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Over the years, viewers have watched the very different trajectories of the lives of Joan and Peggy. Each has navigated the choppy waters of the cultural sea change in the 1960s of women in the workplace—in which "jobs" can now be "careers"—with their own methods that are as diverse as their results. More »
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Last night's episode was a departure from a season's worth of ominous foreshadowing—instead of hinting at death, it focused on rebirth. Evaluating one's life and making changes for the better is a classic Christmastime narrative (A Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life, etc.) as the promise of a New Year also presents the prospect of a new you. Still, any Hare Krishna devotee will tell you that in order to be reborn, one must die. More »
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Despite their efforts to never have any face-to-face interactions — even conducting their custody swaps remotely — Don and Betty still have a haunting presence in each other's lives. So it's fitting that the episode was titled "Dark Shadows": That's what the memory of the Drapers' marriage occasionally casts on the former couple. More »
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In this week's TV roundup, Tan Mom comes to SNL, Smash gets another dash of adultery, dragons go missing on Game of Thrones and Jennifer Love Hewitt talks about her tits. More »
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The inclusion of the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" at the end of the episode marked this season's second reference to the Tibetan Book of the Dead. With bardo (the transitional state between death and rebirth) serving as a metaphor for some of the show's main characters, suddenly Mad Men is morphing into Lost with its intertextuality—a term that was actually coined by poststructuralist Julia Kristeva in 1966, the year in which this season is taking place. How meta! And metaphysical! More »
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Mad Men and Game of Thrones are two of the most talked about shows on Sunday night television (maybe on all television altogether), but what else do they have in common? One thing is for sure — all of the characters, whether they be from Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce or the Seven Kingdoms, love to kick back with a drink. Vulture has graciously rounded up the drinking scenes from both shows and put them head to head in the biggest booze competition since your college beer pong tournament. Grab yourself a glass of scotch (or a skin of wine), lean back and let the games begin. More »
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Much of this season of Mad Men has been about the big-picture effects of the rapid societal changes of the late '60s, from the race riots to women in the workplace to the youth quake and the Rolling Stones, but this episode, "At the Codfish Ball," was all about shrinking the story down to micro-levels. It was the story of three daughters — Megan, Sally and Peggy — and and an attempt to answer the question that deep down plagues everybody: Do some things never change? More »
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Earlier this week, Obama senior campaign strategist David Axelrod threw some shade at Mitt Romney on CBS This Morning: "He must watch Mad Men and think it's the evening news … [he's] oblivious to the experiences of everyday people." This proves two things: More »
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Did you know that in addition to being talented and handsome, Jon Hamm is also great at bowling and building dicks out of Play-Doh? He recently teamed up with Mad Men collaborators Matthew Weiner, Vincent Kartheiser and Rich Sommer to bowl for charity against Team Nerdist, headed by Nerdist podcast host/son of a professional bowler Chris Hardwick. The results are endlessly charming and entertaining. Who knew that Harry Crane bowls like a grandma? Can Hamm throw off his competition with the ol' slip-on-a-banana-peel trick? What's it like when Pete Campbell gets in a room with Weird Al? Watch and find out. More »
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Last night's stories were not told concurrently which lent a trippy sensibility to the episode—perfect for experiencing dreamy memories, stoned matinees, straight-up hallucinations, and confronting the reality of some very uncomfortable truths. Oh, and hand jobs. More »
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Vanity Fair got real-estate expert Barbara Corcoran — co-founder of the Corcoran Group, and the woman Jessica used to call "The Corcodevil" — to weigh in on the most pressing question that confronts any viewer of a New York-set sitcom: how the fuck do those people live there? Unlike on Friends (which is unfortunately missing from Corcoran's round-up) you are not issued a 6,000 square foot downtown apartment with panoramic views, a roof deck, a subway station on the corner, and a pricetag you can afford on your barista salary. Step into the world of fictional real estate. More »
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You may have thought that Mad Men was as stylish as can be, but not so as proven by these beautiful behind-the-scenes black and white photos of one of the most stunning casts on television. Here's a small collection (starting with Hamm-bone Draper himself). More »
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Doodles of nooses, talk of blowing one's brains out, images of car wreck fatalities, mentions of a plane crash and yet another senseless massacre all framed last night's portrait of Pete Campbell's miserable life. We get the picture: He's depressed. But is he desperate enough to take his own life, or that of another? Or is it all just a red herring, setting the stage for a different Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce employee to make that leap out onto Madison Avenue, as the opening credits have suggested for the past five seasons? More »
