, I already have a job. I have my own office w/ my name on the door. And a secretary- that's you. I'm not scared... But... oh my god... you are.

Peggy then goes on to assure Olive that she need not worry... "I'm going to get everything I want.". She's just been inspired by her first pot high, to come up w/ some good ideas for the Bacardi Rum campaign, to the point where she breezily tells the boys they can go home. Think of how far Peggy has come since we first saw her in Mad Men's very first episode. She IS so real... the journey so many professional women took in the 60's-80's.
It was in this episode that I've realized that Peggy has evolved into one of my favorite female characters in all of TV & film. Elizabeth's Moss portrayal is so nuanced; touching, funny, subtle... infused w/ intelligence. And because of the excellent writing, what a fully-rounded character she has to work with! Watching tonight's episode, I realized something: Most of my favorite female characters on televsion are harder-edged, often in traditionally male professions, ala Holly Hunter in "Saving Grace." Joan, Peggy & Betty are in office jobs, mostly wearing dresses & doing things more typical women do. But they are written as whole people. Even a generation later, I can identify w/ them, largely because in spite of being more typically feminine, they are still written as WHOLE PEOPLE!!!

So few women's character's are written as fully realized human beings, especially when it comes to sexuality just being part of who they are, not the defining identifier. They're usually written as seen through male eyes.
We do see how the men view Peggy, Joan & Betty. But especially in the case of the first two ladies, we also get the women's POV of their OWN lives.
Thank you, writers.

Dancing the Charleston?

Where and when would Pete and Trudy learn to do the Charleston? Was it typical for kids from their strata of society to learn it in dance class? Would they know it because it was a standard of dances at such clubs? Or did they learn it special for this occassion?

They certainly were darn good at it. Show-offs who proved to us that they were born to and belonged to this club, unlike the others who had climbed the ladder on up in order to be invited into the club.

Is Draper a hypocrite?

He has a lot of nerve calling Roger foolish. At least Roger was honest with his old wife, divorced her and moved on. Draper pretends to be the prefect husband and then he cheats like it is nothing. Then after cheating, he goes back to his wife and doesn't even look guily. It is like he is numb to it. He is not a main character that people love, he is a jerk.

Sally Draper's Lisp

As an avid fan and Speech-Language Pathologist I feel the need to express my concern regarding Sally's lisp. Given her age it may be cute to some, but in reality it is something that will not bode well with her and her possible career as an adult actor. Please seek advice from a professional to help her with this.

Who dropped the ball on this?

For a show that gets everything right, how could they screw up so badly with the band that plays in the back ground at the country club? I'm a drummer, and I was absolutely horrified to see that drum set in the back ground! It's nowhere even close to something from the 60's. Using that drum set would be like having the Drapers watching a Sony Trinitron TV. This may seem really picky, but that's one of the things that makes this a great show - the attention to detail, and somebody really dropped the ball on this one.

Happy Rockefeller

Did anyone else notice Betty's shock that a woman with 4 children could divorce her husband and marry someone else? Especially someone at that level of society? (I would go deeper into this topic, however I am having great difficulty with this site.)

PEGGY LAYED ON THE COUCH AFTER SHE GOT HIGH.

THAT WAS THE COUCH THAT HER AND PETE MADE LOVE ON .SHE WAS THINKING BACK....

I'D LOVE TO GET HIGH WITH PEGGY,WOULDN'T YOU?

Your Post

Would it be too much to ask

. . . for Pete to dance in every episode!?

P.S. The auditioning girl in the first scene, she was wearing a perfect replica of the costume Ann-Margret wore in Bye, Bye Birdie, the "Got a Lot of Living to Do" scene! Is it so odd that I wish I had one, too?

Joan and the Doctor...How Long Can It Last?

So, ladies and gents, how long do we give this little tinder box before it blows sky high? Can denial keep things afloat for a month...a year...fifty years? Or are we looking at a much closer explosion?

And if it does end, how do we think it will? Annulment? Divorce? 'European' Divorce? Pre- or Post- kids? With the Dr or Joan giving the boot?

Hmmm....I'm curious to hear you all's thoughts!

Does Roger really love Jane?

If Jane's depth of character really is as shallow as it is portrayed, then I can only conclude Roger is going through a mid-life crisis. Then Don would be right and Roger is foolish.

The um...."Turbulant" 1960's

So go the characters....so goes the show. These episodes seem to be bits and pieces strung together with a VERY thin wire holding scenes into a unit.

As in the 60's, there is ALOT going on-very quickly....so quickly that we seem to be just skimming across the storyline.

My highlight of this episode was Pete and Trudy. I am beginning to like them best.

\

Song in Blackface

It was completely unnecessary to do the song in blackface. Mad Men was one of my favorite songs. You have lost a fan! I am organizing a drive to have your sponsors boycotted.

Season 3 Episode 2 - Open Thread

Talk about Season 3, Episode 2, "Love Among the Ruins."

A few confusions about season 3.

Sorry that I'm late.. I just finished ep1..
But 1. where is Duck? Is he in london or kicked out of the company? and 2. How come Don is still engaging in affairs? I thought he actually felt sorry for himself and wanted to be committed to his family! (Is this just about the show or all men are nasty in nature?)

BTW I've seen people talking about it, but what does "Gold Violin" mean? I didn't get it..
Thank you!

Pete and Paul

I got to thinking about the meeting Pete had with the men planning to tear down the old Penn Station. I am assuming this is the meeting Pete was told to have by Burt Cooper. Isn't it a little strange that he would not have gone over Paul's presentation prior to the meeting? Paul was certainly very much against the destruction of the old Penn Station. Did he and Pete not discuss this at all? They both came across as rather whiny and inept at the end of the meeting, what with Pete talking about complaining to Don and Paul asking him not to tattle on him. If this is the way Pete is going to conduct business, I am thinking it will not be long at all before Ken gets to be sole Head of Accounts.

'MAD MEN' CREATOR MATTHEW WEINER TRAVELS BACK TO THE 60's - Exclusive Interview

This answers the question I did not have the nerve to ask, and that is "How did a Jewish poetry student, raised in a literary, artistic family get inside the heads of a bunch of morally-ambiguous, Wasp-y advertising executives from Manhattan?"

'MAD MEN' CREATOR MATTHEW WEINER TRAVELS BACK TO THE 60's - Exclusive Interview
The showrunner talks the Sixties and the characters who populate his world
By ABBIE BERNSTEIN, Contributing Writer
Published 8/29/2009

http://www.ifmagazine.com/feature.asp?article=3471

Read the rest in-thread.....

New to Mad Men

Can someone please explain Mad Men to me. My friend loves it so I got season one on DVD. So far I find the dialogue really dragged out and the clothes are great but not enough to keep me watching. Do the characters get more complex? I need some insight to see these characters in this show better. Thank you.

Don - the face of Philanthropy for SC?

Wasn't it toward the end of Season 1 that Bert Cooper called Don in and told him he wanted him to take on the role of being involved in philanthropic/charitable causes on behest of Sterling Cooper? Remember he told him to get his tuxedo out of mothballs or something like that? We haven't seen anything come of that. I wonder if more of that will play out in Season 3, or maybe since they've been bought out, that's gone by the wayside. But when does Matt Weiner ever introduce a theme and drop it?

Attn: Lily

Lily, I posted this on the Season 3 Episode 2 Open Thread. I am re-posting it here, in case you miss seeing it on the Open Thread.

If you would be so kind, I am requesting that you review the posts of "Monty" and "Peaches" on this thread, Season 3, Episode 2, Open Thread. I believe them to be the same individual, and I believe their posts should be removed as they clearly, at least in my opinion, violate the AMC Terms and Conditions:

"is unlawful, harmful to adults or minors, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another's privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable"

I am sorry to have to take this step, but I hate to see my favorite Mad Men site degenerate into a cesspool, and "Peaches", in particular, seems intent on that very thing. I find that individual's post so offensive that I would ask this person be banned from the AMC Mad Men site.

Thank you, Lily, in advance, for whatever you can do to resolve this issue.

Catch the wedding date!!! Nov 23 1963

AS we suspected the Kennedy Assassination will be covered.

Topic Title

Your Post

Don and Peggy

.....Don and Peggy mirroring each other is one of the main themes in this series.

In this episode, it was very much (to me) about the comment Don made to Peggy....."You're not an artist - you solve problems." He said it partly because he feels that way about himself, as of this episode.

Don has been making a superhuman effort to be "present" for his family, and his job, and it seems the harder he tries, the tighter the noose becomes. The harder he pedals, the faster he sinks.

Don spent pretty much this entire episode bending over backward to solve other peoples' enormous, seemingly insoluble problems, to significant personal sacrifice. In trying to "be there" for Betty, Gene, Lane at Sterling Coo, etc., etc., he had very little of his usual "Don time" to think and ponder, until the very end, when he wistfully ran his hand through the grass, envying the freedom to dance, and feel that grass under his bare feet. Don is discovering a phenomenon new to him, and that is how thankless real sacrifice and hard work can really be.

The other thing that really jumped out at me in this episode, and in relation to the way that Don and Peggy talk to each other, is the growing "oneness" or implicit understanding between Don and Peggy.

While Don and Betty conducted a whole conversation, in exchanging a long look during William's "noble decision about Dad" speech, Don and Peggy have an even MORE intimate bond, which appears to be deepening with each new episode.

The grass-stroking scene was second-to-last, but the VERY last scene was Don getting to work and stopping at Peggy's door, which he does in relation to NO ONE ELSE, almost looking to HER as some kind of touchstone. The look they exchanged was completely intimate, and the power base is shifting slightly. Peggy now tells DON if something can or cannot wait. He looks to HER first thing in the morning, as the starting place to hit "reset," in the middle of his own growing chaos.

There is a common joke among career people, about having to "go to work to get some rest."

In sitting down to talk about advertising, something about which both he and Peggy are entirely intuitive (as well as being about something other than his own problems), or problem-solving, Don's physical deflation and exhaling sigh of relief were almost visible and audible.

It struck me right then that Peggy might be the only person on the planet with whom Don Draper feels fully at ease, beside Anna Draper.

Draper's office is his own small "room" (alluding to an earlier Japanese proverb quoted by Bert Cooper). It is his "safe zone," where the only real invitee is Peggy.

Possibly more now, than any other, Where THIS relationship is going is starting to really fascinate me!

Where, besides the USA, is MAD MEN showing?

I get the impression that MAD MEN has a sizeable contingent of fans in the UK.

And I think MAD MEN plays on French TV... dubbed into French...(anyone know?). Can't you just see Joan sashaying around the office.... giving people the score... in French? (-:

Anyone know how many countries, and languages, MM appears in?

Also... one wonders how viewers in countries outside the USA view MAD MEN... Do they see its particulars a little bit differently than we Yanks do?

Do women really have it better now than they did in 1963?

My mother and I are having a go around about if things were better for women before the woman's movement or after. My mother was 21 and I was born in 1963, so she remembers the time period and I don't. What I do know is that, at least in my opinion, women are treated worse now and being liberated hasn't done us much good. She says things were much worse for women back then, but I see Betty Draper who not only doesn't have to work, she has part time help. As long as the house is clean and the kids taken care of, she can do as she likes. These days, a woman is still expected to do most of the cooking and cleaning for some reason and even these days, when a man is watching his own children, it will be referred to as "babysitting". (How do you babysit your own kids?). Betty's free to take riding lessons. Yeah, now a woman has to do everything Betty did AND work 8 hours a day on top of it. No time for riding lessons during the day. My grandmother use to do her housework in the mornings and play bridge in the afternoons with her friends.

At least back then, a man took you out to dinner. These days, you ask for a Happy Meal and all the sudden you're a goldigger. I'm also fairly sure mom has never listened to 2 live crew or heard the song by Poison Clan "Shake whatcha mama gave ya" that has the woman empowering lines " See, I'm gonna get my money's worth, b***h, I ain't trying to make your a$$ rich. Can't nothing save ya, B***h, shake whatcha mama gave ya". Even Peggy wouldn't put up with that....but we do.

Maybe it's just me. Do you think women are better off now then they were then? I really want to know.

F- for Mad Men's IT Department

Surely they could have figured out that the message board would be more heavily used this season with all the hype they put forth for the show. The website is always busy. How hard is this to fix? There are only 3 million viewers; maybe up to 4 million if you count repeat showings but that would also include viewers watching the show more than once.

John Slattery On Mad Men, Directing, And All That Smoking

Read the rest in-thread.....

Hi Nora!

Please ignore the other post, I hit the wrong button.
Nora, I looked at the Lutece photo that is on this site, and I can clearly see you at the table over Don's shoulder! I remember you saying you couldn't see yourself when the episode aired. I just want to let you know the still photo clearly shows you!! Hope you're doing well!

A boy named Dick

I'm sure this was already discussed in the open thread but I needed to bring up that whole scene with Don's real mother. Is it not absolutely fantastic that he was named Dick because his mother wanted to chop his father's off?
How has this legacy shaped Don? We already know his father's member got his mother "in trouble" and Don's member has certainly gotten him in a lot of trouble.

Pete and Trudy's Fate...

I apologize if anyone has ever thought or posted this before. But I had a thought about Pete and Trudy...
So Pete and Trudy seem to be getting along rather well for them...almost "too good to be true," like how Betty wished she and Don could be. My thought is I could see Trudy start to press Pete again about wanting a baby at the same time he is feeling less and less like a man at the office. Perhaps she even emasculates him by exclaiming that maybe he was the infertile one who cant make her happy. To which Pete could either a) explode and tell Trudy that that he is not the "problem" and that he has another baby with another woman with no fertility problems, or b) could tell Trudy he wanted to adopt, not tell her about his baby with Peggy, but somehow adopt his baby with Peggy (maybe force Peggy to divulge the info as a way to repay him for not telling him about the baby and just giving it away). It'd be his way of shutting her up or punishing Trudy or both. If Peggy knows about the adoption, it may be Pete's way to get close to, or maybe even to get control of Peggy, or blackmail/punish her for what she did to him. If Peggy doesn't know about it and Pete just happened to find a way to adopt their child, maybe Pete will confess to Trudy later in the child's life who the biological parents are. Or maybe he'll confess to Peggy later in the child's life that his adopted child is hers as a way to either hurt her or bring her closer to him.
Pete and Trudy adopting Peggy's kid, whether Trudy knows about the biological parents or not, could serve as a parallel to Don's life. Maybe Trudy resents her adopted child and she doesn't know why, or maybe she does know why. That would be similar to Don's childhood....his real mother gave him up and had him under very undesirable conditions, and he was given to his father who viewed him as a huge mistake, and it was the father's hell to have to raise this kid with his wife that didnt naturally give birth to him. Would be an interesting way to link Don and Pete, but also to tear up Trudy and Pete. Shows what adultery can do to everyone involved on multiple levels.
Would Pete's child be "doomed" like Don's? How does infidelity and also adoption affect Don and the child's life? How does it affect the couples and the "mistresses"? Thoughts? Is this plausible at all?

10 Things That Suck About Being Joan

. It takes you 10 times longer the any other cast member to walk across the office.
2. You think evaluating your "strengths" in the mirror while wearing nothing but a paper bag is a normal. In fact, you recommend it to female coworkers.
3. You feel like Shirley MacLaine's character in The Apartment. She attempted suicide. You also feel like Marilyn Monroe. She succeeded.

Keep reading...

My "Waltons"

I was born in 1960 and have been a TV nut since birth. In the 70's, the show, "The Waltons", air on I think CBS. It took place in the late 1930's and into the 40's. Set in rural West Virginia, it chronicled the the lives of a poor family with 8 or 9 kids with grandparents living with the family. I remember the "goodnight John-boy" scenes that happened every week. My mother a child of the same time and backwood Kentucky, would watch this show and cry her eyes out. I couldn't understand what was so special about the show. I DO NOW... Mad Men is my Waltons. I wish that they would replay the show on TVLand or on some other channel. Enough of I Love Lucy and All in the Family.

The carousel and next week....

Ok so we have the return of the carousel at the end of Ep 2. Next week we have something to do with Kentucky, his youth assumedly. So was the carousel this week symbollism, or was it that but as well foreshadowing something?

Don's work life is spiraling.

His home life is spiraling.

He chose to be implusive (remember that's one of Don's demons) and take Gene in (after calling him a son of a bitch to Betty's face in the car, now without contemplating anything, taking Gene in simply reacting to William).

And, Don doesn't have any unattached girl for release.

When Don comes home, William is screwing up his sink, Gene has taken over his table, his sister-in-law is setting the dining room, the kids have taken over the tv and room. Welcome home.

Later, I think the booze-pouring scence is less about Gene, but about Don realizing what he's about to go through.

Don's got nothing in control at work, nor at home.

What else is there?

So he sees the carousel.

What is the next episode gonna be about?
I hear ya both. I don't really get into the flashbacks but the carousel and Don/Kentucky coming up...

I don't know..

Did they mean what I think they meant?

.....Near as I can tell, no one has mentioned the one incident, in the scene with Peggy and Burger Boy, where his "cronies" come up to the table, and say something (CRS) that very much led me to believe that they were performing a routine "rescue," ostensibly to provide BB with a chance to escape.
Right before Peggy grabs the burger and takes a big bite.

Did I hear that correctly?

If so, what a statement, and how humiliating for her!

Forget the burger, I think I would have pulled a Mike Tyson and chomped a big chunk of that snide, sneery guy's ________________.

Mistakes in last week's episode

Three mistakes I noticed. The burger which Peggy bit into was much too big for the period. Burgers at that time were the same size as the cheapest burgers at McDonald's or Burger King now. Secondly, there was a wedding invitation shown in silver. That would be considered tacky even today. Its the kind of invitation Peggy's sister would send out. Working class. Thirdly, the first maternity dress that we see Betty wearing was much too revealing of her tummy. Women of that period wore baggy clothes in an effort to conceal (sort of) their pregnancy. Calling attention it to was considered in poor taste back then.
However the bit where Peggy's young bed partner doesn't make any effort to help her with the door as she is leaving...that shows a constant lack of gallantry that has persisted throughout the decades, and was a nice, authentic touch..

