Uh, oh! Is Mad Men Screwing Up Its Emmy Hopes?

If Mad Men producers screw up and don't submit the PERFECT sample episode to Emmy judges, it won't be nominated for best drama series. The LA Times says they're blowing it by submitting the finale episode 'The Wheel' instead of the one that could nab them the nom -- the pilot ("Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"). Do you agree? Read more about this plus Jon Hamm's episode -- plus vote in the poll!

http://goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldderby/2008/05/is-mad-men-craz. html

Here's the list of all of the episodes that 'Mad Men' is submitting to Emmy judges:

http://goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldderby/2008/05/here-are-mad-me. html

Red In The Face: Don's Revenge

I've watched season 1 on my iTunes at least three times already, and only now did I catch Don paying off the elevator operator for... something. Only at the end of the episode with Don's smirk after Roger (his boss) got sick after having to climb 18 flights of stairs (not to mention all that vodka & oysters), did I finally get it. Don was getting back at his boss for hitting on his wife in the previous episode! Did anyone else get that?

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes -- Peggy and the Exam

I reviewed the first episode again for the third time and still picked up on things I had not before. One was towards the end of the show when Peggy goes to get an exam for birth control pills. As the doctor was talking to her she happened to look over at the calendar and it was March. That night she had a go-around with Pete -- the pills don't work that fast! There are thirteen episodes and if she saw that it was March and delivered in November. Well you do the math. I love a good mystery. It takes delicious writing to try to speculate on the events that have happened and the events to come.

"Shoot" Episode

I missed this episode the first time around and forgot to tape it. The closing scene, one of my favorite songs playing in the background, Betty in total control, with the cig hanging out of her mouth, shooting those damn pigeons who dared to harm her family. Priceless.

Masters of Their Universe

Watching Sunday night's episode of Mad Men, I was struck by Don's interactions with the West Village beatniks.

Throughout the series we're given a glimpse into these men who are self-styled"masters of their own universe," to borrow a phrase from Tom Wolfe. Nothing can touch them, and more importantly, nothing and nobody can beat them: Sure I can chase my secretary around the office trying to get a look at her panties, who is going to tell me otherwise?

It's a disturbing social trend we see these characters exhibit, and yet it never occurs to us that this was perhaps not the "norm" for everyone in the 60s. The beatniks certainly don't share in any of Don's sensibilities, and for the first time I think he feels rather small in their presence -- as though he and his sensibilities were the butt of a joke.

I'm curious if anyone else got that impression. I'm also curious, for people who lived through the sixties, if these Mad ways of living were truly the norms for that era, or if we're just looking at a bunch of self-involved narcissists and the rest of the world behaved more or less, shall we say, appropriately. What do you all think?

Mad Men Season I: Take III

The first season of Mad Men returns to AMC Sunday nights at 12 AM | 11C. For some of you, this is your third time seeing the premiere season of AMC's award-winning show.

What do you remember? What did you forget? What are you looking forward to this time around?