can we talk about MAD MEN on AMC on this NEW thread ('cause the original one's getting way too long)

a whole season in one night?

I wonder how many episodes before Betty's dad does end up in an old folks home. McCain look-alike geezer + new baby is going to spell disaster for Bett's equanimity. Also, I can't believe Joan went ahead and married that creep. (but can also understand completely - I mean, he's a doctor! And, so embarrassing to call of a wedding!) But maybe he'll get drafted.

I am worried that the father is going to do something creepy and horrible to one of the kids or Betty before he ends up at that old folks home.

oh right didn't he grab Betty's boobs in a previous episode or something...?

"now that you've fed me, why don't we go upstairs"

Yeah, there was a moment when Betty's brother was climbing into the top bunk where I thought it was granddad going for an inappropriate snuggle.

oh right didn't he grab Betty's boobs in a previous episode or something...?

yeah I think he had a delusion that Betty was his dead wife

yeah, it was his senility iirc.

also i thought peggy's 'my boss is a jerk' line was mostly to go along with her joan imitation to let a guy think she was some dumb secretary so he'd be interested in her. i liked how that whole thing went from being like 'i'm so sad peggy's selling out to get a guy :(' to 'wow way to take control of your sexuality and use this dumb jerk for what you want out of him!'

yeah that was an interesting turnabout - I love how she walked out on him and he was all "but, where are ya going?"/sad puppy

that guy didn't seem like a dumb jerk at all to me, just a nice dopey kid.

ok yeah but i guess going in you assumed he was gonna be a jerk like his friend. so he probably was dumb, but maybe not a jerk.

Further to what's been said above, I'm starting to subscribe to the view expressed by someone in the other thread that there are signs of Don gradually losing his touch when to advertising. Peggy's surprise that he hadn't seen Bye Bye Birdie - "But you see everything!"

yeah think the seeds have been planted on this since early season 2, he's been slacking off and disinterested for quite a while but his talent kind of carries him through.

And his advice to London Fog was awful.

The Wikipedia article on the company not only mentions the MM episode but says this:

"The company went public in the 1960s. By the 1970s, the company had its own stores, and was manufacturing not only raincoats, but also other types of clothes and accessories. At the time, two-thirds of all raincoats sold in the United States were London Fog.

London Fog expanded internationally during the 1990s, selling in places like the United Kingdom and China."

also i thought peggy's 'my boss is a jerk' line was mostly to go along with her joan imitation to let a guy think she was some dumb secretary so he'd be interested in her.

yeah, i think she was trying the bimbo-secretary hat on for size. it wasn't quite a joan imitation though -- joan's not dumb at all, just vivacious.

well, she did use joan's subway line.

it's not a dumb line! you've been on the subway; it's crowded!

ok i mean like, it was the line joan used to make all the boys laugh and like her... she doesn't even ride the subway; her husband won't let her!

what subway line are y'all referring to...?

that subway thing reminded me a little of ken cosgrove's line from last season about "i live in murray hill... i can walk to work! BUT I DON'T! omglolz"

didn't know there was such commute snobbery in the '60s.

"When I do come, she will speak not, she will stand,
Either hand
On my shoulder, give her eyes the first embrace
Of my face,
Ere we rush, ere we extinguish sight and speech
Each on each."

lol

Scene: The next morning at Sterling Cooper. Peggy walks by as Joan charms three male clients.

Joan: So I said, "It's so crowded in here, I feel like I'm on the subway!"

Joan's bra: My sentiments exactly.

Men: Ha ha ha ha ha! Please have sex with us.

Joan: Sorry, there's only one date rapist in this world for me. Now, if you'll excuse me, my character apparently won't be further developed until the third episode.

Men: We think you developed just fine.

Joan's ample ass: Shake, shake.

tehresa, that's hilarious.

Re Don and Roger--in the past you got the vibe that Don was a bit amused by Roger, and liked spending time with him, even if there wasn't much personal talk between them, but now Don's looking at Roger without any warmth or patience at all.

what subway line are y'all referring to...?

the lexington to grand central! (haw, do you see what i did there?)

<3

but now Don's looking at Roger without any warmth or patience at all.