ANYONE FROM 2008 VIDEO CONTEST SUBMITTING ?

After the photo fiasco,slow web site,I'm disappointed !!!!

I think I have the ending...

Folks I think I got the ending.

I made the mistake of actually being happy that I think I may have nailed down the questions about ending, so I wanted to share with you all and see what you all think, but unfortunatley upon posting, it was immediately washed out by the Ted Kennedy barfight on the Episode 2 Open Thread. I'm just reposting it here.

Ok everyone pretty much got the barefoot dancing /freedom thing. But they actually show more of her face, her smile, her joy more than that.

Now marry her dancing around and around like a child symbollically as if not a care to be had, with what we visually saw. What did we visually see, in it's core foundation?

Especially in the wide shots, we had a strong central axis with connecting at the top and streaming down a (implied) canopy, at whose end are the children; travelling around and around with no destination and no meaning.

It's a carousel.

Then remember: "This device is not a spaceship. It is a time machine.... it travels the way a child travels... around and around...."

I think that's what's really going on here, a return to that motif.

A little off-topic unless you love early 60s music

Ellie Greenwich has died, age 68. Click the link below for more (and check the hairdo!) They don't write 'em like that anymore. Da Doo Run Run!

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/08/26/be-my-baby-songwriter-ellie-greenwich-dead-at-68/

Music in Season 3 Ep 2

Hope someone can help with this..
I am looking for the title of the music playing during ending credits or while Don feeling grass.. It's slow and swelling.

After an hour of searching I've got nothing..

Thanks!

Someone took the contest entries and made a funny...

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2009-08-06/15-mad-men-cameos-wed-like-to-see/

Attention Deficit Theatre: "Mad Men," Season Three, Episode Two

Clickable link in the comments

Need an Explanation

I need an explanation to give the thousands of people who took the time to vote for me daily for 2 weeks and have been asking me for an explanation of the results/semifinalists. PS - My profile pic is the one I entered, but appears cropped and distorted here. To see the real picture, please click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/p5zpQ3VfsmRBoIQOV_EuSQ?feat=directlink

http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/2009/07/banana-republic-casting-call-standings.php

http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/2009/08/banana-republic-casting-call.php

Facts:

July 28: I entered the contest. 2 weeks of participation.

July 29: I was in the top 5.

July 30: I was 4th out of 1070. [Please note when I give a place, I am talking "overall," not just of women]

July 31: I was 5th out of 1222.

August 1: I was 6th out of 1365.

August 2: I was 6th out of 1591.

August 3: I was 4th out of 1723.

August 4: I was 2nd out of 1955.

August 5: I was 3rd out of 2179.

August 6: I was 3rd out of 2422.

August 7: I was 4th out of 2680.

August 8: I was 5th out of 2898.

August 9: I was 7th out of 3136.

August 10: I was 5th out of 3231.

August 10-11: Site crashes allowing no votes. Flood of new entries (in the top 20 as well.)

August 11: Site seems to be fixed at 7:30pm...but crashes a few times. I was 5th.

11pm Aug. 11 (one hour before voting ended): I was 9th.

Midnight Aug.11: I was 36th.

How is this possible? All I want is an explanation. Please explain! Thank you.

Soot

I cracked up when Betty told Don he should not have carried his overcoat into the bedroom "its covered with soot" while puffing away on her cigarette. I still chuckle as I think of this. The new season is unfolding nicely.

Jon Hamm on Don Draper

..... http://popwatch.ew.com/2009/08/23/mad-men-preview-jon-hamm/

'Mad Men' preview -- with a side of Jon Hamm!
by Jeff Jensen

This interview sheds some interesting light on the effect (and timing) of Betty's pregnancy on the Draper marriage.

Jon Hamm spoke recently in another interview about Don Draper's hollow declarations in the S2 post-shower scene, in the living room, right before he gets kicked out. He talked about the fact that, basically, Don was telling Betty (and himself) a hollow lie. I thought it was a great scene, but now I consider it an acting feat, to be able to portray that duality, with the crocodile tears and emoting, and all. He was saying all the right words, with the correct expressions and inflections, but somehow it missed the mark, and that wasn't lost on Betty, either.

Here, Jon talks about the reconciliation after returning from California, which moment between them was also was somewhat hollow and rather missed the mark, and what it could have been, were it not for the baby.

(There are no real spoilers in this interview.)

It's a Man's World.....

.....The road meets the traveller.....

James Brown.....This is A Man's World.....

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x28nur_james-brown-its-a-mans-mans-mans-wo_eventss

When did American women start taking The Pill?

I understand that the oral birth control pill first became available to women in 1963.

Peggy decides to have a one-night stand with the young student from that Brooklyn corner bar. She asks him if he has a Trojan... He doesn't. They end up "doing other things".

When would young single urban women like Peggy obtain a Rx for The Pill?

Was there some initial shame or embarrassment about getting on The Pill in those days? I'm guessing plenty of women feared possible negative side-effects.

Which MAD MEN female do you suppose would've gotten on The Pill the earliest, do you reckon?

Tour the Mad House

The hardy, demented souls who stuck with this forum over the off-season may remember when I posted a link to a plan of the first floor of the Draper house after a discussion about how the house is laid out. Well, I have updated the first floor and I've done the second floor, so if you truly are MAD enough, please take a look: http://s644.photobucket.com/albums/uu170/mambodeb/
I'll post the link again in the comments.

Bygone Brands

My husband and I have been reminiscing about old brands from the early sixties, and some of the ads we remember. How many of you recall using these?

Ipana, Pepsodent or Gleam toothpaste
Lux liquid dish detergent, Lux bath and hand soap
Biz, Duz, Salvo laundry detergents
Breck, Alberto V05 and White Rain shampoo
Wilkinson-Sword razor blades
Mitchum, Ban, Tussy deodorants
Bufferin, Anacin, Doans pills, Ajax cleanser, Ponds face products
Buster Brown, Poll Parrot, Stride Rite shoes
Ralston cereals, Maypo, Grapenuts, Allbran, Quaker puffed rice, shredded wheat bricks
Upper 10, Frosy Root Beer, Shasta soft drinks
Schlitz lager, National Bohemian, Hamm's, Carling Black Label beers

My guess for who's going to reveal don's secret identity to the world: betty's bro.

Maybe it'd be too obvious. But betty's bro has my vote for the character most likely to discover AND reveal don's secret past. Sure, pete knows already (sorta) but he's idolizes and is afraid of don too much. Any other guesses?

Bert Cooper on episode 2 of season 3

when Bert Cooper came into the office of the new owner ... he looked like Colonel Saunders

Roger the clown

Has anyone noticed that Roger seems to have gotten caught in a loop of disapointing everyone around him? It seems like ever since he left Mona people have expected less of him and he has just seemed to have gone along with it.

He's showing up late to meetings, kinda coasting through work and his life. And he's taking all the abuse and snide remarks sitting down.

I think Roger may have some real problems brewing inside him, and not just with his health.

Anyone have any insights?

Don't rush the years!

Mad Men began in 1960 and jumped to 1962 in season 2. Now at season 3 we're looking ahead quickly to 1963. Not long after this, the British invasion of musicians began and fashions as well as music changed. The ladylike elegance of the Jackie Kennedy era in fashions was soon to go by the wayside for mini-skirts, thin profiles and the Carnaby Street look. I'd really like to see the show kept in the very early '60s. If it progresses up to the mid- and late '60s, the ambience it generates will be lost. There isn't any charm in the era of Woodstock, Haight-Ashbury and bad LSD trips. And yes, I know whereof I speak as I grew up in that era and saw the culture changes.

Still Not Showing Enough New York Ethnic Types Working In the Office.

Except for Sal most of the employees at Sterling Cooper are too Middle America generic looking. Granted there were a few employees from out of town working in Midtown offices in 1963, but most were from the five boroughs, or Long Island, New Jersey, Westchester etc. with specific borough accents and most were first, second, maybe third generation Italian, Irish, and Jewish. On Mad Men everyone looks like they just came out of central casting for a Broadway show or a film. Even the films from that era depicting New York City office workers didn't really get it right. I was raised in New York and working there in 1963 and, apart from the out of towners, there were basically three types in NY corporate offices with their own style in clothes, philosophy of life, importance of education etc.

Leave Peggy Alone! *tears* *sobbing*

I'm surprised to find how many people thought Peggy's little Ann Margret number was cringe-worthy. I thought it was awesome.

Who among us hasn't, in a completely free moment of solitude, done a dance number in the mirror? I know I'm guilty of a few Britney Spears moments, and I don't even liker her music. God help me should anyone sneak a camera into my home.

Let (s)he who never dances cast the first stone...

Another great article...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=24&entry_id=46067

Pat's Steaks - Oh yes they did!

Someone posted that Pat's steaks didn't sell Chicken Parmesan....well, here's an article where the son of Pat says "oh yes they did!"

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/54672857.html
By Dan Gross
Philadelphia Daily News

ON SUNDAY'S episode of "Mad Men," Betty Draper's father, Gene, holds a big paper bag in the air and proclaims "We went to Pat's Steaks," when he arrives at the New York home of Betty and ad-exec husband Don Draper.

As we learned last season on the AMC hit series, Betty Draper comes from the Main Line, so it is not a stretch to think the Pat's that was referenced is Pat's King of Steaks, founded in 1930 by Pat Olivieri, who is credited as having invented the cheesesteak.

Pat's grandson Frank Olivieri Jr. freaked out yesterday when we told him of the name-drop.

"It's my favorite show in the world," said Olivieri, who planned to catch the episode on his iPod last night. "It's an honor for them to reference my family's restaurant and a cheesesteak," Olivieri said. On the show, Betty's father said he had brought a "half" for one of the kids and also had picked up a "chicken parmesan."

Olivieri said yesterday that in 1963, when the show is set, Pat's did sell half-size steaks, for 35 cents, while wholes were 55 cents. It has never sold chicken parm at the 9th and Wharton eatery, but did offer it at another Pat's Steaks, at 33rd and Ridge.

We asked AMC representatives whether Pat's Steaks was one of the Philadelphia Pat's Steaks, but they did not reply.

Little Things To Love in Episode 2

Here is a list, in no particular order, of details I loved in Episode 2:

1. Don's dry wit: To Peggy: "Everyone wants a drink named after a floor." To Roger: "What do you have to do today? What do you have to do all week?"

2. Roger's one liners. To Lane Pryce: "Do you ever get three sheets to the wind and try to put that on? [the suit of armor]. To Brooks: "I'll have yours." To the Madison Sqaure Garden Client: "It's true, isn't it?" after Don has done all the hard work of pitching to the client. To Betty: "Princess Grace swallowed a basketball."

3. That Lane Pryce has a suit of armor in his office.

4. That Betty has achieved at last the "royal treatment" she so desperately wants when she visits Don's office. Recall how she complained to Francine in Season 1 that she expected to be treated royally when she visited Don at work, and rarely was. Now Joan and the others are fawning over her, and she is in her element. "Why don't you tell me how long I'll be first" she snaps in response to Joan's request to Don's secretary to get Mrs. Draper a glass of water.

5. The kids camped out in front of the TV and Don having to step over Sally to make his way through the room. Ah, the magical powers of TV in the '60s.

6. Don's expression when he walks in to discover William plunging the sink and Judy setting the table. Has the Draper family been kidnapped, perhaps?

7. That Mona called Jane "June" and Roger did not immediately correct her.

8. That Margaret's wedding is on November 23, 1963. What an interesting way to foreshadow an event that Mr. Weiner has said he does not want to address directly.

9. The ending of the episode. On the first viewing, I said: "That's it?" But after 3 viewings, I believe it works. The episode just ends. No big cliff hanger or exciting moment, yet you know despite the seeming normalcy of Don and Peggy doing their jobs, there is so much else going on not only for them but also for S&C.
10. Don's continuing efforts to keep the peace with Betty. It seems his coping strategy is to just agree to everything she wants -- agreeing to go to Tarrytown to look at antiques, moving her dad in (without being specifically asked, though she was definitely angling for it); showing up to the kids' Maypole event at school. How long will this last, I wonder?

New Interview with Ken Cosgrove

Saw this new interview with Aaron Staton. Looks like it's brand new, he talks about the iTunes glitch. Some minor spoilers about Ken and Pete, too. http://bit.ly/spC0O

My dad was a Mad Men... Sort Of.

You would have to nail my father down to the couch to get him to watch Mad Men. My mother told me that he sat down and watched a couple of minutes of last Sunday's episode. He told my mom that the whole MSG/Penn Station story did really happen. Something she did not remember.

My mom reminded me that dad work on Madison Ave at an ad agency. He was a photographer. I wasn't around then but I remember as a kid looking at his portfolio and seeing test shots of products we still know today like the Scope bottle. I am going to try to get him to tell me about his experience working at an ad agency.

By the time I was born, he moved on to becoming a buyer for a department store and we moved to CA when I was two. I have no memories of NY. My first memories start at the end of 68 but from 69 on, I remember my life.

Everything old is new again....

Art imitating Life? Or, Art imitating Art? How ironic that Bye Bye Birdie, referenced in this episode is being revived this fall on Broadway. It opens in October and stars, John Stamos, Gina Gershon and Bill Irwin.

Has Mad Men Jumped the Shark?

I know Peggy's little Birdie song was supposed to be a poignant moment -- but it was all I could do to keep from bursting out laughing. Note to producers: yeah, we know she's a Broadway actress in real life, but note she's not in a musical. C'mon Matt, didn't you learn anything from the Sopranos and Uncle Junior's song debacle?

Other than this one gaffe the show continues to be excellent, so maybe we're not in Fonz territory just yet. Let's just hope we don't get any more unpleasant surprises.

Sally Draper and Grandpa

There were a few moments during episode two that made my skin crawl. In addition to Peggy's awkward attempt at being fresh and flirty during her "Bye, Bye Birdie" performance I had a moment of paranoia when Betty's Dad sat next to Sally on the couch. Flashbacks of his awkward groping of Betty make me think that something bad is going to happen. Did anyone else see a flash or red during this scene or am I being overly sensitive? Or maybe acutely aware of the predictable?

Roger's Dialogue Channeling Billy Wilder Films

My favorite part of the show has always been Roger's dry, cynical wit. It occured to me while watching the elevator scene in 302 that the writers are channeling Billy Wilder and his co-screenwriter I. A. L Diamond. If you think about some of the writing in Some Like It Hot or The Fortune Cookie you may see a resemblance. In fact that exchange way back between Joan and Roger discussing the film The Apartment (written by Wilder and Diamond) has Roger spouting dialogue that could well be recited by Wilder favorite, Walter Matthau. "We don't even have a dog." And of course the Roger and Peggy exchange is in an elevator, where much of the action takes place in The Apartment.

"I had one of those!"

I love this show. I was born in 1960 and I am soaking all of this in! Everywhere I see things that we had in our home. What a trip down memory lane. Boy things sure have changed. Thank God for that! In the series premiere, I was shocked by the drycleaning bag scene with Sally. Did you lay down in the rear window like I did? How did we survive without seat belts? I grew up in a very conservative family and never witnessing people drinking. Did the average person really drink like that and especially at work? The smoking I can totally believe.

Joan's Marital Status

Many of you have talked about Joan's fiancee. She was married at Christmas. I remember her stating that they were planning a Christmas wedding. It is now in the spring. Roger corrected himself and referred to her as "Mrs. Harris". She also said her husband doesn't want her to travel on the subway.

Bobby...

Where's the little boy Bobby gone...and who is the imposter that took his place?

Tired of Betty's Whining

Betty's charachter is part of the reason why I enjoy this show so much because she represents how upper middleclass housewives wanted to have a perfect life. But, really another season of hearing her speak in her baby talk and acting like a spoiled princess is too much. Please show Joan in the next epidose standing up to her husband because im tired of watching weak, whiniey betty draper. She even had the audacity to refer to herself as an "orphan: in season 2. A married, adult woman with two children calling herself an orphan. Betty needs to revisit her therapist for a few more sessions. She's more delusional than Don.

How can I rent my collection of 60s-70s formal wear ?

I have a collection of vintage clothing and I don't want to give them away. They are mostly sizes 6-10. some mens dinner jackets. I thought I might be able to rent them for TV /movie studios.

Mona, Joan, and June, er, Jane

I loved how Mona called Roger's new wife by the wrong name..."June" instead of "Jane...all the while sitting there in her little black dress and gorgeous hat looking years younger and totally lovely. How could Roger not have a regret or two looking at her, and since he quickly asked who would be escorting her to the wedding, maybe he does have a few.

As to Joan and the new Mrs. Sterling, I am wondering and trying to remember if June, er, Jane actually knows or realizes just how close a relationship Roger had with Joan. Joan was already engaged to her rat doctor when June/Jane came on board. Joan would never have told her, and why would Roger? Whatever else he is, I don't see Roger as a braggart about past affairs. So, my question to my fellow Maddicts is, does June/Jane know about Roger's affair with Joan? How do you think she will react when/if she finds out, and is it inevitable that she will find out?

Leave some tools in your toolkit?

What did Don mean when he told Peggy to "leave some tools in your toolkit" when he told her to keep solving problems?

Funnily enough, the first thing I thought of was Betty's comment that her daughter Sally "had taken to tools like a little lesbian." haha

Obviously, Peggy's not gay, but it was a funny reminder of the tool metaphor.

Splendor in the Grass

Can we separate the comments from the open thread and discuss the many interpretations of Don's hand in the grass and this houghts while watching Sally and her teacher perform the Maypole dance?

There has been a lot of speculation on interpreting this scene, some more farfetched than others. Let me tell you what passed my mind when I saw the scene, then you can share your interpretation.

