Mad News, August 9-13
- I picked up the August 4 edition of People while getting a pedicure and found a good review of Mad Men (4 out of 5 stars), by Michelle Tauber, which included the following:
I confess: During its much-acclaimed first season, I was a Mad Men resister. The show struck me, a gen Xer with no fuzzy ’60s nostalgia, as a little dull, a lot male and way too small—I mean, really, who cares about a few Brylcreem-haired madison Avenue advertising guys when the fate of all mankind is at stake over on Battlestar Galactica?
Okay, I know that ProgGrrl’s real name isn’t Michelle, but now I’m suspicious.
- Heather Mallick of CBC News Canada writes an entertaining anti-nostalgia piece. I can’t tell if she likes the show or not, but she enjoys the dark light it paints on 50s nostalgia, a darkness she shares.
- Mo Ryan follows up on the picture quality issue, discusses The Benefactor and Colin Hanks’s upcoming guest spot.
- Debbie Salomon of the Burlington Free Press, on the other hand, loves the show and the nostalgia, but notes:
Except for me these details distract from the plot. I’m alert for slip-ups. Aha, I squeal, when a guy ends a business meeting with “We’re done here.”
Nobody said that in 1960.
- AMC wants to spin its success with Mad Men into a new series: A thriller based on Francis Ford Coppola’s little-seen masterpiece, The Conversation.
- Lake County News (Lakeport, California) calls Mad Men “the best TV drama series you are not watching.”
- Someone at the Madison Avenue Journal had fun captioning Mad Men. (Found by Basketcase Peter G.)
- TV Predictions launches its new “HD Hottie” feature by naming January Jones the HD Hottie of the day.
- TV Guide loves January Jones. If you love her too, go vote (Kay, keep away).
- Geeksugar loves Mad Men’s vintage geekery.
- Men’s wear is currently selling better than women’s wear, reversing normal trends, and Mad Men is mentioned as an influence.
- You gotta love a blog named clusterflock, and clusterflock loves Mad Men.
- The Oregonian places Mad Men at the top of its list of ten shows worth watching.
- Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly really wants you to watch Mad Men. Really. Hey, Dalt, you’re preaching to the choir here. Or, I dunno, the pulpit.
- The video fashion blog The Thread focuses on sixties fashion a lá Mad Men.
- The Frisky compares Don Draper to John Edwards and wonders about the appeal of the adulterous man.
- Kansas City’s TV Barn reminds us that there are other things on television besides Michael Phelps and Shawn Johnson, including Mad Men:
…each week has been practically a self-contained hour — and each week, the storylines get just a little darker. I’ll be honest: I didn’t see this coming. Before this second season began, I thought “Mad Men” was a smart little show about postwar advertising. But now it’s become a wickedly unpredictable Drama (capital “D”) about people who will do anything to get ahead. For some reason, setting this show in 1962 makes it all that much more delicious.
- Variety talks about the Best Actor Emmy contenders, including our beloved Jon Hamm.
- The New York Times compares and contrasts Mad Men with modern advertising agencies, visiting Y&R and JWT.
- Basketcase Ellelque has been sending us stuff! Here’s The House Next Door on The Benefactor, analyzing the nature of the fiction presented by television as a medium. Smart stuff. And Nerve weighs in as well.
- She Knows takes a set tour with Christina Hendricks as their tour guide.
- The AMC blog resolves a question that came up in comments. The Defenders episode “The Benefactor” aired on April 28, 1962. IMDb has it wrong.
- But in their “Fashion File,” AMC gets it wrong. The writer refers to a plaid shirt dress worn by “Mrs. Cosgrove.” Say what? Does anyone remember that dress? Which character wore it?
Update: They corrected the post. It’s Mrs. Crane.
August 13th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
That article from The Frisky was on point! And I stayed away from TV Guide….LOL!
August 13th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
I don’t know if this has been covered in other sections of BoK, but just in case … I have been told that there will be a great MAD MEN Fashion pictorial in the September 2008 issue of Playboy, due out very soon…
August 13th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Also, the incomparable TLo have begun blogging Mad Men on their wonderful blog.
http://tomandlorenzo.blogspot.com/
August 13th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Probably has already been posted but in case you were wondering what Don Draper would do -
http://whatwoulddondraperdo.tumblr.com/
Still on my quest to find out what movie he was watching.
August 13th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
This JUST came across the wires: “Batman vs. Mad Men – Dissecting the big fictional dramas of the moment”
http://citybeat.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=145850
Velly Intellesting!
August 13th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I want to send out a quick HAPPY B-DAY message to mah guy John Slattery!
August 13th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
latenac – if you’re referring to the movie in last week’s episode, I believe is was Last Year in Marienbad, which was released in the US in March of 1962. Directed by Alain Resnais, it is famously enigmatic – much like Don Draper, really.
