Mad Men.

Thought I had somehow managed to delete my timer setting for this, luckily as I was out last night I double checked it was set and put it back on, although I noticed the series link thing didn't come up either. Why?

Felt sorry for Peggy when she got all the flak from Joan for firing that bloke (can't remember his name but he deserved it, he was an idiot). Obviously she is stressed out about Greg going to Vietnam, but you would have thought she and Peggy would stick together.

It annoyed me when Peggy fired that bloke as well that he didn't believe she had the power to do that and wanted to see Don about it. Loved the way Peggy sneered at him: "Don doesn't even know who you are"

And was it just me, or did Betsy suddenly seem really old? I didn't like the way she wore her hair in the restaurant, it looked too severe all pulled back like that and when she was sat there chain smoking and glaring at Don and his date, I had this sudden image of her in thirty years time all wrinkled and looking really old from the years of drinking and smoking so heavily (I know, I know, I take it far too seriously :D)

Not keen on Don taking up with that psychiatrist woman...glad to see he managed to restrain himself for once and not just hop into bed with her like he normally would! Obviously him trying to be a good boy by cutting down on the drinking etc is doing him good.
 
Really?

Sal seems to be trying to do the 'right' thing living in a time where he has to deny his sexuality. The other men are the vile cheatrers who treat their wives like crap.

As for Joan, she is every gay man's dream. :D Wonderful character!
 
Oh, imho Betty is a wonderful many-layered character and January Jones is perfect in the role.

Her friend Francine has been so well disguised by her maternity clothes that it was only this week that we realised that she is the same actress who plays Amber, the scheming doctor, in the current series of House.
 
I think you've pinpointed the appeal of the show, that the characters can't be pinned down into easy good/bad or hero/villain categories. You like Don because he is smart, fair-minded and egalitarian but he's also a philanderer, liar and can be absolutely cold-blooded (the way he rejected his brother was horrible). Betty's talent and determination are obvious but her jealous sister has a point. Joan has that wonderful self-assurance and moxie but even if she's not a racist, she has no compunction making racist remarks to score some points in a petty squabble (although even there, her putdown of Paul Kinsey's motives have some truth to them). The characters are all horribly human and the show refrains from passing judgment on them.
 
I just finished watching Season 2, and the quote above just about sums up Mad Men for me. It is like watching a lovely ballet and it all just draws you in. I am so surprised that this is so low profile here in the UK, no one else i know has even heard of it and i totally missed out on season one.:cry:

Mind blowing and thought provoking and so very beautiful to look at. I have episodes 1 and 2 of S3 series linked on HD, can't wait to watch them.
 
I agree it seemed as if he knew, although he didn't say anything definite. Interesting that he returned to the idea of forgetting about everything towarRAB the end of the episode, when Peggy had to remind him about the money he owed, and he said something like "I suppose if you forget about everything, you forget about everything." I think he might have a job keeping up all this selective amnesia, though...!
 
Dr Edna looks like she's got Betty taped from the get-go, and I feel that Sally will be in good hanRAB. I'm trying to resist looking on IMdB to see how frequently and for how long Dr Edna is featured, she could be pivotal in Betty's development. Wishful thinking? ;)

The scene when Betty was in Dr Edna's office made me wonder about the pressure they're under during filming - Betty's pearl necklace slightly changing its drape, at one stage the right-hand stranRAB even disappearing under the faux collar during "I feel like Sally did this to punish me somehow for everything"... how many takes were stitched together for that scene?

I was riveted by the whole scene. Next best was a quickie of Peggy scooting around a studio :p

Then there was Pete's air of authority in speaking for Lane as well as himself, with "We're thanking you".

All brilliant, and the (uninterrupted, you don't get that on HD) truly dulcet tones of Doris Day to finish - how I hate myself for not appreciating her at the time, except as a cookie and/or prissy American actress with a stiff blonde wig :(

parthena
 
I can't believe Betty has turned into such a bitch...she was always uptight, but she seems to have got really bitter since the divorce, even though it was her who went off with another man and instigated it all!