My mind went immediately to the scene in "Out of Town" when Don was laying beside Betty trying to ease her into a restful sleep. He told her to close her eyes and relax......then told her she should think of putting her hand in the cool sand under her seat to further her descent into full relaxation....

I think he was trying to slip away from the stressful situation he was dealing with at home and at work. While watching Sally's teacher dance barefoot, he dropped his hand under his seat to further his journey away from there.....

What do you say? I know there are others. What is your interpretation of the scene?

I can tell you, I personally do not believe he has any romantic or lustful thoughts toward the teacher. Do you?

Language slip?

Was it just me or did Don slip back into Dick (or even Archie) Whitman-speak when he referred to Betty's father as a "sumbitch" - at least I think that's what I heard. They were in the car after dinner, Betty telling him there was a problem with her dad and Don asks "you mean other than he's a sumbitch?" Folks with captioning or better ears - please clarify. It just sounded less like Don and more like something Archie'd say.

For a good laugh, and a look into the 60's - watch this Tab commercial...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtA8IY4VUrc&feature=PlayList&p=B65B24DEBF1485D7&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=5

Parker Home in New Brunswick

Was Parker Home portrayed in positive light in last night episode?

Patio

Some people had questions on this - Check out this Wikipedia entry on Patio - It actually was a real product name!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patio_(soda)

Forshadowing the Future

One thing I've always appreciated about MadMen is that it walks that line between trying to put the viewer in the 60's without thinking about what's to come and, when it's effective, or can't be avoided, making good use of foreshadowing--meaning, what we viewers know is coming in the future that the characters don't.

It's done this before in small ways like when we're shocked by how much people smoke, don't wear seat belts, or when Roger follows doctor's orders and treats his ulcer with cream and butter, then ends up having a heart attack. Our future knowledge is put to good use and powerful effect as we wince and say, "we know what's going to be discovered and why you shouldn't be doing that..."

But MadMen also does it's best to make us forget the future we know and to be in the time and surprised. This episode, however, was all about looking to the future, searching for renewal in that future, hope and love. Which is why, I think, the episode went so far as to make almost blatant use of the viewer's knowledge of what's to come, what the future will really bring. Most notably, the wedding date for Roger's daughter. November 23, 1963. What a terrible day to get married, the day after the assassination of a president!

Yet there is also, in a quieter way, a view of the future when Don watches the barefoot teacher dancing. She has flowers in her hair, a flowing dress, and looks very much like a hippie.

So now I'm wondering, did I miss any other hints in this episode of what the future will bring, hints our characters missed, but which we viewers would recognize as foreshadowing?

CUTE PIC FROM BRYAN BATT'S SITE

Your Post

Two more reviews of Love Among the Ruins

http://www.bscreview.com/2009/08/mad-men-love-among-the-ruins-season-3-episode-2-review/

http://tunedin.blogs.time.com/2009/08/24/mad-men-watch-family-entanglements/

Superstitions

In one office scene from Love Among the Ruins, Joan had removed her wedding ring and suspended it by a thread over Betty's belly to predict the sex of her baby. There was no amnio testing or sonic imaging at that time, so there were many supersitions that tried to help women predict the sex of their baby.

Using this method, after holding the thread very still, if it swung back and forth like a pendulum, it was a boy. If the ring swung around in a circle, the prediction was that the baby was a girl.

I remember other superstitions that were based on whether you had lots of gas(belching), if a dark line appeared on your belly, or simply relying on the 'expertise of a midwife or elder family member.

Did you recognize what they were doing? Can you think of other superstitions that surrounded pregnancies and childbirth 'back in the day?' If someone tried one of these superstitions on you, was the prediction right?

EW's review of Episode 2

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20299971,00.html

Love Among the Ruins?

I have been thinking about the title of this week's episode. Who/what are they referring to? Here is my short list:
1. The love between Roger and his new bride, and Margaret and her groom amidst the ruins of Roger and Mona and the ruins of SC.
2. The "ruins" of NY, e.g. Penn Station and the ruins of ancient Greece and Rome. Roger's new wife just returned from Greece, no?
3. The love Betty has for her father, even though he is quickly turning into a "ruin" himself.
4.The love Peggy is trying hard to find amidst the "ruins" of her failed affair and child with Pete.

If things don't turn around quickly, SC will be nothing but ruins.

Any other insights?

time slot

I agree on the time slot. I can only drink Chivas for so long before I fall asleep - which is usually before 10!

time slot

change the time slot for the love of god. 10'oclock sunday night sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

is there a live chat for mad men

just wondering of one exists anywhere

Carvel, Penn Station, and Diet Soda

great historical detail in tonight's episode ... my review

The Ending?

Please explain the ending to me!!!! And, why didn't she smooth her skirt before she sat down?

peggy

Ive noticed that this season Peggy has chaged her whole attitude. she went from sweet to more serious. i think shes trying to have people take her more seriously and maybe shes trying to discover how to act. what do you think?

hahaha lol

Too many comments from me in a short time? Yet people can type away for five or six paragraphs? Look at zabadu and zerelda. Who's in charge here?

Pryce's wife Rebecca

Is that Embeth Davidtz playing Rebecca? She's not listed on AMC or on the IMDB site...just wondering.

Schedule and OnDemand Complaints

First, if this were HBO or Showtime, we would get to see Mad Men episodes many, many times during the week at reasonable viewing hours. Instead, the show airs on Sunday and after that good luck . I must be electronically deprived because I don't have a TIVO or any way to record the show at this point. Also, I can't get the latest episode On Demand....Season 2 is still running on that, but how about the latest episode in the brand new season? This is up to AMC, not the cable company. Anybody else wondering about this for the billionth time?

Patio Diet Cola and Polaroids are 'three bucks a piece"?

I recall my mom buying Patio Diet Cola and seeing it in our refrigerator. She drank it (and was slim but always thought she was 'fat'. She let me taste it and I recall a metallic carbonated taste which was unpleasant. Why was Don getting on Betty's case regarding Carla, Melba Toast and some polaroids? Anyone with insight? Is she redecorating a room for the infant girl. I DO think Betty's father bears a striking resemblance to John McCain - physically AND emotionally!

AMC HD Logo

Do any of you watching in HD find the AMC HD logo distracting? I understand that it's a station ID. But this series has so much attention to detail and a nice clear view would be so much better! Even if they just supered it for a minute or two and then faded it out. Are you listening AMC?!

Season 3 Episode 1 - Open Thread

Talk about Season 3, Episode 1, "Out of Town".

New Baby Isn't Don's

I'm beginning to question if the new baby is really Don's. In Season 2, Betty did have an affair in the back of that bar, but how do we know it was her FIRST affair. Despite his hidden past, no one knows Don's character as much as Betty does. I'm sure on some level she knows that he won't change which is why she struggled with wanting to take him back. In Season 3, it seems as though she has just accepted her fate in her marriage and accepts that Don is a cheater. When Sally finds that stewardess pin, she didn't question how it got there. Given his past affairs for so many years, you would think that she would become even a little suspicious. Betty is not as naive as we assume she is. I think she doesn't care what Don does because she's already decided to have her own affairs as well. I don't think this new baby is Don's and I will bet that we will find that out before the season ends.

The 1962 American Woman (a great YouTube video!)

Here's a wonderful, colorful, slightly patronizing glimpse into the woman's role within the home in 1962. Not to be missed by Maddicts!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTzhLjog86Y&feature=PlayList&p=2AA8305E458E0C9D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1

Ant Farm

Beyond the obvious metaphor of the new bosses viewing their workers as ants (or wanting them to work like ants), any other thoughts on the big, decorative ant farm?

I gotta add, this show is really on the ball! I'd forgotten all about the weird popularity of those glass-enclosed ant farms. Generally they were owned by kids and meant to make science/nature fun. Of course, the reality was that eventually the ants got out and got all over the house.

By the way, I predict the ants in the office are going to get out and reek havoc as well ;-D

video contest

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum but I've loved the show since the first episode. A friend of mine told me about the video contest. I thought about entering, but after watching the recent entries I'm kind of intimidated. Some of them are really good. I'm waiting to vote until I see more people but I was wondering if you guys had any favorites so far? Also, is the guy that won last year going to be on this season? I know it's "a chance" at a walk on role.

Some great links from House Beautiful

http://www.housebeautiful.com/decorating/1960s-designs
http://www.housebeautiful.com/decorating/loveit_or_leaveit/photowars-mad-men-rooms

http://www.housebeautiful.com/mad-men-home-accessories?click=main_sr

Attention Deficit Theatre, Season Three, Episode 1

For anyone interested in reading Kristin Ament's twisted recaps of the Season Premier, here's the link: http://bit.ly/14bWPI

Here's a sample scene:

Scene: Salvatore's room. He has called to report a problem with the air conditioner.

Bellboy: Hello. I'm here to service your unit.

Salvatore: Sorry for the mix-up. You see, I have totally different hardware at home. I hope I didn't break anything.

Bellboy: It'll be fine. Just needs a firmer grip.

(The bellboy kisses him passionately and puts his hands down his pants)

Salvatore: Oh my God!

Audience: Oh my God!

Fire alarm: Ding ding ding ding ding!

For a short author bio, here's Kristin's contributor page on Unbound Edition.

Enjoy! I'll post each new episode when ready. Typically we post on Wednesday. If anyone knows of a blogger or site that has transcripts of the show, we could turn around the recaps faster. For now, we have to transcribe each scene before writing the recaps...

If you're interested, here's a link for Season One and Two recaps as well: http://bit.ly/19r6i6

Best,

Kevin Ament
Editor in Chief, Unbound Edition
Attention Deficit Player

Hey Dry... Thre is a Season 3 Scrapbook!!!

http://blogs.amctv.com/photo-galleries/mad-men-season-3-scrapbook/mad-men-season-3-scrapbook.php

(Another) Interesting Weiner Interview...

I'd like to share a newspaper article I read documenting another interview with Matt Weiner focusing on the premiere episode, "Out of Town." The difference in this article (over the many others we have read) is that the author is a real fan. His blogs have been part of my weekly Mad Men reading since last season, and because he is a fan, his questions are very direct and focused on most of the things Maddicts want to know.

I'm not going to recap all the interesting points, but I will say you will learn why Weiner strayed from his original plan to separate seasons by 18-24 months, whether Betty believes Don is being faithful, and why Don believes (even after his romp with the stewardess) he is being faithful. If you read to the end, you will find out whether Don will return to California this season.

That...and much more.....
Enjoy...!

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2009/08/mad-men-talking-out-of-town-with.html

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ADT THREAD/LINK???

Your Post

Sally and dad's tools.....

I don't think Betty's line rang true about Sally playing with her dad's tools.... Betty said it was like a "little lesbian", and then Don smiled approvingly. In those days, children were never referred to as "little lesbians". If a girl liked to climb trees, she was called a tomboy . So Sally might have been referred to as a tomboy for having an interest in her dad's tools or even affectionately referred to as "daddy's girl".. Finally, I don't think it has ever been a test of whether one is or is not a lesbian as to whether a person has an affinity to tools...

SEASON ONE

I was able to view the entire second season on AMC Free on Demand. Does anyone know how I can see the entire first season without buying the dvd?

Betty gets a job?

After looking at the photo shot in Vanity Fair for an upcoming episode, I find myself attempting to guess what is forthcoming. Yes, Don does look miserable, but if you look close, you notice that Betty is not wearing her wedding ring set. In an interview January states, "I make jewelry, I have my own line." In one of the photos AMC has, it shows her looking at her reflection, then looking at the jewelry. Wouldn't it be a kicker if Don had to work for Betty?

Sal's Bellhop Talks!

http://gothamist.com/2009/08/19/mad_men_bellhop_talks.php

Casting Call results!

(different punctuation... different meaning)

They are up, Maddicts!! WHoo!!

http://bit.ly/MMSemiFinalist

Jon Hamm on E! (right now!)

So sorry I forgot to mention sooner that Jon Hamm was interviewed on the red carpet by E! last night. You can probably catch the re-runs today (right now!) and they may re-run it within E! News Weekend.

He couldn't have been more charming or self-effacing, calling himself an "idiot from Missouri" in response to the reporter's inquiry about the night-clubbing lifestyle some L.A. actors espouse.

Also, check out his new movie, an action-fantasy movie (?) which plot sounds interesting, to say the least, not to mention co-stars Emily Browning and Vanessa Hudgeons (??).....check it out.....

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b140098_hubba-hubba_jon_hamm-vanessa_hudgens.html?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_movienews

Mad Men's Don Draper is ready for the cuckoo nest.

Jon Hamm has signed on to star with Vanessa Hudgens in the latest flick from Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen), the action fantasy Sucker Punch.

He'll play a mysterious gambling man named High Roller in the 1950s-set flick about a young girl (Emily Browning) who faces a lobotomy after being committed to a mental hospital by her stepfather. She and her nuthouse pals plot an escape by entering an alternate reality, a sort of dream-world brothel run by the High Roller.

The flick costars Abbie Cornish, Carla Gugino, Jamie Chung and Jena Malone. Hamm will begin work after wrapping the current third season of Mad Men and the Ben Affleck-directed crime drama The Town.

Is the hookers trick Don's Dad?

In reading the hilarious ADT website, Don makes this confession -

Don: My mom died in childbirth like yours. Only mine as a prostitute. They found my father and gave me to him and his wife. He died when I was 10. He was a drunk who got kicked by a horse. So she took up with some other man. I was raised by those two sorry people.

Looks like Don told Rachel that whoever birthed the baby "found his dad" and gave Don to him. This makes me believe, like I thought, that the john was Don's dad.

Thoughts?

Lords of the Revolution

This 5-part docu-series has been airing on VH-1, and covers many of the cultural and social changes of the 1960s, as we may, or may not see in the remaining seasons of Mad Men.

The series aired last week or so ago but, surprisingly, so far doesn't appear to be on the schedule for re-running yet. Hopefully they will run it again for anyone actually interested.

You can see the bonus vid clips here http://www.vh1.com/shows/lords_of_the_revolution/series.jhtml , and here is a promotional video for Lords, complete with a witty ad tie-in to Mastercard.

http://laughingsquid.com/lords-of-the-revolution-on-vh1/

Casting Call results?

I live in Denver and it is nearly noon here and they haven't posted the results... this has been like a 5 week anxious hell!!!

I hope we find out soon!

Don Juan - Always a Cheater?

This might be a naïve question, but do people think that Don will always be a philanderer or will he be able to clean up his act someday? Don has had many affairs over the years, yet wishes to stay married to Betty and has attempted to be faithful to her at times (beginning of season 2). Is he capable of fidelity, or is he always going to fall to temptation when a skirt comes his way?

In a related topic, how does Don's infidelity affect your opinion of him? Do you love him just as he is or do you wish he'd fix his ways? Will you stop watching the show if he stops/doesn't stop the affairs?

More Sunday Night in Times Square

.....Happened upon this link to three videos of Sunday night in Times Square, courtesy of poster ProgGrrl, via Basket of Kisses.

http://www.fangrrlmagnet.com/2009/08/sunday-night-with-mad-men-in-times.html

There are three videos, the first is a view from the audience, the second is Bryan Batt, Master of Ceremonies and the Trivia Contest, and the third is a great vid clip from New York Magazine, with interviews from the various costume contest participants, and audience members (the best one, IMHO).

It looked like a total blast, and the (very) large audience actually sat quietly for the entire viewing!

Tantalizing hint re Joan

There are a couple of hints (no real spoilers) in an article in, of all places, the Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203550604574361072650092610.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Hmmmmm.....

Preview of Next Episode

At the end of each week's episode, a short preview is played of scenes from the next week's show. On the AMC Mad Men site, there is a "sneak peek" of an actual scene from the next episode, but the preview is not shown. Is there anywhere that preview can be viewed again? There was a short scene in it that I would like to look at again. Just wondering.

What Was the Sex of Pete and Peggy's Baby?

Did they ever mention the sex of Peggy and Pete's illegitimate child?

Little things to love in Episode 1

Several days have passed since the premiere of Season 3, so I wanted to jot down a list of little things I loved, in no particular order, in Episode 1:

1. Kiernan Shipka's name (Sally) is now in the opening credits. Go Sally!!
2. The Drapers' milk comes in bottles (i.e., the opening scene when Don is heating the milk). Does that mean the Drapers have a milkman?
3. The intercoms at Sterling Cooper -- reminiscent of the adults' voices on the Charlie Brown cartoons -- totally unintelligible.
4. Trudy's hat -- reminiscent not only of Sherlock Holmes but also Juliet Mills in Nanny and the Professor (remember that show)?
5. The ant farm -- Sterling Cooper continues the tradition of "bringing your pets to work" Remember poor Chauncy from last season?
6. Bert Peterson screaming off camera while Joan is explaining to Mr. Hooker, as only Joan can, the rules of personnel management.
7. That Peggy's secretary is named Lola.
8. That Don was typing. Loved that Roger walked in while Don was typing and announced "your girl is gone."
9. Joan has got her mojo back -- bossing Joan Hooker around and shutting Peggy's complaining down while they were waiting for the elevator.
10. That air travel seemed reasonably pleasant, perhaps even fun.

Maddicts Down Under Unite!

I've been following the Mad Men Blogs on Facebook and always get excited to see new competitions announced - only to be tragically disappointed to see they are open to US residents only. UNFAIR. Baby Boomer/Gen X'ers like myself couldn't possibly be more enamoured of your show and yet I feel discriminated against for my Antipodean Situation - please throw us a bone?

Tips for the talk forum

Here's just a note...

The forum is SLOW! Not totally sure why. May not have recovered from the contest.

If you start a topic or leave a comment, click on send and let it sit for a minute. Pretend you live in 1963 when you didn't have an iPhone or computer and had to wait for things to happen instead of instantly. If you just wait, it will post. Takes a minute or so. That will keep the duplicate posts off.

Thanks!

Messaging other users!

I wish there was a way we could message other users. Sometimes I feel like comments get lost in the noise...