Yeah, but Roger used to be a rather privileged philandering middle-aged man who, nonetheless, took the work seriously. Now, he quite obviously could not care less. Don does not have this luxury.

c+pd from the other thread:

Don on top of his game at work and then sticking up for Betty.

I don't think this was his sole rationale for getting his father-in-law to stay with them tbh - he's clearly got some sentimental attachment to him as a cranky old father figure, and hard to avoid the conclusion that one of the reasons he wants him around is cuz y'know, Don wants/needs a dad (esp one who will understand living through the Depression - lolz @ liquor dumpin).

I feel somehow that his insistence on keeping the dad's car is a first act introdcution of a gun.

I don't know, recently watched last season and I don't think Don really feels that strongly about father-in-law.

I agree, I think it was more to do with asserting his alpha maleness. Also Don can have a strong sense of propriety when the mood takes him.

I was suspecting an underlying twinge of teaching Betty the lesson of "be careful what you wish for" in Don's motives. Also, yanking rug out from under that obnoxious brother in law and getting them to leave pronto.

Yes, it seemed to me more like Don saw a way to get Betty to stop moaning about what a pain her brother is. Give her what she says she wants.

Given the show's penchant for knowingly winking at things people used to do in the sixties but not anymore, I wonder if Betty's dad's car has a seatbelt?

pretty sure Don's cadillac doesn't

It seems like the front seats of the cars my family owned in the early 60s all had seatbelts. I know the 1962 and 1965 Corvairs I drove later both came with front seatbelts as standard equipment. There wasn't any mandate for using them, or penalty for not (except impalement and death in a crash) that I remember until much later (1980s?).

Unsafe at Any Speed was not published until 1965, though, so it seems likely that many cars did not have them at the time.

Have you read the book jaymc? It's specifically about the early Corvair.

I think the issues in the 60's were less about seat-belts than about steering columns and bumpers, no?

Also, wasn't the Corvair liable to flip or something?

Nah, I haven't read it, so I guess I don't know what I'm talking about.

Also, wasn't the Corvair liable to flip or something?

That was sort of Nadar's arguement - it had 4 wheel independent suspension, which would supposedly make the two inner wheels slip inward (and under) the body of the car if you went around a tight, steeply banked curve.

Anyway, yeah - the safety focuses of the late 50s/early 60s were the collapsible steering column, safety glass, and padding the dashboard. I think crumple zones and impact bumpers were not considered commercially until the late 70s/early 80s.

lapbelts in the front - nothing in the back

See also kids climbing around in back all the time.

re-watched the last episode last night, couple things:

- I was def. misreading Don upthread about Betty's dad. agreed it was more a case of giving Betty what she wanted, in a kind of posessive and spiteful way
- the spring/maypole/grass thing is an echo of Don's pitch to the Madison Square Garden guys, when he says that NY is dying, rotting, etc. and that MSG will be like a rebirth, a new season

OH JEEZUS ROGER!

I hope animated gifs of Pete dancing are available soon.

I know! Pete & Mrs. Pete on the dancefloor was awesome. Also, Peggy stoned. Also, Joan playing accordion and singing in French. So much personal joy derived from this episode!

Paul's singing scene should make Princeton the favorite to win the douchiest college poll.

Haven't checked this against what I remember, but "a list of almost every film that has been mentioned, referenced, quoted, and parodied in Matthew Weiner’s Mad Men."

http://letterboxd.com/ledzeppelin/list/mad-men/

One of the comments does give pause: "Where's Planet of the Apes?" A rather egregious omission.

Another re-watch, and again, will try not to post too much (mostly because I'll inevitably repeat stuff I've already said). Two-and-half seasons in, something I noticed for the first time: how often someone says "That's true," usually with a wry smile on their face--at least six or seven times thus far.

I've been periodically posting these movie-music Zoomcasts I've been doing with a friend. We finally got around to Mad Men for our 70th, which brings things full circle: the Zoomcasts came out of a book which came out of a blog which came out of Mad Men. We have another ~15 to cover and then we're finished.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjvN3j1poK4

https://x.com/seanfennessey/status/1728807255833985397?s=46&t=bJOqpCuQneT7ju08y55VSA

Just needs a WHO SAYS NO to be the most Ringer tweet of all time.