Mad Men

Fairbairn-Sykes wrote:

Love Among the Ruins - April 22-29, 1963 (Kinsey references a newspaper article that was actually published May 5, which threw me off)

MAD MEN takes places in an alternate universe created by a Borg incursion into the past.

This kinda turns me on.

This doesn't turn me on, but I must watch it.



Shame no Elizabeth Moss, but to be in THAT F***IN' room!

The only problem is that these interviews are always edited down. I'd love to see the whole thing.

I'm watching "Waldorf Stories" in season 4. It bothers me that this episode breaks some continuity established previously. In season 1 I'm pretty sure they say that Joan and Roger have been together for only a year. Indeed it seems unrealistic that they'd been together the entirety of Don's time at the agency given the characterization of their relationship in earlier seasons. Especially the fact that Joan had been in a previous relationship with Paul Kinsey, which was implied to have occurred before Roger. If Joan's goals at the time were to woo her way to a successful marriage, why be with Roger for around nine years but stop for a bit to see Kinsey before going back to Roger?

It's a weird continuity break that bugs me quite a bit despite the otherwise good quality of the flashbacks.

I saw it that Joan was fairly new, only a regular secretary, and that their affair shown in that episode was brief and that it restarted later and became something more meaningful.

A good interpretation.

I'm sure Roger wanted to try the new flavour. I've always liked strawberry and cream myself.

Besides, if she were a regular secretary she could go unnoticed by Roger (who is usually drunk anyway) until she becomes the... whatever her title was in S1. I imagine that would put her back in closer and more regular contact with Roger.


"You're overthinking this."

That does sense.

And her title was office manager.

--Season 4--
Public Relations - November 20-December 1, 1964
Christmas Comes But Once a Year - December 20-24, 1964
The Good News - December 30, 1964 - January 4, 1965 (the movie Don and Lane go to see didn't come out in America until December 15, 1966)
The Rejected - March 2-4, 1965
The Chrysanthemum and the Sword - March 12-18, 1965
Waldorf Stories - April 9-12, 1965
The Suitcase - May 25-26, 1965
The Summer Man - June 15-20, 1965
The Beautiful Girls - July 14-16, 1965
Hands and Knees - August 9-13, 1965
Chinese Wall - August 22-24, 1965
Blowing Smoke - September 14-16, 1965
Tomorrowland - October 7-12, 1965

Quote :

I'm watching "Waldorf Stories" in season 4. It bothers me that this episode breaks some continuity established previously. In season 1 I'm pretty sure they say that Joan and Roger have been together for only a year. Indeed it seems unrealistic that they'd been together the entirety of Don's time at the agency given the characterization of their relationship in earlier seasons. Especially the fact that Joan had been in a previous relationship with Paul Kinsey, which was implied to have occurred before Roger. If Joan's goals at the time were to woo her way to a successful marriage, why be with Roger for around nine years but stop for a bit to see Kinsey before going back to Roger?

As Tux said (and I think Weiner addresses this vaguely in the DVD commentary), Roger's line in "Babylon": "This has been the best year of my life" and most of his dialogue is vague enough to read in or retcon it so they re-started their affair in 1959 or whenever the math adds up to.

Given Joan's character, and the way they've painted their relationship since season 4 (we didn't see nearly as much of them before this) it wouldn't be out of character for either of them to have had a very casual on-off thing going across the years. Joan pre-marriage got around. Roger doesn't exactly have a small sexual appetite either. (Certainly wouldn't have pre-heart attack). I could easily picture Roger's cheating on Mona being more severe than Don's on Betty if not for the fact Mona was an adult who probably had some unspoken agreement or could come to terms with her husband's infidelity as a fact of life, whereas Betty is both a child and a narcissist who would expect Don to be wholly devoted to her.

Never really seen this guy, but he makes me laugh.

Been watching the commentaries and episodes on my S2 Blu-ray. Melinda McGraw. Yikes.

S5 is out in October, by the way.

This show is tied with the original Star Trek as my favorite show of all time, and it may have become my #1. Hard to say. I love them both for entirely different reasons. The first half of TWIN PEAKS would probably complete a trio.

But neither Kirk nor Agent Cooper ever pulled off the Epic Fingerbang Manuever.

Cooper might have, if Lara Flynn Boyle hadn't had a hissy fit about the proposed Cooper/Audrey storyline and got McLachlan (her then boyfriend) to refuse to play any of that.

