Mad Men Swank
 

We've been watching the first season of Mad Men. Incredibly good! Great acting, great story, and love the art direction! Of course it's set in the early 60s, right before Kennedy was elected.

Don Draper is the lead character and this weekend when we were out strolling down 2nd Street after a nice dinner at Domenico's, we spied a store window display (I think it was Banana Republic) featuring the "Don Draper Suit". How swank!

Nanner Public has a whole Mad Men line. Being a TV idiot, it took me a while to figure out what that meant.

I bought a grey sheath dress from the collection.

Lisa, I think you'd like Mad Men. (And 30 Rock, but the Liz Lemon swank is for another thread.)

I think Lisa would like Mad Men too. It's tres cool.

Bizarre, I just this second turned on the tube for the first time not for True Blood, cause someone told me the 3rd Season of Mad Men starts tonight on AMC - - and then saw this thread!

Anyone know if that's true? What day(s) it's on and what time(s)?


The first season was Magnificent Genius that affected me deeply.

The second season, not so much.


But on the strength of the first season, I'm willing to give the third a chance.


If I can find it.

Here's a great compilation video.

And I can't get enough of the title sequence.

Hope I can netflix this, looks cool, JW!

I had a similar coincidental happenstance when I first got into the show.

In fact, the very first day I started watching it, I viewed like 6 episodes in a row and I was way hooked. At a dinner party that night, the person I was chatting with across from me revealed a celebrity run-in she'd had that morning with Jon Hamm, the lead actor who plays Don Draper.

If the conversation had happened the day before, I wouldn't have had a clue who's name she dropped, but instead I was fascinated with the seemingly less-than-random celebrity encounter.

Odd. :cheers:

:cool: Swank begets swank.

Third Season Premiere is August 16 on AMC.

From my el jay of February 11:


Another interesting coincidence hit me when I started watching the second season a few days later.

From my el jay of Feb. 14:

Finally saw the Mad Men 3rd Season premier, which iTunes kinda screwed up for me (thanks for the work-around, Isaac).


I'm really impressed with two things they did in handling the budding gay issue of their closeted homo regular, Salvatore.

The first is the clever way they shot the start of him getting it on with the bellboy in an out-of-town hotel. The bellhop was in Sal's room fixing the A/C, and Salvatore takes out his billfold and flips through it looking for tip money.

The very tight shot is from Sal's point of view, looking down at his own hands and the money he's counting out. The bellboy's feet come into the shot, and you instantly know Sal realizes this boy has come into his physical space in a way that no straight man ever would.


Beyond being a really neat way to communicate the gay come-on, it struck me because of an incident I had a few years back. I was in Gelson's and saw these two young men shopping together. They could easily have been roommates, and not lovers. There was no hugging, no touching, they didn't look really gay or anything like that. But they kept getting in each other's space in a way that, even 38 years after Mad Men, no American straight male would do.

It was right then, watching these two boys be domestic together, that I realized I wanted a boyfriend and not a continuation of the string of fucbuddies and on-the-sides I'd gay dabbled with my entire life.

Had my first boyfriend a month or two later. And, though it didn't work out how I'd have liked, he's finally moved in with me. :D



Ok, the second thing I liked about the Gay on the Mad Men episode:

So, of course, Salvatore - who's always been too paranoid to act on his gay impulses lest he be caught ... get's spotted by the show's lead character, his superior at the agency, Don Draper - - as he's coming down the fire escape during the hotel fire that caused Sal's disappointing homo-interruptus, and spots Salvatore with the bellhop coming out of the bathroom in a state of improper undress.

Naturally, Sal's a little freaked. It's his greatest fear that if he's found out as a gay, his career will come to a crashing end. On the plane back to New York, he and Don are uncomfortably silent. Suddenly, Don turns to Sal and says with all seriousness, "I'm going to ask you something, and I want you to answer with complete honesty."

Sal gulps, and nods. And Don, after a pause, asks what he thinks of the advertising concept he's concocted for the client they were visiting in Baltimore.

It was such a smooth (and not uncomical) way for Don to communicate to Sal that he doesn't give a damn about him being gay, and he's not going to speak a word about it to anyone ... not even among themselves.

That was a really nice thing for Don to do, handled very expertly. Of course, on the same trip he also shacked up with a stewardess, cheating on his wife for the 83rd time after they just got back together from an adultery-motived separation (and while she's pregnant with their 3rd child).

Don's a complex character. Fuktard and Swell Guy.

I really like this show. The opener was better than many a 2nd season episode. So I'm re-hooked. And now, the addition of The Gay! WIN.

