1962. It’s official.
You are going to be hearing a lot from my sister and I over the next few hours, days, and possibly forever about yesterday’s screening of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and the follow-up Q&A with Matthew Weiner, hosted by Janet Maslin.
But most important is that he confirmed that Season 2 will pick up in 1962. Right now it’s looking like somewhere between February and April, which is about 15-18 months from where we left Don sitting on the stairs, Thanksgiving weekend, 1960.
Mr. Weiner:
I’ll tell you one thing, I’m not gonna do the same show two years in a row. I really don’t want to. There’s not just gonna be some new mystery and how does that work. It will be the next part in their lives.
And also now that this information, you know, that Who Cares moment about who Don is… that I knew I wanted to do but it’s still… I don’t think there’s ever that much jeopardy. I worked with somebody for three years who told me they went to Harvard. And they didn’t. And in the end nobody cared.
Two words, baby. Digital. Recorder.
February 10th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Which, by the way, is totally a scoop. None of the entertainment media has this information yet, except as a possible maybe.
February 10th, 2008 at 10:26 am
*sigh* I just wanted to see more of exactly where he left off in season one. Yeah it will be touched upon in season two but they are skipping a year so…
I still love this show!
February 10th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Shelly, I hear you, but we’ll be okay.
He spoke about how when he pitched the show, it was as Not a soap opera, but a bit of soap opera. The time jump supports the Not.
And it is consistent with how the show has been presented all along. The beginning of each episode is never (I’ll have to check on the accuracy of ‘never’, but at least nearly never) The next morning…
He allows breathing time, and trusts our intelligence to fill in the gaps.
He moves from Don and Rachel Sleep Together in one episode to They have been Lovers for Probably a few Weeks. We didn’t see the phone calls back and forth where they miss each other. Didn’t see the first time he lied about this one to Betty. Didn’t see the first meeting at Sterling Cooper with them playing footsie under the table.
Because we already know all that.
February 10th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Did he mention if Don Draper would remain a man-whore? I know this sounds sooo bad, but I like Don really slutty….:-P
February 10th, 2008 at 11:29 am
Kay, he did not. But I personally don’t see that going away anytime soon. Even if he tries it. With Betty. With Rachel. I can’t imagine it lasting a full season.
February 10th, 2008 at 11:46 am
I’m a little disappointed that we aren’t going to see Pete and Peggy work together on the Clearasil campaign. I was imagining fireworks.
But I’m breathless about the 1962 choice: Beatles come out with their first hit; the Cuban Missile Crisis; and Marilyn Monroe found dead in her home. It’s going to be big.
February 10th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Oh yeah I get it’s not a soap opera but all that stuff happened in the same year. And since all of that stuff in season one happened in the same year, it’s hard for me to imagine how things will pick up perfectly while skipping a whole year.
But Matt Weiner is a GOD and I know nothing compared to what he knows, so I trust what he is going to do with this show.
As a viewer though, it is hard to imagine since a lot of people like to continue with storylines and no necessarily right after they happened.
I guess I’m more excited now to see how this will all play out. I can’t wait for the show to be on again!!!
February 11th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Now I can’t get 1962 and the Cuban Missile Crisis out of my mind. Don is always thinking about the end of the world! It’s the one thing he can’t escape from when it happens. O, Sinnerman, where you gonna run to?
February 11th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
CMC was in October of that year … so look for it as perhaps a late-season development.