12 posts tagged “mad men”
Carrie Prejean, the Miss California USA with a sex tape, was on "Larry 'Inappropriate' King Live" last night, and she refused to answer any questions. This is pretty much one of my favorite television clips of 2009.
I find it strange that this woman would want to be on a talk show only to avoid talking about every issue and controversy in which she's involved, deeming everything Larry said, "inappropriate." Why even go on the show to begin with? I suppose even bad publicity is good publicity.
I feel bad that Larry King was left in the dark on what questions he could ask her, though. Although, I'm pretty sure he probably is always in the dark.
P.S. With January Jones from "Mad Men" hosting "Saturday Night Live" soon, I hope they include her in a skit where she plays Carrie Prejean. Don't they look alike!
I feel like Sally and Bobby Draper right now. Abandoned!
After last night's stellar season three finale, I can't wait until August when "Mad Men" comes back. All I have to look forward to right now is "Lost," and I'm only half as excited for that show as I currently am for the "Men."
*Spoilers*
There are so many more questions in this season finale than there were last year. Will Betty be happy with Henry Francis? What will become of the old Sterline Cooper clan? What about Sterling Cooper Draper and Pryce?
What I think was great about the episode, "Shut the Door. Have a Seat" was that I found myself rooting for all of the characters. Usually, I find most of them despicable (Pete Campbell as the au pair rapist, Peggy as Duck's bangmaid, Betty as a cold-hearted B of a mother). Yet, last night, I was so happy for all of them. It was great to see them come together at the end and avoid a corporate takeover (even if poor Ken Cosgrove and Paul Kinsey didn't get lifeboats).
I don't know what I'm going to do to pass the time over the coming months until "Mad Men" comes back. I think I may just have to drown myself Richard Yates' books (in my opinion, a serious "Mad Men" influence) and buy season 3 on DVD when it comes out.
The other day, I was thinking about The Simpson's parody of Mad Men from last fall and how clever it was.
Now, in fall 2009, Mad Men is being parodied again -- only this time from an unlikely source: Sesame Street.
Notably missing is Don Draper catching Ernie and Bert together at a hotel.
The new season of Mad Men has been featuring a lot of dancing. Last night's episode included a Charleston dance sequence featuring Pete Campbell and his wife. The episode before featured Peggy singing and dancing in front of her mirror at home.
Yet, I still can't stop thinking about Pete Campbell's dance from episode one of this season. I've been trying to recapture it myself ever since. It's just about the whitest dance I've ever seen. Props to Jason Kottke for sharing this tribute to Pete on his web site!
I can't stop watching this clip from The Soup last week. I think Mad Men should have a Joel McHale crossover episode. Couldn't you see Joel going head to head with Don Draper? Throw LeVar Burton into the episode, too! P.S. Rich Sommer is my new Hollywood crush.
Mad Men premiered last night, and woo, what an episode! Score one for alternative lifestyles in the 1960's.
I was kinda hoping that the show would have jumped forward in time a little bit further, but it was nice seeing Betty miserably pregnant (it's good to have her back and still horrible to her kids!). I know I keep saying this, but I can't wait to see what little Sally does down the road. I smell 1970's therapy sessions!
Although there were a lot of shakeups with the British merger at the end of last season, our favorite peeps at Sterling Cooper (is it still called that?) were up to their same old tricks. Pete Campbell is still as ruthless and competitive as ever. I thought that maybe the storyline with both Campbell and Cosgrove getting promoted would be very Three's Company situational-comedy, but it turned out to be rather interesting, especially since Cosgrove was excited to be sharing the promotion with Campbell (I figured they'd both do the Mr. Furley "Whaaat?" face and get mad at each other).
One drawback with the episode: not enough Peggy or Joan (of course, we only had an hour, so it's understandable). However, I think Joan is going to have a romantic storyline with Mr. Hooker.
But the moment of the night for me was when Sal finally succumbed to his innermost desires and kissed the bell boy. Hot! And Don didn't even call him out on it (well not totally), instead speaking of the London Fog ad: "Limit your exposure." Other Sterling Cooper employees would have totally been freaked out by what Don saw through the fire escape. However, Don Draper is used to keeping secrets.
MadMenYourself.com is my new discovery of the week. The web site allows you to create your own Mad Men character in honor of the show's return on August 16. Here's my character, the office neurotic known as "Mego." She becomes a 60's "prehistoric" blogger when she sends memos to everyone each day, updating them on the happenings of why she hates Neil Sedaka and what she thought of Lawrence of Arabia.