Anywho, Dry... I wanted you to see my comment & clarification here - http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/talk/2009/08/shock-value-hur.php#comment-122126

Sorry it was taken the wrong way!

season three - sal romano

I really love Mad Men. In general, I think the writing/direction is absolutely brilliant. I was very disappointed by the graphic sexual incident with Sal in Season three opening. It seems like either the writer or director or both just got lazy and decided to use sensationalism as a substitute for the usual brilliance. I hope Season three won't be disappointing. I looked forward to it so much!!!!!

Don and Peggy

ok all you maddicts. What's the big secret relationship between Don and Peggy. Is it the fact that she helped him out when he crashed his car and did not reveal his secret affair? I dont' understand their relationship.

Pen necklace

I love the pen necklace Joan wears on the show. Anyone interested in a necklace can go to marshallhouseinc.com for a variety of styles to choose from for about $20 - $24. they are gorgeous, I wear mine in the office daily and have received many compiments on it. I searched for the pen necklace tirelssly on the internet but did not like the quality or look of the one at 1928, i fortunately came across the marshall house website and am so happy i looked into it.

Why no sports talk in MM world???

haven't seen this brought up anywhere, so perhaps people have insights here. it seems really strange to me that in the male dominated world of MM, there is absolutely NO TALK OF SPORTS... perhaps my memory is failing me, but i don't ever remember a single conversation of any sport or sports figure in any episode. was sports that unpopular back then?

The Fisherman's Wife's Dream

I'm seeing some interesting comments on the erotic, Japanese print "The Fisherman's wife's dream" regarding how it might relate to Don's imagination.

The key line is Bert asking "Who imagined who ecstasy?" To me, this line and the image have so many layers and possibilities. The main point being, I think, that people are entangling themselves with monsters in the hopes of achieving ecstasy. One thought is simply that this is an ad agency and it's job is to get across to people the belief that they'll feel such ecstasy if they buy a certain product. So they are the ones imagining such things. Drawing up men holding liquor bottles in hopes of convincing them that this lead to sex.

Another thought about the picture and imagining might have to do with Sal, who, being a gay man in the early 60's may have felt that his sexual dreams were nearly as impossible to attain.

But I think what the image is really about is the merger. We often use the metaphor of an octopus as a corporation, and it seems like the UK company is the octopus. It's telling everyone that it will bring ecstasy, and maybe those involved are imagining it will, but that may be just a dream. Other thoughts on this erotic image and Bert's comment about it?

Oops! Accidental preview

I read today that some subscribers to iTunes got an unintentional viewing of the third episode, "My Old Kentucky Home" before it disappeared once again into the ether, so to speak. Somebody goofed at iTunes but they corrected it (and removed it) as soon as caught. There are a few spoilers floating around from those who did see it, which I will not repeat.

Yummy picture of Jon Hamm

Trying to start this thread again - first one never appeared. See it here at http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Jon-Hamm-Winds-Up-For-A-Sucker-Punch-14429.html

Video Contest 2009

It just occurred to me that the writers may be running out of ideas, so our submissions may be used without permission. What do you think?

Mad Men Footnotes

A friend sent me this link... it's a great site full of information about the things and activities portrayed in our show... enjoy.

P.S. The description of Burts Japanese Woodcut may be too much for the "shrinking violets" that have issues with gratuitous sex.

http://madmenfootnotes.com/

Anonymous Posts...So Confusing

Just my own humble opinion, but I wish folks would sign in with some kind of name other than "Anonymous". It gets rather confusing and, yes, annoying when several people sign in that way on the same threads. You don't know if it is the same person or several people making certain points. You would be just as unknown making up an original moniker for yourself as you are when choosing "Anonymous."

Do the MM menfolk sport expensive suits?

I'm wondering... Do the menfolk on the SC/PPL floor sport suits which were expensive by 1963 standards? Would all these men buy American? Or venture into English and Italian suits? Is there a "pecking order" you perceive in the clothing all the men wear..?. ie., is Ken's suit as expensive as Roger's? How much would these guys have expected to pay for these suits (and hats) in 1963?

Pete's Happy Dance

I saw this on another site and I LOVE it... I could watch this all day!

http://i350.photobucket.com/albums/q413/fangrrl_magnet/happydancePeteC.gif

Which Characters Will Be Involved in the JFK Assassination? (Spoof)

JFK's assassination will surely be part of the storyline this season. The question is--which characters will be involved in the assassination? I predict:

Betty will be one of the plotters. Sal, Pete, and Cosgrove will be "the three tramps." Don will be the "patsy."

But which character will be the second gunman on the grassy knoll?

MadMen Ratings All Time High!

To all those trying to panic the show into easing back on Sal's (or any other homosexual) storyline by insisting that it will lose viewers by the score and tank:

From the L.A. TImes: >The third season of AMC's critically praised but ratings-challenged advertising drama hit a series high in its Sunday premiere, delivering 2.8 million viewers -- up 34% from last year's opener. Across the night's three airings, the show drew a cumulative 4 million.

It's quite a leap when you consider that Season 2 averaged just 1.5 million viewers in its 10 p.m. Sunday airings. <

So. It's tripled its numbers of viewers. This means that if even a third are so disgusted by what they see this season that they stop watching...it will still be double what it was last year.

Of course, all 13 episodes are done and, given these numbers, will be shown. It won't be till the season's finished that we'll see if anything had any impact, positive or negative in upping or lowering the numbers. So, ultimately, saying that something or other presented in a single episode is going to kill the show is moot. It'll be on for the next three months then on to DVD. No question, no doubt. And maybe it'll get itself a few more Emmys along the way.

Hilarious Live Tweeting of Premier Episode

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2009-08-17/mad-men-premiere-what-cinemax-looked-like-in-the-60s/

The Sopranos Effect

When The Sopranos first aired in HBO, the story centered on the psychological conflict faced by a man torn between two familes -- the one he lived with and his Mob family. It was unlike anything most of us had ever seen before, and it was great.

Over the years, however, the subtext seemed to overwhelm the story itself. It was as if David Chase and the writers began to buy into this notion that they were producing "literature you watch" instead of a compelling TV show. Every book seen, song title heard, movie clip shown was analyzed by fans looking for some hidden clue into what was going to happen next. Fans spent hours debating the significance of the names "Heidi" and "Kennedy."

This culminated in the mishmash that became Season Six. Here is Tony in a coma, talking to Buddhist monks. Here is Tony doing mushrooms and gambling in Vegas -- was the routlette wheel a symbol for the universe itself? And how about those onion rings? People were comparing the final montage to the elements in The Last Supper.

This was all great fun for the fans, but I think Chase and the writers took it too seriously and it ultimately hurt the show. They seemed to be tossing a kitchen sink of potential symbols into the story not because it flowed naturally from the narrative, but because they wanted to keep fans guessing. I think Chase lost control of the show at the end, and essentially threw up his hands in that final scene, telling his audience, "You figure out the ending."

My hope is that Matt Weiner -- having been there for the duration of the Sopranos, and having written some of its best episodes -- can avoid this. Matt, let us debate whether skimming the top off burnt milk foreshadows a stillborn birth, or whether Peggy's haircut is some sort of Samon and Deliah reference. You just tell the story.
When The Sopranos first aired in HBO, the story centered on the psychological conflict faced by a man torn between two familes -- the one he lived with and his Mob family. It was unlike anything most of us had ever seen before, and it was great.

Over the years, however, the subtext seemed to overwhelm the story itself. It was as if David Chase and the writers began to buy into this notion that they were producing "literature you watch" instead of a compelling TV show. Every book seen, song title heard, movie clip shown was analyzed by fans looking for some hidden clue into what was going to happen next. Fans spent hours debating the significance of the names "Heidi" and "Kennedy."

This culminated in the mishmash that became Season Six. Here is Tony in a coma, talking to Buddhist monks. Here is Tony doing mushrooms and gambling in Vegas -- was the routlette wheel a symbol for the universe itself? And how about those onion rings? People were comparing the final montage to the elements in The Last Supper.

This was all great fun for the fans, but I think Chase and the writers took it too seriously and it ultimately hurt the show. They seemed to be tossing a kitchen sink of potential symbols into the story not because it flowed naturally from the narrative, but because they wanted to keep fans guessing. I think Chase lost control of the show at the end, and essentially threw up his hands in that final scene, telling his audience, "You figure out the ending."

My hope is that Matt Weiner -- having been there for the duration of the Sopranos, and having written some of its best episodes -- can avoid this. Matt, let us debate whether skimming the top off burnt milk foreshadows a stillborn birth, or whether Peggy's haircut is some sort of Samon and Deliah reference. You just tell the story.

Intercom

In the first episode, we were given a few examples of the intercom being quite fuzzy..I found that interesting. Technology starting to go bad

Is it me or did they imply Don is being let go...

In the teaser clip that aired after the AMC 10pm EST broadcast fo the show, there was a montage of clips from the coming season that served as a sneak peak of things to come.

In one of the scenes, it appears as thoguh the new CFO (I forgot his name) is letting Don Draper go. Was I the only person that caught that scene?

Don is Going to Destroy Everything

Don is just too eager, deep down, to run away from it all and to destroy the lie that is his "new" life.

He's going to implode and explode later this season and tear everything down into rubble.

Mad Men - A Truly Catholic Storyline

Interesting article - http://ncronline.org/news/mad-men-truly-catholic-storyline

Oh Yeah - Shock Value

This show will end one day !!!!! That is a fact !!!! But while it's on I am constantly amazed at how fast the hour goes ........ Shock value in a Homo - Hook Up......what about a Doctor Smoking During your Exam(1st Episode). Two many to name on this show!!!! Shock value is life.... I can hardly wait to see the gang at Andy's factory circa 1964. Draper and Edie......

What do you wish would return from "Mad Men" Days?

Let us go back to being "out of the office."

There were no blackberries, no texting, no email, and no cell phones. There were also no fax machines.

When you were gone for the day, gone on vacation or gone on holiday, you truly were "out of the office."

You had no way to be bugged or inundated with anything work related at all.

The same went for your lunch hour; your lunch break was YOURS. There was no vibrate, or annoying cell hpone ringtone alerting you somebody from the office was contacting you....AGAIN.

If you were at your cousin's wedding, on aa beach, at the corner bar and grill watching a game with friends or what have you, you truly were "out of the office." Whatever it was could wait until you returened to work.

Have you lost your minds?

The rage over this episode is ridiculous! People saying sponsors won't pay for this - guess what? Sponsors get to see the script before they pay for it! Mad Men will lose viewers? For everyone one of the morally outraged people that leaves because someone shoved his hands down Sal's pants, two more will come to see what's going on.

A mother calling her child a lesbian as a joke is shocking? A woman covering her breasts is shocking? Do any of you watch television at all? This is standard fare and this is also cable!

The only thing that will kill Mad Men is the religious righteous type people that come here. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Run Jon, Run!!!

Poor Jon Hamm! He finally gets his big break on MadMen, and now he's going to lose it in just one fell swoop! Hope he gets something else on his plate quick or this season may very well end him. And why did he do that idiotic skit on Jimmy Fallon? Please Jon, have some discretion over your work, you're worth it!

Shock Value Hurts Viewership

On one of the many threads about last night's show, a poster noted that this show would not play well between New York and San Francisco. That was the point I was trying to make last night when I said that I was surprised that the execs at AMC did not tell the writers and producers to "tone it down". Weiner and company and the execs blew it in my opinion with their "shock value".

Definitions of "shock value":

A character saying that they are going to "cut his dick off".

A mother calls her daughter a "little lesbian".

Showing someone putting his or her hands down the pants of another person (male or female).

A woman turning to a man sitting on a bed with her hands covering her breasts.

All in the first 15 minutes of a show that received great hype and most certainly had many new viewers.

I am sure that the execs at AMC would trade having a larger audience for allowing Wiener to have his "artistic integrity" if toning down the shock value would help retain some new viewers. Maybe the execs are just interested in putting on a show for like-minded people who possess their level of great intelligence and tolerance, but I doubt it.

TV is all about ratings! If the ratings do not improve this season, this show is dead, especially after all of the hype.

BMW is not going to pay the advertising costs to run 4 minutes of commercials for this show for the same 1.5 million viewers every week.

Low ratings have killed many great TV shows.

My opinion is that toning down some of this shock value stuff would have retained more new viewers.

It is always about money folks.....

Whiskey ad in magazine on plane...

I haven't seen this covered yet...Don's comment about the whiskey ad sounded vaguely familiar. After viewing the show for the third time, I realized he was referring to THE LOST WEEKEND. A movie that came out around 1945, staring Ray Miland. It was about an alcoholic writer who had a mental block. He hocked his typewriter in order to buy whiskey and went on one crazy binge that lasted all weekend. Don's comment was something to the effect that in the ad the bottle was the guy's date, not the girl beside him.

Matthew Weiner is so clever with some of his rather oblique references.

Name the New Baby!

Since names followed fashion in the sixties just as they do now - let's name the new babe in Don's life? Names I recall from circa 1963 classmates in third grade were: Grace, Patty, Maryann, Ellen, Camille, Janine, Kathleen, Joanne, Katherine, and Valerie. Boys had names like Allen, Thomas, Ronald, Lawrence, William and Patrick.

Uh Oh..

I just had a thought. I think most people have basically decided not to try to figure out the flashback opening, what exactly the significance is, and that we'll get answers later.

Now one thing that I couldn't figure in the offseason is if they were really going to have Betty pregnant. I wasn't able to imagine it, I think it just ties the Betty character down too much which takes away some conflict issues.

Here, in the flashback, it was a baby girl that was stillborn. Betty believes she has a girl.

See where I'm going?

Oh boy.

Suspension of Disbelief

The performance of every magician depends on members of the audience willing suspension of disbelief. We all know that Matt Weiner is spinning a magical tale of the Mad Men world of the early 1960s.

Sure, it is marvelous that virtually all of us who contribute to these discussions have specific knowledge, often at odds with a story point. It is possible the crack MM research team did find a citation that such and such was possible at the time. Or, to be technically accurate might kill a great story. Case in point, starting with the Pilot and the IBM Selectric typewriters early in 1960. MW has explained countless times when filming in NYC it was not possible to rent enough period correct IBM model B and C machines. If those worked the carriage would move and to sync the sound in post would be overly expensive. Until the Selectric IBM did not sell their products, only rented them, and had a policy of destroying returns that could not be rebuilt. Hence Model B and C are so rare. As Bert Cooper says, "Who Cares?"

Sunday after noon a gaggle of friends attended a prolonged Mad Men viewing party at my home in Pasadena, CA USA. Starting at 5PM we ran in order "Six Month Leave"; "The Inheritance"; "The Jet Set"; "The Mountain King"; and finally "Meditations In An Emergency" all from the Blu-Ray set, to refresh our memories. Most of us were eating and talking. Period drinks were consumed.

About half the audience are my age, over 65 and had careers starting before 1959. The rest are younger and with connection to advertising, marketing and/or the entertainment industry. Some later re-invented themselves as professors or historians.

We made mental notes that as Season 2 concluded it worked out Clearasil fired SC because it would be a PPL conflict with Leaver Bros, which also had the TWA account. Thus we accepted the choice of TWA to fly from NYC to Baltimore. Chances are SC/PPL got free tickets. Dulles had not been opened, but TWA did serve National as well as BAL. Thus there was a gasp when Shelly asked where Don and Sal were headed.

By coincidence a neighbor attending our party became a TWA flight attendant in 1958. She was one who sued TWA and won in 1965. That was the case which ended airlines policy of firing female flight attendants after a few years, so the faces would be fresh and young. She relaxed when it was Sunny Mabrey playing Shelly because Sunny is in her early 30's making it entirely possible she had enough seniority to be working First Class. Back in 1960 all TWA FA were college graduates, 21 or 22 when hired.

This mature woman nearly fainted at the sight of Shelly and Lorelai, with a male flight crew member, in uniform in the restaurant. They would have stopped at their hotel and at least removed their hats and uniform jackets. Shelly declines a cigarette while in uniform. Drinking alcohol was an even bigger violation of TWA policy and also FAA regulations.

Someone else felt his disbelief was broken when Betty called Sally a lesbian. That guy is my age, lived in NYC in 1963 and simply did not believe the word would be spoken at the time.

Everyone else at our event totally bought into the mythical Mad Men universe, which functions on the attitude when the legend either becomes fact or is more entertaining, print the legend. In Matt Weiner we trust!

Maybe Betty could have called Sally a tool-belt tomboy, but perhaps it was felt at that moment a signal needed to be sent.

Without Shelly getting a bit drunk at dinner her uniform wings would not be discovered in Don's suitcase by Sally, paying off the "What did you bring me, Daddy?" line Peggy wrote for Mohawk Airlines.

In the future it could be some contributing to this forum will be show runners. Then you will have the chance to debate every line in every script not only in your own writers room, but with networks, studios and sponsors.

Oh yes, people say Stoli was not sold in the USA in 1963, yet the current importers admit providing a vintage 1963 bottle as product placement.

In the Baltimore newspapers a former president of London Fog claims he and his father never smoked and would not deal with slick ad men wearing three-piece suits. Please note neither Sal nor Don were wearing three-piece suits. It is also interesting that the current management of London Fog asked for the product placement, although coy about any payment for this.

Tonight, Monday Aug 17, 2009

AMC is showing Mad Men Season 3, episode 1 at 11:00 p.m. (EST).

Pete -- Is he good at his job?

I'll be darned if I can tell what Pete has done in the past two seasons to merit being named head of accounts, or even sharing it with Ken.

I can't remember anything that suggested he's particularly good at his job. Peggy bailed them out whn Freddy got drunk. Yes, Pete went with Duck to try to snare the AA account, but that didn't work. He did OK in California, but did that actually result in any business?

I guess his pouting would be a little more believable if I could understand what his value is to the company. Anyone want to enlighten me?

