Basket of Kisses

Mo Ryan, the Chicago Tribune’s “Watcher,” has made Mad Men her #1 show of 2008. No surprise there, Mo has been one of Mad Men’s biggest supporters from Day One. It’s part of why we love her. Another part is elegant phrasing like this:

Even when it confounded me, this rich, complicated drama about yearning, unpredictable men and women left me hungry for more. This year, the “Mad” men frequently yielded center stage to the show’s frustrated, fascinating women, who turned in stunning performances, and to supporting characters such as the lovable but heartbreaking Freddy Rumsen (Joel Murray). “Only connect,” E.M. Forster wrote. It’s never easy, but I look forward to watching Don Draper keep trying.

The Lafayette (of Louisiana) sees Mad Men as a metaphor for modern ambitions.

MSNBC sees Mad Men as predictive of coming styles. They’re not alone, of course.

Basket buddy Rolando of the Urbanite spotted a NYC sign that pays tribute to Mad Men.

Who will act with Elisabeth Moss now that Jeremy Piven has left Speed-the-Plow. Norbert Leo Butz and William H. Macy, according to AM New York. So, she’s in good company. And here’s bitchiness about Piven, including sarcasm from our dear sweet Elisabeth Moss! The same blogger (Hal Boedeker) who posted the bitchiness has also debunked Piven’s claim of mercury poisoning: (more…)

Lionsgate needs to understand that Matt Weiner is laying golden eggs. You remember the fable, right? The short-sighted fat cats cut the goose open to find the unending supply of golden eggs that must surely be within, thereby destroying their source of gold.

Matt Weiner makes gold.

Look, Mad Men has never been a “hit” in the sense of major moneymaker. From the beginning, we’ve read that AMC makes about as much money on an episode of Mad Men as it does on yet another showing of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Jon Hamm can joke on SNL about how no one has seen his show or knows what it’s about because it’s true. If AMC wanted ratings, they’d broadcast Bachelor Dwarf or something.

Mad Men is about prestige. Again, from the beginning, AMC has said they want the show because of the profile it gives them. Because it allows them to make Breaking Bad, Twitch, and others.

The prestige plan worked. For over a year, AMC has been touted as the breakthrough free cable network. TNT already had The Closer, USA already had Monk, but it is AMC, and specifically Mad Men, that is cited in article after article about the changing face of cable, in report after report about how the networks are dead and cable is the place to be. AMC did what no other free cable station had done; created premium-cable style quality and raked in major awards.

Matt Weiner gave them that, and that’s what they needed him for. They still need him for that.

What do they think will happen if Matt Weiner goes away and takes his vision for Mad Men with him? Prestige goes with him is what. The show becomes crappy, people talk about how AMC is all washed up, and they start looking for the next new shiny thing.

Because the golden eggs are all gone.

AMC, you really think you can keep Aronofsky once Weiner goes? Really?

• Christina Hendricks on the cover of Southern Beauty magazine. (h/t to Basketcase Jannah.)
• The Hollywood Reporter opens the Golden Globes Guessing Season. Hamm and Slattery are both considered contenders.
• Ausiello speaks to us:
  

  Question: Any new news on the contract talks with AMC and Mad Men exec producer Matt Weiner? — G
  Ausiello: No movement that I know of. In other Mad Men news, perennial supporting actress contender January Jones wisely decided to enter herself into the lead actress race at this year’s Golden Globes. Her superior season 2 work more than justified the upgrade, wouldn’t you say? The only drawback: She’ll have to go head-to-head with the equally awesome Elizabeth Moss.

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I’ve been corresponding with Rich Sommer for close to a year. Deb and I started this Mad Men blog; he’s got this charming blog, it was a whole blog thing. What you get from reading Rich’s blog is, this is a nice guy. This is a nice guy whose life just went from really good to Please, if this is a dream, may I never wake up from it. Lovely wife, beautiful baby, and the job of a lifetime.

So Rich and I have sort of ‘known’ each other for all this time, but had never spoken. This long-awaited interview/conversation took place the first week of November. A few weeks later he was back in New York City and Deborah and I met him, but at the time of this phone call, I didn’t know that was coming. Anyway, it is no surprise that Rich and I spoke for quite awhile, and that the conversation vacillated between formal interview and lots of off-topic, off-the-record yakking. I’ve been working on rolling it together as thoroughly as possible.

RKL: So, thank you for doing this. Yay!
RS: Absolutely! I’m sorry it’s taken so long.
RKL: It’s fine. You guys have been busy.
RS: Yeah, a little bit.
RKL: It’s very good stuff. Congratulations on everything. Saturday Night Live being quite a culmination.
RS: Thanks! Yeah it’s been pretty uh…it’s been pretty weird. It’s been pretty fun.
RKL: I met with Elisabeth the other night and she explained how she was the last minute fill-in, as you know, and she was somewhat disappointed that she didn’t get to see herself portrayed.

Elisabeth was called in at the last minute to play Peggy in the Mad Men sketch, because Amy Poehler went and had her baby that day.

RS: Yeah. That was obviously a pretty unique experience. But getting to be on the show is, I mean c’mon! That’s pretty amazing too.
RKL: Yeah. It’s Saturday Night Live.
RS: Yeah. It’s an institution.

