Mad News, June 12-18
Deborah Lipp is on vacation. I’m Victoria Corningstone. Or Karl.
Basketcase Mari found us a scan of a great little Rolling Stone Q&A with Matt Weiner.
RS: It was fitting that [Betty] gets pregnant at her father’s house.
MW: Yeah, that’s not a coincidence.
Bangin’ insight! Update: A longer version is now online.
Mad props are due The Examiner, whose new Mad Men Examiner, Lindy King, is recapping each character’s progression in anticipation of Season 3, starting with Don Draper and Betty Draper. She also has a piece on Dyna Moe’s illustrations, and a contest to attend the Season 3 premiere. Meanwhile, Kevin Fallon reminds Emmy nominators of the awesomeness that was Vincent Kartheiser in Season 2.
Comcast is also running a premiere contest (Thanks, Brenda.)
Christina Hendricks will marry Geoffrey Arend (“Trust Me”) Oct. 11 in Manhattan.
Several actors, including John Slattery, talk about the interaction of writing an acting on television.
John Slattery also jerks E! Online around a bit on Season 3.
AMC is offering a targeted advertising service to sponsors of its Oscar- and Emmy-winning programming.
Variety talked to San Francisco Chronicle critic Tim Goodman and Chicago Tribune critic Maureen Ryan about the highlights and lowlights of Season 2.
Patrick Fischler (Jimmy Barrett) is quoted in a Variety piece on guest stardom. Anne Dudek (Francine Hanson) and Matt Weiner (The Creator) are also mentioned.
Matt Weiner is part of a Showrunners’ Roundtable video series from the Hollywood Reporter. Topics include writing styles, content standards, and spoilerphobia.
The Insider has a slice of Hamm (and longtime partner Jennifer Westfeldt).
“Nixon vs. Kennedy” makes the Top Ten in TV Guide’s Top 100 Episodes of All Time.
… and don’t forget that AMC is soliciting questions for Bryan Batt, Michael Gladis, Vincent Kartheiser, Rich Sommer and Aaron Staton! (Thanks, Camille.)
June 18th, 2009 at 11:26 am
I’m sorry that Examiner entry was bogus…the author needs to get her facts straight. The scenes and facts she provides are so out of sequence. We also all know for a fact that Betty is pregnant with Don’s child…not the guy from the bar…so it isn’t questionable as she deems it to be.
June 18th, 2009 at 11:36 am
All I can say is, read the RS piece … it is so chock full. Thx for sharing Mari!
June 18th, 2009 at 11:57 am
I tried to comment on the Examiner piece, but it doesn’t seem to be going through — I get a page telling me the site is down when I try to submit.
June 18th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Yeah, the Examiner pieces leave something to be desired. The RS interview, though, was great. Chock full-o-quotes.
June 18th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Re: The Examiner
These bits annoy more than they inform. They are more focus on having a salacious voice than correctly explaining the plot or the show’s tone. There was a similar cheat sheet at the end of S2 that also annoyed me.
Loved the expanded RS interview. Especially as it has more stories about plot point being thought of kicked around, dropped or amended.
June 18th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Not exactly MM-related, but those into set design might find this interesting. I wonder if MM uses any of this guy’s stuff?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/18/movies/18props.html?ref=arts
June 18th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
I’m willing to give the Examiner a little slack while they get up to speed, as there are few media outlets willing to devote resources just to Mad Men.
Plus, I think the Examiner stuff is aimed less at Basketcases than it is at trying to interest non-viewers into catching up before Season 3 in August.
June 19th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
The Examiner blurb on Betty was corrected.
June 24th, 2009 at 9:27 am
I read an interesting article about Helen Gurley Brown and her working-class brand of feminism, as the article termed it -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jun/12/helen-gurley-brown-editor-cosmopolitan-feminism
I was reminded of Bobbie and Joan and their advice to Peggy.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Hi all, I am the Mad Men examiner and geez, you’re a hard crowd. FYI, I do kind of agree with what you said. The recaps were written a while ago and I am basically reprinting for people who have never watched the show so they might want to join in. I agree things are kind of dull, but the show has been off the air since the end of last year and I’ve just been waiting for it to come back on and then promise it will get going full-tilt. I don’t really want to go the gossip route and want to focus more on each episode and analysis, so have been going more for the newbie who might want to watch Season 3. I did mess up with Betty’s pregnancy – it was not in the original copy I wrote and when I was inserting I thought oh, geez, i forgot the pregnancy, so added it – and that was an error, as I hadn’t seen the episode for some time. I stand corrected on that for sure. But I do stand by the rest of the Betty article… not sure what the issue about sequencing was, as it is mainly a psychological evaluation and sure seems in sequence to me.
Anyhow, I would appreciate any suggestions, and I believe you will like it better in a few weeks when Season 3 starts…
July 4th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Lindy, a psychological evaluation sounds interesting. I look forward to reading it!
July 5th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Thanks for commenting, Lindy. Given that we are a tough crowd, that took courage!
July 6th, 2009 at 8:20 am
Here’s an early review of the season two DVD, with a lot of info about the extra features:
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/37792/mad-men-season-2/