"On The Next Mad Men" Draws Considerable Mockery [Updated]

Each week, Mad Men‘s promos have grown increasing inscrutable. Now in new parody videos, characters from shows like Arrested Development and The Office spew meaningless phrases like “Oh, it’s you,” and “Really?” as overly-dramatic music swells in the background.

For a refresher, check out this promo from season three, which reveals almost nothing about the episode’s plot:

The ad for the next episode of season four, “Waldorf Stories,” is even worse — it features a shot of Peggy saying “What does that mean?” to someone standing off screen and Don lighting a cigarette while mumbling, “That’s not how it goes.”

Chris Higgins of mental_floss, who first spotted the new meme, writes:

It’s almost as if the producers are contractually obligated to provide some kind of “next on” segment, so decide to put meaningless stuff in there to fill time (either that, or they’re driving you to their website for a meaningful video).

Creator Matthew Weiner’s hatred of spoilers is well known, so this doesn’t seem out of the question. Now the internet has taken note these pointless promos, and produced several ads for other programs in the style of “Next on Mad Men.”

Curb Your Enthusiasm Episode 4.4 — “The Car Pool Lane”

Arrested Development Episode 4.4 — Let Them Eat Cake

The Simpsons, “Marge Vs. The Monorail.”

The Office (U.K.) Episode 4.4 — Training

Cult film The Room

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Episode 4.6 — “The Nightman Cometh”

Jurassic Park

The meme is still young — these are the only clips on YouTube so far — but they’re just ridiculous enough to achieve internet infamy. We’ll know they’ve really caught on once we see baffling “Next On” clips featuring Hitler or the Old Spice guy.

Update: All of these hilarious videos are the work of John Duffy. He’s planning to make more, so if you have any suggestions you should contact him @philaduffia.