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

removes Bob Benson

show's about the 70s and 80s now

Been thinking about this and the first appearance of the Jackson Five (and with them a glimpse of the future of pop music, youth culture, advertising AND American capitalism) right at the end of the 60s is almost too perfectly timed for this show.

Don or maybe Peggy are watching TV with one of the kids, they see the band performing I Want You Back for the first time, they have an idea, no one gets it...

"put that kid in touch with Pepsi..."

"Number one, the people at the time are completely aware that the computer is a symbol. It hasn’t been said in a while because we love our computers so much and we love our phones so much and there’s so much entertainment on them, but [with the computer] there has been a reconfiguring of the hierarchy of humanity where we are under that. And I’m not being a Luddite, I’m just saying there was a re-conception of the world as the computer came in. And everyone at the time was quite aware of it. It’s not just from science fiction movies. The computer is immediately seen, as a guy says in the show, as a metaphor for what people were afraid of."

http://www.vanityfair.com/vf-hollywood/mad-men-stanley-kubrick

this is a weird photo for esquire imo
http://www.esquire.com/cm/esquire/images/zf/christina-hendricks-hot-watermelon-0510-lg.jpg

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/matthew-weiner-mad-men-end-interview

tasty interview with Matt Weiner. seems he wrote and directed the last 2 episodes. he's expecting 'mixed reviews' for the finale. hmm.

Having Peggy and Don dance to "Don't Stop Believing" on New Year's Day 1970 will prove a tactical error.

I hate to say this — obviously ending the entire series is significantly more pressure — but it's been that way every year. I never knew if the show was coming back for most of the series, so we treated every episode 13 like it was the end. It's very bittersweet and high pressure. "Did we stick the landing?"

If that is the case I expect a wide open ending. As I can't remember any of the e13's being truly season enders as in resolving major show themes or stories or ~drama~. I'd be ok with that though.

I sort of think season 6 (?) - don takes the kids to see where he grew up - might have been a fine ending, not that I've not enjoyed all of season 7 to date.

The end of S3 would've probably been the best "left open" series ending.

But then we wouldn't get The Suitcase.

hope Rachel Menken comes back for at least a cameo. and Sal.

I don't expect everything to be tied up with a neat little bow at all, that wouldn't really be consistent with the show's aesthetic nor would it play to the show's strengths.

I'm rooting for 10 year old Dick to wake up in bed with the kindly prostitute having dreamt the whole thing.

whatever happens weiner could hardly shit the bed worse than the writers of How I Met Your Mother, in terms of penning a final episode

setting the bar high there

hey, i didn't write it

How did that person meet that other person's mother in the end?

my biggest takeaway from season 7, other than reaffirming my trust that the show will finish its run on a high note, is it confirmed what season 6 only hinted at: harry hamlin is surprisingly a master comic actor.

turns out he was the mother

Holy shit, I never knew Hamlin was the Clash Of The Titans guy!

Yeah, I found him very funny. I know that part of the show is trying to accurately portray the Times but I was quite stunned how much he nails that character type. He reminds me a bit of comics/magazine publisher Jim Warren.

agreed, Hamlin was a revelation. and yeah jaw met the carpet when i found out it was the Titans guy. mainly as i'd not seen him in a single thing since.

I grew up with him being a much ballyhooed heartthrob on L.A. Law.

I don't remember much of LA Law and I've only ever seen him in one other thing (Veronica Mars), but just based on that and Mad Men, I feel like he might be criminally overlooked as an actor.

He cut sort of a ridiculous figure in the '80s and post-l.a. law, complete with his tabloid cover romances

yeah I feel like I've only ever known him as husband to numerous TV actresses (and Ursula Andress)

he did not really choose the best projects

Clash of the Titans one of the few movies I saw multiple times in the theater as a child

he was so great in Veronica Mars

First half of S7 was mybe my second-favorite season behind S3, so I'm hopeful he/they can stick the landing.

how did some of you guys completely miss harry hamlin through the 80s/90s? he was kind of everywhere, no?

heroin

I used to love LA Law!

i was obsessed with LA Law as a kid but only recently realized that what the hell was a 10 year old canadian kid doing relating to the lives and loves of high-powered los angeles attorneys

i recognised him but i love clash of the titans as a kid, and my parents watched a lot of LA Law.

http://photos.vanityfair.com/2014/08/06/53e28cbf0b6844e851495074_nq7mo9.gif

Could they at least not given us a xmas special? To make the wait less frustrating? :-/

what is the actual date that it will be back

I don't think it's announced yet. I only got as far as "spring 2015" at AMC etc

s6 finally came back on on demand so I've been rewatching that. good times. pete does good resting bitchface.

Season 7(b) premieres April 5th

tasty!

more here

http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/mad-men-final-episodes-to-bow-april-5-1201399619/

psyched, stoked

damn I still have to watch s7

damn I still have to rewatch a bunch of stuff so I can figure out what's going on when I start s7

I'm through the first four episodes of 7A. Found the first two fairly slow and uneventful, three and four picked up. Didn't anticipate that Don would be so neutered at work. I feel like Joan is disappearing; she's not even particularly likeable anymore. Roger's as great as ever, especially at the commune. I expect Ginsberg will have a major meltdown at one point. Things like Bobby eating Betty's sandwich--I'm not sure if that's an extremely subtle means of making a point about Betty's parenting (which she then verbalizes), or just much ado about nothing.

First real musical lapse: Vanilla Fudge's Supremes cover. Fit the action, but it's kind of terrible. The Hollies and Hendrix were great--glad they chose something offbeat for Hendrix.

I don't wanna ruin anything but I find Ginsberg's arc possibly the most depressing of all in a show with quite a few depressing character arcs

He's so angry these past few episodes. My guess would be that whatever happens circles back to what we know about his childhood.

I'm on the tail end of s6. loved how Ginsberg (in the middle of semi-breakdown) accurately called out Bob as gay

ie "tell me the truth... are you a homo?"

"Maybe you smoked too many 'funny cigarettes'"

Really liked how the moon landing was handled, and how genuinely caring and supportive Don was with Peggy as he guided her through Burger King. (Great line that broke through the tension between them: that when he's stuck, he mistreats everyone he needs, then takes a nap. Peggy smiled.) Scrolling back, I seem to be a minority of one on the ending--didn't like it at all. I wish Bert's exit had been his beautiful "Bravo" instead. I'll give it credit for completely confounding expectations, but I didn't want to go out on cute or whimsical or whatever it was they were after.

I have a crush on goofy Meredith. She reminds me of Lucy from Twin Peaks.