The Mad Men Are Back

I've spent the last month or so watching "Mad Men" seasons 1-3 on my wonderful Kindle Fire.  Tonight I begin Season 4 expecting to finish before the now delayed 18 months Season 5 begins March 25th.

Getting my fix while the show has been on hiatus due to contractual disputes between the creator and the network (or whatever) has forced me to renew my acquaintance with a show I originally deemed a "very well written soap opera dramatization" of the early 1960s.  I have greater respect for the writing and character development and psychological turmoil of said characters sent against the backdrop of the turbulent Sixties in which I was growing up.

I may be an addict, but I'm now an informed addict.

I'm Having An Affair ...

...with my Kindle Fire and it's taking me away from all my normal activities.  Those of you following my blogs, Empty Nest Evolution and Women of a Certain Age, may or may not have noticed my approximately month-long absence from blogging.  It wasn't by design.  I simply can't stop reading, playing & referring to the Kindle Fire.

Every night, before I go to sleep, I watch an episode of "Mad Men".  I'm getting ready for the new season, beginning in March, by reviewing the past 3 seasons.  It's addictive.

I play Words with Friends, a game I'd never heard of til Alec Baldwin was kicked off a plane for refusing to turn off his electronic device at takeoff because he was in the middle of playing.  Huh?  It's like Scrabble only you're playing someone you don't know.  I don't cheat yet, that is, refer to the dictionary for word ideas but I'm sure some of my opponents have.  I mean, have you ever heard of the word "coir"?  Me neither but it's a real word.  Words with Friends is addictive.

I've downloaded and read several books.  I didn't think I'd like reading on a Kindle but I like it.  It's not addictive but it is easy.

I read the news headlines on Pulse, get instant weather on the Weather Channel app, I upload photographs which look more phenomenal on the Kindle than in my camera or on this computer.  Everything looks better on the Kindle Fire.  

I'm trying to cut back.  I've had the flu these past 4 days, spending most of it in bed on the computer, trying to catch up with everyone's blogs.  

No, Amazon is not paying me to say this.

Johnny Carson and The Rat Pack

Nobody can or ever will replace Johnny Carson. I tolerate but have never really liked David Letterman.  When Leno took the reins of the "Tonight Show", I was grinning and bearing it. I am now bored by both.

My idol, Jon Stewart, is at least topical and funny so he is my new King of Late Night. But, there will always be only one Johnny Carson. A friend of mine found this video on YouTube.  I've never heard Carson sing. Now I know why. 

This was shot at the Kiel Opera House in St. Louis in 1965. I think it was a charity event.  Shades of Mad Men with all the smoking and drinking and who knows what else.  They sure had fun.

Mattel Goes Mad...Men that is

Mattel goes Mad Men with Barbie replicas of  Don & Betty Draper, Roger Sterling and his one time mistress, office manager, Joan Holloway.  Ad Broad has a post on her site as well as an interview on the amctv site.  MadMen is tweeting about it and the NY Times has a 3/9/10 article too. Heady stuff!
(L-R)Joan Holloway, Roger Sterling, Don Draper, Betty Draper

I have kept my Barbies lovingly put away for many years.  I have an original Barbie, an original Ken and an original Ginger, she of the platinum blonde bubble hair coif. 

My husband photographed one of my Barbies with accessories for her 50th birthday.  I've written about them.  I've written about Mad Men.  Love the dolls.  Love the show.  Would like to buy them all.  Look at those darling dresses!

Mad Men Season Finale

Cast of "Mad Men"

I am a "Mad Men" devotee.  I watch it every week, without fail;  have since the beginning.  If I can't watch it, I record and watch it later.  Sometimes I'll even watch the new show and it's encore (back-to-back) to better understand the ins and outs of the characters.  There are many layers in these shows;  if I'm concentrating too much on one plot line, I may become confused by another.  I haven't had this much fun since "West Wing" my all time favorite series television.

I was initially drawn to "Mad Men" for several reasons:

1. I have been in advertising for 30+ years.
2. My father wore a fedora relentlessly. He was in advertising in Chicago, Canada & LA.
   
3. Takes place in the Sixties, my childhood.

From the get go, I was pretty much hooked.  I had problems with the one-dimensional aspects of many of the characters and the stiff unyielding, pathological behaviour of Don Draper and his icy wife Betty.

Betty and Don Draper
 

But over the past few seasons, the writers have sought to flesh out the characters, explain some of their behaviours and make them more human, more likable and identifiable.

Last night's season finale tied up a number of loose ends while moving forward with new plots, new options and a wonderful promise for the next season.  For a well-written review, go here.

Joan Holloway

I am super happy to see Joan Holloway back.  She's way too smart for her husband and the rest of the "boys" in the agency.  It will be interesting to see where they take her.   She's been under-utilized this season and she was always too good to be Roger Sterling's plaything.  She's a dramatic foil to Betty Draper's picture perfect but deeply unhappy suburbanite and Peggy Olson's passive aggressive not-quite-but- almost-feminist.

Last night's show was one surprise after another, the biggest (in my opinion) being the agency principals risking their way out of a planned scenario orchestrated by their British owners who've surrepetitiously sold the agency to one of Madison Avenue's most fabled firms, McCann Ericson.  I wonder what the folk at McCann think of that angle?

Bertram Cooper and Roger Sterling

One of my favorite aspects to the show are the costumes and set decor. The shows' creator, Matthew Weiner, is reported perfectionist when it comes to details.  For those of us who grew up in the Fifties and Sixties, it's a true blast from the past.  The costumes are beautiful too.  I love to see the fitted bodices over flowing skirts of billowing fabric, the sheaths, the gloves, the hats.

Betty Draper 

 
I just wish the show were on air for a longer season. I've no idea why the producers keep it so short.  I
thought it began as a mid season replacement for something else (can't remember what) but now, it's so wildly popular, one wonders at the limited amount of production.  Perhaps that is all about wanting what we cannot have?  Kinda like in the show...

all photos by Frank Ockenfels 3 from amctv.com