My favorite show will always be THE TWILIGHT ZONE. But MAD MEN is definitely runner-up.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

Never really seen this guy, but he makes me laugh.

Seek out more of him, he's very very funny.

Watched "A Little Kiss". I'll get the Blu-ray set in October, but I couldn't wait to revisit S5. The show is simply nirvana to me, and the more I discover in the writing the more I love it.

This one was a good intro to S5. We get to hang out with the gang in the first half, and the party is fantastic and genuinely fun to watch. The second half isn't as fun, and I'd say the wallet story is definitely the least interesting aspect of the episode for me. But it fits in to the arc of the season and the photo gets a good payoff in the last episode, plus it shows Lane starting to become dishonest. Lots of intricate foreshadowing across the board.

Some things I like:

-Harry Crane. His evolution from a spineless Porky Pigish kissass to a self-important "hot shot" is great. In-universe I see this guy as a network exec in the 80's or something, if his balls ever drop. His scene with Roger in the office is outstanding.

-Pete is more deliciously loathesome than ever. Plus he's putting on pounds and losing hair. I love it. Probably my favorite character. I really like Howard, his train friend. Great casting, great look, just great. How that pig got Alexis Bledel...

-I like how they handled the agency's first black employee; having to hire one. And the Dusty song is excellent.

I'll do what Sykes did, or at least try, in terms of setting the dates down. For this episode I have May 27-June 7, 1966.

I start with May 27 because of the waterbombing incident. I'd guess it's that Friday, before the Memorial Day weekend.

May 27, Friday -- Waterbombing.
The weekend. -- Sally wakes up.
May 30, Monday -- Don drops off the kids at Morticia's and Lurch's really fucking creepy house.
May 31, Tuesday -- Day at the office, Megan tells Peggy about the party, etc.
June 4, Saturday -- The party.
June 6, Monday -- Just about everything in the second half.
June 7, Tuesday -- Pete p0wns Roger. Lobby full of Negroes.

-----

Watched "Tea Leaves".

I'd say it's my least favorite episode of the season. It's not bad or anything, but it gets lost in the shuffle of really great episodes.

Locking down dates on this one had me thinking it should have been called "Mystery Date". I have June 29th-July 5th, 1966.

Day 1 - Don and Megan have dinner with the Heinz peeps. Henry has to go to the Junior League thing with his mother because Betty is fat.
Day 2 - Office stuff. Henry's mother comes over to see Betty, and it's clear that it's the day after. Betty sees the doctor, and it's all the same day because Don, Roger, Peggy, etc. don't have a wardrobe change.
Day 3 - Peggy interviews Ginsberg.

We go from Roger and Peggy in the office talking about how she needs to hire Ginsberg because he's a Jew to Don ready to go the Stones concert, which is Saturday, July 2nd. The concert stuff happens. Henry and Betty make love. Harry meets the Tradewinds. Harry is obnoxious in Don's car, eating 20 hamburgers. Don's all like GTFO.

July 3rd, Sunday - Don wakes up and tells Megan that Betty is sick before they go to Fire Island. Then we get a little scene of the kids running around the Francis yard with sparklers, presumably on Monday the 4th.

July 5th, Tuesday. Don meets Ginsberg. Betty is okay. And I'd say it ends on the 5th because we never see nighttime and it's still sunny when Betty gets greedy with Sundaes. They should have called this episode "Three Sundaes".

So that leaves the first three days a little up in the air, but maybe not really too much. I have to assume that Day 3 is Friday, because Peggy would bring Ginsberg back to meet Don on the following business day. At least that's my thinking. That all works out to having the episode begin on Wednesday the 29th.

"Mystery Date"

S5 starts to take off. I like this episode a lot, even if it gets overshadowed by the brilliant run that came right after it. The whole violence toward women thing, and the horror elements are great. The first time I saw this, it REALLY worked on me. I thought Don might have actually killed her when it aired. And the "let's take seconal" bit was really creepy.

Love to hate that bitch step-grandmother. Looks like Charles Laughton in drag.

Sally and Ginzo are particularly great. I also enjoy Zosia Mamet. She's got a weird quality to her. And Shelly Johnson, though looking very different from her youth, still has it.

Dating this one was super easy. It's Friday July 15th, 1966, and into Saturday. I knew the timeline of the Speck murders, and then I actually saw the newspaper with the date right there.

