MAD MEN on AMC - Seasons 7(a) & & 7(b)

I thought it was a little on-the-nose, but eh, who cares, Bobby Elliott rules.

heeey, finally started watching this season and catching up

Seeing Don throw the typewriter and get shitfaced at the office was depressing as hell. I've got to hand it to Joel Murray, his Rumsen-presenting-Draper performance was excellent. It'll be great if we get to see Draper-as-Draper in the series again, but no one is going to let Don do that for now.

I appreciate that I really have no idea where this is going, what the endgame is for Don etc. Obviously he's got to remove a few obstacles (Lou, and Cutler to a lesser extent, possibly Crane) before he's anywhere near back on top. But maybe that just isn't gonna happen and this is going to be a total downward spiral ending.

Bert being super-harsh not entirely unwarranted or uncharacteristic. He's pragmatic, above all else.

Lou is the worst sort of middle manager. I don't think the dude has any idea what is good. SCP really seems dated with Lou not giving a shit about awards or creativity.

I kind of thinks this ties back to the question the business school guy had for Joan -- how many of their accounts are on contract, and how many are on commission? The ration went from zero commissions sixteen years ago to 50% commission now. If they're just churning out shit work, half their business is going to melt away.

ratio, rather

In the early 1970s, the chain introduced first the Funburger, followed by the Funmeal, with specially-printed packaging that included stories about Burger Chef and Jeff's adventures and friends (including the magician Burgerini, vampire Count Fangburger, talking ape Burgerilla, and Cackleburger the witch), with riddles, puzzles, and small toys.

I had never heard of this chain before

I can see this show making Don work his ass off getting back in the good graces of the SC&P people only to have to company fold simply by virtue of being old and out of touch.

There was a Burger Chef close to my house when I was a kid, and I remember their Funmeals once came in the shape of a Indy-style racecar (it was just a molded plastic lid on a cardboard box, but I remember it vividly for some reason).

it seems like a company with Joan, Peggy and Crane on top is the logical direction - where Don fits into that scheme is not clear

great ep. said this a bunch of times, but they've done so much great work with the characters over the seasons that they can pretty much just thrust them into sorta contrived situations (don working for peggy!) and let them write themselves and it's compelling as hell.

that tim conway show they mentioned - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn-On_(TV_series)

Liked don reading Portnoy's Complaint

more convincing than Don reading Inferno.

ah was wondering what that was, I couldn't make it out

The network eventually replaced Turn On with a revival of The King Family Show. The controversy led ABC to reject a pilot written by Norman Lear, stating that the lead character was "foul-mouthed, and bigoted", out of fear that it might anger its affiliates again. CBS liked it, picked it up as All in the Family, and began airing it in 1971.

HA.

I wanna see this now

an affiliate deciding to just not come back from commercial is hilarious

Chuck McCann! was a legendary TV kids' comic/host, still kickin' around at the Friars Club in NYC

I think I may be appearing as a child pedestrian this season

sorta contrived situations (don working for peggy!)

contrived or not this is a top-5 t.v. series run-extender principle

I wanna see this now

― PLATYPUS OF DOOM (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, May 5, 2014 12:57 PM (24 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Not a whole lot to go on, but I'd watch the shit out of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zny4LxAC0C8

that tim conway show they mentioned - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn-On_(TV_series)

― balls, Monday, May 5, 2014 12:38 PM (48 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

!

The writing staff included a young Albert Brooks.

When Don went up to the computer guy and said he has many faces and stuff, was that just drunk Don thinking he was the devil, or him seriously thinking the FBI was still on his case or something?

I took it as a devil reference

i couldnt make any sense of that scene.

maybe you should have had a bottle of gin beforehand

why didn't he just pour it into the coke is what i wanna know .

Because that would mean less liquor in the can.

he knows what he's doing i guess.

ha reading molly lambert's column now and all the 2001 stuff totally passed me by.

Funny how Marigold's parents are both totally cool until you call them out on their absentee parenting BS and then they immediately storm off, even post-LSD Roger.

I do think it was clever sleight-of-hand to have it be Roger's daughter that runs off and joins a hippie commune when for years we all (myself included) would have been placing our bets on Sally. they did a similar thing with Roger taking LSD (which I also would have guessed Don or Peggy would do first)

Was hoping Roger would've shared acid anecdotes with the hippies - "hey I did it before it was illegal!"

Was just realizing that Lane died back in '66, so his office has been vacant (and that pennant was under that fixture) for awhile now.

I thought there was someone in there before Don but I can't remember who. they just had so many partners in the office at that one point

I do think it was clever sleight-of-hand to have it be Roger's daughter that runs off and joins a hippie commune when for years we all (myself included) would have been placing our bets on Sally. they did a similar thing with Roger taking LSD (which I also would have guessed Don or Peggy would do first)

― PLATYPUS OF DOOM (Shakey Mo Collier)

yeah ppl have been assuming sally becomes a hippie since she first started hating betty (so for quite a while) that it was inevitable someone would have to; happy they've sidestepped it by having her friend be the runaway to california and rog's daughter be the hippie. i know you ppl hated the hippie scenes but i liked rog's 'there's always a hierarchy' and cletis dropping the mask a little when he mentioned they're trying to make him get rid of the truck. loved the 2001 stuff (though i admit i didn't really catch this -

http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/blogs/browbeat/2012/10/29/monolith_mad_men.jpg.CROP.promovar-mediumlarge.jpg

- until it was pointed out). kinda hoping don does = 69 mets as stupidly corny as that would be. does that mean lou = 69 cubs and peg = 69 o's? would explain why she's acting like earl weaver.

2001 stuff totally went by me

I thought the hippie stuff was v funny - they were dealing in well-worn archetypes and they knew it and handled it well imo

well the name of the episode was 'the monolith' and there's a threatening computer so my guard was up

I tend to hippies on sight so seeing walking cliches gladdened me. All we needed was CSN's first album playing.

*tend to hate

Marigold was really pretty as a hippie

I usually don't go all crushy on girls from tv, but yeah. That's the only time she's been on with her hair down, looking sort of present-day ish and I was into it.

Man, an extra $100 a week was a HUGE raise in 1969.

$644 in 2014 dollars.

how much weed would that buy in 1969?

all of it

I can see why people say the show doesn't do counterculture well, but hippies were super corny back then and said dumb corny shit

"A dead man whose office you now inhabit" killed me

As did Don's face during the meeting with Peggy

Peggy's dress at the end, the best

I love Bert's precise diction.

Roxy otm hippies were super corny. They are still super corny.