It's De-Lovely

If you're staying home tonight and have nothing to do rent the 2004 film "De-Lovely." Trust me, you won't be disappointed. I'll post a link to one of the songs and hope Monty enjoys it too!

Decoding the Symbols of Mad Men Season Three

(Slide Show)

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/11/mad_men_symbols.html?mid=agenda--20091106

JANUARY IN GQ MAGAZINE

I didn't like the writer in the GQ article's tone towards our January Jones. She is brilliant in her role as Betty, and he kept dwelling on how much she had to drink. He wouldn't treat a male actor that way in a piece. Not very well-written article either...not much there there as Gertrude Stein would say. What do others think?

Any Maddicts getting together Sunday? The yahoo group?

Hi everyone!!

My guy and I don't have a TV, and have been watching the MAD MEN, the itunes-download way.

We would LOVE to watch the show with our fellow Maddicts...anyone have something planned? Also, I fear something may be planned in the yahoo forum, but I don't know how to get to the yahoo forum.
I've been under the weather off and on, and so, I've not been able to be online as much as I like to, and I feel I missed out on so much here.

I did want to mention, I'll be getting my Part 4 and Part 5, about my visit to the Mad Men set up, later tonight (FINALLY). This being sick, on and off, has been for the birds!

One Night in NYC...

Hey Maddicts! I posted a few weeks back looking for advice on things to do while in NYC for one night. You all gave me such great advice... THANKS. I went on 10/15 and, unfortunately it was very cold and rainy. But hey, I'd never been to NYC and I had the night to cram in as much as I could before my conference in the morning, so I made the best of it. First of all, I gotta tell you New Yorkers, I love your city! It is absolutely amazing. I was shocked at how large it was... Atlanta feels SO small to me now. I can not wait to go back for a longer stay!

For a photo journey of my night, you can check out my pics and story here http://www.flickr.com/photos/8395472@N05/sets/72157622630013269/

Warning, my camera battery died so I had to shoot with my cell phone all night. They're not great quality photos but, after a few old fashioneds I didn't really care...

Post Mad Men plans?

Your Post

Cute Parody: "Milk Men"

http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/milk_men_trailer/

Episode 13 - Predictions????

So here it is teh end of a very dramatic and well written season of Mad Men. What are your predictions as to how it will end - for now? The future of SC ? Don and Betty? Roger and Jane? Peggy and the Duck conspiracy? Where the hell is Conrad Hilton- on the moon?

Quick Poll - Did Dick Do It?

Those who have peeked at imdb know the young Dick Whitman will return in the season finale. The assumption is that the, ahem, sudden passing of Dick's father will be depicted. Here's the Poll:

Did Dick:
a: directly contribute to Archie's death
b. indirectly or inadvertently contribute to it
c. had nothing to do with it.

The answer will be shown Sunday night. Maybe.

Takes one to know one, and Don isn't stupid

Don knows Betty too well. He knows she needs attention, needs a man, and for her to tell him she doesn't love him any more must make him wonder. He knows the only thing that would make him not love her any more would be someone who could take her place. He knows this because he could imagine that with Miss Teacher. She's the only one who Don "played house" with.The only one who he actually slept with. He knows Betty has someone she wants to replace him with. Does Don have enough self esteem left, after Betty's discovery of who Don really is,to fight, to change her mind,to care? Or has it left him with enough spite and venom to be mean or cruel, determined find out what or who is behind Betty's change of heart.

ADT Recap 12

Have the prime rib AND the filet, and move on up the front of the theatre. Curtain's up. Link in the comments.

Win Season 2 DVDs

Hello--I am running a contest where I am giving away DVDs of Season 2. If you are interested in entering, you can find information here:

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-13521-SF-Workplace-Communication-Examiner~y2009m10d27-Are-you-a-fan-of-Mad-Men-on-AMC-Enter-to-win-free-Mad-Men-Season-2-DVDs

Thanks! Good luck!

DVD Commentaries

I was lucky enough to win the box set of Mad Men Season 2 for my favorite Joan quote. "Your decolletage is distracting."
It's a beautiful box set BTW.I was just wondering if anyone else had it and listened to the audio commentaries in the special features section, and if not you should . I found them very interesting on many levels. They were very insightful about not only the characters but also the actors and behind the scenes people. It was a trip to hear who was the most interesting as a commentator and who was a little boring. I recommend watching all of the ones Weiner of course.