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Since Mad Men is set in the '60s, a tumultuous time in American history, with major shifts in the roles of (and attitudes toward) women and black people, it will be interesting to keep an eye on Don Draper's new secretary, Dawn Chambers — both black and a woman. Unlike Carla, the housekeeper Betty Draper employed while still married to Don, Dawn works at the ad agency — SCDP's first African-American employee. More »
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Despite the larger historical issues of 1966 like the Vietnam War and racial riots already creating a stormy social climate, things really got dark in the Mad Men universe with the news of a smaller one: a psychotic mass murderer who tortured, raped and killed a group of student nurses at their dormitory. It signified the end of an era in which you could be trusting enough to open your front door without knowing who was standing on the other side of it, which just so happens to be the concept of the board game after which this episode was named: "Mystery Date." More »
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In either world, Joan is BAMF. More »
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Fans of the show were wondering how Mad Men would handle January Jones' pregnancy. Would Betty stand behind a lot of flower arrangements or carry large bags? No, actually. They covered it up alright—but with a fat suit. Suddenly, the one-dimensional Mrs. Francis just got a lot more interesting. More »
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7 Minutes In Heaven has got to be one of the most fun webseries on the Internet. Did you know that Don Draper was on Ally McBeal in the nineties? Did you know Jon Hamm WON'T kiss you if you compliment The Town? Thanks, Mike O'Brien, for doing what our elementary school teachers could never pull off — we're having a great time and learning. More »
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Some of us are still trying to process everything from last night's Mad Men premiere, but thanks to the expert performance of Jessica Paré, virtually all of us spent the day with Megan's version "Zou Bisou Bisou" running through our heads. That scene transformed Paré from Don's secretary to a full-blown star, and she did a conference call today to talk to the world about what it's been like becoming Don's wife. When asked about the very, ahem, memorable sex scene the two shared on the white carpet, Paré said, More »
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The most notable thing that's happened in the Mad Men universe in the 18 months since the show was last on the air is that time has continued to march right on, and everyone has aged. Most notably, the once in-touch advertising genius Don Draper has turned 40. All signs indicate that the "youthquake" has permeated the culture and now this "dirty old man" is expected to be able to make baked beans "cool." But there's been a seachange in Don that is directly proportional and completely opposite to the one taking place in society in 1966 as a whole. More »
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It's been so long in the making (17 months to be precise), that it's hard to believe that it's finally happening. But the Season Five premiere of Mad Men is really here. So many of our burning questions are about to be answered: Is Don married? How's business at SCDP? What does Joan's baby look like? (Fingers crossed it's not the spitting image of Don Draper...) And, of course, what has our beloved Peggy been up to? More »
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Not just any book, though, because today, March 25, a day that mythical creatures probably celebrate with hot dogs and fireworks (wink, wink), is Tolkien Reading Day. So, for all of you who won't be tossing back old fashioneds and chain smoking during the two-hour Mad Men premiere, read some Tolkien. Nerds. More »
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Tonight is the night we finally get to see what our beloved Don Draper and his merry band of sexy problem drinkers have been up to for the last year and a half. So put on your best cocktail dress, and join us tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern time for the two hour (!) season premiere. This will be your chance to discuss all of the shenanigans at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce as they unfold (assuming the company even still exists). Until tonight! More »
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Mad Men devotees everywhere, rejoice — the pun-tastic Matthew Weiner will reward your anticipation tonight with a two-hour season premiere of the show that introduced us to the man-quicksand that is Jon Hamm's stubbled face. Among the rampant speculation about season five that will be temporarily quelled and then re-ignited after the premiere, rumor has it that we could see a Don and Joan hook-up this go-round, though this is hardly the only sexcapade possibility Weiner and his team of scribblers may have devised. But who cares what might actually happen over the course of the season — wouldn't you rather speculate wildly about liaison scenarios so remote, so outrageous that nobody except a crazed person strung out on instant coffee and gummy worms could think of them? Sure you are. More »
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When Mad Men returns on Sunday, you can't possibly watch all the subtext and strained silences on an empty stomach! We got our hands on a copy of Judy Gelman and Peter Zheutlin's totally unauthorized Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook, and picked an era-appropriate drink, entree and a dessert for some stick-to-your-ribs sustenance. Get the matches, light the stove, chill your glasses. Your menu's right here. More »
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It's been almost 18 months since the most recent episode of Mad Men. Do you even remember what happened? Something about a pregnancy and an engagement and financial ruin? With the premiere of the fifth season this Sunday, we have a primer on all the happenings of fledgling ad agency Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce and its employees. More »
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Doesn't matter what you choose. What matters is that you do your choosing drunk on scotch. More »
