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

lol Pete Campbell

https://scontent-a-atl.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t1.0-9/1466175_10102366201804445_6456391929930097188_n.jpg

don is cool, roger is cool, even pete (amazingly) has had moments of being cool. harry has never been cool.

Harry did very kindly tip off Don about the Commander meeting, and to repay that favour Don urged him not to (over)negotiate when offered partnership, but NOOOOOO of course Harry would fuck up a negotiation that would've made him money (rather than his employers, which isn't a problem).

Harry did very kindly tip off Don about the Commander meeting

a) he did this by mistake (because he is an idiot), b) he explicitly asked Don to figure some way out of it

dude is a tool

I completely agree - he's very 'gimme' and you do not do that in an office full of preppies.

harry was very likeable first season, the 'good guy' from that gang, and it's been wonderful how they immediately turned him into an unlikeable schmuck w/o really changing his character. you can catch a glimpse of that sentimental nice guy harry when he stands up w/ tears in his eyes over the moon landing but he's never been cool. everything he's gotten has been from right place at the right time, joan was shown to be better at his job than him almost immediately (then again joan has been shown to be better at almost everybody's jobs, the one she went for is accounts cuz money's a big priority for her cuz she grew up poor, hence living in the same place she lived in ten years ago when she was just a secretary). that said, as i think harry actually pointed out (or maybe kinsey when he creeping on peg w/ twilight zone references) half of their business is being middle man between media and clients. there's a reason they brought him on board and he should be a partner but still, a schmuck.

i do wonder about cutler just assuming he had harry's vote; harry goes back w/ don, tipped him off about commander cigarettes, and definitely buys into the draper myth, maybe even more than pete (huge lol at pete's 'that is a very sensitive piece of horse flesh!').

that's all true, at the same time the reason Joan and Roger in particular don't want him to be a partner is precisely because he IS a schmuck.

xp

yeah Cutler seems oblivious to Harry's connection to Don

He also knows he's the only one fighting for Harry...even got him his computer and press. He assumes Harry will do what he wants.

also i've seen ppl go on about joan being mean w/ don and where did this come from and it being out of character for her to be mean and have these ppl forgotten just how mean she could be, she was practically peg's antagonist for the first couple of seasons and has always fiercely guarded whatever little kingdom she's managed to carve out for herself. they've maybed sanded off some edges but it's always been clear that this is a women who will shut you down quick if you're on the wrong side of her.

yeah i totally get why cutler would assume harry is on his side, i just don't think he realizes he's on the other team. meanwhile i'm disappointed we'll presumably not get a chance to see lou avery get shitcanned.

xp yeah Joan used to be super devious and antagonistic. I kinda miss that Joan tbh.

also i used to roll my eyes at ppl moaning at how slow the show was and it taking too long to set stuff up etc in the past and i'm a little sad we didn't get to spend more time w/ some characters (ginsberg seems a clear case of a character they could've done more w/) but overall i thought the shortened season worked really well, alot of that is the benefit of not having to work stuff out too much at this point as we know these characters so well, but i thought it progressed nicely, it didn't feel (to me at least, i know some ppl would disagree) like it needed more time. was a little wary of the split 'season' cuz it's a very different show from breaking bad but it worked out.

How much time passed between Megan paying Stephanie to leave and dragging Don into a threesome and then telling him (by not saying anything) that it was over and he shouldn't move to LA? Like a month?

Anyway, that's probably it for her at this point I'd think.

haha one last offseason of wondering 'are we going to see megan again?'

One thing I've been wondering about this season was what was the actual use of a computer to an advertising agency in 1969?

the show was pretty vague about it

xps
I never forget that fraudulent, contemptuous hug Joan gives Dawn after the King assassination. It was a cringeworthy moment, but a very well observed scene of insidious racism.

it's be hilarious if Harry somehow ended up at the top of the heap when this is all over.

what was the actual use of a computer to an advertising agency in 1969?

haha yeah I wondered about this too. crunching ratings and demographic stats, I would guess?

top of a heap of burger wrappers

My gf thought it would be hilarious if this was the last we see of SC&P and the final half season follows Megan as she navigates her Hollywood career.

what was the actual use of a computer to an advertising agency in 1969?

haha yeah I wondered about this too. crunching ratings and demographic stats, I would guess?

