Mad Men on AMC • Fifth Season Thread

the equivalent in 1966 honestly would be the girl not knowing who i dunno al jolson is.

no ways! jolson was long dead in '66, dead probably the year that girl was born, and he would have been 80 freaking years if he'd lived. he hadn't been a major cultural presence a quarter century. heston, otoh, was in his early 40s and had recently starred in several big, flagship productions, one of hollywood's biggest stars at the peak of his "mature" career. not the kind of guy most teens would be flocking to see, but still...

it makes sense to me that a lot of young people nowadays wouldn't know from paul mccartney. at this point, paul's glory days are some 30-60 years distant. that's comparable to kids in the mid 60s drawing a blank on jolson. to find a modern equivalent for kids back then blanking on heston, you'd have to find someone who first showed up about 25 years back and is still getting lead roles in blockbuster oscar bait. like say brad pitt, johnny depp or george clooney.

edit: "no ways! jolson was long dead in '66, dead probably the year that girl was born, and he would have been 80 freaking years old if he'd lived. he hadn't been a major cultural presence in a quarter century."

the show isn't saying ALL teenagers didn't know who he was

I'm getting a bit tired of this show now. Also I can't stand Betty.

Megan is really working my nerves ... soooo whiny!

Oh I like Megan

haha i like Betty.

AA Gill in The Sunday Times wrote that Mad Men is becoming vacuous and is a victim of its own success....but never really went into reasons WHY.

Because editor asked him to.

I read that Gill piece (dunno why i do it to myself) and it seemed like his usual trolling. Also, he called Christina Hendricks "the top-heavy redhead"

Was Gill a good critic at one point or am I just imagining it?

not in my memory anyway

I'm not loving Megan. Well, I love her choppers but not much else.

I liked that weird awkwardness at the Heinz dinner. It seemed very underlined that this conversation would have gone a whole lot more smoothly with someone like Betty. Not that I am any great Betty fan but she can at least handle business small-talk. Whereas I dont' think Megan really gets the bigger picture ie dinner goes well = business goes well.

wtf, Megan totally got to agree and play the "non-business-savvy wife" role when the Heinz dude's wife was asking her "oh, this is all so boring, right?"

I thought she was just super awkward through the whole thing, especially dropping the whole 'oh he's divorced' turd on the table.

Yeah, I don't know if it's intentional or not but her character does kind of have a desperate undercurrent, like she constantly needs to prove herself in any situation. As a hip 60s youth, as a sexy Frenchy, as biz wife. Maybe not 'trying to hard' but somewhere around there...

is Megan the T-Mobile commercial spokesmodel?

how big are the spokesmodel's teeth? that's the giveaway.

i take her as some combo of really eager & curious, but naive -- like that moment of the wife asking how boring this convo is -- she figured out that of course, be agreeable & submissive to the menfolk talking business but shes really genuinely interested in advertising for whatever reason

Mordy: yes

she seems more genuine and honest than most people on the show. she's not used to playing a role which everyone else does.

Carly Foulkes is the T-Mobile spokesgirl.

yeah. I worry that her arc is going to be "Don and everyone destroy all her optimism".

!!! xpost

i had no idea.

Well, y'know...thin brunette Canadian women all look alike.

not a bad thing imo

I thought she was played by Geddy Lee.

No, Megan is the actress from s1ocki's short film and a number of lesser features.

Like Hot Tub Time Machine

i always thought conspiratorially that the t-mobile girl was debuted parasitically with megan's emergence

i had the same feeling about another spokesperson & tv it-person but i can't remember who now

it makes sense to me that a lot of young people nowadays wouldn't know from paul mccartney. at this point, paul's glory days are some 30-60 years distant. that's comparable to kids in the mid 60s drawing a blank on jolson

you misunderstood my post! that's exactly what i was saying!!!!!

xp to Morbz a bunch of posts upthread: Most of this season I've spent thinking whether Pete is more of a Bud Frump or a J Pierpont Finch. I think he alternates between the two. Also, I wonder if he lives in New Rochelle.

in re megan i don't think the various parts we've been shown of her (NO NOT IN THAT SENSE GET YOUR MINDS OUT OF THE GUTTER) don't really add up to a very coherent whole. the fact that we very nearly ONLY see her in don's company is probably the culprit here; we have little sense of who she was before or what she is when she's with friends and not with don. so basically her construct seems like a creaky construct right now. that doesn't reflect on the actress as much as the writers.

which train line was pete taking?

i assume henry and betty live in greenwich or something.

s1ocki's movie vs. hot tube tim machine

you misunderstood my post! that's exactly what i was saying!!!!!

damn, that's a lot of exclamation points

yeah, she's basically set up as 1960s manic pixie dream girl - which is prob why she annoys me.

We've seen Megan with Peggy without Don, right?

yes

bday party planning scene

also working on Heinz

making extra coupons when it wasn't called for etc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnXGW8QxTfk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oVdLIvcNRE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-95qfa956A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InILSU-ZV9M

pls stop

Dominic West!!!

her CHARACTER seems like a creaky construct

once again, i cannot type

you misunderstood my post! that's exactly what i was saying!!!!!

damn, that's a lot of exclamation points

― preternatural concepts concerning variances in sound and texture (contenderizer), Wednesday, April 4, 2012 12:53 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well, it was frustrating reading a whole post ripping apart my suggestion when in fact it was making the same point i had intended to make. ;-)

xxxx...post

i assumed henry and betty's house was in rye, ny as it was mentioned last season. re: pete, trudy had mentioned loving greenwich last season, but when he got on the train, greenwich was called as the next stop, iirc.

eagle eye!

eye ear