Don Draper's Off Center Moral Center

Last night's episode was another great example of Don Draper's chameleon-like morality. Depending on where he is, who he is with, or what he is doing, he can be a fine, upstanding man (making warm milk for Betty in the middle of the night) or a real cad (cavorting with the stewardess) or a little of both (telling Sally he would "always come home" yet also giving her the stewardess' pin). Lucky for Don, only the stewardess' pin made it into the suitcase -- imagine what might have happened if an errant bra or panties had fallen into the suitcase instead. I have always felt that Don lacks impulse control, and we saw this again last night -- he sees an opportunity, takes it, and sorts out the consequences later. While others who live like this might have ended up dead, divorced or at least court-martialed, his Teflon mostly works and he lands on his feet. Sometimes he reflects on his bad behavior, and seems to want to try to do better, but I detected in last night's episode that he's now fallen into a more cynical, "rationalizing" mode, i.e., Betty's pregnant and there's no way she'll ever find out about a stewardess out of town, plus it's Dick Whitman's birthday. His "message" to Sal is his new working philosophy. As long as you limit your exposure, what the hell. He did not limit his exposure last year when he was running around in plain sight with Bobbie Barrett, and he won't make that mistake again. What will be interesting to see this season is whether, and to what extent, any of this catches up with Don. I am going to bet that for the time being, he and Betty will be "ok" and he is not at significant risk for being sent back to the Roosevelt Hotel-- Betty is concentrating on domestic bliss, real or imagined, and will be too preoccupied with the baby to be drinking in the afternoon and going through Don's pockets. So maybe we will see unrest in Don's life in other ways --- the Agency, his health (remember all that coughing last year) or something else we have never thought of. I'm sure Weiner and Co. will deliver something wonderful.

was it his first kiss?

I know allot of you are talking about Salvatore and the bellboy but I don't think many people realize that was actually his first anything with a guy. from what I understand I believe that Matt Weiner stated that Sal in a way was still a virgin. and in truth my older gay friends say that most of them who lived back then didn't have their first anything with a guy until they were in their 30s and 40s.

comments?

Same Old, Same Old - comments, that is

I've been having a flash of deja vu reading first day comments on Season 3 episode 1. People either loved it, or - wait for it - were disappointed, let down, not what I expected, it's overhyped, etc. etc. etc. Go back and read the open thread for "For Those Who Think Young" and see for yourself.

unrealistic expectations

Wow so many negative comments.Was it the best episode ever no. does it have a different cinematic feel yes. Sal and the bellboy uncomfortable yes and also unrealistic.But there is no way this 1st episode could have met the expectations of a fan base chomping at the bit for a new season.Give the show a chance these guys writing know what they are doing.

Marks on Pete's face

Did anyone else know the new marks on Pete's face? I checked last year, and it seems like they are new.

Bobby Draper

I am worried about little Bobby. He was summarily dismissed from the bedroom in last night's episode and completely left out of the discussion about the night Sally was born. And in previous episodes he is treated terribly by Betty. And now she is convinced she is having another girl. I don't think she likes boys. In another topic someone was suprised that Don didn't turn out to be a serial killer with the upbringing he had; Bobby sure could.

Bobby Draper

Did anyone else notice there's a new actor portraying Bobby Draper? What happened to little Aaron Hart?

Mr. Weiner, this show is not your personal political platform

I was a huge fan of Season 1 and 2 and looked forward to Season 3, but was very disappointed with the first episode. Given what I saw last night and some of the interviews I've read recently, I fear Mr. Weiner has decided, in the fashion of Mark Cherry and others who ruined good, popular shows with their personal politics, that he has a "manadate" to discuss his views, and will now be trying to preach rather than just put on a good show. The whole Don's marriage/Sal affair/Don warning was just plain depressing, not entertaining. If that is where this show is going, count me out.

Joan's Body

Did anyone else notice how distorted Joan's body was. It was as if they put her in a body suit. check the scene where she's standing sideways in an office door (maybe where she's showing the office to the British Sec'y). She has a pin head in a huge body, not her usual sexy self.

Mad Men

While I was telling all that I saw last night to watch the return of MadMen. little did I know what was in store. The hotel scene was too much involving the bellman. Too much information. I don't believe this show needs to add the sex graphics to be up to par. That is what made the 50's movies the classics that they are. Leave that to the viewer to construe.

Belvedere Hotel in good ole B'more township

Just a note - The basement bathroom in the Belvedere Hotel was a "Notorious" homosexual tearoom for the well-heeled set up until the early 80's.
Haussner's was not that BRIGHT inside - Just to be picky.....Any thoughts........

Reaction to Sal...hard to believe

For me, it only goes to show that society isn't as progressive as people believe. I am saddened by the amount of people who have posted that they will not watch if Sal's journey continues, or that "Mad Men died tonight".

Seems that society will accept Don screwing everything that walks (well, except for the dimwits, which also seemed to cause grief this episode), but show one gay encounter and people start clicking off their sets.

It's sad to me that people are still so closed-minded.

The opening flashback

I know this is picky, but this show is so good, it's OK to be picky.
We are treated in the beginning to a flashback to Don's birth. Well, how could Don have remembered any of this, since he was,you know, being born?

Is this how he IMAGINES his birth happened? I can't imagine that either of his parents would have told him the horrible details, but I guess that's possible.

I guess, at the very least, it gives us some insight into Don if this is how he imagines the circumstances of his birth. It would be interesting if he discoveres the reality doesn't match his imagination.

A Real "Dick"

The words of the Midwife are: "His name is Dick. After a wish his mother shoulda lived to see."

Now before we get into that, a quick question: I presumed that Don/Dick's father was his father, the mother the prostitute rather than the adopted mother who kept giving birth to stillborn babies. But the man we see with her, the 85 cent guy, isn't the father who yells at his wife about "killing" the stillborn baby (not an abortion--he means she can't bring a baby to term).

Don't father is the man who gets threatened with castration--so, is he a true orphan who was adopted? Or is he the son of that woman's husband, the one who keeps accusing her of being unable to produce a child?

Either way, yes, indeed, it seems he got his name because his father was, well, a Dick, in every and any way we want to take that. And there are times when he himself is one as well.

Season 3 - First Episode - continuity issues noted...

Good as usuall..but I found some continuity issues in production..positioning of characters' heads/faces, body positioning on close up shots - two person conversations...quite distracting as I watched this episode.
But still one of the best programs EVER on TV.

Nice recap article

http://www.slate.com/id/2225274/entry/2225377/

My favorite line from the article..."This man may have no moral compass, but don't you dare impugn his commitment to fire safety."

A few observations

Hi fellow Maddicts!
If these topics have been covered please excuse me for repeating...I haven't been able to read all posts yet.

Did anyone else think the flight attendant with Don was a Betty double with a southern drawl? She even made a comment to Don that people ask her if she is a model? I got the feeling he was looking at her in the room scene and thinking of Betty.

I loved the scenes with Pete and Ken when they were each alone with the British guy (can't remember his name). Their styles are obviously sooo different! Pete was so uptight, and Ken made himself right at home! I wonder who will win that battle!

Did anyone else think the ant farm represented the "work place"? Maybe I'm reading too much into it...
I know ants have been studied for their work place roles, social roles etc.

OK I'll stop writing and read more now!

Bottom Line on Season 3

Lots of folks have complained about the direction the show is going....
Every character's "straight jacket" is loosening, and I think that explains the actions of many players. Seasons 1 and 2 were much more fantasy....mid-sixties will see us begin the journey to 2009.

I think many not impressed in 1963-are even MORE discontent with our society today.

Season 3 Episode 1 - for sale

When will Season 3 episodes be available to buy?

Duck Phillips

I miss him. Is he gone for good? After last year
s season finale, I assume so. But he was a great character, and I shall miss him.

"I will always come home."

Don's Birthday.

Aborting daughters?? [Anyone?]

The coiled stove and bottled milk. Don cost his old man .85 cents to create.

"Cut your [his] dick off and boil it in hog fat"

His step-mother covers her face when the midwife says, "Is your husband home?"

"His name is Dick. After a wish his mother shoulda lived to see." Ouch.

The milk boils over, Don removes the skin and takes it to Betty (still pregnant! [They couldn't very well skip over the birth of a new Draper/Whitman.]

"Oh believe me, she knows what she wants." -Betty. Foreshadowing?

Don's broken valise: "She's taking to your tools like a little lesbian." -Betty

"I want her to come into our home at its best." Great to see them loving toward each other again.

Squid performing cunniligus picture in Cooper's office: "Who is the man who imagined her ecstasy? -Bert "Who indeed?"

London Fog was Coal Dust. "Charles Dickens & whatnot."

Roger!!!! "Sorry I'm late, did I miss anything? Oh, it's that meeting...sorry about that. It wasn't easy."

"Fellow comrades in mediocrity, I want you to listen very closely: you can all go straight to hell." -Peterson

"How the hell am I supposed to live like this?" Pete straightening his arms said it all.

JOAN!!! Red dress!, big gold (?) buttons. Love the full body shot! She's a force.

"I didn't want to make it awkward with a threesome." -Pete Victory dance. Clasps his hands, pour a drink, calls Trudy. Trudy's hair! They're so flirtatious. Love it. And Trudy's companion's porcupine-looking hat. Wow.
"Oh Peter, don't go to the well, there's no water there."-Trudy HA!

"I heard you wanted to see me so I grabbed a sandwich. What can I do for you?" -Classic Ken

Cheers to BMW for sponsorship. I'll be paying attention to which companies have the brains to support the show.

"That's not a bottle, that's his date." -Don

Hoffstat and Fleischmann are staying at The Belvadere

"It will be a hoot-and-a-half." -Shelly the stewardess

Sal: I've never seen a stewardess that game
Don: (with geunine surprise) Really?
Lucky bastard.

Stewardesses weren't allowed to smoke in uniform?

James Hoffa. Money missing. No reciepts. "A couple of G-men." James Cagney!

Sexual tension in the elevator. Sal comments on the attendants uniform. "Shelly, its been swelly."

"Let me see if its different than my floor." Not-so-subtle, Shelly.

"I've been married a long time. You get plenty of chances." -Don, telling the truth

"It's my brithday."
"Let me see your driver's license "
"That's not gonna help."

Very sexy girl! Carefully choreographed partial nudity, but not unnatural-looking. So much sexier than seeing it all.

Sal is hot and bothered. The way the bellboy's feet sidle up to his.

The look on Don's face when he sees Sal is so perfect. Uncomfortably registering everything. Almost like he enjoyed being scandalized (not that he's interested).

"Everything's okay folks" -Bellboy
Sal face doesn't think so.

JOAN & PEGGY!
Joan is wearing a different ring, I think. Love her square earrings.
"Don't call him that, he hates that!" Ever the professional.
"Are you defending him?"
"He's repellent. He reminds me of a doorman."
Loooove her/them.

"A business has to get bigger every year. That's capitalism." How's that working out?

"Our worst fears lie in anticipation." Sal quoting Balzac

"There will be fat years and leans years, but it's going to rain." -Don.

Pete pouts better than anyone.

"[Olsen's] all over the place." -Pete
"You know that's not true." -Joan

Ken vs. Pete is on!
"They want us to hate each other; I refuse to participate in that." -Ken
"Look at you. Never break a sweat. You're right, I should just lay down and we can run together holding hands." -Pete

Don gives Sal advice and a London Fog pitch in the same sentence: "Limit your exposure." Masterful.

Upsetting the status quo, in a different way than Peggy did, with Mr. hooker the secretary. Status vs. position.

An ant farm!

Trudy's black hat is its own character! Right out of one of the hatboxes in my grandma's closet.
The disheveled strand of Pete's hair says everything.
Trudy knows something's wrong immediately. "Do you have a fever?" She sweeps the hair back in place.
"The buck stops here, unless it stops over there."
"An ambitious man is never happy with what he has."
"Why does it always have to be like this why can't I get anything good all at once?!" Oh, Pete.
"They do not want to hear your outrage; They want you to beat Ken."
"I know what they want. I can't live with this".
"You'll try."

"Two old married men, oh there was a fire in the hotel no casualties." Sal is back. "A little excited, a little shocked."

Drinks in Don's office with Roger, Cooper, & Pete. No one admits being anxious about the new regime.
Ken vs. Pete: "God or Darwin?" LMAO.

"I told him it was stupid but They don't always get our inflection" -Roger- "Have a drink. Not the Stoli."

At the Draper house...
Don's disappearance last season is still scaring Sally.

"I will always come home." Good to hear.

"I don't sleep well when I not here." -Don
"Too much squinting." -Betty

And Sally find the stewardess' stick-pin. I was worried Betty would suspect something. Don's humiliation at having to pin it on Sally to cover is ass was brilliant. You could feel his self-hatred.

-----------
No Joan & Roger together yet. Deliberate, no doubt. New ring. Better not get my hopes up, but there's definitely something going on.

No Peggy and Pete either.

The show expertly plays with my expectations. The characters supply the mystery; what they're capable of, where they've been, where they're going.

We're back!

Sour Grapes Pete

Poor, poor Pete. Even when he gets what he wants he doesn't get what he wants. I really love this character--well, love to hate him. I especially love the way he embodies/symbolizes that part of Don that's always dissatisfied. That always wants things as he imagines them, they way they are in commercials.

Pete is the ultimate distillation of the American dream: you see something you think will bring you perfect happiness if you can have it, and you find yourself always unhappy because either you can't have it, or it's not exactly like you wanted it, or (as with Pete's wife) its novelty just doesn't last, or someone else gets to have it, too, and it no longer feels special. He really does say it all, exactly what advertising is all about.

Don's idea for the London Fog ad...

I have to say, the idea of having a girl naked under a London Fog coat, exposing herself to a commuter was...well, a bit sleazy. I doubt if a serious English company would accept being represented that way. (Maybe a spoof of London Fog in Mad Magazine), but not even today, let alone 1963, would that fly. I was kind of surprised.

(whiny voice) It's my birthday

Just a hunch but I bet that's not the first time Don's used that line. It's so perfect that I think I'm going to start using it. Don's response to her request to see his license doesn't seem as if it would fly in the real world: "That's not going to help."

I also enjoyed his lame description of a beach, "A warm and sandy beach." Which distinguishes it from the plentiful sandless beaches. You'd think an advertising guy could do a better job.

Joanie walked the aisle, and so did Roger...we just didn't get all the references...

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2009/08/mad-men-talking-out-of-town-with.html

Mad Men Back for 3

review of tip-top season 3 premiere! http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2009/08/mad-men-back-for-3.html

Mad Men Lounge

Bring your comments and theories to the established community of Mad Men intellectuals!

madmenlounge.com

Bewitched...

Just caught an episode of Bewitched and something clicked!

In the show, Bewitched, Darrin (Samantha's husband) is employed at an Ad Agency in the mid 1960's! Now I remember that re-runs of Bewitched was my fist exposure to the advertising world!

Very different portrayal, however. I am sure it was watered down for the times.

Accurate Portrayals

As a flight attendant for one of the "Big Four" airlines from January 1961 until January 1966 I can tell you with absolutely certainty that drinking in uniform was grounds for immediate dismissal. Sleeping with a passengar was only a problem if reported with corraborating evidence.

Salvatore Out of town

Hey I know your all reeling about tonight's episode especially the part about Sal Kissing the bellboy. I for one think that was much more exciting than the british invasion. I hope there is plenty more episodes starring Sal. hes so under rated. I know last season was all about Peggy and coming to terms with her pregnancy. maybe this season will focus on Sal and him coming to terms with his homosexuality.

Tonights Observations

I think Sal set off that fire alarm! He just keeps getting "burned"!
Peggy LOOKS great-but just grinds away...Joan asked her NOT to talk business...but she just barges right along. Her "dedication" may become her downfall.
The new bedroom lamps are no improvement-nor are the '80s giant tassels in the living room.
Has Betty been hired to decorate Sterling Cooper? Every desk was loaded with CRAP-Bert would never allow that....
Don is really spouting platitudes...
Otherwise.....I guess I liked it.

Quick Sound The Alarm, There's A Fire In The Building!

Sal's makes his first contact and Don saw it too. Don did not seem to like it but, offered Sal some great advice and went on with business as usual. What is your take on Sal's coming out, "Out of Town"?

Live pre-show chat going on

http://yovia.com/blogs/madmen/2009/08/15/mad-men-season-3-live-chat/

Hoping this board doesn't shut down at 11 pm...

The board is still having problems on my end. It's not as bad as before but it's still very difficult to post without having problems doing so.

Season Three - Open Thread - Episode 14

Here we go!!

Anyone see Mad Men Spoiler Report on Funny Or Die?

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/fa76d0c6b5/mad-men-spoiler-report
Nothing is give away. It is just fun. x

What was it really like on Madison Ave. circa 1960s???

A Cup of Coffee with...A Real Mad Man

http://nancykeeneblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/cup-of-coffee-witha-real-mad-man.html

Hello Mad Addicts

I just wanted to share this link from the Toronto Star and I did try to post this earlier but for some reason it didn't work
I just thought it was funny they stole my handle but I don't think this caracature is very good here is the link http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/article/681545 cheers

Censorship alive and well?

Anyone else not getting perfectly bland, non-offensive comments posted since yesterday.? Four of mine on four separate threads have been "denied with the response: "Your comment has been received and held for approval by the blog owner." What's that all about?

Mad Men Artticle

heh someone stole my handle ..... ;) lol
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/681545

WEEEEEH, YAYYYYY, HAPPY MAD MEN DAY!!!!

It's here, it's here!!!!! HAPPY MAD MEN DAY EVERYONE!! BRING OUT THE BUBLIES, MORE CHAMPAGNE FOR ME!!!!!!

Black People On Mad Men Memes

Can't wait for the new season tomorrow! I thought these were pretty funny:

http://slapclap.com/archives/5876

anyone have Dr.Waynes phone #

I'm telling all you folks that i am not right. Since watching the marathon last Sunday I have been consumed by Madmensitosia. I need a shrink. prefarably one with a couch, and one who lets you light up.