My six favorite words from Ep 3.12

Take a pill and lie down.

What 4 Films Would You Present?

TCM has a monthly feature where a celebrity, or just a TCM viewer, chooses 4 films that he/she wishes to present, watch, and them sum-up w/ the audience, after the film is over. This is not necessarily the presenter's 4 FAVORITE films, nor what the presenter believes are the 4 GREATEST films ever made. This is a choice of 4 films, out of all the films ever made, that the presenter would choose to share, by presenting the films to the TCM audience. Besides the 4 films you would choose to present, what 4 films would any of the Mad Men characters choose to present?

What are Your Guilty Pleasures?

What TV Shows and/or films can you watch over and over again, even if they aren't great art? And, what are the Guilty pleasures of each of the Mad Men characters?

JFK Assassination Memories

Please post and have anyone who remembers post their memories of the JFK Assassination. I am especially interested in memories of people born in 1956 & 1957:

Where is Attention Deficit Theater?

Kristen ?
Kevin ?

Crickets: Chirp

Season3 Dvd release?

Hello i am new on this site.
Does anyone know when the Dvd release of season 3 will be in Europe(Sweden) or when they will broadcast it?

THIS WEBPAGE

This webpage has my computer running funny and making vacuum cleaner sounds.

Memo To Matt Weiner From The Open Thread Madaddicts

"Believe it or not, some posters on The Open Thread have some suggestions and even some complaints, that they wish to pass on to Matt. Here they are:"

Questionable taste?

The lead-ups to Episode 12 mentioned "Peggy's taste in men proves questionable." But now that we've seen the episode, I fail to see how the episode depicted this. Duck didn't say or do anything that would make him seem bad or would have Peggy second-guessing her relationship with him, and aside from flighty roommate's comment on his aftershave, nobody else is questioning Peggy's taste. Perhaps the preview blurb is foreshadowing something that will happen later?

What was Peggy typing?

Peggy typically uses her dictaphone when doing work. So I suspect she was typing a personal letter...resignation letter maybe? Don kept trying to see what it was, moving ever closer, but then he got distracted by the AquaNet convertible image. Peggy looked awfully uncomfortable. Thoughts?

Music from Season 3 finale trailer

Hey everyone! I'm not sure if you caught the trailer for the season finale, but it features the song "Aphelion" from Moving Mountains' 2007 album, Pneuma.

The trailer is on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xylyhOLId60) and you can listen to the full song on the band's MySpace (www.myspace.com/movingmountainsmusic)

Trudy's New Perspective

I found the scenes with Trudy and Pete, hooked on the news, pretty fascinating. I'm curious about what other people thought. Here's what I saw:

It starts with Pete and Trudy falling into their usual pattern. Whenever Pete gets bad news, this is what happens (more or less):
(1) Pete throws a mini-temper tantrum in front of Trudy where he rants (justly or not) about how unfair it all is that he's not appreciated or promoted.
(2) Trudy checks to make sure he didn't commit a serious faux pas (like throw this same tantrum in front of his bosses). Assured that Pete didn't shoot himself in the foot, Trudy then lets him kevetch while saying something akin to "Poor baby! Those mean, nasty people don't know how lucky they are to have you!"
(3) Pete then makes some histrionic statement about quitting or doing something equally dramatic, and Trudy, while remaining totally on his side and sympathetic, talks him out of it. Return to status quo.

This time, however, it didn't go like that, did it? It went off track when Pete threw in comments (true or not) that made the people at work seem disrespectful of JFK's assassination. From that point on, Trudy's perspective on Pete's situation changes. The longer they watch the news together, the more it changes.

By the end, instead of trying to talk him out of doing what he wildly proposes to do, she's urging him to do it, even adding in modifications ("take your clients with you...").

What I'm curious about is (1) why do you think Trudy broke out of their usual pattern and became a revolutionary (as it were) in favor of Pete fighting the establishment rather than giving it another college try? Is this another case of JFK's assassination "waking" someone up? (2) Pete talks a good game, but we know he's not an alpha male however much he may want to be. He'd rather imagine doing radical things then do them (even in season 1 he didn't really want to go through with is threat to expose Don--Don forced the issue). Do you think, at the end when Trudy is urging him to leave that he's regretting what he said? I get the feeling that he expected the pattern to go as usual and is taken by surprise by Trudy.

