Harry is def. a bit good at the creative stuff, I think? Hasn't it been intimated that he's okay at that, but kinda crap at business?
― fka snush (remy bean), Thursday, 5 April 2012 16:59 (twelve years ago) link
I think you are making that up
― You big bully, why are you hitting that little bully? (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 5 April 2012 17:03 (twelve years ago) link
he runs the tv dept, also invented it, what more do you want from him
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Thursday, 5 April 2012 17:24 (twelve years ago) link
you all just hate him because he's an overweight schlub, admit it
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Thursday, 5 April 2012 17:25 (twelve years ago) link
he's not overweight anymore, he's practically svelte
― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 5 April 2012 17:25 (twelve years ago) link
you hate him for his effortless weight loss
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Thursday, 5 April 2012 17:26 (twelve years ago) link
I hate him because he invented the television
― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 5 April 2012 17:27 (twelve years ago) link
Yes, without Harry there would be no Mad Men for us to watch.
― Johnny Fever, Thursday, 5 April 2012 17:28 (twelve years ago) link
Mad Men as Doonesbury hmm
― fka snush (remy bean), Thursday, 5 April 2012 17:36 (twelve years ago) link
I love Pete not because he is likable but because his character is just so delicious to watch, complex.
― *tera, Thursday, 5 April 2012 21:15 (twelve years ago) link
^^^
― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 5 April 2012 21:17 (twelve years ago) link
Pete is like a multi-layered artisanal sandwich. Harry is like a pile of mashed potatoes.
― Disco Bob & MC Criminal (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 5 April 2012 21:20 (twelve years ago) link
I always anticipate seeing what kind of weasely thing the character is going to come up with next.
― mh, Thursday, 5 April 2012 21:20 (twelve years ago) link
I have always hated Harry and I am really pleased people are now seeing his awful ways. He has done almost zero anything innovative at SDCP. I mean, he's the dude that somehow hangs on and people sorta respect (to a degree) and you wonder what the fuck it is they do. I work at an advertising agency and there are like 15 of these people who have their own offices and vague titles and kinda just dink around and stare at the walls.
Not sure why s1ocki likes him so much!!!!
― homosexual II, Thursday, 5 April 2012 21:20 (twelve years ago) link
Roger is also becoming one of these people.
totally hope Harry gets herpes. or takes acid and throws himself out a window.
― Disco Bob & MC Criminal (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 5 April 2012 21:23 (twelve years ago) link
s1ocki and harry sitting in a tree, watching T E E V E E
― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 5 April 2012 21:24 (twelve years ago) link
Harry Gets Herpes: new Mad Men spinoff coming this fall!
lol
― Disco Bob & MC Criminal (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 5 April 2012 21:27 (twelve years ago) link
i like harry. he's a confused dork, but seems basically harmless underneath all the boobery. not a good man, not a bad man, just sort of there. holding down the middle.
pete i loathe, but agree that kartheiser does a good job enriching his loathability.
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Thursday, 5 April 2012 21:30 (twelve years ago) link
idg why yall hate on harry hes not a rapist like pete yeesh. in the mad men universe, hes a minor lecher
― D-40, Thursday, 5 April 2012 21:44 (twelve years ago) link
harry is probably the most typical dude on the show
― mh, Thursday, 5 April 2012 22:04 (twelve years ago) link
i dont really care for him one way or another but the way yall pile on him like he's so UNTALENTED and HORRIBLE, u have to admit, is 100% about the way he looks
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Thursday, 5 April 2012 22:39 (twelve years ago) link
what did he do? HE STARTED THE TV DEPARTMENT. that's probably a pretty big part of an ad agency's business.
no it doesn't have anything to do with the way he looks and everything to do with his actions
― Disco Bob & MC Criminal (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 5 April 2012 22:41 (twelve years ago) link
note my stanning for other overweight schlub Paul the Beatnik upthread
that's probably a pretty big part of an ad agency's business.
again you're basing this on... nothing. all the talk about who brings in the most business for the company points pretty squarely to Pete (esp post-Lucky Strike)
― Disco Bob & MC Criminal (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 5 April 2012 22:42 (twelve years ago) link
im basing this on logic and reality, why do you think they brought the schlub over from the old agency and not your beloved beatnik
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Thursday, 5 April 2012 22:53 (twelve years ago) link
why do you think Pete was made a partner, whereas Harry was just told to "come to work over the weekend"
― Disco Bob & MC Criminal (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 5 April 2012 22:57 (twelve years ago) link
the idea that Harry's crucial or creative or has any redeeming qualities is just not supported by the show. sorry.
he was just forced out of his office fyi
― Disco Bob & MC Criminal (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 5 April 2012 22:58 (twelve years ago) link
forced?? Really??
― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:08 (twelve years ago) link
pretty much. it's all about keeping pete happy, since he has ALL the accounts.
― eyes of dora maar (get bent), Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:09 (twelve years ago) link
pete's job is to bring in new clients and to manage existing ones. that kind of thing will always seem sexy and pete's obviously pretty good at it (for reasons that aren't ever made clear: clients don't seem to like him, and he's never shown any great insight, intelligence or understanding of the business).
harry probably does some marketing to broadcasters (?), but we've never seen much of his day-to-day work. we presume he makes TV ads? honestly, i don't think we can say much about the kind of work harry does, what kind of revenue it brings in, or whether he's any good at it. the show simply doesn't care about him. he's a cartoonish shlub designed to set off the more attractive and important characters.
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:11 (twelve years ago) link
as i see it, pete is a classic striver: extremely ambitious, tirelessly dedicated to his work, sharp & bold enough to get what he wants.
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:13 (twelve years ago) link
we saw that joan could do his job 10x better than him w/o breaking a sweat but that applies to alot of characters
― balls, Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:15 (twelve years ago) link
his job = harry; pete's probably the most insightful person (maybe peg) at scdp, though this maybe purely an aspect of his relative youth (though considering harry's about the same age maybe not). sterling cooper's always been depicted as at least a step behind - the first season had draper being skeptical of ddb.
― balls, Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:22 (twelve years ago) link
he's never shown any great insight, intelligence or understanding of the business
what about when he exploited his personal loss to attempt to get the airline...? or screwing over his father-in-law to get bigger accounts? Or telling Ted Chaugh to go fuck himself? Or milking the jai-alai moron? Pete is plenty insightful/intelligent.
― Disco Bob & MC Criminal (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:24 (twelve years ago) link
Harry can be a schmuck, but there's a haplessness about him that I find sympathetic.
― Cuba Pudding, Jr. (jaymc), Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:25 (twelve years ago) link
did you even watch the premiere episode?! Roger said "move out and give your office to Pete" and Harry was like "uh okay please don't fire me"
― Disco Bob & MC Criminal (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:25 (twelve years ago) link
i see him as sharp and wily: clever enough to recognize the openings and weaknesses around him, unscrupulous enough to exploit them. this doesn't make him brilliant, but it does make him a very successful jr. shark.
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:30 (twelve years ago) link
he's basically the template of the corporate asshole. arrogant, entitled, pushy as hell, sharp enough to get what he wants, largely untroubled by compassion or decency.
― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:31 (twelve years ago) link
also first season (first episode?) makes clear that what sterling cooper sells really is airtime/print space/etc. the actual ads are the flourish to their middle manning. harry, i believe, basically acts as a liaison between clients and the networks and protects clients interests by making sure their ads aren't awkwardly placed or that they aren't caught off guard by controversial programming. unless he's writing peyton place fanfic on the side there is no creative aspect to his job. the big floorshine ad that don won an award for was a tv ad. if harry was great at his job he might be spotting opportunities for synergy or conceiving product placement (i think tv is finally past the point of 'chesterfield cigarettes proudly presents the flintstones' or whatever by this time right?). instead he relays concerns from clients to networks, he covers his ass, he gets a hard-on when he meets elizabeth mcgovern, etc.
― balls, Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:32 (twelve years ago) link
for reasons that aren't ever made clear: clients don't seem to like him, and he's never shown any great insight, intelligence or understanding of the business).
this is otm and a major hurdle in the verisimilitude of the show, imo. no client would ever like this guy = i don't believe it.
― jed_, Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:32 (twelve years ago) link
agree that his business is largely the business of being an asshole. he is good at it.
xp
― Disco Bob & MC Criminal (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:32 (twelve years ago) link
what clients didn't like Pete? Jojo loved him.
― Disco Bob & MC Criminal (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:33 (twelve years ago) link
i don't remember Jojo.
― jed_, Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:36 (twelve years ago) link
jai-alai
― Disco Bob & MC Criminal (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:36 (twelve years ago) link
yeah don vaguely tried to scuttle that out of some vague sense of human decency right? which is why don isn't in sales.
― balls, Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:37 (twelve years ago) link
let's also not forget, Harry is the one who got Sal fired.
― Disco Bob & MC Criminal (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 5 April 2012 23:42 (twelve years ago) link