NPR review gives some hints to upcoming season details

I read a review from one of the TV critics from NPR this morning that gives away some details of the first episode of Season 3. The critic said that the setting does not jump two years into the future, since Betty is still pregnant. I guess we'll have to wait another 24 hours to find out.

Care to Join Us?

The Mad Men Premiere Cocktail party has not moved. We're just around the corner!.....So put on your Dyna Moe duds and come on over! Plenty of food...good company....and Mad Men chat.

http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/talk/2009/08/mad-men-premier-1.php#comments

Our Jan is in THE BOAT...

I just saw the lovely British film about the 1960's pirate rock ships, called THE BOAT THAT ROCKED.

I was surprised to see that our January Jones has a cameo role as Elenore... an American girl who actually is not so nice at all.

No spoiiers... you'll have to see it!

On Demand

Does anyone know if Episodes of Season 3 will be available On Demand the day after the original airing?

online episodes

will AMC be putting season 3 online, after an ep. is first aired?

Is Anna a Figment of Don's Imagination?

I'm reevaluating my opinion of Anna after recent repeated viewings of the S2 episodes; I've always said Anna's up to no good and that she may even be a con woman, but now I'm not so sure. This may be completely outlandish, but my new theory concerning Anna is that she is a figment of Dick's imagination; she's the safe motherly delusion he goes to in his head when things get too stressful for him. First appearing as a symptom of his extreme guilt for what he did to the real Don, he has created a happy relationship with her. Not exactly a fugue state, schizophrenia or schizoassociative (sp?) disorder, but containing elements of all three, I've come up with my own diagnosis of Dick's condition: CTVDDDTCAG (Convenient Television Drama Delusional Disorder That Comes and Goes). Factors leading me to this diagnosis are:
1. The title of the episode, "The Mountain King" refers to the music by Edvard Grieg that was written for the play "Peer Gynt", which tells of the adventures of a character in a Norwegian fairy tale. The sequence illustrated by the music of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is when Peer sneaks into the Mountain King's castle. The piece then describes Peer's attempts to escape after disguising himself as a troll. In the play, THE STORY TURNS OUT TO BE A DREAM. Interpreted in its day as a satire on the Norwegian personality, Peer Gynt is the story of a life based on AVOIDANCE and FALSE IDENTITY. And of course, the child Anna is teaching is playing that piece as Don arrives at her house.
2. Don may have spent time in a mental institution (actually, NancyinOhio mentioned this in her thread, and it got me thinking). When he visited Peggy in the hospital, in addition to saying "You'll be amazed how quickly this didn't happen", he said "Get out of here as fast as you can, do everything they say" or words to that effect. Which sounds to me like he spoke from experience.
3. Abused children often create happy, alternate worlds to deal with the abuse.
4. We have never seen Anna from anything other than Dick's/Don's point of view. In the used car office, when Don asked the man with his son "Is this Mrs. Whatever?", the man merely looked, turned back and shrugged without saying a word. He was probably wondering who is he talking about? Only Don "sees" her talking outside to a man.
5. Anna's "house" is really a psychiatric veterans hospital, probably on or near a naval base. When he got off the bus from Palm Springs, there were sailors around. He also had to look up "her" number and write down her address; supposedly he had been there many times. And why did he say "This is Dick WHITMAN" when someone answered the phone? If it was Anna, wouldn't he have just said "This is Dick"?
6.I think Dick was considering permanently dumping his Don life and becoming Dick once again. When he stopped to talk to the guys working on the hot rods, he said his name was Dick and he was looking for work. Then after one of the men said they were putting Ford and Buick parts together, Don went into constipated hamster mode (a symptom of CTVDDDTCAG) and had some sort of epiphany. ("I can put Don and Dick together and make a whole person!")
7. The Anna in his delusions is based on a nurse he knew in the mental hospital, or perhaps some other kind woman in his past. He hadn't had the delusion in years, but the separation from Betty, problems at work, etc had brought it back.
8. Finally, Anna is just weird. I can't decide whether she is beatific or Norman Bates when she smiles.

Well, I'm kind of half-kidding here, but I really do think it's a possibility. Any thoughts, anybody?

Mad Men Astrology

Let's guess the astrological signs of our MM hereos.

Don - Gemini - twins
Sal - Virgo - neat, orderly
Roger - Aries - first-born, all about himself
Bert - Aquarius - totally out there
Peggy - Scorpio - still waters fun deep
Joan - Leo - center of attention, cat-like
Betty - Cancer - homebody
Pete - Libra - trying to balance

Your thoughts?

In Peggy

Your Post

I wish I had a real Maddict to Watch this Sunday's Premiere!

I'm sitting here watching AMC just to see the specials leading up to tomorrow and they are going to have some interviews and all. I'm already saying my ooohs and aaaahs! I wish I could share tomorrow with one of you, but I'll settle with having this great site to share! Just saying....

IS THIS REPORT FOR REAL? (For Link See Comments)

http://goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldderby/2009/08/tv-academy-and-cbs-reverse-on-emmy-awards-timeshifting-.html

HEADLINE QUOTE (SEE LA TIMES): "TV Academy and CBS Reversal on Emmy Awards time Shifting" !!!!

As the person who alerted me to this article said: "You folks have some power." (He presumably was speaking of us "Maddicts" and all fans, afficionados, critics, etc...."associated with MM". What a great outcome, and relief!!! See the link to article of this news in comment below:

Season 3 Promo Poster

Much has been made over the primary poster being used to promote the third season of "Mad Men."

However, despite its hyper-real photo of Don Draper, it's an oft-used metaphor.

For a direct comparison, please compare the Mad Men poster with one from the 1987 motion picture "Housekeeping."

Roving Pack of Mad Men Crashes Joel McHale's Party

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/the_soup/b139427_roving_pack_of_mad_men_crashes_joel.html?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=imdb_topstories

Today 11:36 AM PDT by PETER GILSTRAP

Cynical minds may say the nicotine-huffing stars of Mad Men--Bryan Batt, Rich Sommer, Aaron Staton and Michael Gladis--dropped by the Soup to push the new season of their show.

On the other hand, maybe they showed up just because it's so darned fun hanging out at the nonstop party that goes on here at Soup headquarters. That, or they were only trying to locate LeVar Burton.

This and many other questions may or may not be answered on your fresh serving of Soup tonight at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

Life Magazine period photos

Check out the working women of the early 60s, with comments by Elisabeth Moss: http://www.life.com/image/ugc1007362/in-gallery/25952/mad-men-star-talks-to-life

used car salesman

How did Don go from used car salesman to SC executive. The show never told us

OMG--Huge potential spoiler--IMDb (Don't worry, no actual spoilers)

Already has ALL the Season 3 Episodes posted. I clicked on the first one (I won't say the title name, and tried to see if they had a summary carefully trying NOT to actually read it--I just wanted to see if they actually would have posted the plot summary in advance (they did do it for Season 2 in the middle--you could actually read ahead!.

Didn't see one, but they do have the cast credits posted. Again, I deliberately tried not to read it.

How could they do that? I thought everything was hush-hush. I assume that would include who is actually in the episode.

New Season Three Photo!

Who is this new character? Very sexy.

http://www.holbergdesign.com/new_don_01.jpg

Urban Dictionary: "Mad Man Up"

Mad Man Up
To abandon the overly sensitive, healthy, monogamous traits that have become so prevalent among the modern man, and instead, embrace the booze drinking, steak eating, secretary pinching behaviors of the swinging 1960's man.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=mad+man+up

product placement

what is your favorit pacement of an old time product mine are the mr. salty box on betty's counter and pete;s chip and dip explanation

Does Don still have house plants in his office? I noticed them in the pilot and I thought, "Don wouldn't have a plant."

Is he gay? Is she gay?

Let's put an end to the speculation.

Where our SC folks will end up

No one, including Matt, knows how MM will end (what year, storylines resolved or not etc.) but I was wondering what fans see as the ultimate fate down the road for our friends at Sterling Cooper.

I hope Don Draper integrates Dick Whitman and he finds peace, in California with Anna beachside watching the waves. I don't see him ending up with Betty. They will part when the kids are grown, if not sooner. I don't see her remarrying, or having a happy ending I'm afraid. She will be sad, somewhat bitter, and alone, wondering where her wonderful life went. The kids (boomers all, of course) will rebel to varous degrees, then settle into productive adults, though Sally may have lingering issues with substance abuse.

Peggy will open her own successful agency, and take Sal - now quietly out of the closet and happily partnered - with her. Kitty will not remarry but will eventually reconcile with the idea of Sal's life and remain friends. Peggy will marry late in life when she meets someone on an equal footing professionally who is not the least unnerved by a successful woman.

Ken will write a bestseller about his years in advertising, with SC as the thinly disguised agency, and Harry will pitch the novel to a network as a miniseries. Paul will end up teaching at a small community college, enjoying his role as a "professor."

Joan will be the Elizabeth Taylor of the group, married and divorced several times before living on her own. She may work in some way with (not necessarily for) Peggy.

Roger's lifestyle will not be good for him. Jane will dump him when she notices his health declining, perhaps early signs of Alzheimers or TIAs. Mona is not able to get beyond his betrayal and is not able to help him anyway due to her own problems but Margaret steps up to provide care for her father. Alice will have left money in trust for Roger's care, having wisely seen the trajectory his life was liable to take.

Bert cooper eventually retires to his ranch after SC/PPL is taken over by an even larger international conglomerate.

Helen Bishop, former Kennedy supporter, becomes radically rightwing in her later years. Glenn does not become a serial killer but an avant garde artist and heavy metal musician.

Pete and Trudy reconcile and eventually (after his mother's death) adopt several children. Pete discovers he enjoys being a father and is much better than his own. He advances through the company's various takeovers to become a partner.

Freddy works for Peggy for a while, then retires to try his hand at stock investing and makes a killing on Wall Street.

Duck Phillips disappears, never to be heard from again. Chauncey, on the other hand, wins best of show at Madison Square Garden for his new owner.

Pantyhose

While watching Season 2 episode about Playtex account with a character pulling on the pantyhose, I was trying to recall if pantyhose were around in 1962. Can anyone enlighten?

The healing power of Mad Men

I must admit that I have become totally obsessed with Mad Men.Not neccessarily a bad thing.Like many fans of the show this is the time period of my life that influenced me most. (born in 52).I guess I would be closest in age to Glenn. such a nice boy.I watched season 2 twice before, but after watching all 13 episodes in one sitting this past Sunday I had a revelation. My late wonderful Mom and Dad were horrible parents. Not compared to their peers, but overall through the passage of time and parenting my own children into adulthood, there is no other conclusion. It did not take this show to realize their well intended ways were bizarre. However seeing Sally drunk at the office, Glenn;s mom not noticing he was gone for 3 days, the littering at the idyllic family picnic, and so many Betty - Bobby scoldings I am more at peace with my own upbringing. I spent so much time out of my house as a child, there were so many kids to play with, that I think I came out of it all relativelly okay. Don't get me wrong I loved my folks, we had our hard times, but Mad Men has enabled me to realize to say they were wonderful, but totally nuts. a product of their time, and they were totally winging it or listening to crazier friends for their parenting skills. (note to Mom and Dad if they blog in the great beyond, if your kid breaks a bone or cracks his head open, don,t just get out the gauze and adhesive tape, take him to a doctor)

Mad Men Premiere Cocktail Party

Welcome! Come right on in! Let me take your coat and hat!.... What did you bring? For me? What a nice gesture...Thank you, thank you....You really shouldn't have! Come in, come in. Hor'doeurves (and space for more) are on the buffet on the right, and the bar is set up to the left.

Everyone's here already, so look around. Let us know what your drink is this evening, Little Sally is our waitress and bartender just until her bedtime. I have enough ice and all the mixers for the most popular cocktails. Make yourself at home....

The Mad Men Cocktail Hour (August 15, 2009 5pm EST 'til (at least) 12am PST) requires you attend in formal Mad Men attire...that is, with your icon/avatar created using madmenyourself.com. Here is the link if you need it. (Thanx Dyna Moe!) You can't come in (i.e., post on the thread) unless you have done this. Save your character (headshots only) to your computer and be ready to upload it during the cocktail hour to join in. Even if you already have a character, remember you still have the option of changing your attire to something different just for the party!

Those (of us) who normally use different avatars will be required to change for the hours spent at the cocktail party. Conversations will be restricted to those appearing as their madmenyourself.com character only. Appearing on the thread as a different avatar will be the signal that you are no longer at the cocktail party.

Anyone will be able to view the thread, but we want everyone to come and post, so create your character early and join us. This is as close as we will come to being able to talk directly to each other for a few hours. The most fun will be in seeing how everyone represents themselves! Conversation? Begin by telling us what you'll be drinking this evening then share an anecdote you would share at a small cocktail party. Oh, yes,...and ANYTHING, Mad Men!

Security has been hired to escort the unruly to the door, and everyone is required to be civil to each other. If you see someone you can't get along with for a few hours, the place is certainly large enough for everyone to find different areas to converse and not cross paths.

Atmosphere? Hmmm....We're in my bi-level Manhattan loft (my dream, right?) beautiful skyline, ...gorgeous sunset...contemporary art and sculpture ...antique mirrors in unusual shapes reflecting the uplights and shadows, music playing in the background....one brick wall. lots of green plants, lots of food (and ice), plentiful seating ...telescope, ...stairwell access to rooftop...full moon...nice evening, soft breeze...and, now you're here...PERFECT!

Hurray for the Missouri Boy!

Being from Kansas City I've had to endure a lot from STL natives over the year about how their city is so much better than ours (the Cards vs the Royals, Nelly vs Techn9ne, the arch vs an assortment of potholes) but Jon Hamm being from St. Louis is a real nail in the coffin. I mean how are we supposed to compete with that?
But as a plus I think I'm going to start wearing my MIZZOU ENGLISH T-Shirt more often!

Is Jon Hamm being replaced?

I'll stop watching the show if this is real!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=514891&id=1454975286#/photo.php?pid=514891&id=1454975286

:)

HAPPY 47TH TO JOHN SLATTERY!!!!!!

Your Post

IS THE SHOW ON THE WRONG NETWORK?

~HELLO~ EVERYBODY! WOW* It feels GREAT to be here and to jump right into the MAD TOPICS that focus on such a brilliant show! Remarkable cast!!!! Aren't they?
However! I can't help to think that maybe the true success that sits on the horizon for all those involved with this show, is the simple fact that they are on the wrong network. Let me explain: I am a flight attendant with Virgin America based in San Francisco* Recently, all I can talk about while working in the galley is: MAD MEN and I've come to find that the majority of my co-workers have never heard of the show:( So, as I am explaining to them all the way across the country what the show is and who is doing who and what is doing when..THE #1 question that I am asked: "IS IT ON HBO?"
You know, when Dave Chapelle got his comedy show, I said it from day one: "he's on the wrong network." I truly believed that what Dave was trying to do, he was limited by the boundaries of a commercial zone network. It is my belief, that if MadMen were on a "commercial free" network (and how ironic would that be?) The show itself could push the envelope just a little further. Having some nudity would make it a little racier AND COME ON GUYS! Let's face it: We need some language!! R-rated language* But most importantly, I believe in my heart of hearts that this show CAN BE and WILL BE the next best thing and MAD MEN could instantly branch out to a larger audience** But for those of us who are already "in the know" and what is it? Like only a million of us? WELL.."COCKTAILS UP EVERYBODY" and here's to a million cheers!!
I LOVE YOU JOAN!
I LOVE YOU PEGGY!!
and PETE CAMPBELL..I think you're my crush of the week*
=j=

MM Season 3 prediction quiz

Directions:
1) Circle all that apply.
2) Watch Season 3
3) Exchange tests with a friend.
4) Grade papers
5) Drink.

Sterling Cooper's merger with PP&L...
a. Proceeds
b. Gets called off

Bert Cooper...
a. Goes to Montana to visit his cattle, never to be seen again.
b. Fades away in a consultant role, providing interesting cameos
c. Hangs around, same as usual.

Roger Sterling...
a. Merger's called off. Mona's attorney squeezes him dry. Jane dumps him.
b. Survives the divorce with buckets of money. Jane cheats on him like a crewslut.
c. Has another coronary, reconciles with Mona. Jane stabs him with an icepick.

Duck...
a. Gets offered a lower position than he expected
b. ...and declines it
c. Gets canned and can't even work with Fredbob-SparePants because of the non-compete clause in his contract.
d. Goes to work selling insurance in Poughkeepsie
e. Goes on a long bender and gets mauled to death in an alley by Chauncey.

Kurt & Smitty...
a. Vanish from the show - because Kurt's a homo.
b. Get fired and sue S-C for discrimination - because Kurt's a homo.
c. Quit and move to Massachusetts to get married (because Smitty's gay too) but discover there's a 45-year waiting list.

Joanie...
a. Dumps Dr. Jealous Bastard. Marries Chachi.
b. Marries Dr. Selfish the Christmas of '62. He hires a private detective by Memorial Day.
c. Gets married, has an affair with the British Guy left behind by PP&L
d. ...or pregnant and quits. (Nahhh)

Ken Cosgrove ("Kurt's a homo.")...
a. Goes camping with Sal. It ends very, very badly.
b. ...or they go camping regularly, leaving Kitty quite brokeback bewildered.
c. Gets his book published, moves to New Hampshire to be rich and write.
d. Keeps on being a mannequin.

Kinsey (beard and pipe)...
a. Wonders why Ken & Sal never invite him to go camping. Starts screwing Kitty while they're gone.
b. Tries to get chummy with the Brit and gets alienated instead.
c. Continues his passive-aggressiveness, adding Ken to his list.
d. Meets a guy named Lee Oswald. Joins the Communist Party and gets fired.
e. In the last episode of Season Three, we see Kinsey on The Grassy Knoll holding what looks like a camera tripod (made in Cuba) with smoke curling out of one of the legs.

