Basket of Kisses

The curse of the InStyle Wedding: Pray for Christina (h/t Basketcase Jackie).

There will be a Mad Men sketch on Leno on Friday night.

Talia Balsam (Mona Sterling) is in a new web series (thanks Basketcase Shelly).

Via Mad Men Footnotes, I found this vintage ad site, “beyond, deux.”

Self-Styled Siren doesn’t like Mad Men. Instead, she offers a bucketload of Mad Men-era film dramas she does like.

Bryan Batt returns as host for the Grand Auction at the annual Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Flea Market on September 27th, and will be at the celebrity table earlier in the afternoon.

Jon Hamm provides the big finish in a new ad for the Univeristy of Missouri.

Prop Master Discount Herbal Cigarettes claims to offer “high-quality, better-tasting herbal cigarettes in assorted flavors at the same price you’ve probably been paying for the ‘other’ brand” (thanks Basketcase SmilerG).

Paxti is described as “a handsome man of 29, with sloping brown-green eyes, a slightly receding hairline and a vague resemblance to the actor Mel Ferrer” in Jai-Alai: Fury at the Fronton! (Thanks Basketcase robustoman.)

Maggie Siff will be appearing Off-Broadway in Or,.

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This is usually Roberta’s domain — she has this big list, and everything. But she’s off in the wilderness somewhere, and, well, the show must go on. Figured it’d be easier to do one big birthday shout-out for the month of June. Hopefully, I’m not missing any one.

Happy Birthday, y’all!
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They fugged Maggie Siff for her Mad Men Revue costume. Twice. And this time they not only fugged the dress, but dinged her for wearing it twice.

So I wrote to them and said:

Honestly, I can’t believe you guys. Maggie Siff was wearing a COSTUME back in October for a musical revue the cast of Mad Men did in LA. And she was wearing the SAME costume last night for the SAME musical revue in Vegas.

Hello? Costume! Just saying.

Kisses,

Deborah

And look! They added an addendum:

** Oh, bless, apparently the Mad Men revue she’s performing in above was ALSO performed in October, hence the repeat outfit. So now the question is: Whom is she bribing in order to GET them to dress her like a potential Hamm-enticing beanbag chair?

I am Teh Famous.

Back in October, I covered the MM Revue (“A Night on the Town w/ MM”) for The Basket when it played at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles. I was amazed at the Mad talent of the Mad cast, and received one of THE thrills of my life when Robert Morse planted one on yours truly — without my having to lobby for it. No lie. He just grabbed me, and kissed me. And I’m not even cute. Well, not that cute. We all have our moments…

So the popularity of that October event spawned a repeat, which played this past Tuesday in Vegas. Essentially, it was the same show, but with the added talents of Rich Sommer, Julie McNiven, Audrey Wasilewski (Peggy’s sister Anita) and a cameo stage appearance by Christina Hendricks. (more…)

I haven’t been watching the show, so I couldn’t even tell you if it was a repeat. But I don’t think so.

I have to say? I just love her. Two lines in, and this character is as beloved to me as Rachel was.

Being the left coast correspondent for Basket of Kisses certainly has its perks – especially if it leads to this. Or it results in an invite to shindigs like “A Night on the Town with Mad Men,” which took place this past Tuesday at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles. Sponsored by Lionsgate, Chivas Regal, and Brooks Brothers, “A Night on the Town…” was a 1960s-style Las Vegas revue featuring some of our favorite Mad Men co-stars cheekily sending-up their characters by way of swanky lounge music. Behind-the-scenes regulars David Carbonara and Janie Bryant also had a hand in the production, providing musical direction and costumes for the event, which was a fundraiser for the Los Angeles chapter of The Recording Academy’s music education and development programs.

Imagine a stately old movie theater that’s been converted to a nightclub, which is swathed in red velvet and illuminated by chandeliers. Okay, so maybe that sounds like a bordello – but what could be more alluring? Add a ton of free booze, lots of beautiful people, as well as the multifaceted talents of Robert Morse, Bryan Batt, Joel Murray, Michael Gladis, Maggie Siff, Mark Moses, Patrick Fischler, Melinda McGraw, Colin Hanks, Alison Brie, Crista Flanagan, and Donielle Artese, and you have to admit that’s better than sitting at home watching “Dancing with the Stars.” And when you spot Christina Hendricks, Aaron Staton, Edin Gali, Darby Stanchfield, Robin Veith, Scott Hornbacher, and Matthew Weiner chilling in the audience? You know it’s not just another Tuesday in La La Land.

I arrived at the theater a few minutes early and was perfectly content to hang with the press, snarking with E! Online’s Jennifer Godwin, and flirting with the photographer who wielded a really long lens. I loves me some gear – especially when seen in the shadow of my own rooty poot equipment, which looked like a Fisher Price toy in comparison…sigh…Anyway, I was standing around, minding my own business, when up rushed Matthew Weiner, who grabbed my camera and started snapping pictures of me as if I were one of Maxim’s Hot 100. That pretty much got me the title of queen for a day, and suddenly I was a VIP to everyone — a lifestyle I could learn to like.

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Well, just pictures for the moment. Have a gander at some of the Mad Men on the town at last night’s Musical Revue fundraiser for the educational and professional development programs of The Recording Academy. More on the event later. But pictures, people. There are pictures. And maybe a sampling of the evening’s fare…if you’re good. Click on the image to view a larger photo.

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Oh, Maggie. You left Mad Men for this?

Seriously, I made it halfway through. Visually it’s powerful. And Ron Perlman. I crush so hard on Ron Perlman. Hamm for sex, Perlman forever, y’know? Big, teddy bear, smart, mean yet cuddly and monumentally tall. He is my ideal man. And watchable on-screen. Love him without prosthetics; you hardly ever see that.

But it’s so completely not enough.

I thought, Maggie Siff in a biker show, that might be interesting. Except she’s not one of the bikers, she plays a doctor (inthehospitalwherethestar’sbabymightdieandtheyhaveapast). Totally not against type. So, less interesting.

And even with a Ron and a Maggie and motorcycles and violence and a big fat scary Jewish biker guy, just not interesting.

Oh well.

(Updated: Read all the way to the end.)

Okay, first of all, Emmys. Doesn’t need to be in a news roundup, because it gets its own Very Special Posts. But there’s some post-Emmy-announcements let’s-talk-about-this-show news.

• Newsweek, for example, discusses the way that rules changes in the nomination process help and hinder various shows.
• The silliest headline may well be Collier Thrilled to See AMC’s Talent Rewarded by TV Academy at TV Week. Because without that informative lead-in, we might think the AMC general manager was perturbed, annoyed, disgruntled, or bored by his network’s historic stack of nominations.
• The LA Times’s The Envelope, which has written about Mad Men a lot, writes cogently about what low ratings mean for an Emmy-nominated show, and has the delightful headline, “The TV hits that no one watches.”
• WaPo has an amusing article, citing several of our fave TV critics, explaining that for a change they’re not infuriated by the Emmy nominations.

“I am surprisingly migraine-free,” said Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune.

In other news:
TV Guide’s “scoop” on Mad Men is mad annoying:

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Maggie Siff got fugged!

My brain is rebelling against being asked to concentrate so hard on interpreting the evidence of fuggery here; it would much rather be put to important use, say, conquering the Rainbow Road course on Mario Kart Wii, or on what type of sandwich to eat for lunch.

They even left out the poor makeup choice and the tragically dull hair color. I don’t know if her dark tresses in Mad Men are her natural shade, or if this lighter brown is, but the darker shade is HELLA sexier.