Mad Men: July 2008 Archives
From left to right: Don Draper, offended woman, SCOTT, jerk with hat.
In case you've been living under a rock, the Mad Men season two premiere was last night, and I personally enjoyed it quite a bit. However, I've heard from two separate people that they felt it was a little slow. Maybe I'm in the minority? Who knows.
Nevertheless, there were many reasons to love last night's premiere, not the least of which was Peggy (or Peggs, as my friend Jash and I call her) going off on Don Draper's new secretary Lois, formerly a stalker-ish operator with a crush on the office's resident gay guy (Oops). Actually, as much as I loved that (gotta love Peggs), I enjoyed Joan's ensuing dressing down of Lois even more. It ain't easy in the steno pool.
Anyway, I have to give props to my buddy Scott MacArthur, who played one of the jerks in the elevator late in the episode. I like to brag about my friends, and as such, I've posted two images of him: one with him laughing at his chum's ribald story, and after the jump, a second image with him scowling at Don Draper. Look, I like Scott, but anyone who sasses Mr. Draper falls on my shit list. This could be a problem.
What did you think about the premiere?
A few weeks ago, just after I jumped vigorously onto the Mad Men bandwagon, I emailed the press contact for the show at AMC. I told her that I loved Mad Men, that I ran a blog that reached a few thousand people a day, and that I'd love to help promote the show. I was hoping that at best she'd send a t-shirt or some DVDs that I could give away on the site and at worst that I'd be included on some sort of media distribution list. Well, I got neither. The woman never emailed me back. Boo.
But just because AMC gave me the cold shoulder doesn't mean I'm not gonna stop my mission to convert as many people as possible to Mad Men. And furthermore, they can't keep me away from the free stuff. Case in point, check out this sweet Mad Men USB flash drive. Apparently, AMC was giving them away like candy at the recent Television Critics Association tour here in Los Angeles. My friend snagged one for me, which was awesome because I actually really needed a flash drive — and the fact that it was Mad Men-branded made it all the better. So I guess all's well that ends well.
Nevertheless, the new season starts Sunday at 10 PM EST on AMC.
The hype for Mad Men has been out of control, and it's only been augmented by its recent Emmy nomination haul (not to mention my own gushy praise). Still, amidst all the buzz (which kicked up a notch a few months ago with cover stories on Entertainment Weekly and The New York Times Magazine), the show hasn't been terribly easy to find. Sure, it's been released on DVD, and people with On Demand can download episodes, but you'd think with the season two premiere approaching on July 27th, AMC would have been running the season nonstop for the past three weeks to get as many people hooked as possible. But they haven't, which is sort of their loss (I guess they're looking to drive DVD sales).
The good news, however, is that tomorrow (Sunday, July 20th), AMC will be airing the entire season in marathon form, starting at 12 PM EST. It's worth checking out — or at least Tivoing. Thirteen hours will never go by so quickly.
For the full schedule, check out AMC's website here.
The 60th Emmy Award nominations were revealed this morning, and I have to admit that I'm pretty much fine with them. Sure, there were several snubs, but overall, I felt the noms hit the mark more or less. Readers of this blog will know that after my recent conversion to all things Mad Men, I was more than delighted to see the show rack up a huge number of nominations — sixteen in all — which placed it second only to my other favorite, 30 Rock (seventeen nominations). The latter series garnered several nods for its cast as Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, and a host of guest stars (including the deserving Will Arnett) all earned nominations for their work. Clearly this is Alec Baldwin's year to win (must I remind you of his triumphant bit channeling Tracy Morgan's family in therapy), but I have a nagging feeling that Tony Shaloub will steal the trophy. Why? Because that's what he seems to do every year. In fact, if any of my favorites lose to Monk and Boston Legal (again), I might throw something at my TV screen.
Click above to watch part 1 of the pilot. Click here to see the rest.
I like to talk as if I live a very lavish, party-filled lifestyle, but the truth is that on July 4th, I found myself at home by 9:30 with nothing to do. Televised options were limited, and I was completely caught up with my backlog of programs on the Tivo. Sure, I could have done something productive like reading or even writing, but c'mon, let's not talk crazy. Truth was that I'd been hankering to watch Mad Men, the critically acclaimed AMC series whose hype has been inescapable of late: cover stories in The New York Times Magazine section, newly released DVD box sets, rumors of Emmy glory — it's all been practically suffocating.
Well, with nothing better to do, I decided to dip my pen into the On Demand well and download the first episode. And so the adventure began.