Sal...
a. The camping thing with Ken.
b. ...or with someone else (not Kurt, probably the Brit).
c. Stays miserably in his 20th Century Closet with Kitty.

Harry Crane (TV)...
a. Jennifer has a cute little baby.
b. The TV side of the business takes off like a wild tiger and he becomes IMPORTANT.
c. ...or he gets pushed aside when the Brit makes Don/Roger hire some outside schmuck. Harry gets none of the credit but eats it.

Pete Campbell...
a. Divorces Trudy. Gets rejected by Peggy. Irritates people.
b. Mom's broke and deaf. Formally disowns him on general principle.
c. Stays with Trudy. Tries to adopt Peggy's bastard. Fails, and Trudy figures it out.
d. Don promotes him into Duck's old job. Irritates the HELL out of people.

Peggy...
a. Becomes more obviously a Don-Clone.
b. Gains notoriety as a Mad-Am outside the agency. Don pays to keep her.
c. Still can't find a man worth a damn.
d. Hair gets funky because Kurt's gone.

Betty...
a. Stays with Don.
b. Has the baby, a boy - they name him "Richard"
c. Separates from Don. Goes to Puerto Rico for an abortion. Doesn't.
d. Dad dies. She dives into the bottle and has to dry out.

Don's flashbacks to his Dick days...
a. Remembers when Archie got killed. We learn he was drunk, beating Dick in the barn (stop laughing) and when Dick escapes is when the horse kicks him, dead before he hits the ground - face down in horse-hockey.
b. Dick joins the Army. It sucks, but it's still better than the farm.
c. While on the farm, we learn more of why it sucked worse than the Army.
d. Don meets Betty. HOTCHA!

Anna...
a. Stays in California.
b. Moves to NY as Don's "cousin".
c. Gets along great with Betty. Gets hammered and spills beans.

Don...
a. Has to be enticed to stay with S-C after the merger.
b. Declines presidency if Roger stays.
c. Tries really hard to avoid fornicating. Fornicates by 3rd episode. Probably with Jane.
d. Discovers he has a bastard child. Makes Pete & Trudy adopt it.

MM Premiere Parties

Hi all, If any of you know of any public parties, please send me details for Mad Men Examiner column. I've already posted some "open to public" parties and will continue to iover the next couple of days if I hear of any. Thanks much.

Lindy
madmenexaminer@gmail.com

Oh great... another contest

On the last day of AMC's 3-week-long online Casting Call promotion, AMC's servers experienced significant difficulty due to an overwhelming response. They've stated their appreciation for the passion and enthusiasm of Mad Men fans who have made this show into a pop cultural phenomenon and now want to make fans aware that next Tuesday, the website will launch a second online promotion, a video contest, which will offer an additional opportunity to win a walk-on role for Mad Men. You can check out last year's submissions here http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men-contest/

Remember to watch the premiere on Sunday at 10pm! More information on the new contest will be available Tuesday on amctv.com http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/

How will BobbyDraper turn out

I think Bobby will turn into a Joel Rifkin type or an 80;s version of his dad any thoughts

Mad Men Your Apartment

Does anyone else have suggestions for Mad Men inspired decore? http://flavorwire.com/33209/pass-the-avocado-mad-men-your-apartment

Pete Campbell Interview

Just saw this new interview with Vincent Kartheiser about Pete Campbell and the new season. It's cool that Vincent has such strong opinions about Pete.

http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2009/08/13/vincent_kartheiser_mad_men_s_pete_campbe

Bert Cooper--is he gay

Just finished watching the mad men marathon from Sunday. At some point Alice Cooper mentions Bert breaking the heart of a young architect in England. Anyone know more about this or didI read something into it that was not there

Mad Men Scripts

After reading some comments on another thread about something Burt Cooper might have said, I got to wondering about the possibility of acquiring copies of Mad Men scripts. I love to read, and as much as I enjoy watching and listening to Mad Men, I know I am still missing out on an integral part of this wonderful show because sometimes I cannot hear or cannot remember exactly what was said. It would be wonderful to sit down and actually read what each character says and does. Award winning writing deserves to be read, in my book.

So, any idea, Maddicts, if it is possible to obtain copies of the scripts, and if so, how to go about it?

S3's Provocative Promos....My favorite is...

"Utterly Seductive" That music just nails it...! And the clip of Don's command: "FIND A WAY TO WATCH THIS.... So dramatic, so compelling...so "mad men."

What's your favorite?

Don Draper's education

how did he go from a used car salesman to a Madison Ave executive?

Look Up - They need to fix the ceilings

For all their accuracy, and the attention to detail is just fantastic, the set designers really need to reconsider the ceiling grid and the tile. They are using a 2'x2' ceiling tile, with 2'x2' fluorescent fixtures that weren't on the market until the late 70's. They are also using a 2'x2' tegular (stepped reveal edge) ceiling tile that also wasn't available in 1960. The fluorescent fixtures were 2'x4' and the 1" grid was flush to the bottom of the acoustical tiles. The tiles were either 2'x4' or a "concealed spline" which didn't show the grid and was more expensive and typically only used in the highest level areas - private executive offices and boardrooms.

Other than that they pretty much have it nailed. But those ceiling shots make me crazy. That said, thank you for even having a ceiling on this set!

Entertainment Weekly article - spoilers

Don't read until after Sunday of you're trying to avoid spoilers: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20297485,00.html

what do my fellow madattics drink?

we all know what the folks at SC drink, how about you guys & gals out there ? i like grey goose & club and if its a beer i'm in the mood for its yuengling or sam adams.

Why wasn't Don Draper in WW2?

The guy is 36, which means he was born in 1926. He would have been 17 in 1943, 18 in 1944. Plenty old enough to enlist or be drafted. Yet, Draper waits until he's 23 or older to join up for Korea. This is the guy who couldn't wait to escape an oppressive home, yet passes up the biggest show of his era while dodging the draft? What's up with that?

NY Times: "Sixties Accuracy in Every Sip" I don't think so.

David Wondrich, 48, is quoted as claiming Draper would have been drinking Canadian Club, as "you're showing people you drink a better brand."

Canadian Club was considered second rate at the time, and guys in Draper's salary range would not have been caught dead drinking it. Chivas Regal was the prime scotch for those that had arrived. Imported blends from Scotland, not Canadian stuff - this wasn't the 1920s.

And would Sterling refer to Stolichnaya vodka as "Stoli" many years before it was imported and had an ad campaign? I don't think so.

Jon Hamm on Good Morning America Video

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerindex?id=8310134

Jon Hamm Video inteview

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=5374737

My immersion

I watched ALL of MM this weekend - every fabulous, emotionally manipulating minute. From that, I have concluded the following:

- Don/Dick spent time in a psych ward
- Helen Bishop will be a leading women's libber
- The only way to get pregnant is to not want to
- Pete may be a pig personally but he's a very hard worker and surprisingly good at his job
- Duck is gay (one of the many reasons he drank)
- Pete and Peggy DID know each other before her first day at SC
- I miss Rachel Menken - and she had Don's baby
- They should've known Peggy wasn't sleeping with Don because she still called him Mr. Draper. Boy, in one scene in S1 - when she was trying to NOT tell Don about the "rejuevnator" she really looked pregnant. How did I miss that?
- Joan is trapped.
- I'm way too much like Lois.
- Betty is growing up.
- Trudy is the new Betty.

This takes way too long to type on here. Should've timed it.

My immersion

I watched ALL of MM this weekend - every fabulous, emotionally manipulating minute. From that, I have concluded the following:

- Don/Dick spent time in a psych ward
- Helen Bishop will be a leading women's libber
- The only way to get pregnant is to not want to
- Pete may be a pig personally but he's a very hard worker and surprisingly good at his job
- Duck is gay (one of the many reasons he drank)
- Pete and Peggy DID know each other before her first day at SC
- I miss Rachel Menken - and she had Don's baby
- They should've known Peggy wasn't sleeping with Don because she still called him Mr. Draper. Boy, in one scene in S1 - when she was trying to NOT tell Don about the "rejuevnator" she really looked pregnant. How did I miss that?
- Joan is trapped.
- I'm way too much like Lois.
- Betty is growing up.
- Trudy is the new Betty.

This takes way too long to type on here. Should've timed it.

Mad Men Casting Call JOKE!

I was trying to enter for days... site was down or just said "sorry for the inconvenience, cant save your information".
Now it's closed?? no extension or other way to submit pics?
Who ends submissions and voting the same day anyway? that doesnt make any sense.

Good interview with Matt Weiner from TheWrap.com

"How I Made It To 'Mad Men' "

http://www.thewrap.com/article/dont-say-agent-mad-mens-weiner_4884

Mad Women!

A new parody of Mad Men! So funny!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeKPWcmdXdg

The "real" Don Draper

Extremely interesting article!!

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/August-2009/I-Married-a-Mad-Man/

Joan Predictions

So.... Joan couldn't be more iconic if she tried. What will be her fate this season? Guesses? Predictions?

ITS OVER!

It's over folks! The contest is done! Whew! Now let's focus on Sunday night... what are you doing for the Season three premiere?

Prospere Magazine Mad Men Poll!

http://prospere-magazine.com/2009/08/10/madmenseason/

Alison Brie Talks Mad Men and Community

http://www.buzzsugar.com/3938957

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 6:30am by BuzzSugar
When I first saw Alison Brie on NBC's comedy pilot Community alongside Joel McHale, I thought, "Good for her!" And then I had a second thought: "But wait . . . what about Trudy?" Brie also plays Trudy Campbell on Mad Men, and I was worried this new role spelled the end for Trudy. Luckily, I caught up with Brie at NBC's TCA day, and she put my fears to rest:
• On balancing Community with Mad Men: " There were lots of phone calls made from one to the other, and luckily people have so much respect for Mad Men -- it's like an institution -- and for Matt Weiner that it didn't take too many phone calls for them to go ahead and OK me for a good portion of this season. Obviously my stuff on Mad Men this season is a little lighter because my first priority is Community, but because we started shooting that season a couple of months before Community started, I had some good time to get through and now we're still managing the popping back and forth for both."
• On similarities between her characters: "I think their biggest similarity is that they strive for perfection. Trudy really has her ideas about marriage and what it should be and she really wants things to be perfect in that way. And Annie has her ideas about college and studying and what that should be, so in that respect they're the same. Trudy's much more fashionable, and . . . we've had a few seasons to see her grow and develop as a character. With Annie I can't wait to see the depth."
• On whether she prefers drama or comedy: "I've flip-flopped on both throughout my career. When I was in college and growing up I was like, 'It's comedy for me! I'm so funny!' Yikes. Then when I started acting, right away it was drama, and with Mad Men it's my first success in television and obviously it's a heavy drama. What I like about it is, [drama and comedy] both appeal to both sides of me. Obviously to work on a drama you couldn't ask for a better lineup than Mad Men, and that appeals to my artistic side and the depth and there's so much under the surface. And [Community] just appeals to -- it's just so much fun. It's like a child goofing off. It's like my class clown days in elementary school coming back."
Unfortunately, I couldn't get Brie to drop any hints about the state of the Campbells' marriage, but for a bit more of what she did have to say, read more.
• On meeting Joel McHale: " I was nervous to meet Joel. I love Joel. I watch The Soup all the time. He's hilarious, and he's also a cutie pie. I got in the van [on set], and Joel got in the van, and I thought 'Ohhhh.' I was nervous. I didn't want to say hi first, and he turned around and was just like, 'Hey, I'm Joel. I'm a big fan of you and the show.' And I was like, 'We're gonna be friends.'
• On traveling between New York and LA to shoot: "On more than one occasion, in the same day, I've gone from a photo shoot with Community to shooting Mad Men to shooting Community to, the night before last, going to the Mad Men premiere -- so it's such a funny thing, but there's no way I'm ever going to get [the characters] mixed up because they're so different physically. So it's so funny when I'm leaving one place and going to the other -- they're like, 'What? That's not how we know you!'"
• On becoming Trudy vs. becoming Annie: "Mad Men, I'm in the hair and makeup chair for two hours. Here, they use a flat iron for 10 minutes and I'm done."

MAD MEN ERROR'S! HELP!

I keep trying to enter for the Mad Mend Contest but every time I do it keep's giving me an error. Everything is as it should be, and the picture file size is correct, I triple checked everything! Can someone please help me?

Season 3 Premiere Title?

My tv listings and Comcast channel guide only have an episode description, but no title, for this Sunday's season premiere. Anyone know what its called?

MAD MEN' STARS HAVE NO CONTRACTS

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,440804,00.html

There may not be any more "Mad Men" if deals aren't cut soon.
The popular cult series on AMC about the world of advertising in the early 60s is at a crossroads. Producer Lionsgate and network AMC not only have no contract with series creator Matthew Weiner, they don't have deals with the cast as well.
Whoops! There was a flurry of activity this morning as Lionsgate and AMC announced to the wire services that they wanted Weiner and the show back and were trying to make a deal.
But the reality is, the network has no agreements with stars Jon Hamm and John Slattery, or any of the other cast members. Hamm and Slattery were each nominated for Emmys this year, and Hamm won the Golden Globe last January (although that's not so hard to get if you're persistent and have a catering truck, but that's another story).

Nice Chicago Tribune interview Jon Hamm (no spoilers)

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2009/08/mad-men-season-3-jon-hamm-amc.html

Smart Women Make Up Most of Writing Team Behind 'Mad Men'

.....Smart Women Make Up Most of Writing Team Behind 'Mad Men'
Monday August 10, 2009

http://womensissues.about.com/b/2009/08/10/smart-women-make-up-most-of-writing-team-behind-mad-men.htm

Watch a TV comedy like According to Jim or The King of Queens and it becomes clear -- TV writers are primarily male. (Why else would attractive, 'hot' women be married to loud-mouthed, unattractive, overweight men with thinning hair?)

The statistics for women writers in the industry aren't good.

During the 2007-2008 prime time season, only 23% of television writers were female, and nearly 80% of shows during that time had no women writers. With odds like those, it's even more extraordinary that one of the most critically-acclaimed shows on television has a writing team that's primarily female.

On the surface Mad Men, HBO's sixties-era tale of advertising agency hijinks, looks and sounds misogynistic with its sexist ad execs and pert secretaries. But the complex female characters offer the actresses that play them some of the best roles for women on television. It helps that out of the nine writers on the show, seven are female.

Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Amy Chozick talks with Mad Men's women writers who mine their own lives for details that make the show's female characters so compelling. Chozick finds that several have drawn heavily from the experiences of their own mothers, even using elements from their parents' love letters and their own childhood memories.

Season Three Spoiler Articles - did it ruin it for you?

I ran across a couple of articles that gave away a good deal of info on the first episode. Have you seen them and did it spoil the upcoming premier for you?

I promise I won't post them here, but if you want to find them, just do a news search for Mad Men on Google to find the reviews...

Menken's Upstairs, 2nd Floor

I had to laugh when Rachel showed Draper the second floor of Menken's, where all the bedding was.

"It's just too dark up here", Don says. "The products look old."

I well remember from the 60's when the bedding departments had that dark, almost surreal look.

My sister and I were small tykes then and we would go into those departments, shaded like tableaux, to jump on the beds.

There were also clusters of Eames-style light fixtures (you know, the kind with shades that looked like ribbed, Japanese paper lanterns). My little sis and I would have so much fun just switching these lights on and off, pretending they were in our home.

Then on that same floor were the doorbells. There was a wall of little illuminated white circles, pushbuttons, surrounded by gold rings... You could push them and hear each one elicit a different "ding dong" bell. Sis and I would ring them till we drove the SA's crazy...

On that same floor were those bizarre--- and I know youy remember these--- hanging lamps which featured a statuette surrounded by green plastic shrubbery, and with column of clear plastic filament, which, turned on, conducted little droplets of clear oil down their lengths. Rain falling on the statuette, get it?

Sick of the Casting Call contest

I'm so tired of every other post being "I can't enter", blah blah.

casting call

the url for the casting call is not working. there are still persons trying to enter the contest. Does any one know when it will be up?

Thank you, AMC!

I cleared my calendar today and watched the marathon all day. Loved it! Thanks!

Today's Marathon

Any new thoughts after viewing the marathon today? I have changed my mind about Anna. I do not think she has any evil intentionst owards Don or ulterior motives. Would write more, but unfortunately, my computer keeps fading out whenever I try to create a thread. Has got to be this site, as I intentionally went to the Breaking Bad site today and had no trouble whatsoever - just an experiment, as I have never watched that show. Aw, heck, my screen keeps fading out on me

Church of the Holy Innocents

Short question, probably already answered...

Peggy's family's church, is it a real church or just a set and if it is real, where is it? Thanks.

Before they were Mad Men

I recently saw an episode of another of my favorite shows, "Gilmore Girls", with Jon Hamm as a guest star/love interest for the main character, Lorelai (ep 3.5). I hadn't noticed before that it was Jon Hamm, and it got me thinking...it would be fun to know of other guest starring roles on TV and film that the actors of MM have done before our beloved show. I know you can look this up online, but it would be nice to know of fellow Maddicts' recommendations. It's always fun to see shows from "before they were stars", and it seems like once you notice an actor, you notice their work everywhere. Anybody have "sightings" to share?

TV Appearances ?

Has anyone (here on some other site) seen a listing of upcoming MM Cast appearances on talk shows? I've noticed a few scheduled for this week, but didn't want to duplicate anything that's already been done ....

DoS attacks at the Casting Call?

So, the AMC pages for the casting call has been going down all day. It seems like it could be a DDoS attack like the one that hit twitter, livejournal, and facebook. Or could it be that some of our fellow competitors are using auto voting software and crashing the site?

As silly as it may sound, this competition is rather important to me, since I am a hardcore Maddict, as I am sure it is to most of us. It is somewhat upsetting to think that there may be some miscarriage of fairness by auto voting systems or cheaters. :(

Thoughts?