Memo To Matt Weiner From The Open Thread Madaddicts

Believe it or not, we posters on the Open Thread have some complaints and suggestions. In your Emmy speech, you mentioed tha "writing [was] hard". Please read what we have to say, because we Madaddicts are only trying to assist you in making the show great!

view an episode

i want to view episodes without taping....help...where can i find episode 12

Stolen Glances - Betty and Henry

Betty and Henry? What is the attraction? As sneaky and whoremongering as Don is ( one referred to lovingly as a Ladies Man) it truly angered me when Henry told Betty he would marry her. (I assume that he was assuring her in 1963 speak of a safety net for a sexual affair) . What does she see in this guy? He's smooth and has a degree of power and position but he is twice her age and has a daughter that appears to be Betty's age. It's obvious she has had it with Don Draper. I would like to think there is something still there. I don't think it has as much to do with the affairs that Betty suspects. Perhaps it has more to do with the small lies (not that hiding your true identity is a small lie) that made Don's kiss meaningless. It was Betty's generic moment. In Italy she felt sexy and modern and I truly thought the fire was back for them but in the morning it was back to good old Bets -Here Bets it's a charm for your charm bracelet, Mother of my kids- instead of here is string of pearls and while we're here I want to kiss you at the coliseum. Betty has married well and lives in West Chester and wants for nothing but spends her days watching TV while Don unpredictably comes and goes. There is seemingly no interest at all in what is meaningful to Betty or a complete lack of comprehension on Don's part that his wife could require anything more than the home he has provided for her. She is a trophy and he (although I think he truly will be destroyed when she leaves) he won't get it until it is too late. It could be that Henry asks her about her and truly seems interested. I think she so craves being a considered human being that any man that gives her that becomes attractive (as women don't think, in terms of what attracts them, as men do). As an aside there are like 20 posts on here about trolls and bickering and alternative posting sites and blah blah blah. It's tedious to scroll through to get to posts about the show.

Things to notice in Ep. 12

1. Peter's Rifle: Some obvious foreshadowing, right in the first scene -- the rifle is shown prominently in the background while Pete whines about cocoa.

2. Peewee Herman?? Duck phones Peggy for a "nooner" under the name "Mr. Herman." Then he calls her "Peewee" (his nickname for her?) It's an obvious joke...but why?

3. Aqua Net: Everyone saw the assassination foreshadowing during Paul Kinsey Theater -- now we know for sure they'll have to change that ad. Don looks at Peggy's story board - two couples in an open top convertible...yeah, gonna have to nix that idea.

4. Don's Dressed Like Oswald: Who noticed that Don is wearing the exact same outfit Oswald was wearing when he was shot? Dark sweater over white collared-shirt. Ummm...so does that mean Betty 's Jack Ruby?

5. Black and White: Henry's white Ford(?) pulls up next to Betty's black Lincoln in the parking lot -- a nod to Civil Rights?

6. Betty and Carla: Distraught Carla joins sobbing Betty on the sofa and lights up a cig. Sally consoles Betty. Betty and Carla do NOT console each other.

7. Natalie Wood: At the reception, Henry Francis's daughter tells Margaret Sterling that she "looks like Natalie Wood or something..." The actress playing MS once played Natalie in a TV movie.

8. Pete is Fab: At the end, Pete is channeling "Meet the Beatles" as his face is partially covered in shadow and he wears that black turtleneck.

Seeking Comfort

One of the (many) subtexts raised in this episode was the theme of "Where were you when JFK was shot"? The characters sought comfort with who was either familiar or most convenient, to try and make sense of the horror and shock of the assassination. Peter and Trudy clung to each other in their grief for the death of the President, as well as the loss of his position. They seemed more like a couple than ever before this season. Roger called Joan. Duck hooked up with Peggy. Harry stayed in his office. And, Betty, having realized her marriage is over, ran to Henry. And then, there's Don, left with noone, pretending that everything's going to be OK, when nothing will ever be the same again. The end of national and personal innocence for everyone.

Henry Francis

Wow ...who is this guy? I bet he is on the cover of the next GQ mag! I hope to see more of him!!!

Divorce?

Ok, I am usually onlyt right on predictions about 40% of the time for MM, so I'll hedge my bets with a few options.
Matt Weiner doesn't do big cliff hangers, so we should have some resolution next Sunday.

Most likely: Betty's confidence will falter or she'll be influenced by that advice she's getting in episode 13 and not push for a separation or divorce this season.