The Emmy nominations came out today, and I was rather disappointed. For one thing, Pushing Daisies received virtually no love, with no recognition in the bigger categories (although Kristen Chenoweth's best supporting nod was appreciated), while The Office received too much love in my opinion for its worst season yet. I was even surprised to see Family Guy get a nod for best comedy (where's The Simpsons?).
I scanned the list of nominated television programs and other than Mad Men and Lost, I really am not fans of any of the shows. I've never found Two and a Half Men remotely funny and am continually baffled by its critical praise. I often wonder whether Emmy voters vote for people they like as opposed to people who deserve nominations (see Charlie Sheen, who Hollywood keeps insisting on giving second chances to).
But with HBO leading the Emmy Nominations with 99 nominations in total, I'm starting to wonder whether I should subscribe to the network so I can get better programming. I'm dying to watch the show Hung as well as the Emmy nominated mini-series Grey Gardens. With television as bad as it is (see: The Bachelorette, Wipe-Out, Dating in the Dark, basically ABC's Summer line-up), if you really want quality, maybe you have to pay.
Although, in fairness to the mainstream networks, HBO often gets rave reviews because they are a little more uncensored. Sex and the City would have never worked on CBS. Just like you'd never catch previews for Hung on the same network that once housed Touched by an Angel.
I finally finished the "Lost" season finale and actually cried when Dr. Juliet Burke was pulled down the shaft to her electromagnetic, tearful death (or life -- who knows what J.J. Abrams and crew have in store for her). But Juliet wasn't the only one to bite the big one. Dharma Initiative member Phil also got it -- bad, with metal rods thrown through his body like a piece of straw through a brick (they say it can happen in a tornado!).
I liked Phil. Not because I was rooting for him, but because actor Patrick Fischler plays him! For the past year, I've seen this character actor pop up almost EVERYWHERE -- including stints on "Pushing Daisies" and AMC's "Mad Men." I also spotted him in Old School and Ghost World recently. And although I didn't watch "Southland" or "Cold Case," he also appeared on these shows.
What I like about him as a character actor is that he plays the villain so well. First, I found him on "Mad Men" where he played Jimmy Barrett, a Jerry Lewis-type comedian who brutally insulted a couple of fans in one episode (the scene made me totally uncomfortable, which is the mark of a good actor). Second, I spotted him on "Pushing Daisies," where he played "The Waffle Nazi," sporting a fake German accent in order to fool Ned, Olive, and the entire "Comfort Food" contest. Lastly, on "Lost," he was the ultimate in his repertoire of villains, shooting and killing people and trying to keep Jack and Co. from detonating the Hydrogen bomb (better luck next time, Phil).
Even though he presumably won't be appearing on "Lost" any longer," I know I'll be seeing him soon in the near future on another television program or movie. He's EVERYWHERE!
Every weekend, my one can't-miss DVR-ed show is The Soup. Joel McHale catches me up on the entertainment events from the week and also offers thoughtful yet scathing commentary on Tyra, Miley Cyrus ("It's Miley!!"), and other celebrity shenangians. I used to flip back and forth between The Soup and VH1's Best Week Ever, until BWE's holiday show last year completely turned me off because of all the random "Priceline" product placement.
A year goes by, and I had no idea Best Week Ever was still on the air until a friend told me that they had changed the format and gone with a Soup-like show featuring Paul F. Tomkins. I didn't actually believe it until I was waiting to watch a new episode of Rock of Love Tour Bus (read: BEST SHOW EVER!) and the new BWE with Paul F. Tomkins was on. To quote Gob Bluth from Arrested Development after he had spent a day with his mother Lucille: "It was utterly macabre."
You could pretty much hear crickets in the background on the set of the revised format. It was less like The Soup and more like The Daily Show -- only without an audience. What was VH1 thinking? While I appreciate Joel McHale and company more than BWE, there was no need to transition to that format. BWE had their own nice little thing going, with a mixed lot of comedians (some funny, some un). I especially enjoyed Melissa Rauch, Rob Huebel, and Paul Scheer -- all three always had something ironic to say. However, inspite of the mixed bag of humor, the unfunny/funny lot that contributed to BWE is what made the show so special! VH1 clearly killed the magic by changing the format.
While we may truly never know whether VH1 was smoking crack with Flavor Flav when they made this decision, we can at least seek solace in The Soup. Joel McHale and company clearly have no longer have any competition when it comes to their commentary on Daytime, Reality, and Celebrity TV. Here's my favorite clip from this past week's episode, featuring the supercute men of Mad Men:
