Mad Men

Weiner's mom makes some mean latkes.

Another bit I noticed: Pete Campbell's hair having not receded.

Yeah I've been rewatching season 1 and when I went back to watch new season five episodes I was suddenly "WHERE DID CAMPBELL'S HAIR GO??" Seriously, is he wearing a hairpiece now, because it sure looks like one.

The actor who plays Campbell has been shaving back his hairline to give Campbell a receding hairline. No joke. There's an article that mentions that somewhere.

I think it's also fair to say he's a bigger wanker in real life than he is on Mad Men.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/25/mad-mens-vincent-kartheis_n_551137.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/17/vincent-kartheiser-i-wont_n_785053.html

Way to not have a toilet, bro.

Finished season two. I'm starting to really like the show, but the whole pregnancy thing is getting a bit ridiculous. It's like the most overused and cliched dramatic device ever. Stop it. This show is better than that.

Show more of the advertising stuff. Yeah, I understand Mad Men is about the characters, but I think the advertising stuff is fascinating. More of that, please.

Still waiting for the payoff with this whole Dick Whitman/Don Draper back story arc. Not really seeing the worth in it yet.

Looking forward to where this merger thing goes. More thoughts here on my blog.

As for Dick/Don, one could say it ties into the advertising side of the show because Don Draper is just an image. Or something. That could be worded better.

As for Kartheiser? Yeah, guy's nuts. I'll gladly take his MAD MEN salary if he doesn't want it.

I'm with you Wade, I always find the brainstorming/pitch scenes to be fascinating and wished the show was a just a little bit more of a procedural with that stuff.

Finished the third season. I think the season finale might be one of my favorite episodes so far just because stuff is really happening now. Amid all the woe from the impending divorce is an exciting and uncertain future with the new company. I'm twiddling my fingers in excited anticipation of watching the fourth season to see where that goes.

Plus, I'm really starting to hate Betty. She's so damn annoying to me but it doesn't really seem logical. Don cheated on her and I don't hate Don. Betty cheated on Don but I hate Betty. I think it's just because she's so damned illogical and unstable.

Does that make me a chauvinist?

Damn, you're fast!

Jack Wade wrote:

Plus, I'm really starting to hate Betty. She's so damn annoying to me but it doesn't really seem logical. Don cheated on her and I don't hate Don. Betty cheated on Don but I hate Betty. I think it's just because she's so damned illogical and unstable.

Does that make me a chauvinist?

It puts you in league in 99% percent of the women who watch the show. Don can be forgiven of any sin because he's played by Jon Hamm, while Betty is a threat because she's pretty thus they hate her.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Damn, you're fast!

Jack Wade wrote:

Plus, I'm really starting to hate Betty. She's so damn annoying to me but it doesn't really seem logical. Don cheated on her and I don't hate Don. Betty cheated on Don but I hate Betty. I think it's just because she's so damned illogical and unstable.

Does that make me a chauvinist?

It puts you in league in 99% percent of the women who watch the show. Don can be forgiven of any sin because he's played by Jon Hamm, while Betty is a threat because she's pretty thus they hate her.

Also amusing to note in the eyes of the same audience Megan has gone from a generally liked character to a Mary Sue who is perfect and totally not - in any way, shape or form - written and acted like she's Don's precocious, pretentious, indecisive and spoilt fourth child.

Women who obsess over this show are cray cray.

Also Betty is a narcissist. She's the only character Weiner has specifically diagnosed and if you are or have experience with narcissists she's an alarmingly good characterisation, IMO. I can understand her thinking pretty clearly behind everything, I don't know what that says about me...

Though they went overboard with the fat suit.

Jack Wade wrote:

Still waiting for the payoff with this whole Dick Whitman/Don Draper back story arc. Not really seeing the worth in it yet.

The show's underlying notion is that we are our own worst enemies when it comes to happiness. The characters on MAD MEN are often perpetually running away from themselves, trying to create new identities in pursuit of new opportunities, perpetually disappointed in the status quo. The Dick Whitman/Don Draper tension is the show's most literal embodiment of that idea; Don Draper is the self-made man.

Harmsway wrote:

Jack Wade wrote:

Still waiting for the payoff with this whole Dick Whitman/Don Draper back story arc. Not really seeing the worth in it yet.

The show's underlying notion is that we are our own worst enemies when it comes to happiness. The characters on MAD MEN are often perpetually running away from themselves, trying to create new identities in pursuit of new opportunities, perpetually disappointed in the status quo. The Dick Whitman/Don Draper tension is the show's most literal embodiment of that idea; Don Draper is the self-made man.

Even though Season 4 hasn't really addressed this as much as the prior seasons (well, at least up to where I am in the season), I can dig that. Though, I do find the Anna character to be an interesting one just for the dynamic she creates. Dick/Don really enjoys her but not in a sexual way. Kind of funny that she almost seems like more of a wife to him in their limited interactions than Betty was.

Then she goes and gets cancer.

I've hit a wall about halfway through the fourth season. It's just not doing anything for me. It's kind of ... boring.

Jack Wade wrote:

I've hit a wall about halfway through the fourth season. It's just not doing anything for me. It's kind of ... boring.

Halfway? I thought the stretch of episodes in the middle was the best part of the season. Especially "The Suitcase". Have you seen that one yet?

Regardless, stick it out. S5 is great.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Jack Wade wrote:

I've hit a wall about halfway through the fourth season. It's just not doing anything for me. It's kind of ... boring.

Halfway? I thought the stretch of episodes in the middle was the best part of the season. Especially "The Suitcase". Have you seen that one yet?

That episode is up next.

Quote :

Regardless, stick it out. S5 is great.

That's what I hear, though a lot of it has been spoiled for me just from using the Internet.

Finished the series today. I think I'm going to collect all my thoughts in the morning, but I think this is how I'd rank the seasons:

5
3
2
1
4

Season four was really the only one that didn't connect with me.

Dang! You really plowed through them. I agree that S5 is the strongest, will be interesting to see how S4 holds up on my rewatch.

For Wade it's 4, more me it's 2. Though it's not that 2 didn't connect with me.

The wait for 6 will be hard to bear.

I see you guys touched on the whole Bond thing. I kind of envision Don as almost the James Bond of Madison Avenue. I don't think the writers were too subtle about it, either. He reads Ian Fleming and there were quite a few James Bond references, not to mention the fact that Jon Hamm's a dead ringer.

I think Jon Hamm should have been Superman. Well, I dunno. He might be a bit too old. (But I profess that I'm not up on the Superman mythology, so maybe I'm wrong here.) Shame he can't really be Bond because I'd be all for that if he were British.

Yeah, I see Hamm as much more Bond than Superman. I don't read the right kind of "goodness" in Hamm that Superman needs.

I propose we build a time machine and convince Hamm's ancestors to stay in England by telling them the New World is filled with goblins, yetis, and Gary Busey.

Here's how I'd rate the seasons:

5
1
3
4
2

That's not to say I don't like season two, it just seems pretty bland to me in comparison to the rest.

CJB wrote:

I propose we build a time machine and convince Hamm's ancestors to stay in England by telling them the New World is filled with goblins, yetis, and Gary Busey.

I'm down.

I guess I'm one of the few that doesn't think Hamm was born for the role of James Bond. And I'm not dismissive of the idea of casting an American either.

He'd be a damn sight better than Dan'l Cregg, that's for sure.