Time is fleeting
So the question arises, when will the first episode of Season Three take place?
S1 took place between March and November of 1960. S2 came back 14-ish months later, running from February to October of 1962.
Now if we know anything about Matthew Weiner, and I daresay we do, it’s that he does not want follow a formula. We also know that he has no intention of devoting an episode to the Kennedy assassination (November 22, 1963)–he has made it clear that our culture has been there, done that. There are plenty of other historical events, even big advertising milestones, that you would think couldn’t be missed, but guess what? that’s not our show. In other words, history is not driving this bus. This is a show about people, and the way in which events affect them is what matters. Some of those events are historical, but all of them become personal.
So all of that said, and because it’s only Wednesday and this week just doesn’t feel like it’s moving forward, let’s entertain ourselves and play Rip Van Winkle–when exactly might we find ourselves waking up?
March 25th, 2009 at 10:08 am
I kind of don’t want it to move forward, because I kind of don’t want to give up the early sixties fashions. 1965? Go-go boots? The horror, the horror!
March 25th, 2009 at 10:53 am
Sure, but at least we spend a lot of time at the office, so we won’t see too many go-go boots.
Or, we have in the last two seasons. Maybe Matt moves the whole thing to the beach. Hanging out on the beach in Venice, CA.
March 25th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Too bad that Sally isn’t a couple years older, we have no one to scream over The Beatles. I guess Glenn is about the right age to get caught up in the cultural revolution.
March 25th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I’d like to see it start Christmas 1963. It’s enough time for changes to have taken place but not far enough into the future that we won’t miss how it’s affected everyone. Like Joan will have been married to Dr Jerk for a year by then (as depressing as that is to think about,) Roger and Jane will have married by then probably and the Draper baby will still be a baby. And it’s after the assassination but not too far after. But mainly I’d just like to see a Christmas episode. I think they’ve had every other major holiday on the show but Christmas.
March 25th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
My guess would be February 1964…the Beatles conquer America and the landscape of America begins to change which will have major ramifications for the folks at Sterling-Cooper.
March 25th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
After so much of season one being devoted to Nixon vs. Kennedy, I wonder what kind of coverage of Johnson vs. Goldwater will get. Is SC the type of slow-to-change-lovers that they tend to back the incumbent or are the going to be amongst Goldwater’s constituents that go on to find the neo-con movement?
Also, partly inspired by The Watchmen coming out, I would like some kind of reference to Kitty Genoveses’ murder. (The Watchmen is the only fictionalized history that I am familiar with that deals with it, and I don’t like how they did it.) While all of the character are defined by where they live none of them really belong to a community so I think it would be interesting to see how they react to it.
Also after having so much time of S2 leading up to the conference in California I would be disappointed if the did not have something to do with North American Aviation’s promotion of the space race.
March 25th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
I’m ashamed to say I don’t know what date the season ended, what month/year on the show that is.
Frankly, I would be happy to see S3 open with a shot of Don smoking away in the waiting room of the Lenox Hill maternity ward, awaiting the birth of baby #3. I don’t want them to jump *too* far ahead.
March 25th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
The only guess I have is that they will skip over Betty’s pregnancy. I mean it’s possible she could miscarry, but I doubt it.
March 25th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Matt is a huge James Bond fan. I think we’ll see Bondmania. Dr. No opened in the U.S. in 1963, but peak Bondmania was ‘64-65.
March 25th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
S-1 March – November 1960
S-2 Feb – October 1962
S-3 Jan – September 1964 ???? Would make sense if the trend is correct.
Personally, I think S-3 will start with footage of the Beatles landing at Idlewild field. An underlying plot theme of S1 and S2 has been youth and the effect on the establishment. The arrival of the Beatles signifed the emergance of youth as the driving force of the 60’s. What better way to announce the upcoming transformation ?
March 25th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
He could totally mess us up and start like a week later.
Or early ‘58. He can do whatever he wants. His show.
March 25th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
By 1964, Sally will be old enough to scream over the Beatles. Little girls loved them, too, just like they did Paul Revere and the Raiders and later on, the Monkees.
1964 is a very rich year in which to start the next season. You’d have the Civil Rights Act; the World’s Fair in New York; the Surgeon General’s report; Hello, Dolly, Funny Girl and Fiddler on the Roof all running on Broadway at the same time; Mary Poppins in the movie theater, and Simon and Garfunkel just starting to get popular.
In fashion, skirts are starting to get shorter (although we’re still a few years away from miniskirts) and Betty might start wearing her hair in an updo. It was also the year of the Tokyo Olympics (and that fantastic movie, Olympiad) and the launch of the bullet train. Imagine if Don got to go to Japan.
