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

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after all, in one of the s1 beatnik episodes he sez "There is no system. The universe is indifferent."

(count me in on thinking, at least at first blush, the literal hidden identity is too leaden a metaphor, and a gothic touch that doesn't belong on this show)

I've never cared for the secret identity either. He's better as a cipher than as a Gatsby type who recreated himself.

and yet there is a good joke by one of the Campbell Mafia: "no one knows Draper; that guy could be Batman." Well, he is! In a grey flannel suit.

I like the secret identity mainly because the Dick/Anna scenes are really nice and peaceful (for the most part). I think their relationship is one of the most moving parts of the show.

He's better as a cipher than as a Gatsby type who recreated himself.

the latter is kinda of required for the former to work tho

I like secret identity shit generally, and I think in MM's case it serves as a nicely melodramatic counterpoint to the more placid and subtle plot threads.

by which I mean his being a cipher to a lot of other people - his family, his coworkers etc. - requires that he be hiding something critical/never discusses his past etc. But that kind of secrecy wouldn't make sense if it was extended to the audience, as that would be exceedingly difficult to maintain for the main character of a show

xp

but I know quite a few ciphers who aren't blessed with secret pasts. They're bores and prigs whose aim is to be as conventional as possible.

He could have a different secret that the audience DOESN'T know about! omg.

Robert Morse will do a Q&A for How to Succeed at this Brooklyn mini-MM/film fest next month; Weiner will appear at the other two.

http://www.bam.org/film/2015/mad-men-at-the-movies

How to Succeed was such a smash on Broadway, btw, that Jack and Jackie went to see it.

Some of the best lines in season 1 are throwaways or scene-enders, like when Pete and Trudy are cabbing to their new Park Ave apartment, and after being all chirpy she frowns out the window and blurts, "The Armory... When are they going to tear that dinosaur down?"

(It's still there, amazingly.)

That was a great article.

pretty good read on Pete in it.

AV Club week. I dunno if i can take those plaids.

http://www.avclub.com/article/its-mad-men-week-v-club-217224

Saw the Mad Men exhibit at Museum of Moving Image yesterday. Never seen that place so crowded. They were also showing the Godfather and some No Wave Movies, I figure one of those may have contributed to the crowds.

Still, some surprisingly fun stuff for a fan.

I was at the 6pm No Wave movies, struggling to stay awake.

Despite having music supervised the movie Blank City, (and designed the poster/DVD artwork) and having a history of working with the music side of no wave, I have not made it through many of the actual no wave movies.

Young Willem Dafoe is very beautiful in The Loveless. Sort of a '50s fetish object (but none of it was shot in NYC, i don't think).

man i wish some of that museum stuff would come to the UK. mind you hardly anyone gives a stuff about the show here.

That's not entirely true...

Weiner on MM and the Jews:

http://www.salon.com/2015/03/30/matthew_weiner_on_mad_men_and_the_jewish_experience_it%E2%80%99s_the_same_story_as_don%E2%80%99s_identity/

the Rachel Menken character was really well drawn and acted btw

Despite having music supervised the movie Blank City, (and designed the poster/DVD artwork) and having a history of working with the music side of no wave, I have not made it through many of the actual no wave movies.

Oh cool! Loved that documentary a lot - and admittedly, most of the no wave movies I've seen were only because they were playing in the background at the old Amok Books in the 80s.

thanks!

"It ends the way it should end.. "

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/03/26/john-slattery-on-saying-goodbye-to-mad-men-s-roger-sterling-and-turning-down-empire.html

Very short, and no hints about the first episode (the writer's pre-screened it). I like this line: "Like Bob Dylan, another Sixties antihero Don resembles in so many ways, he needs a steam shovel to keep away the dead."

http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/features/the-agony-of-saying-farewell-to-mad-men-20150403

so characters who might show up again; Sal, Rachel Menken, Neve Campbell.. who else? i have *no idea* what might happen plotwise.

Gotta have Glenn back one last time.

ha yeah. he'll have a goatee by now.

cracking Season 7a re-cap from the Slate people here
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/04/03/everything_that_happened_in_mad_men_season_7_part_1_in_4_minutes.html

i have *no idea* what might happen plotwise.

Same here. TV shows have been such a miniscule part of my life the past 20+ years, I can't believe how invested I am in this. I think I'm actually on edge, and not having any idea where they're going is part of that. Maybe it's the way they've designed the show, or maybe it's just a given--maybe it's true of any show by default--but they could move the story in any direction imaginable. (Not that it's a story, but rather a whole bunch of stories: Don's, Peggy's, Joan's, Sally's, etc. I guess Don's is the biggest guessing game, whether he's your favourite character or not--probably not for most viewers.)

http://www.slate.com/articles/video/video/2015/04/mad_men_pete_campbell_s_receding_hairline_from_season_1_to_the_season_7.html

As I'd been planning, went back and watched "The Suitcase" in advance of tonight. Just as great second time around. 1) I'd forgotten all about Danny Siegel. 2) I mentioned earlier that I thought, that article upthread to the contrary, that the show didn't really dodge the racism of its day, that it could be brilliantly cruel in a very offhanded way. Ida's "If I wanted to see two Negros fight, I'd throw a dollar bill out the window" is the kind of line I had in mind. (Don's preference for Liston is also illustrative; notwithstanding that it makes sense that he'd prefer the silent, unreadable Liston, he also stops just short of describing Ali/Clay as "uppity.") 3) Megan pops in for one scene, with Peggy in the washroom. So strange to see her in that role again.

AMC is rerunning seasons 6 and 7 right now, currently on the s6 episode "favors" where sally catches don in the act

"If I wanted to see two Negros fight, I'd throw a dollar bill out the window"

carefully avoiding the word ppl who'd say this would be most likely to use.

Anyone who's seen a doughnut can fill in the holes...

Roger's mustache

^^^^

omg another day or two until I get to see moustache

(out of town right now)

and Cosgrove is as cute as ever. I forgot what happened to his eye.

one of the chevy guys shot him on a hunting trip

didn't he go hunting with some clients and get shot?

this ep feels very hallucinatory but I don't think any characters are literally hallucinating

welp.

very true

The office scenes remind me of my mom explaining working in an office in the 70s, and I just started cringing all over

"You know how great you're going to look on a book cover?"

i really appreciate how most of the characters have these nice crisp storylines as don's have gotten incredibly oblique.

Things sometimes resonate after the fact, but I don't think I'll be alone in finding that rather underwhelming. ("Is That All There Is?" is almost like a sly joke that will headline every second online review--I so identify that song with After Hours, that felt wasted anyway.) Don's encounter with Rachel's sister was the only thing that felt like it had some weight, that and maybe Joan's humiliation.

I love that there was so much Ken in this episode. It makes me think, though, that he'll probably be on the fringes for the last six.

I feel like if this had been the 8th episode of a season instead of a "midseason premiere" it would've been just a solid grade B episode but the presentation of it as a new (and final) start all but guarantees a slightly underwhelming feel