"Signal 30"

Outstanding, of course. Basically flawless, though I'm unsure about the water drops at the end. This episode just goes to a place that even few MAD MEN episodes do. Pete Campbell continues to be the most fascinating character on the show to me. I am so glad it wasn't he who committed suicide.

Now as for dating on this one, it's a little tough. Most of the episode is easy, but then it turns tough.

I have Friday, July 29th to at least Monday, August 8th. It seems to start the evening before the World Cup, which was July 30. Then we get scenes on August 1st, and the Whitman shootings are mentioned. The dinner party is Saturday, August 6th, and we get a mention of the Braniff crash on what has to be Monday the 8th. Then we get Pete in the driving class and the guy named "Handsome". That's probably on the 8th as well. However, Handsome says he's missed "a couple classes" and it's hard to determine when this class meets.

Then we get a night out with the Jaquar man, and a fight the next day. I'm guessing that maybe the night out is Tuesday the 9th, and the fight is the 10th. We go from Pete crying that same day, to Ken writing a story about him, and Pete in class watching Handsome pull the Epic Fingerbang Manuever on Jenny.

It's tough to lock down.

"Far Away Places"

Another great episode. I like the non-linear thing, but the flaw that I see (at least for me) is that the Roger/Jane segment is just so good, that the Don/Megan part just... It just feels like the best part of the episode is over.

I like the three relationships. Peggy is really wearing the pants between her and Abe. She's taking on more and more of Don, but when it comes to acting like Don with the Heinz guy, it's like a plane crash.

I see parallels with Roger/Jane and Don/Megan, though I'd place a bit more romantic weight on the Don/Megan marriage when it comes to which couple entered into it with the most. It's interesting to see Roger and Jane split like that, and then go to Don/Megan, and then have it end in the way it does with Bert popping Don's honeymoon bubble and making him fall back to the earth. When it comes to the start of S6 I think it's a given that Don and Megan will still be together, at least it wouldn't make sense to have them already be apart because it would be wasting story potential that these writers are too smart to squander. But I don't see Don's second marriage lasting, and I'd prefer to see it crumble and end badly. Because I enjoy watching these people suffer.

Locking down dates? I have no idea. My best guess is that it takes place on a Thursday and Friday, because Don tells Dawn to clear his schedule through the weekend, and they return to work the next day. But it could be a Wednesday and a Thursday. I can't see a way to tell. THE NAKED PREY doesn't help as it was initially released in June.

On a side note, I like that Don gave Peggy a pack of violet candy. It's what Don tells Bobby that his father used to like.

FTW, Bobby's a Founder.

"At the Codfish Ball"

Probably my second favorite episode of the season thus far, after "Signal 30". Great pitch.

As for the exact dates. Can't figure this one out either. It's not too long after "Far Away Places" because Don says in that episode that Megan's parents will be visiting soon. All I can tell is that it's set from Wendesday to Saturday.

"Lady Lazarus"

I really liked this episode. I liked how they played with Megan going out while showing Pete having an affair. I like the scene where Don thinks Megan has been unfaithful.

Alexis Bledel seems too young to be married to that guy, and too young to have kids. But I can't complain too much, I mean she looks great and has a really good chemistry with Pete. There are a few moments in the scene after they've done the deed where Pete comes off as quite warm and sympathetic... even if he is two-timing.

Dates: October 17-20, 1966. It takes place over four days, and Johnson's speech in Wellington (on the 19th) is mentioned on the third day on the radio as Megan is cooking dinner barefoot.

"Dark Shadows"

Jealousy abounds in another excellent episode. "Signal 30" to "Dark Shadows" is a real winning streak to me. The episode didn't impress me as much when it aired, but did more for me today. How funny that the note Betty sees from Don to Megan is on the back of a picture of a whale full of arrows.

And as a child of divorce, Betty's actions ring true to me. Not that my mother ever acted that way, but I totally understand it. It's the conflict that rings true to me. I liked Sally throwing it back in her face, subtly of course. And Sally's line in the last scene, "She's hungry, Bobby," is a fantastic little touch.

Okay, dating. I'm going with, and if you know better Sykes, please point it out, November 4-24, 1966.

This is the site I've been using, by the way: http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=1966

The episode opens in the elevator with Don, Roger, Bert (love how odd he looks), and Pete. It's a work day. Actually it opens with Betty and her diet breakfast, but I can assume it's the same day. Then we get a weekend where Don has the kids. When Betty shows up, Megan tells the kids she'll see them in two weeks. So that takes us to the 19th, with Betty's Weight Watchers meeting where they say it's Saturday, and it's obviously the Saturday before Thanksgiving. And we go to Thanksgiving and the killer smog.