What's with all the Selectric Typewriters?

If the producers are such fanatics about authenticity, why are all of the typewriters seen on the show IBM Selectrics? The Selectric I typewriter wasn't unveiled by IBM until July 1961, and even then, wasn't in wide use until several years later. The Selectric II typewriter (which acounts for most of the models seen on desk tops in the show), weren't introduced until the late 60's.

All through the late 50's and well into the 60's the IBM model B and model C were the workhorse models found in most offices. These models had movable carriages, as opposed to the fixed platen found on the Selectric models.

Is this simply an oversight, or is it that old model B's and C's just aren't to be found?

Just wondering.

Mad Men Parody - Mad Women

Nothing like a good spoof to get ready for the season 3 premiere!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeKPWcmdXdg

Lily, Help, Please

I hate to keep harping on this, but is there anything that can be done regarding the technical problems on the Mad Men Forum? It still takes forever to type comments and get them posted. AND, it takes forever to scroll down through comments and generally maneuver around the Forum.

Some response from AMC would be appreciated, if only to tell us that the problem is with our own computers. At least then we would know what we are dealing with.

We Maddicts are anticipating a glorious chin wag come Sunday night, so, please, Lily, is there anything you can do?

Spoiler

Possible spoiler in NYT Article mentioned below. I'm sorry I read it.

Drama Confronts A Dramatic Decade (from today's NY Times)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/arts/television/09kapl.html?ref=television

Line Tag - new game!

I'll post a line -- you tell me who said it and in what context and which episode. I'll tell you if you're correct and then you get to post the next line. Ready? (keep in mind I've watched every episode in the past two days!)

Line: "You pissed yourself."

(I hate how slow this site is...)

MM marathon all day Monday.......why?

*scratches head* Is it me or..............would it have made more sense to rerun the whole season, like, I don't know, during primetime, to give more people (specially new viewers) the chance to catch up?...........Two episodes per night @ 9pm or something the entire week instead of Monday morning. I didn't know those old movies were such a priority for AMC that they couldn't move them not even for a week!

Melinda McGraw on Donald Draper

Well, not LITERALLY. Does this mean we will see more of "Bobbie" and "Jimmy Barrett?"

Melinda McGraw Explains 'Mad Men,' Debunks 'Batman' Rumors

Posted Friday 07 August 04:36 PM By: Brooke Tarnoff

AMC's runaway hit 'Mad Men' presents a mystery in its very existence. A channel previously known for Marx Brothers marathons delivered this entrancing critical darling - 'Mad Men' is the first basic cable program to snag a Best Drama Emmy. Equally mysterious is the magnetism of its protagonist, Don Draper, a powerful Madison Avenue executive and family man with a penchant for extra-martial affairs and excessive drinking.

To unravel the psychology behind America's love for this dirty - albeit well-dressed and handsome - scoundrel, we enlisted the help of actress Melinda McGraw, who played Draper's season two love interest Bobbie Barrett. McGraw speaks exclusively to Popeater about the complexities of 'Mad Men' characters, her experience playing Commissioner Gordon's wife in 'Dark Knight,' and why the heartbreak of the nation's recession will make for top-notch farce in her Kelsey Grammer comedy this fall.

Before we deconstruct 'Mad Men,' McGraw is quick to acknowledge rumors about casting choices for a 'Dark Knight' sequel - but she's equally quick to dismiss them. "Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin is a brilliant idea," she agrees, but adds, "I read that over a year ago. There's absolutely no truth to any of that. That would be so protected if that were true. They were, on 'The Dark Knight' - and will be if they have another project - extremely secretive. When I auditioned for 'The Dark Knight,' they wouldn't tell me what the character was. I had lines on a piece of paper. No questions were answered."

That wasn't the case when McGraw joined the cast of 'Mad Men.' McGraw, who also enjoyed story arcs on 'The West Wing,' 'Desperate Housewives,' and 'The X Files,' among others, clearly did her homework before taking on the role of brash cougar Bobbie. The actress explains her take on Don Draper's appeal: "Men who are heroic on some level and larger than life in some way - in Don's case, it's the creativity - have this magnetism that works for both men and women. Inside, he's full of longing and sadness, so he acts out. He's also full of rage. So if he's too good, we're going to miss him acting out. We're going to want him to do something bad, because it's so entertaining - and it's also a way for us to live out our own fantasies."

She adds, "He's an extremely attractive character, because he's unpredictable. Charismatic and magnetic, as is the actor [Jon Hamm] who plays him - and also mysterious. Who's not attracted to mystery? There's nothing sexier than not knowing everything in 5 minutes, having a person that's like a labyrinth."

Bobbie, the wife of Draper's most famous and difficult client, is an interesting choice as a sexual conquest - more aggressive, less demonstrably vulnerable and much more married than Draper's previous mistresses. McGraw explains, "[Show creator] Matt Weiner made this clear to me, after I got the job and before we shot the scene where we meet - Don wouldn't want a flirtatious, coy girl. That's not what he would go after. He's got the perfect, feminine, beautiful, receptive wife, who's demure and has coy down. He has that at home. The only thing that would arouse him would be the opposite - secure, not needing anything, direct."

"Bobbie's the one who makes a pass at him. He can't not do it, and he gives in. I think that there's a kind of animal chemistry thing going on there. The naughtiness of it. He knows that screwing around with a client's wife is one of the stupidest things he can do. He's glamorously self-destructive. It's dangerous and that turns him on."

Having explored Draper's pathological need to find romance outside of his marriage, McGraw says, "I think he's longing to be mothered. He doesn't know it, he would never articulate it that way, but he wants a grown woman to take the reigns. He actually found that with Rachel [Draper's first season interest]. Part of us wanted him to run away with her, but he didn't do it as a man, he became a boy. He infantalizes himself. I think he's just full of all this longing, and he's searching for comfort."

"I think he really loves Betty, but he's not fulfilled by that marriage, and neither is she. So much of [their marriage] was based on what they think they should be doing, because what he really wants is a strong woman. It's his demon that he can't control."

McGraw makes an interesting point about her character's own marriage that all but the most observant viewers would miss: "We actually never had an exchange of dialogue, Jimmy and I. In our scenes together, I would always say, 'Jimmy has something to say,' or he'd say 'That Bobbie, she's always doing that.' It was never 'You're always doing that,' or 'Jimmy, would you hand me the salt?' We always spoke about each other in the third person. We never really had any scenes together, just scenes where I was standing there as support. It's really such an interesting relationship."

"The only way they're going to survive as married people," she adds, "is to have extra-marital affairs."

McGraw's next major role comes this fall in 'Hank,' a light-hearted ABC comedy starring Kelsey Grammer as a wealthy business mogul hit hard by the recession and forced to adjust to a working-class life in his wife's (played by McGraw) hometown.

She says, "Kelsey Grammer's attachment was a huge part of it, but what I really liked about it was the riches-to-rags concept. Hopefully, people will relate to it, but also enjoy seeing a family with an enormous amount of money going through the same kinds of belt-tightening that they're going through. It might be kind of sweet revenge for some people to watch. We all have to wonder if we've been overextending ourselves... that doesn't make it sound very funny, does it?"

It is funny, McGraw assures us. "I don't want 'Hank' to sound like some lecture on Capitalism, 'cause it's not," she says. "It's a farce. The other element that makes it really funny - David Koechner, the guy who played the weather guy in 'Anchorman' - plays my brother, who stayed in the hometown and is delighted to see us come back with our tail between our legs. It's major comedy fodder."

Hilarious though it may be, the themes of 'Hank' are profound to McGraw. She expains, "So many people are going through this on every level financially, having to tighten their belts and look at their own consumerism - and ask themselves, 'What is my life about? What is my American dream, and what is it that I really need to be happy and to contribute, to be an American and a good citizen? Do I really need to have more and more things?' It's an elemental question of identity that I think, even when the recession improves, we will continue to ask ourselves."

'Hank' and 'Mad Men' couldn't be more different in tone, but McGraw is able to find the common thread in her work. The theme, she says, is "the idea that happiness can be bought. That achievement means being able to have more things. The idea seems to have evolved from "a chicken in every pot," that we could take care of our own and create prosperity for everyone - into kind of "a Lamborghini in every garage."

Of 'Hank,' McGraw says, "It's not only timely, it's wildly entertaining. And there can be a lot of comedy there, because all comedy's based on pain."

Read the rest of Melinda's interview here..... http://www.popeater.com/2009/08/07/melinda-mcgraw-mad-men-batman/

Are We There Yet? Houston, we have a problem!

I was going to post a comment all about the long road we have travelled to get to this point, but it is taking almost that long just to type this sentence. Please, Lily, can you please have someone doe something about this problem? I hate to think what is going to happen when all the Maddicts come on line at once to converse on August 16th. I think it has taken me almost half an hour to type this. I would think it was my computer except that so many others have been complaining of the same problems. Am going to post this - if it makes no sense, I apologize - I can't seem to scroll back to proof.

Non-New Yorkers planning anything interesting?

For those of who aren't lucky enough to see Mad Men take over NY, what are you planning for the start of season three?

I'm planning a viewing party where everyone will come dressed as their favorite Sterling Cooper ad. I'll be all vintaged up, passing out popsicles. Although I'm having a hard time convincing anyone to hit the bottled tanner and go as "It's Toasted!"

Wall Street Journal Mad Men section

I'm watching "Morning Joe" and Joe S. held up a section of "The Wall Street Journal" dedicated to Mad Men. The cover picture was Joan with the 3 male onlookers "drooling" over her.
Joe also said this is his favorite show...great plug!

"Anatony is Destiny"..or is it?

Joan is capable and bright, but her sex goddess body does all the talking for her. Betty has a college education from a great school but her Grace Kelly looks got her into a trophy wife position. All the black folks on the show are in the low positions because of their color and the men are Lords of Creation even if they don't know Schaparelli from Shinola. There are numerous other examples, but you get my point. Can these people rise from their anatomical destinies? Or are we categorized from birth when the hospital wraps us in a pink or a blue blanket?

Spoiler Alert season 3 ep 1

Not major but there is a small spoiler at the Tube Talk blog at

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/tube-talk/tube-talk/2009/08/couldnt-make-todays-tv-chat-heres-what-you-missed-8/

It's about the 4th question down the page. Avert your eyes if you prefer to come to the episode a blank. The poster emphasizes that one must not miss the opening scene and watch closely (like we aren't all GLUED to the screen anyway?)

Is Emmy 'time shift' targeting cable nominees?

Is Emmy 'time shift' targeting cable nominees?
Tim Goodman
Wednesday, August 5, 2009

(08-05) 04:00 PDT Pasadena - -- For most people, the recent Emmy controversy - a plan to tape some award presentations - is so far under the radar they probably don't even know it exists. But in Los Angeles, the center of the TV industry, it's not going away and it's getting a lot more testy.

The Emmy people are calling the move a "time shift," whereby eight of the 28 awards are taped in an effort to save time - as much 12 minutes. Never mind that there's a pretty good argument that this is unlikely to save more than a few minutes at most.

What has really got the town fired up is that several factions consider this not an issue about time at all, but a battle between broadcast networks and cable channels.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/04/DD5S193BCE.DTL

World Gone Mad-the song

Does anyone else remember a song from the late 80's called World Gone Mad, by the band Dreams So Real, from Athens, GA? Since thas the catch phrase for this years season, I bet it would make for a kick ass ad!

Mad Men Takes New York

http://nymag.com/sponsored/madmen/

Blacks in the Office?

Addicted to your show! Just wondering when we are going to see blacks working in the office? Given that this show is set at the birth of the civil rights movement, are there any plans to maybe integrate the office in the near future?

The Telephone Bill

Okay, I've got a S1 question. Francine and Betty were talking about how Francine discovered Carlton was having an affair by looking at the phone bill (she called the numbers and a woman answered). Betty then opens their phone bill and looks shocked. I don't know why but I always thought she was shocked because she saw that Don had been talking to Dr. Wayne; thats why she mentions in her next session with him that she thinks Don's having an affair because she knew it would get back to Don through Dr. Wayne. I don't know why I never thought that Don would have called women from home... I just thought he's too smart to leave a trail. But then he calls Bobbie from home in S2. What are your thoughts on what was in the phone bill?

Amazing Show

I'm a daughter of two advertising parents in NYC. My father an art director and my mother a fashion photographer. She divorced and remarried a catholic copy writer. This show is a page out of my life. The drinking, the narcissism, late night poker, smoking, living in Montclair NJ. My mom's slightly embarrassing flirtation with the good looking priest! They have nailed it all with this show!

David Chase

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/08/david_chase_to_blame_for_mad_m.html?mid=agenda--20090805

Jon Hamm Talks Emmy, Mad Men Season 3, and The Wire With The Sports Guy

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/08/jon_hamm_talks_emmys_mad_men_s.html?mid=agenda--20090805

Spoiler Warning please

As we're coming down over the next week and a half here can we get a reminder that if you're gonna post season 3 info to please put a huge spolier warning as your heading to spare those like me who want to know nothing at all whatsoever...

Vanity Fair article (and photos!)

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere but MM was supposed to be the cover article for this month until Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died the same day, But the article is still inside, complete with Annie Liebowitz (sp?) pix of Janaury and Jon.

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/09/mad-men200909?currentPage=1

Enjoy!

Gallery: "Mad Men" Season 3 premiere

Some great-looking photos from Monday's Season 3 L.A. premiere.....

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/entertainment/x1915896469/Gallery-Mad-Men-Season-3-premiere

Technical Difficulties

Wazzup AMC? Theres's been some major technical with your site. I can't seem to vote early and often for my favorite Banana Republic candidates. Have the North Koreans hacked into your site? Do we need Bill to do a u-turn and negotiate the release of the AMC website?

Open the pod bay doors, HAL. OPEN THE POD BAY DOORS HAL!

Sesame Street to parody Mad Men

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/a168937/sesame-street-to-parody-mad-men.html

AdGirl

Hey guys! I feel weird putting this here but since everyone else is and really, would I be a fab ad gal if I didn't self promote?

Please vote for my picture - http://bit.ly/adgal

Us Maddicts have to stick together. There are headshots in the top 10 pages and that is just wrong to me. Let's make sure a Maddict wins!

So - the pic - I am a real Mad Gal. I work in the advertising industry. The dress is Banana Republic (kinda cool since they are sponsoring the event) and the jewelry is all vintage. I took the pic at Union Station in Denver, in front of the telegraph sign. Ahh the ad execs and their communication fetish. Clearly have a Joan feel with a Peggy job (I would hope). We had people following us around Denver thinking I was a celebrity, boy was that fun! :)

I had so many pics to choose from, it was such a challenge! Here is the link to the other pictures - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=95576&id=501158401&l=fc88ecf27a
I really almost went with #2 but it doesn't show my eyes or #9 but it didn't show my fab accessories. I really put a lot of time and thought behind this and I am a long-standing member of these boards. Hope you will give me 5 stars.

Past is Prologue: 1964/2008 Redux

Since Season 3 is around the corner, I decided to repost this topic from November 30, 2008 per Dry Manahattan's suggestion. The presidential election and the belief that Season 3 would start in 1964 were the inspirations.

2008 will represent one of America's great transition years for many reasons: the election of Barack Obama with an all time turn out of previously disengaged voters; the collapse of the banking system; the Big Three possibly becoming the Big One (or even the Big None); despite recent drops in prices, serious change in consumer behavior about energy; withdrawal plans for the Iraq war; the realization that so many of our institutions are broken down and need to be fixed: government, health care, social security/retirement, banking/real estate, our infrastructure.

I believe 1964 will be the year where we get to see the Tsunami of change hit the shores of Sterling Cooper. While 1968 was the most eventful and important year of the 60's, the events of 1964 laid down the foundation of this decade. I have categorized some of the events of this year to provide a context for the expected Season 3 of Mad Men.

Please comment on your experiences if you lived through this time or are interested in their historical significance. How do you think the show and/or the characters will be affected by the change that will be thrust upon them in 1964? Which of these events will affect the individual characters? Will Sterling Cooper be an agent of change or meekly watch as the world transforms before their eyes? How will the story line of Mad Men provide us with prism to look at 2008/2009? What other events or developments would you add to this list? We have a lot of time before Season 3 so feel free to expand your comments.

Political
LBJ declares the War on Poverty/Great Society
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 out laws segregation
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed
The Warren Commission Report is released
The greatest/most infamous political ad "Daisy" is aired once and helps LBJ get re-elected

Civil Rights/Racial
MLK awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
Malcolm X abandons the Nation of Islam
The murder trial of Medgar Evers ends in mistrial
Three civil rights activists (James Chaney, Andrew Goldman and Michael Scherner) are murdered by police in Mississippi
Nelson Mandela sentenced to life in prison
The Harlem race riots

Freedom of Speech
Mario Savio starts the Free Speech Movement after the UC Regents ban protests of US involvement in Viet Nam
Lenny Bruce sentence to prison on obscenity charges

Science/Technology
BASIC computer language developed
Ford unveils the Mustang

Cultural/Entertainment
The 1964 Worlds Fair in NY
The British Invasion: the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Kinks arrive on America's shores
Dr. Strangelove, Mary Poppins, From Russia with Love and Goldfinger released
Jeopardy and Rudolf the Red nosed Reindeer debut on TV
Hello Dolly opens on Broadway

Sports
Cassius Clay defeats Sonny Liston to become the new heavy weight champion of the world
Yankees lose to St. Louis in the World Series ending the Yankee Dynasty

Have Mercy!! The women of Mad Men in Esquire

All I can say is WOW! Jane, Joy, Hildy and Lois look AMAZING when not in Mad Menesque form. And Rachel and Trudy always look amazing...

http://www.esquire.com/the-side/feature/women-of-mad-men-images-080409?src=nl&mag=esq&list=enl&kw=ist

Where Would Don Draper Stay?

http://www.mediabistro.com:80/unbeige/teevee/where_would_don_draper_stay_123338.asp