2nd most likely: she'll ask for a separation and take the kid's to dads house (Don can buy out William). Don might agree as a stalling tactic. By the open of the next season, which would be a few years down the road, they could be divorced "off camera".

3rd (least likely) - she'll ask for the divorce. If she does, he'll agree will support her financially. His pride wouldn't allow him to try to win her back. He has trouble even admitting that he loves her.

What would Don Do???

Seems like a good number of people think that Don would try to leave Betty penniless and prehaps even take the kids if she asks for a divorce. I don't. I am no Don fan, but he does take pride in providing for his family and I think that even with his twisted morals, if she insists on a divorce, he will keep providing for her and would not want to take the kids from her. Underneath it all, he has a very low opioion of himself and there is no way that he'd think he could do a better job with them than she could . The $ in the drawer - lots of people assume it's the 500,000 dollars. I am sure most of that is in the bank. Don keeps some out as an escape fund for himself and proabably also becasue he is a child of the depression and doesn't trust banks. Remember, Betty said he dioesn't understand money. When he ran away to CA, he seemed willing to consider going back to selling cars. It's not all about the money with him, its the status family/wife.

podcast on The End of the World and Mad Men

7-mins of what was close to The End of the World for Don, and what may be the best fiction on the screen about the impact of Nov 22, 1963 on a slice of influential Americans...

close captioning

please correct your closed captioning.. It is sketchy at best and nonexistent most of the time. Some of us depend on closed captions!

Mad Men Season 3 Won't Win Best Show Emmy

It's not the acting - that has been outstanding. Jon and January have been great, as have the majority of the supporting players (when we see them!).

The photography as been beautiful, perhaps even better than last year, much of the dialog is spot on...

I think what we're missing this season is a well thought out plot, that is somehow connected to reality.

There is no way that all of these trials and tribulations could happen to a group of 5 people. Each individual situation (for the most part) could be justified based on character, the decade, etc... but all together, it seems impossible.

Here are few examples....

We are supposed to believe that over the course of the two years 6 characters (Roger, Joan, Betty, Pete, Sal and Peggy) have had these experiences:2 rapes (Joan and the one that Pete perpetrated), two unwanted pregnancies (Peggy and Betty), 2 floundering new marriages (Joan and Roger), 2 dead fathers (Pete and Betty), outted, sexually harassed, and fired (Sal). It's hard to believe that a group has so many unfortunate people in it - yes, all of these things could happen, but to ALL of these people on the show? And in such a short period of time? This is Peyton Place.

The second problem with the plot is the obvious use of tertiary characters to move the plot along. The draft dogger and his girl friend (let us know that Don is losing touch with his roots); the nanny (heck, Pete needs to rape someone), the teacher (Don is freaking out and needs an escape route), the teacher's brother (ode to Adam), Hilton (Don needs a dad to reject him, to justify his latest affair). Last 2 seasons, the writers really seemed to be more effective in weaving these characters into the plot in a more subtle way.

Just look at how we got the teacher this year - the hand on the grass at the Maypole Event, she blurts out that her dad died too, she happens to live 2 miles away and happens to jog along the route Don drives. Oh, and Hilton happens to give him an alibi because of the night calls. Jeese Louise, that is as subtle as a sledge hammer.

Betty and Francis...WTF?????

Ok..I am a Betty sympathizer. I have backed my home girl since day 1. I have understood her character and identified with her more than any other on a TV show. It almost makes me feel silly.

My issue this week is how can she just flip the switch "I don't love you, Don" so quickly? As soon as Francis says he intends to marry her, she jumps the fence and all of a sudden wants to ditch DD.

I will give further comments in the posts....

Roger and Joan

Will Roger tire of his child bride and realize that Joan is a real woman?

The End of the World

review of 3.12

The End of Camelot Episode 12

This episode concerned the assassination of JFK and the end of Camelot, as Jackie christened it.
"Don't let it be forgot
That once there was a spot
For one brief shining moment
That was known as Camelot! "
For one brief moment in time, there was a president who seemed to be a knight in armor, a young King Arthur to the American. But death could not contain the soiled garments beneath the armor. The tales of sordid affairs and election corruption came to view.

For one brief moment, Dick Whitman costumed himself as a knight, found himself a princess and created his own Camelot complete with a suburban castle.

Tonight Don Draper was shot down by the bullet of Betty's words. Tonight was about the end of Camelot for Don.

Whimsical too that, the son of Richard Harris, a previous star of Camelot on Broadway should be a prominent member of the cast this season and that his words ended a lesser Camelot for Pete Campbell.

