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Separated at birth
“Theme From The Love Boat” ace Jack Jones and Madison Ave. ad face Don Draper.
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Mad Men: Season Four in Twitter-sized bites
Mad Men’s wrapped for another year, which means I get my Sunday nights back. The fourth season saw a little dip in quality, forsaking the wonderful, large cast in favour of training season-long spotlights on Don Draper’s severe alcoholic depression and Peggy Olsen’s heartening growth. Fair enough: they’ve been the top-billed characters from the start. But MM’s rebranding relegated January Jones, Vincent Kartheiser and Christina Hendricks to a year of marginalized roles, something I hope Matt Weiner addresses in the off-season. They’re all too damn good at what they do to bury them again.
Via my Twitter account (@thegoldenyear), here’s a quick review of the fourth season of television’s best show, in 140-character bites:
- So…home from cottage. And now *my* new season of #MadMen begins. Yet to see an episode in its first-run time slot. 0-for-40 there.
- It feels as though I missed a whack of episodes. This feels like a re-boot so far. HAHA, HARRY CRANE’S SUNBURN! #MadMen S04.01
- Rat-faced Henry Francis looks like that kid nobody remembers from high school who made good while no one was watching. #MadMen S04.01
- Ballsy season opener, Matt Weiner. Uneasy and queasy. Boxes not yet unpacked from the move. #MadMen S04.01
- Wondering whether we’ll see Cosgrove or Kinsey this week. #MadMen S04.02
- Freddy Rumsen! Drinkin’ buddies FTW. #MadMen S04.02
- This is the first time I’ve watched a first-run #MadMen ep. I’ve reached for the rewind button three times. It’s like a phantom limb. S04.02
- Roger’s right. Joanie looks like a Christmas present. #MadMen S04.02
- I bet Lee Garner Jr. was one of the hillbillies in ‘Deliverance.’ #MadMen S04.02
- About time! #MadMen plays Jan And Dean. Second-best surf pop band ever. S04.03
- Are you KIDDING me? Lane Pryce gets shit-faced at Godzilla? #MadMen S04.03
- Don Draper or Tiger Woods: which master of high infidelity is currently further off his game? #MadMen #PGA S04.03
- I don’t think we’ll see Lane Pryce this giddy again until the ‘66 World Cup. #MadMen S04.03
- Lane Pryce & Don Draper: best man-date ever. Somewhere, Pete Campbell is weeping. #MadMen S04.03
- #MadMen last night: direction by John Slattery - Pete and Peggy’s lingering look, supercharged with what-mighta-been regret. Nice. S04.04
- Peggy’s character rocks. She can match Don’s lack of saccharine sentiment. She’s also the one pulling the show into the mid-sixties. #MadMen S04.04
- And it’s been very pleasant not seeing that awful Betty Francis woman for a few weeks. #MadMen S04.04
- Wow. <smack> She isn’t onscreen for 30 seconds and I’m reminded of how much I hate Betty Francis. #MadMen S04.05
- “How does she not fall over?” Hahahahahahahaha #MadMen S04.05
- THAT was a great hour of television. Season four’s hitting stride. AND MISS BLANKENSHIP IS THE BEST. #MadMen S04.05
- Draper’s competitor cleverly references “Help Me, Rhonda,” but it’s a minor continuity gaffe. In March ‘65 “Rhonda” is unfamiliar. #MadMen S04.05
- Never really seen anyone from #MadMen exercising, sex aside. Well, Miss Farrell jogged. Didn’t these people even golf? S04.05
- Victory kiss from Joan makes up for losing the actor Emmy, Don/Jon. #MadMen S04.06
- Watch it with the blackouts, Don. You’re sloppy. #MadMen S04.06
- This season’s positioning Pete and Peggy as modern, more efficient versions of Roger and Don. So far so good. #MadMen S04.06
- It’s 10:30 p.m. #MadMen’s fourth season is statistically half over. Is January Jones getting paid for a full season of work? S04.07
- When the hell is Elizabeth Moss getting her Emmy. She’s worn about six emotions tonight. #MadMen S04.07
- Ah, I liked Anna Draper. “He has no people.” #MadMen S04.07
- Where do I line up for the Peggy Olsen’s Boyfriend competition? #MadMen S04.07
- BTW, props to Hamm: a masterclass in both grief and relief when Don realizes Peggy’s been watching through the Anna phone call. #MadMen S04.07
- @lindsaylynch @optimuscrimeTO It should’ve begun with one of those old Will Arnett WB voiceovers: “Tonight, on a VERY SPECIAL #MadMen…” S04.07
- Re-watching that staggering #MadMen ep S04.07. Freed from Sunday night’s worry of @_DonDraper being dickish to Peggy, this is so, SO great.