March 25th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
1964=Goldfinger. Deborah happy.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
It would be so cool if Don went to Japan.
I dunno, it would be interesting to see the clothes and the styles of the 60s start to gradually change in the office.
But, hopefully no one will wear anything that will make me cringe…
Thankfully no one at Sterling Cooper will wear weird hippie-esque clothes.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
Except Paul. And David Cohen in the mailroom.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:12 pm
In reference to The Beatles—I was 8 when they hit America and fell in love with them! Thus began my love of 60’s music and pop culture from that time period. (although I didn’t know that’s what it was called).
About Go-Go boots— I had a white pair in 1966 when I was in the 6th grade and wore them with my fishnet stockings. I wanted to look just like the dancers on “Hullabaloo.”
March 25th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Christine Hendrix said in a recent Vogue that she hopes “the skirts are shorter in 1964″ which lead the writer to state (opine?) that she show jumps at least to that year.
March 25th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
I’m with bee, Christmas 1963 would be nice. But my guess is it will be spring of 1964. Perhaps they can end with a Christmas ep, although with this show, it probably would have more angst than cheer in it.
March 25th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
I also think that it’s going to be 1964; we know that MW likes a substantial jump ahead for a number of reasons: (a) to build mystery about what time during the missing year; (b) to keep the plot from becoming too soap-operatic from a constant raising of the stakes, Big Love-style, and allowing things to calm down; and (c) to cover as much of the period as possible in the number of seasons he has.
March 25th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
I’m hoping for Feburary of 1964. I want to see everyone at S-C react to The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. However, I do like the image of Don smoking in a hospital waiting for the birth of his third child.
March 25th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Presumably not 1973, as that’s a quick route to cancellation, even if Harvey Keitel and Michael Imperioli are on board.
March 25th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
True dat. Then again, there isn’t a superior British predecessor of Mad Men.
March 26th, 2009 at 12:38 am
@15 Every time I watch the S2’s final episode, I swear I catch a glimpse of David Cohen from the mail room standing at the bar as Betty passes on her way to the bathroom. Drives me crazy. Am I the only one to see him?
@16 My mother bought I Want to Hold Your Hand and Louie Louie and played them for me when they first came out (I was maybe 4 or 5), and we danced the twist.
@20 What if Don is smoking in the waiting room at the birth of child #4? I’m just sayin’.
March 26th, 2009 at 5:42 am
I think January 1964 starts the beginning of the end and the beginning of so many things:
January 10- Introducing…the Beatles is released by Chicago’s Vee-Jay Records to get the jump on Capitol Records’ release of Meet the Beatles!
January 11 – United States Surgeon General Luther Leonidas Terry reports that smoking may be hazardous to one’s health (the first such statement from the U.S. government).
January 17 –
John Glenn announces that he will seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senator from Ohio.
Michelle Obama, First Lady of the United States, is born.
March 26th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I have no reason to disagree with the suppositions of Dec. 1963 / Jan. 1964. Sounds good to me. It would be kind of neat to see everyone in the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination and the buildup of Beatlemania.
[And am I seriously the only one who read the subject line and blurted out, "Madness... (They suck!) ...takes it's toll. (Sixty-nine cents, please.)"? Sign of my misspent college years, I guess.]
March 26th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Robin, you are clearly younger and/or regionally different, as I don’t know those lines.
And believe me, I know lines.
March 26th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
I remember “25 cents please” but definitely not “they suck!”
We know that the actors are no more informed than we are. Re-read any of our actor interviews (Bryan Batt, most recently). She’s guessing, same as us.
March 26th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Roberta – I love your idea about moving Sterling Cooper to the West Coast.
RE: start of Season 3 – Peggy, Kurt and the other Smith will understand the tectonic shift that the Beatles will have on American culture. The generational differences will surface this year, manefested by the types of companies/products SC pursues. I wonder how Harry will exploit (or fail to recognize) the convergence of the Baby Boomers/Youth Culture, Music and the emergence of Television as the dominant media outlet.
March 26th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
My guess is April 21st, 1964. The World’s Fair in Flushing opened for business. It was a magnet for advertising dollars and ushered in the era of “It’s a Small World, After All”, for better or worse.
March 26th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
I am nervous we’re moving too fast through the 1960’s. I’m loving the end of 1950’s/early 1960’s vibe (clothes, attitudes etc.) and don’t want to end up in Watergate by season 4!
Therefore…
1) I’d like to lobby Matt Weiner for a November 1963 – Kennedy assassination weekend episode. He would do a brilliant and fresh job. I don’t know why he is so resistant to that idea. How do you fully explore the 1960’s and skip this critical event? I think the details have not been examined about that day. Ask anyone who was around then – they’ll tell you a personal story about it – not a big political/dramatic one. My mom always talks about pushing us in the stroller in white snow suits to go visit her mom to cry together (being Irish catholic they felt it was personal!) and walking and crying and looking at the white snow suit… little stuff like that is how that event is remembered – not long lines at the Capital and people gathered around storefronts selling TV’s.
2) Do you think they’ll do an episode/season where they go back to the 1950’s to see everyone younger??
March 27th, 2009 at 12:22 am
Robin D-I’d never heard those lines, but I love them.
I hadn’t thought of Harry’s position relative to youth culture. I wonder if that means he’ll be working more with Peggy and Kurt. I could see him asking for thier opinion, and genuinely listening to what they have to say, and not dismissing them like others. I could see Pete going after more youth oriented accounts.
March 27th, 2009 at 9:28 am
Given how integral TV became to American culture during the ’60s, I’m guessing that Harry’s going to have a bigger staff and possibly shared authority over someone in the art department who is a dedicated storyboarder. They’ll still be doing print media, but I bet the television department will be growing fast. At least Jennifer will be happy.
Re RHPS lines: Huh. Must be a Boston thing. Or a late-90s thing. Or both. Now I’m kinda tempted to go on a cross-country Rocky road trip to compare the various audience participation techniques. (But not before I finally visit Italy and Greece, dammit.)
March 27th, 2009 at 9:52 am
I’m personally hoping for Season Three to start in 1965.
Actually, I’m just itching for the season to start. It’s still four months away!
March 27th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Marty — or maybe a week or two before the World’s Fair opens, because S-C has clients involved in the WF and has to make sure their campaigns launch on time.
Also, remember anything that happens between 1962-64 could still be seen in flashbacks. So we could witness Don in the waiting room for his third child, and/or Don not in the waiting room for his third child, but arriving with a huge bouquet and a big ring. (The doctors sent my dad back to work the day I was born, and I came so fast that he missed it!)
March 27th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I would love to see the late ’50s – Don wooing Betty (and starting his whoring ways), his start at SC, Freddy Rumsen, even maybe Joan as the new girl catching Roger’s eye.
Or July ‘63 – Betty impossibly thin, home with a newborn and the “baby blues”, the glacier of ice growing between her and Don.
March 27th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Whenever the season begins, at some point during it, we have to see a copy of the Feminine Mystique, or have one character mention. It’s on someone’s coffe-table, in a bookstore window, or comes up in conversation when Betty and her neighbors are talking to each other.
March 27th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
I vote for Dec 1963. I would love to see them do a Christmas episode – I’ve been waiting for 2 seasons! Although I didn’t think of it myself, I have to say that I am feeling that idea of Don smoking in the waiting room of the maternity ward, so I definitely wouldn’t complain if it was June 1963.
March 27th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
I think the best we’re gonna get out of Beatlemania in the first episode will probably just be “British Invasion” jokes because of the merger. And maybe Pete acting like a snobby curmudgeon at all the “Mop Tops”.
March 29th, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Oh, the idea of Betty and the baby blues, to me, is just irresistible! I think it would be criminal to skip over that stage, there is just so much they could do with that.
March 30th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Well, I was born in Dec of 1963, so I guess I’ll make that my sentimental favorite.
My mom’s Nov 22 1963 story is that she was ironing, watching a soap, and when she heard the news, she had very strong contractions for a few hours. I showed up a couple of weeks later.
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:59 am
I’m thinking the start will be later in 1964 — possibly late spring, early summer. Just in time for baby Draper’s 1st birthday. That might push the potential end-date into 1965. I remember hearing MW say something about them researching everything between ‘63 and ‘65 or ‘66, which led me to believe they were going to jump much further into the future than they had in the past.
Plus, the movie version of “My Fair Lady” was released in late 1964 — and we know how that show has influenced the series: the multiple references to it in the pilot, the thematic similarities of constructed identities, the battle of the sexes, being hampered by rigid societal expectations, illegitimate children, unresolved mother issues, etc. We know how Mad Men likes to go full circle, and it’s a perfect way to tie in the British invasion with the likes of Draper and Co.
May 4th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
[...] those links via Basket of Kisses, the essential “Mad Men” fan site. In this March post, the Lipp sisters and their readers speculate about what year it might be when Don Draper and [...]