I think part of the problem with her is that she does feel some shame about what happened...I suppose back then divorce wasn't that common and although she has remarried, there's still the stigma of it being her second marriage. Hence the comment to Don on the phone, saying "at least I'm married", trying to reassure herself that she's not like him because she's married the man she's sleeping with.

Thought the psychiatrist was very clever in getting Betty to come and see her...obviously she neeRAB a lot of help as well as Sally...feel really sorry for Sally, she is obviously one messed-up kid...at least Betty realised the problems started when her grandfather died and not just because of the divorce. I don't know why, but if I think about what Sally would be like today as a 50-something, I imagine somebody who has probably been married three times and with a drink problem! :D

I thought that Pete was quite insensitive to Roger's feelings about them taking on the Honda account, although I did love it when Roger went to chase after him and Pete ran out of the office! :D Again, I suppose back then there was a lot of ill feeling from a lot of people who had fought in WWII against the Japanese and it didn't matter that it was 20 years ago, they still had a lot of bad memories.

On a lighter note, I loved the bit where Peggy was riding the scooter around the studio...and the bit where the men from Honda were ogling Joan's chest and being really blatant about it...she didn't need an interpreter to know what they were talking about then! :D
 
By virtue of it being on BBC4/BBC2 Mad Men got lower ratings. I don't think either did especially well but the beeb seem to have latched on to the critical acclaim of Damages (not that MM was not acclaimed).
 
To me it more closely resembles Claudia Cardinale in 8 1/2, especially when you factor in the hair. Thematically I feel this would also chime with the notion of Don having a harem of adoring women, as Guido imagines he does in 8 1/2.
 
Ah but this is December 1963 (cue for a song!). Flippancy aside it was a very different world then. Probably Betty does not love Henry, or even feel particularly attracted to him, they made it plain last night that so far they have not had a sexual relationship. But he is wealthy and this makes Betty feel secure. During the scene when Betty confronted Don after finding the documents relating to his past she made reference to Don "not understanding money". This was an era were women were more or less indoctrinated that they live more or less the same life as their mothers. If only she had been born 10 years later.

Like everyone else can't wait for Series 4. Hope Don doesn't take up with the teacher, don't know but I didn't like her. Also can't wait to know what happens when Peggy tells Duck where she now works!
 
Pete was weasel like early on but the more you see of him and understand his background you see a guy who just doesn't have what it takes to do what he is trying to do- out of his depth. It was interesting in the final episode when Don (one of his biggest critics) told him that he was ready for more responsibility. Don usually gets things like that right and it was touching how Pete responded to that encouragement by giving him the merger information so that he could think about his response. And boy did he! :)

I feel just like you do about Betty. Don loves her but she just can't give him what he wants. She loves him but can't cope as she is so closed off. I hope it works out for them- that last scene with no dialogue was so SAD!
 
Thank you very much from me too - a fascinating interview. Also some interesting comments from viewers at the end - must admit I'd forgotten all about Carol, Joan's room-mate who confessed to being in love with her, until I saw the discussion of her there.

Must say I don't see Duck as a villain, or not as just a villain - he's just as complicated as everybody else, and I did feel a pang for him in this episode when there was that dismissive comment from one of the Brits: "He never could hold his liquor". This after all the fight to stay sober which we have seen, or seen hinted at. Did we ever actually see him take a drink in this episode? I suppose it would make sense, as he thinks the world is ending. I'm rather hoping he is back next season. I think I'll have to start watching season 1 on DVD now to keep me going...!
 
I can't believe Sky nicked Man Men from BBC4! :mad:

4 series in and they nab the 5th series, can't bloody believe it! I bet BBC bid as high as they possibly could to keep series five on the BBC but Sky being Sky outbid them! Why do Sky ALWAYS do this?! Give us normal terrestrial viewers a chance for goodness sake!
 
I wonder whether Don particularly allowed "Dick" to come to the fore because this is the sort of girl that Dick would (could) have pulled - a rather plain diner waitress, very low rent compared with Don's previous attractive, sophisticated/educated types.
 
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