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Cast members of AMC's "Mad Men" television show applaud during New York Stock Exchange opening bell ceremonies, Wednesday, March 21, 2012. They are, from left, John Slattery, Christina Hendricks, Lions Gate CEO Jon Feltheimer, the show's creator Matthew Weiner, Jon Hamm, January Jones and Kiernan Shipka. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) More »
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Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner is notoriously tight-lipped about his show, and that's never been more true than for the highly anticipated season five premiere this Sunday. He's barely let anything slip, and we've all been on the edge of our seats wanting to know something—anything!—about what's in store for us. (We have had to wait a year and a half since the last episode.) But now it appears he's had to reveal one detail that he would have rather kept under wraps: the year the premiere episode is set. More »
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March 25th! March 25th! March 25th! More »
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Jan Maas, author of the book Mad Women, which is about exactly what it sounds like, stopped by the Saturday edition of CBS This Morning to make the hosts feel bad for not wishing her a happy 80th birthday and to tell America how difficult it was to be an ad-woman in the 60's. After gushing about how much she loved the show and insinuating, through the dancing glint in her eye, that she's a crossword puzzle shark, she explained that Mad Men gets the mid-century Madison Avenue atmosphere about right, except for a few small details, such as the fact that sexual harassment was even more prevalent (and more aggressive) when she was working as a copywriter and lady copywriters all wore hats in the office. Fancy hats. As for the sexual harassment, Maas explains that married women like herself were sometimes put in super tricky positions when older office men pursued them. She says that, though she was dogged relentlessly by her creative director for two years, she was afraid to tell her husband for fear that he, a former marine, would shoot her boss (spoiler alert?) because bygone generations just did not fuck around. More »
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Imagine for a moment what would happen if Mad Men's leading man, Don Draper, was struggling with something bigger than a coy grade school teacher, a Kodak pitch, or a wife on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Imagine if Don Draper was gay. And smitten with Roger Sterling. More »
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The stars of AMC's hit Mad Men stayed clear of anything retro for the premiere of the show's fifth season. More »
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In an interview yesterday with the New York Times, Mad Men mastermind Matthew Weiner talked all about the show's much-anticipated 5th season, including how terrifyingly close it came to never happening. Faced with an interminable negotiation process, Weiner says he wanted to quit the show faster than a kid who's been beamed too many times wants to quit little league: More »
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Don Draper is not long for this world, you guys. He smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish and sexes the ladies like it's going out of style. Not only that, but he's also full of secrets that are assuredly eating away at his heart and brain. The chances of him seeing his 70s are slim to none, as demonstrated by this data assembled by real life actuary Jack Luff and the folks over at Vulture. More »
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This past season of Mad Men saw its fair share of ups and downs between Don Draper and his protégée Peggy Olson, a relationship perhaps best encapsulated by the beautiful episode "The Suitcase," which starts with a work-related argument between the two and ends with a poor, beaten and grieving Don asleep in an equally needy (and sleeping) Peggy's lap. Too soon, fans heralded the nap as the Don-Peggy coupling that certain Mad Men shippers had been anxiously awaiting. Those same fans were then disappointed when that significant moment in Don's office was brushed aside in favor of his ill-advised engagement to his beautiful Quebecois secretary Megan. More »
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Did you wake up today feeling like you were missing something, but couldn't figure out what it was? Or maybe you've been feeling that way for awhile— maybe since you were born. The itch, the tickle at the corner of your brain that seems to disappear whenever you think about it too long, but, no, it's really still there. You've lost something, something you never knew you wanted, and that something is Jon Hamm as Don Draper leaving an outgoing message in very poor Hungarian. Good news, we found it for you. More »
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Here's something to help tide you over until the season 5 premiere of Mad Men at the end of March. AMC has released a slew of shiny teaser trailers letting us know that Don, Roger, Peggy and friends are back in action and better that ever. More »
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Great news, people with weak stomachs! With Rick Santorum surging and frothing all over the polls and Americans wasting unprecedented amounts of brain energy to wipe the internet definition of "Santorum" from their brains, a new immature yet awesome poop-related neologism has been made out of the name of a Republican candidate. More »
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Last night's episode of The Simpsons featured Homer being trained for his new job in ad sales at the power plant by none other than Roger Sterling himself. Okay, actually, it was a Simpsonized version of a modern day Mad Men sales guy who happened to be voiced by John Slattery. Still, for those of us who are counting the months until AMC's golden series returns, it's enough to hold us over. More »
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