I give up, EP 12 Open Thd alternate posts here:

If you can't get on the 12 Open Thread, post here and let's chat. Remember your comments aren't beholden to any one thread, and we all want to hear what everyone has to say. Talk here if you can't get on, and don't be afraid to re-post them on the open thread if you get on it later in the week. But for now, since most of us can't get on, talk here. I'll start it:

Outside of the emotive aspects, it still was a great episode in it's own otherwise as well.

What terrific writing. The dialogue between characters in every corner was so perfectly funny, smart, deep and poignant. Give them credit. Regarding the crafting of this episode I think it's a shame the dialogue writing may be overlooked, this was great.

I'll spare the repeating of lines but Peggy going for the nooner with Duck, saying she'll be, "at the printers" was terrific. Gotta love Peggy being one of the guys pulling Don's favorite excuse.

Speaking of Peggy and Duck, last week we had a parallel with 2 men dealing in their own way with younger women, at the same time. And we have it here again.

Even further speaking of young women, you have 2 young women fighting over the same older man, Jane and Margaret competing over Roger. Different ways obviously, but still competing.

Competition as a theme this episode:
Pete vs Ken, Pete lost.
Don vs Henry, looks like a loss in this round for Don.
Jane vs Margaret

Pete: Pete was told by Pryce that the clients' needs are feeling met with Pete. Pete hates that, however, this is the best we've seen him meet his wife's need for comfort and attention and togetherness; i.e., ironically meeting his client's needs if you will.
And if you notice, at the end Pete and Trudy are dressed a little more like Smitty as they're both talking rebellious about "the man" i.e. Sterling Cooper. I think that could end up being a big visual and foreshadowing for next year. Hmmm. We'll see.

Ok here's a thing for the women here:

I know nowadays we basically have almost no rules when it comes to appearance unfortunately, but I was under the impression that a woman is to never, ever, wear black to a wedding, at least back then if not now. Jane wore black. It fits the profile of Jane to be accidentally rude like that, and I'm almost positive that's the way it used to be. So, you tell me....?

I think Betty will get caught in her Henry business. In prior episodes we've seen her take on, in her own way, some parallels with Don. Know what else I think she's parallel with Don? Her sloppiness regarding her extracurricular activities. Taking a drive to go see someone who is not the spouse? What had Don been doing in the early mornings? Taking a drive to see someone who is not the spouse. Also, being shady in the meeting, wether it's him sneaking up to Farrell's place, or Betty meeting Henry in a parking lot. Both shady and sloppy. They deserve each other.

But back to a structural thing, Betty feeling grief over the events of the day is pretty much in conjunction with Betty feeling grief over her marriage and situation. And those two things colliding make for a bad marriage, pun intended.

Is there anything to Don, when he's chatting with Peggy at the end, looking at the Aquanet sketches but he flips them upside down back upon her desk?

Near the very end, Don coming downstairs to the disgruntled Betty doing the morning thing, looking right at Betty and you hear that cold wind, allegedly, from outside. No accident of audio.....

The obvious will get all the attention but this really was a great episode, give them credit.

Brilliant and Poetically Sad Episode

Hats off to the writers and actors of this beautifully somber and compelling episode. . Aptly titled "The Grown Ups" we see adults acting as children and children acting as grown ups and a country in various degrees of shock and mourning. There was a great deal of stock news footage (maybe too much) in the episode but the manner by which differing characters "heard the news" was indeed interesting. (After a Nooner - at work - etc) The lack of people at the wedding reception ( and the surplus at the church) was also a very subtle yet powerful statement. I should have guessed that the Aquanet add would be foreshadowing - they won't be using that storyboard. Why is Betty interested in that old man? Is it because she just lost her Daddy and she can't trust Don? I know Don is a lying cheater cheater pumkin eater but I feel bad for him. He can't lose Betty. Would the world shut down like this should something so tragic happen today? I wonder.

This episode was filled with gut-wrenching drama!

This was one of the most tense episodes of the entire series. Everyone was so emotional. Betty is distraught. Pete is having a nervous breakdown. Don is losing more and more power at Sterling Cooper. Carla is deeply sad. Roger's daughter almost lost it before her wedding and on and on. This was an epsiode of gut-wrenching drama.

Season 3 Episode 11 - Open Thread

Talk about Season 3, Episode 11, "The Hobo and the Gypsy"