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, May 28, 2014 3:52 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, getting more out of consumer research/surveys i'd guess

keep in mind that those enormous computers in their offices probably aren't half as powerful as a desktop PC from 1980.

My gf thought it would be hilarious if this was the last we see of SC&P and the final half season follows Megan as she navigates her Hollywood career.

― schwantz, Wednesday, May 28, 2014 4:04 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

or follows the puerto rican boy and his working mom to their new house.

or just becomes somethign like "dobie gillis," but with sally draper

May 1969 story from Ad Age about how Cleveland agency Lang, Fisher & Stashower had sped up its processes:

http://adage.com/images/bin/image/computermediaok.jpg

"we can automatically make our data input during the night and have our answers back from the computer when we arrive at work the next day."

Pretty sure the main reason behind getting a computer in this case was to impress people, regardless of what it actually contributed. Why do you think they put it in that room with all the windows?

meanwhile i'm disappointed we'll presumably not get a chance to see lou avery get shitcanned.

― balls, Wednesday, May 28, 2014 4:11 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well we kinda did, him being told he was hired help was basically that

"would harry have voted don out or not" is a pretty interesting question!

no because he is a coward

when lou lost his shit he really reminded me of billy eichner's character in parks and rec

i thought that cutler was at one point scheming to bring lou on as a partner to replace don.

No, two year contract.

ya and when it didnt work out he's like fuck you bye

i have to admit that this show is tops in terms of limning tangled interrelationships among characters and giving them complex motivations

of course, when you last 7 seasons you can do that

yeah cutler shuts lou down there cuz lou is getting all 'my name is my name' but he doesn't fire him. it was pretty low level humiliation. i wanted to see him bleed, start answering to 'reek', etc.

lol yesss

that scene with cutler and lou really underscored how delightful these actors are in depicting assholes exhibiting prime asshole behavior

remember when pete was the no. 1 asshole on the show?

Seems like we could have a mad men assholes poll when this thing is all over.

Most of the characters in this swing between being brilliant and inept at their jobs and I just assume Harry is just boringly competent and probably responsible for a lot of their success but doesn't get the credit for it because he's such a weak character. A lot of offices have a Harry.

He's needy, emotionally and professionally and doesn't know how to hide it -- his bosses throw the ball for him just to see how far he'll run to get it

probably responsible for a lot of their success

there is literally nothing to base this conclusion on, idg why this keeps coming up except that people know that media buying is important and he is in charge of that and therefore if they are successful it must be because of their media buying strategy...? which sort of runs counter to what is actually shown on the show.

McCann hasn't been after Harry for 5 years. None of their press or awards or other industry recognition from outside of the firm has ever had anything to do with Harry.

Neither Lane nor Joan - the two people who follow the money - ever had any praise or recognition of Harry.

there is literally nothing to base this conclusion on, idg why this keeps coming up except that people know that media buying is important and he is in charge of that and therefore if they are successful it must be because of their media buying strategy...? which sort of runs counter to what is actually shown on the show.

― Οὖτις, Wednesday, May 28, 2014 6:44 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Here's the Thing: Media Buying for Television is going to explode in the '70s. Starting in late '68 with the folding of the weekly edition of The Saturday Evening Post, print media enters a gradual decline in importance. By '73, both Look and Life magazines have folded (although the former lives on various states up to today) as TV became a bigger moneymaker. And what print work there was became less important from a creative standpoint as clients began to stretch ad's runs (For example, say Chevrolet would go from commissioning 30 or 40 different ads quarterly to maybe 20-30 a year with many ads running for months on end in certain publications).

Ok but this show is not set in the 70s

of course, when you last 7 seasons you can do that

― display name changed. (amateurist)

shhh don't tell David Thomson