August 13th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
I think that TV Barn quote is right on the money. In a lot of different storylines (Peggy’s, Pete’s, Harry’s, and Don’s in this last episode) there’s a much bigger focus this season on getting ahead and the personal cost entailed in becoming the kind of person who is seen as a success. It’s not universal, but I feel it being emphasized more strongly now than in season one.
August 14th, 2008 at 8:45 am
I don’t think it’s Last Year in Marienbad, I’ve seen that. I think it’s actually Hiroshima Mon Amour where she tells her tale of the German soldier in Nevers. But I can’t find proof that the poem that’s being recited was actually in the film or Last Year in Marienbad either.
I think I’m just obsessed since I went through a phase in college reading tons of nouvel romans (which Robbe-Grillet and Duras are the main writers of that genre) and I’ve seen most of Duras’ films as well as Resnais’. So I feel like I should know what film it is.
Either way both films are very cutting edge for the time and famous. Hiroshima was the beginning of the French Nouvel Vague (new wave). And both films play with time and viewpoint a lot.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:08 am
I don’t know if this is the appropriate thread for this, but I had this little train of thought this morning (in the shower!). In the movie Don was watching there was a momentary scene of a wet hand print on glass, just like the “arty” photos Harry told Don about in “The Wheel”. Remember what Harry said about the person reaching out through the rock. Remember in the emergency room when the doctor put Peggy’s hand on her stomach and she jerked it away. At the end of “The Benefactor” Harry rests his ear against Jennifer’s pregnant stomach like he’s listening for his baby on the other side.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Great observation.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Patti, I actually caught that too. Not the rest of the connections, but the wet hand print made me think of Harry and the photography. And also of the mechanic’s hand prints on Betty’s car.
August 14th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Handprints figure prominently in Hiroshima Mon Amour
http://www.eternitylondon.com/myjapan/research_stage3_hiroshima.htm
shows the hand of the dead German soldier who was her lover and her Japanese lover echoing it.
August 14th, 2008 at 10:14 am
OMG…PEOPLE MAGAZINE likes Mad Men…and Battlestar Galactica????
*dies for a sec*
Nope, it wasn’t me.
[ BTW, editorial note: it's spelled "ProgGrrl"... as in, progressive grrl. get it?
]
August 14th, 2008 at 10:22 am
The hand thing is a very, very subtle–or not–theme. IIRC, horses’ heights are measured by “hands.” Of course, all the handprints in the foreign film and Harry putting his hands on his wife’s belly. The ultimate “hand job” being Don at Lutece. Hmmm….
August 14th, 2008 at 10:42 am
I haven’t seen Hiroshima Mon Amour since forever. I’m going to try to borrow it from our library ( I work at a college). I forgot about the hand prints on Betty’s car. That scene was disturbing in so many ways, but I can’t help noticing that Betty’s car, like her house, was always clean in Season 1. There was always a home cooked meal on the table, or in the oven for Don. Now he gets nothing at all or a ham sandwich. She only goes to the stable on Saturdays, so the car should be clean on a week night. I don’t mean everyone’s car should be, but for someone like Betty whose home life is her entire life and identity it indicates some sort of disintegration.
August 14th, 2008 at 10:53 am
ProgGrrl–fixed.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:07 am
Does she only go to the stables on weekends? She says “See you Saturday” to Sarah Beth on a weekday, so that’s probably twice a week, if she sees Sarah Beth every time she rides.
August 14th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Patti, she doesn’t only go to the stable on Saturdays. In FTWTY, she was on her way home from the stable, but first had to pick Sally up at dance class, and her car got flooey on the way. In the meantime, Don had come home from work, and beat her home. Weekday. I imagine she’s riding 2-3 times a week, with a set schedule (thus the “See you Saturday” remark).
August 14th, 2008 at 11:09 am
D’OH!!!
August 14th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Thanks Deb…you’re getting closer with the spelling and capitalization. I guess it’s a tough one. How about just calling me Erica from Galactica Sitrep?
August 14th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
I can’t believe I did that twice.
I hope you took a screenshot for posterity. I’ll go fix it.
August 14th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Moment 17:
http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20216992_16,00.html
August 15th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
@Deb, you’re too kind!
@Glass Darkly: For me that scene isn’t half as hot if you don’t pair it with the “I have a dream about taking my gun and killing something and I gut it and dress it and the woman in the cabin is waiting for me and cooks it up for me” speech (with extra credit shot: Peggy walks out of the office afterwards, barely able to stand upright)…
September 12th, 2008 at 12:46 am
Sorry, as a legit late-gen baby boomer (I was born in 1962) MM is not, NOT a GenX show. I suspect it’s targeted at people like me, born in that era, who can remember enough about it to be nostalgic, even if we didn’t know all the seamy stuff that went on back then.
September 12th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Matt Weiner is a little youngr than you and I, theturtle; born about 1966, I think. So I don’t think he’s targeting an audience so much as speaking with a voice.