Though he's also telling Sal to keep it to himself. The new slogan is "limit your exposure." The exec producer has confirmed it was Don's way of saying Sal should avoid being publicly "out."

Telling Sal to avoid being publicly out is like telling me to like Disneyland. Pulease. I call shenanigans.

Though I don't doubt Don was trying to convey that as well.

If anyone has visited the official Mad Men site's "Mad Men Yourself" page, and liked the swank Shagesque artwork, here's a link to the artist's work.

Here's one she did of one of our favorite scenes from season 1:

Just wrapped up season one tonight - I'll probably pick up season two before the week is out - so delightful, dark, and nostalgic

I saw her stuff last season, and I was really impressed with her work. I've never seen an online campaign team actually tap a fan with an existing meme to help create something for official use. So as soon as I saw Mad Men Yourself, I knew I'd be using it as an example for clients, to show just how effective a talented fan with a meme can be.

We have one more Season 2 episode to watch; then we have all the Season 3 eps that have aired so far on the DVR.

I'm not really impressed with Season 3 so far. I'll watch the rest of it, but if it turns out as bleh as Season 2, I'm done with this once-promising show.

Last night's episode was grueling. OMG, American childbirth in 1962. No wonder I'm so fuctup.

Personally, I'm loving the show for its nostalgia factor (we're playing spaceman!), the writing is really good, but I keep getting plot lines mixed up with 30 Something. Where IS Miles Drentell?

I've been kinda wanting to watch Bewitched again - who is Larry Tate?

Just wait til you get the the episode in season 2 with Don in Palm Springs. You might find it amusing...

Larry is definitely Roger Sterling.

Yep, I get a kick out of how close they made that comparison.

Congratulations to Mad Men for winning the Emmy for Best Drama Series!

Just saw that one last night - it was spectacular. Now I wonder if that house is available to rent for the perfect decadent Palm Springs getaway.

Sesame Street gets in on the action.

"Good work, sycophants."

I thought the last picture was going to make them glad.

We just watched "Guy Walks Into An Advertising Agency"...

OMFG! I can not believe they went there!

Well, the series finale is this coming Sunday. I'm really liking the 3rd season better than the 2nd (but it's not up to the standards of Season 1).

I've taken to watching the show on iTunes ... mostly because I keep missing it on Sunday, but not without also wanting to miss the 17 commercial breaks. Gah!


Anyway, here's Jon Hamm in his days of glory. Yum!






BTW: The last episode made my cry, when the kids come in to find their folks all upset at Kennedy's assassination. I was a little younger than the kids on the show (3-and-a-half, to be precise), but that's precisely how the incident came to implant itself in my young psyche as an early scar. It's one of my earliest memories because it's so indelible. I don't remember seeing the assassination, or the Oswald killing. The only tv images i remember are from the funeral a few days later. But I vividly recall my mom crying endlessly and my dad being really upset. The episode really struck a chord by portraying that moment.

It's the season finale, not the series finale. It's been picked up for season 4.

oh just a typo on my part. I meant "season." Personally, I hope they go through the moon landing at least!



Lotta loose ends from Season 2 never picked up. Wonder if they'll resume any of that in the 4th, or just let those hints die forever.

Just finished season 3 and I loved it. Where the show opened with a nostalgia and tongue and cheekiness about the early 60's, this season really delved into the darkness of the era and why some changes had to happen. Can't wait for season 4.

I am fully hooked on this show. However, I really hate that I have to wait months to see it next and then remember to watch it weekly - with ugly commercials.

Ah, the irony of wanting to enjoy a show about the advertising business without being bombarded by advertising.

If only the did 60's make-overs on the ads they run - now that would be synergy

How cool would that be!

I really do hate commercials and it is amusing that the shows I tend to love are (sort of) about advertising.....Bewitched, Thirtysomething and now Mad Men. I keep referring to Don as Michael.

After finishing Season One of "True Blood", I started watching "Mad Men". I'm 4 episodes in and like it but I honestly can't see what the big fuss is about this show. I think one of the things that bugs me is that the lead character played by Hamm is unlikable. He's kind of a dick. But on the bright side, I love the art direction and costumes.

Are you watching season 1? Don't like it yet?



Wait.

Yes, season one.
Okay, I'll wait. I see so many possibilities on where this show can go. I love the redhead and the operators.

Hey everyone! Long time no type! :D

Anyhow, being a huge Mad Men fan I was just playing around with the Madmenyourself app and all the swanky coolness made me think of you guys, the swankinest group I've ever known. This is really a fun little avatar builder.

Anyhow, cheers all. Hope everyone is well!

Mad Men Yourself