Rich writes about seeing himself portrayed on SNL here.

RKL: About Mr. Crane. The first thing I want to know about him is how did his marriage get repaired? What do you think went down? (more…)

• Alison Brie sings Santa Baby.
• Jon Hamm is one of the sexiest men alive (we knew that).
• Forbes interviews AMC head Charlie Collier about Mad Men and other stuff.
• Jon Hamm, whom we previously reported is one of GQ’s Men of the Year, attended GQ’s Man of the Year party with a bunch of other hot celebs:
  

  “I’m man shopping. This is like a man mall and I’m shopping for the best one I can find,” joked [Kathy] Griffin

  The LA Times also blogged the GQ party.

• He’s everywhere! He’s one of In Style’s “Sexy Stars.”

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Okay, I was away for several days, and I have a backlog of news.

• Retro Renovation will help you recreate Betty’s kitchen.
• Yahoo TV lists Pete Campbell as a character we love to hate. (h/t zeitgeist)
• …and Yahoo News answers the “are those real cigarettes” question.
• In St. Louis, the Edgewood Children’s Center is auctioning off a walk-on role for Mad Men, with proceeds going to the center. This was arranged by homeboy Jon Hamm. (h/t Seagirl)
• Lionsgate laid off 41 employees. That’s 8% of their workforce. Here are their financial numbers, if you have a head for such things. I don’t.
• Lionsgate nonetheless reports growth, but is still mum on negotiations with Matt Weiner.
• Cablevision (which owns AMC) is more profitable than ever.
• Mom Logic discusses “media monogamy,” which I relate to far too much. Mad Men is mentioned in the opening paragraph.
• Wired interviews Jerry Della Femina about the reality of Mad Men.
• The Israeli magazine Haaretz sings the praises of Mad Men, waxes poetic about the joys of alcohol, and rates the best bars in Israel.
• Charlie Collier has been promoted to the president of AMC.
• Jon Hamm smiling? Smiling and lighthearted? It’s insane! Insanely GOOD!
• Season 2 DVDs are scheduled for release in July. And while that probably depresses you, keep in mind that’s probably also indicative of the Season 3 premiere date. DVDs are available for preorder.
• An article on high-tech advertising tools refers to them as “for today’s Don Draper.” Ha!

I’m sorry, it was at the very end of the tape, I’ve been transcribing my fingers off. Matt talks really fast:

This is a business thing. I’m not renegotiating. My contract expired, I had a two year contract. And it just started. We did the whole season, won the Emmys, all this other stuff, and I just heard from them recently. And so we’re getting into it now. There’s no, this is the way it works all the time. It’s just very public, I guess, because people care about the show and want to know what’s going to happen. And it’s also, the business is changing so much, the cable business, all this other stuff, so there’s interest. But there’s no intrigue or anything to report, I have to be honest with you. I have every intention and desire to continue making this show with everybody at AMC, and that’s the plan. So we’re just going to hopefully, give me a contract for a couple of years so I can keep working.

So that’s from Matt’s lips to your ears.

…along with Theano Apostolou, who is VP Publicity over at AMC.

I’ll come back with more later (not necessarily later tonight, but later).

Okay here’s something… Anna Draper has been in Matt’s head all along. Definitely during Season One.

Aaand… this just became an open thread for the party. All the lovely Basketcases who came out,

No wait. Let me rephrase.

Basketeer roll call, Sound off now!!!!

This morning in the There is no word for it thread RedHeadedWonder wrote:

About Don and Bobbie–didn’t she assault him first in the car? In a way they were playing the same game, which makes it a bit different from Joan and Greg. While Greg was threatened by Joan wanting to be on top earlier and saw his rape as a retaliation, Joan probably didn’t see it that way. She didn’t climb on top with the purpose of belittling him, but as an act of love. Bobbie’s initial act was one of aggresion. All throughout dinner, Bobbie was deliberately undercutting Don’s efforts, and his “act” was part of the power-play. Granted, Don’s assault on Bobbie made me really uncomfortable when I saw it, but I understand a difference. I wouldn’t want to say she was “asking for it” but she was being violent with him long before that moment.

Excellent point.  Earlier this week I had begun to write something in this thread, but stopped because I felt it was treading too close to a defense of Greg.

Let me see if I can try to do this again while walking the appropriate side of that line …

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• None of the Mad Men stars have contracts. Fox News tells us that Jon Hamm, John Slattery, and the rest of the cast have yet to sign for a third season. ARGH!
• However, a couple of days later, AMC came out saying Jon Hamm does have a contract, and viewers shouldn’t worry.
• And Alan Sepinwall gets the money quote from Matt Weiner:
  

  “I love the show and I love the characters and we just started (negotiating),” he said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “I have every intention of being part of this show forever. I love doing it and I love the experience and I love working with everybody I work with. There’s no crisis.”

  Paste that to your bathroom mirror and read it over and over.

  As with every Weiner interview, virtually every word is quotable, so go read.

• Bryan Batt interview with Richard Jay-Alexander.
• Buzz Sugar asks readers what they want from a third season of Mad Men (other than, y’know, JON HAMM).
• Stickers and Donuts shows you how to buy everything Mad Men and basically gives lessons in fan-type worship. Woo!

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