Mad News, July 28–30, 2008
- The San Jose Mercury News has a Who’s who on Mad Men scorecard sort of thing.
- Here’s another one of those articles tying modern fashion’s retro feel to Mad Men.
- This New York Times article about television watching notes the way that television is used as backdrop commentary on Mad Men.
- The Moment, a New York Times blog, interviews Janie Bryant. This one doesn’t credit her with a Mad Men Emmy nomination (which she doesn’t have) but gets the total hit count wrong (it’s 16 Emmy nominations, not 17).
- Watch with Kristin features interviews with Christina Hendricks, Jon Hamm, January Jones, Elisabeth Moss, and the lovely Rich Sommer from the premiere event.
- Lenore Skenazy, a fairly well-known columnist who I read in several different sources, sings the praises of Mad Men style in the New York Sun.
‘Mad Men.” I want everything on that show, from the ashtrays to the wall hangings to the lead actor.
And I don’t smoke. And I’m married.
I guess I could use a wall hanging.
- Portfolio looks at Mad Men’s ratings success, but also, how far it has to go.
- Not every Boston Herald writer hates Mad Men. Amy Amantengelo finds the show “grounded,” and quotes several cast members. Elisabeth Moss says:
“For me, Peggy represents that movement of women in the workplace, which is a very important movement, which now we take for granted a little bit,” Moss said. “They were the pioneers. . . . I like that I get to represent those women and show what it was like and give them their due, because they did have to work pretty hard.”
- The Daily Texan is lovin’ season two.
- EW’s Karen Valby has a lovely piece on Mad Men season 2 and Mad Men buzz:
I wonder if people who have never seen an episode of Mad Men have started to feel a little like folks who never watched The Wire…At a certain point, the uninitiated can only take so much slobbering before they decide Well, screw it, now I’m never going to watch that stupid show because I’m sick of everyone oozing over it and I don’t want to feel late to the party and the show is probably overrated and do I even get the AMC channel?
- The British marketing publication Brand Republic summarizes US critical raves.
- Multichannel writes about the numbers. Interestingly, they claim that 2 million viewers is an increase of 25%, while everyone else is saying it’s an increase of 100%.
- MSNBC’s Test Pattern calls Mad Men “the best of summer TV.”
- The Hartford Courant previews season two, and says “there’s no ignoring “Mad Man” as a cultural force.”
- Film.com assures its readers that Mad Men is not having a sophomore slump.
- The National Post’s blog “The Ampersand” notes that Amazon’s numbers for Meditations in an Emergency skyrocketed immediately after the airing of For Those Who Think Young.
- The body-loving blog Elastic Waist loves Christina Hendricks.
- In the Seattle Times, HR professionals watched For Those Who Think Young, noting behaviors that are now illegal or frowned-upon.
- And here’s my favorite article of the week, from Ad Week (hat tip to Basketcase Peter G.). Barbara Lippert writes an insider’s critique of Mad Men, hating it and then loving it, realizing she’d misjudged, but still staying distant enough to think through exactly what’s right and wrong with the show. It’s like she starts as Marti Barletta, but keeps thinking. Lippert should come here; she fits in with our analytical side!
- Creative Loafing of Atlanta gives a good review which mentions “scenes of unnerving quiet.” Perhaps my favorite phrase this week (other than “the catastrophe of my personality”).
Later, Creative Loafing explores the notion of “bad moms” on Mad Men.
- AMC’s 1960s Handbook does a nice write-up on the monstrous Xerox featured in the season 2 premiere.
- The Belleville News-Democrat interviews Elisabeth Moss, whom they describe as a “perfect fit” for Peggy.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:52 am
So the sun came around at last, we always win them over in the end
July 31st, 2008 at 3:01 am
Your San Jose Mercury News Link doesn’t.
July 31st, 2008 at 7:18 am
Thanks, John, I fixed it.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:19 am
By the way, it is just UNCONSCIONABLE that Janie Bryant did not receive an Emmy Nomination for Mad Men Season 1. She was responsible for the unbelievely amazing costume design and implementations for 12 of the 13 episodes – yet the person who did the pilot-only got the Emmy nod. How the heck can that be??? Is there anything the fans can do to have the Emmy organization correct their error?
July 31st, 2008 at 9:51 am
Is there anything fans can do? No. It has to do with the committee looking at the “screeners” (the individual episodes selected to present to the nomination committee) and deciding based on that. They don’t look at the show as a whole, and may not necessarily have been aware that the costume designer for episode 1 never came back.
But Janie already has an Emmy, and undoubtedly next year will be her year for a Mad Men nomination.
July 31st, 2008 at 12:26 pm
The Waterbury Connecticut newspaper published a major Front-Entertainment-Page, hugely positive review of MAD Men this past Sunday – also giving Michael Gladis a note as the “local Connecticut Connection” since he hails from that state. Waterbury is CT’s 3rd largest city.
http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2008/07/27/lifestyle/356220.txt
August 1st, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Judith Warner in the NYT has an interesting column that I think applies to the world that the Mad Men are creating.
http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/camp-codependence/?8dpc