- Something tells me you Matt Long-Joey fans mightn’t be fans much longer. #MadMen S04.08
- Roger D-D-Daltrey’s in the b-b-boardroom and Sally Draper’s on the lam! #MadMen S04.09
- I really hope Dexter goes after Betty Francis in the season finale. #MadMen S04.09
- Sorry, @MissB_SCDP! Miss you much. #MadMen S04.09
- This was the #MadMen ep shooting during the ‘Rolling Stone’ cover story. And I gather Lane’s favourite Rolling Stones tune is “Brown Sugar.” S04.10
- I guess we’re finally getting to the point of this #MadMen season. But I’m flummoxed: does Pete know the entire Draper backstory? S04.10
- Lane’s dad wields that walking stick like Obi-Wan Kenobi. #MadMen S04.10
- My parents saw The Beatles at Maple Leaf Gardens on this same August ‘65 tour. #MadMen S04.10
- Ray Wise! The Devil! Leland Palmer! What’s not to like? #MadMen S04.11
- Awww. This is sad. #MadMen S04.11
- Call Sal Romano! Lucky Strike’s gone! #MadMen S04.11
- Insider trading. That’s why this episode’s called “Chinese Wall.” And this scene might free Don up to chase Megan. #MadMen S04.11
- Boy or girl, I hope Pete Campbell’s named his kid Don Jr. #MadMen S04.11
- Wow Midge, you’ve turned out GREAT! #MadMen S04.12
- Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers! Hey @_DonDraper, try this one: “The sixth sick sheikh’s sixth sheep’s sick.” #MadMen S04.12
- “Well, I gotta go learn a bunch of people’s names before I fire them.” #MadMen S04.12
- Wondering if Matt Weiner will pull the trigger on Roger Sterling. That man looks about ready to jump. #MadMen S04.13
- Bertram to Roger: “Lee Garner Jr. never took you seriously because you never took yourself seriously.” That line’s a killer. #MadMen S04.13
- Also, could Harry Crane pull some (shark-jumping) California-based T.V. deal out of his mysterious hat? Something’s going on there. #MadMen S04.13
- And isn’t it time for the Conrad Hilton cavalry? They’ve already unearthed Midge. #MadMen S04.13
- Weiner hasn’t written either of the last 2 eps, but I’m willing to bet he pulls a “very special Buffy” Joss Whedon & writes/directs. #MadMen S04.13
- “Did you get cancer?” Don’t ask that, Roger. I thought Don’s smoker’s cough was catching up with him after that LOL dialogue. #MadMen S04.13
- Megan’s teeth are smaller when her hair’s done up. #MadMen S04.13
- Betty’s a c*nt. #MadMen #Carla S04.13
- I kind of expect Bobby Ewing to pop up in the shower. #Megan #MadMen S04.13
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Mad Men: Season Three in Twitter-sized bites
I made this last stretch of July busier than necessary by settling in to watch the third season of Mad Men in nine nights. Via my Twitter account (@thegoldenyear), here’s a quick review of an excellent, moody season of dystopian 1960s America, in 140-character bites:
- How long ‘til Sterling Cooper’s principals chafe under British rule? Bet Kinsey takes to their expanded vocabulary, though. #MadMen ep S3.01
- Wonder whether Sal first thought that was a fire alarm going off in his pants. #MadMen ep S3.01
- BTW, I dig the theme playing during the Maypole Dance scene in which Draper first sees Miss Farrell. Lovely tune. #MadMen ep S3.02
