It's a Mad Mad Mad Men World

So, When I Left, Where Was I?

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Better late than never, let me just say how delighted I am for Jon Hamm! His work was outstanding throughout the entire run of Mad Men, but I thought he was particularly stellar in the final episodes. This Emmy feels genuinely cumulative, as he developed the character with such power and restraint over the years that we always kept wanting him to find his true happiness, no matter how many times he betrayed and let down all the people who cared for him.

Bravo, Jon Hamm!! Have a Coke and a smile!

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Mad Men illustration by Peter Strain for Esquire

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Just in case you are wondering why I’ve started tumbling again.

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Los Angeles Times Interviews Jon Hamm and Matthew Weiner

Hamm: You watch (the episodes) and you think, "Whoa. We've been doing this a long time!" And you forget about that until it's right there in your face.

Did that sort of feeling hit you when you shot the show's last scene?

Weiner: I wanted to use the emotion of the ending of the show for a scene so it would be accessible. Jon's half of the phone call with Betty was the last thing we shot on "Mad Men," and I'd like to think that the experience informed the performance.

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Like a breath of fresh air, he struts in. That's my Pete Campbell, douchey sweater and all.

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Jim Beam vs. Don Draper, via Brash

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Don't look now, but apparently there is a giant glass of scotch at Penn Station that will drain as it gets closer to the Sunday night premiere. This does not seem to bode well for Don's chances of quitting the sauce, but we'll just have to see what the season brings.

In other news, do not under any circumstances inadvertently describe Penn Station as Times Square unless you wish to be rather snarkily corrected. Funny how people tend to express themselves quite differently online from how they would if they had to look you in the eye.

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If these three sillies don't make you giggle, then I just don't know what. More on-set antics here.

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Just in case you've ever wondered what the blaxploitation version of Mad Men would look like, here is the trailer for Don-O-Mite. This brotha is not only one MAD MAN, but he is also NSFW-ish, due to language.

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I was so disgruntled over AMC's terrible decision to split the final season of Mad Men into two parts that I've basically been avoiding this tumblr, but then this poster happened. Created by the legendary Milton Glaser, it whets my appetite for what is to come, no matter how they slice it up.

At this point I am feeling a bit defensive of the show, which I think is as good as ever. Mad Men always was a show about a person who keeps repeating the same actions over time with diminishing rewards, but it's painful to watch someone you've been made to care for go on the skids right in front of you. It's supposed to be painful.

When two worlds collide, the result is cataclysmic. That is the feeling this poster captures for me, and I am so there.

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Series/Mad Men - Television Tropes & Idioms

Television Tropes & Idioms is a wonderful site that is utterly packed with both information and entertainment. Their Mad Men entries are right on point and very funny. For example:

Berserk Button:

Peggy hates it when people imply that she became a copywriter by sleeping with Don.

Don't expect Roger to react rationally around the Japanese

Don when Megan locks him out of their apartment after the disastrous trip to Howard Johnson's in "Far Away Places."

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YouTube user TheGeoffMan mashed up Mad Men with Benson. Life is good.

Gee, that Sterling Cooper Draper Price looks like such a fun place to work.

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The Mad Men Account by Daniel Mendelsohn

That a soap opera decked out in high-end clothes (and concepts) should have received so much acclaim and is taken so seriously reminds you that fads depend as much on the willingness of the public to believe as on the cleverness of the people who invent them; as with many fads that take the form of infatuations with certain moments in the past, the Mad Men craze tells us far more about today than it does about yesterday. But just what in the world of the show do we want to possess? The clothes and furniture? The wicked behavior? The unpunished crassness? To my mind, it’s something else entirely, something unexpected and, in a way, almost touching.

I like the show a lot better than Daniel Mendelsohn does, but this still makes for a good, thoughtful read. I'm sure he's not off the mark when he suggests that I identify with Sally, because she's just five years older than me.

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WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER!!

I was delighted to see Elisabeth Moss win her Golden Globe Award for Top of the Lake, which was so good I'm almost tempted to watch it again.

I was much less pleased with the lack of attention for Mad Men. I can't understand why the show was not at least nominated for writing, but there's no accounting for taste.

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From one Madmen fan to another I have to ask, do you believe that Don cheats on Megan for the same reason he cheated on Betty? it bothered me when people would blame Betty's behavior for his cheating and even say that he don't love her but nothing in the show proves that he was unhappy with his marriage to her. I figured it was his lie that caused him to cheat on Bets but he's not lying to Megan and he's still cheating! Why do you think that is?

Hi there! That is a really good question, isn't it? 

I also have noticed that the Don-worshippers love to blame Betty for his infidelity. It reminds me of all the people who make excuses for Walter White's inexcusable behavior, especially those who blame Skyler. 

Blaming Betty makes even less sense if you can see how living with a man who constantly lied to her and treated her like his property definitely contributed to her neurotic behavior!

I think Don cheats because he is trying to fill his own emptiness. He doesn't know how to show love because no one showed him how. He never saw a healthy relationship, he only saw abuse. I think it was profoundly confusing to him when the prostitute who showed him so much kindness by taking care of his cold then turned around and forced him to have sex. Now he has problems separating love from sex.

I think Don is starting to gain enough insight into his problems that he wants to be a better father to his kids. We saw that at the end of last season when he told them, "This is where I grew up." He may have a better chance of fixing this part of his life than he does the relationship piece, but that's just my guess.

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The Los Angeles Times Interviews Elisabeth Moss

Any time you get to talk back to Don Draper, it’s pretty cool. And it’s this moment when he takes away this account, and says that it wasn’t her idea, which is the worst possible thing you could do to her, he humiliates her personally. Finally after everything, he’s gone too far. She’s one of the only people who can say to him, “You’re a monster,” and have it mean something. I’m sure it’s not the first time someone’s said that to him, or certainly not the first time that someone’s thought it, but Peggy saying that to him is worse than anyone. It was a real low point. I love that after everything, that’s the moment where he’s gone too far.