"Christmas Waltz"

A very good episode. Not quite as great across the board as the last handful, but what I like in this one I really like. The one thing I'm shaky on is the Paul story. When this episode aired, and we saw the Hari Krishna service, I was really filled with a sense of dread that I was watching perhaps the first "bad" episode of the entire series. It just seemed to go too far, and I didn't buy it. It reminded me of the episode of ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT where Martin Short shows up in a ridiculous get-up and a brilliant comedic show seemed to be reduced to a hammy SNL skit. It felt like a gimmick to me.

But it worked better this time around. I'm still not completely sold on Paul and Lakshmi Skywalker (I mean Thighfauker), though. I just don't believe it 100%.

But everything else is top notch. The Lane story has more dread than what I felt concerning Paul. The Don and Joan stuff is INCREDIBLE. The airplane moment is classic. The Jaquar dealership scene is great. And the bar scene. It's just about my favorite scene of the entire series. A very sexy, Christmas melancoly hangs over the whole thing, the dialogue is superb, and Hamm and Hendricks provide absolute fucking fireworks. We need more of Don and Joan interacting. I'm sure many women watching got all hot and bothered by the whole thing, and I thought Hendricks was the sexiest I've ever seen her anywhere.

Dates are easy. December 7-9, 1966. There's also a nice reference point mentioned because Don says there are six weekends until the Jaquar pitch. That puts "The Other Woman" in the week of January 16th, if nothing changes.

"The Other Woman"

Overwhelming. Goes to a very dark place. I think I said this when the episode aired, but it would have been interesting to have the sleazebag be a more attractive man rather than this Rush Limbaugh look-a-like. He's almost too unlikable, and it would be in keeping with the sophistication of this show to have him be almost more of a Jon Hamm type.

Dating was easy. January 16-20, 1967. The week of January 16th was set in the last episode, and this one takes place over five days. Plus, Peggy gives two weeks notice and says she'll leave on the 3rd, and it all locks up tight.

"Commissions and Fees"

Another excellent episode. Not much to say. The Lane story is certainly what makes it stand out. I'm indifferent to the Sally or Ed Baxter stories, though the scene in Baxter's office is very good. I also like the scene between Ken and Roger.

Dates? I'm thinking February 24-27 because Sally is watching coverage of what I think is Operation Junction City in Vietnam.

"The Phantom"

Good, but underwhelming. It does set the stage in an interesting way for S6, but as an episode in it's own right it just feels a little underpowered.

I don't see Don and Megan staying together. I like that Pete "has the same view" as Don, which is appropriate as Pete is taking on some of Don's old habits. And Don is picking them back up too it seems.

Dates... I think the main action takes place over three days, until Don views Megan's screen test. It's the week of March 27th, but I didn't see any ways to lock it down. Megan's screen test is from the 20th, and she says it's been a week. So maybe it's the 27th-29th, but then we get the partners checking out the new second floor, and You Only Live Twice. YOLT can't be too long after as Peggy said she be flying to Richmond.

Hadn't seen this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/25/mad-men-hawaii-season-6-premiere_n_2016893.html

Didn't realize S6 was already filming.

Isn't S6 supposed to be the last? I hope not.

Can't picture the show continuing into the 70's (hell, I'm already dreading the sideburns and yellow business shirts we may start seeing in '68/9) so wouldn't surprise me if they called it quits with S6. Probably for the best, as much as I love the series.

MAD MEN's last season will be season 7.

I thought Weiner said he wanted to reach 1970, so that however many seasons it runs the show covers the entirety of the decade. I could see S6 covering 67-68 or maybe 68-69 and then S7 covering the remainder up to 1970.

I've never seen MAD MEN but recently bought the first series on DVD and will start on it soon.

Loomis wrote:

I've never seen MAD MEN but recently bought the first series on DVD and will start on it soon.

Nice.

I love the show, though it's not as consistently excellent as something like THE WIRE. It's a bit slow to get going, is occasionally bogged down in soap opera plotting, and has moments where it spins its wheels a bit. But when it's good, though, it's very, very, very good, and season 5, for my money, was the best season yet.

Could someone expand on why they think season four and five (or one or the other) are improvements on the first three? I know it's a common view, but it personally escapes me. I'm interested in the other perspective. What makes them better?