- “I’m Peggy Olsen, and I want to smoke some marijuana.” Har har. #MadMen ep. S3.03
- For all its glacial pacing, #MadMen eps are stuffed to the brim! Peggy smokes up, Don meets Connie Hilton, Joan plays accordion in < 25 mins. #MadMen ep. S3.03
- Kiernan Shipka was terrific last year as Sally Draper. Apparently she’s been promoted to series regular this year. #MadMen ep S3.04
- Joan’s No Dull Moments speech! Don’s Jai-Alai mis-toss into Hooker’s ant farm! #MadMen ep S3.04
- Betty Draper is 31 as she gives birth to Eugene on June 21, 1963. Four days before George Michael (Wham!) is born, btw. #MadMen ep S3.05
- Lois cuts the British down a peg! Rare Joan-Don moment, post-bloodbath! Sally gets Barbie, Betty gets sullen! It’s all in #MadMen ep S3.06!
- The only thing funnier than a Roger Sterling one-liner is that zippy Who’s On First? interplay between Pete and Peggy. LOLz #MadMen ep S3.07
- Don gets pwned. Hilton backs him into a contract and then he walks into a motel room shakedown. #MadMen ep S3.07
- Bad as Hilton and those teens beat Draper, it’s Bert Cooper who buried him. This show has the best damned monologues. #MadMen ep S3.07
- Betty and Don in Rome: our lone glimpse of what they presumably were before #MadMen “began.” Young, fetching, beautifully rendered. ep S3.08
- Sal Romano is just about the most star-crossed lover, ever. Brutal truths, from 1963 America. #MadMen ep S3.09
- Henry Francis has a rat face. Peggy Olsen has a duck face. What casting: Henry *is* a rat; Peggy’s sleeping with a Duck! #MadMen ep S3.10
- Christ, Betty finds the desk key and the world goes to hell. This show is a series of furious, hateful explosions. #MadMen ep S3.10
- 3 episodes of last year’s #MadMen to go. IIRC, they were astonishing. Past and present decimated; the future laid wide open in 3 T.V. hours.
- Hamm is incredible in the big Don-Betty showdown scene. Three years waiting for this, and it’s note-perfect. #MadMen ep S3.11
- Amazing. Don’s been such a brazen turd since day one, but I feel terribly sorry for him once his house of cards falls down. #MadMen ep S3.11
- I mean, that’s acting. Writing. Directing. Whatever, the whole kielbasa. Friggin’ great episode. Hamm better get his Emmy. #MadMen ep S3.11
- Bless you, Duck. A booty call beats watching Cronkite’s Kennedy announcement. #MadMen ep S3.12
- “I want to work! I want to build something of my own!” - Don to Bert. And the ball’s set in motion. #MadMen ep S3.13
- Betty became a churlish, world-class dick, even allowing for Don being Don. January Jones did fantastic work all year long. #MadMen ep S3.13
- Isn’t the last 30 minutes about as supercharged as T.V. gets? Once Pryce fires Don, Rog and Bert, it’s a mad sprint. #MadMen ep S3.13
- And Joanie is the icing on the cake. Second she walks into Sterling Cooper? It’s on. IT’S ON. #MadMen ep S3.13
Wow. That finale was a total mindfuck. Matt Weiner’s blown his baby to pieces. I have no idea where they’re headed, but it’s apparently around Thanksgiving 1964, or about 10 months later. Paul Kinsey and Sal Romano aren’t featured in any promotional materials, so we’ve presumably lost a few familiar faces. Dudes, I’m pumped for the Season Four premiere tomorrow night.
