Crazy About Mad Men!

I am HOOKED on this show!

I loved Sunday night's episode!

I think one thing about this show I love is that it takes me back to my childhood, especially fondly remembering my Dad. He dressed like that, wore his hair black and slicked back, wore those suits and took me to his office a lot. I helped out there and he would take me to nice restaurants for lunch.

I also just found out my son Justin is hooked on the show and watched the whole first season! I had no idea! I wish he had told me about it last season. I think I will find a way to watch all of the first season. I don't know if it's on-line, or maybe they might rerun the first season. I bet there will be a first season DVD out at some point. Let me know if anyone sees anything!

The first season is out on dvd now. My husband and I watched all of it . He LOVES it. And he only watches Lost and that's it. But boy is he hooked. My nephew is actually the one who told me to watch it.You have to watch Season one!! I love watching Betty . she amuses me and often what I think she will do , she doesn't.

The clothes , the clothes. I love them. I asked my Mom if she had any clothes from then and she said she would look. I hope she does. I was born in 64 GULP so I can't really remember clothes and stuff like that. I remember more hippiesh stuff.

I saw the DVD of the first season for purchase at Best Buy a couple of weeks ago, but I'm STILL waiting for a copy from the library. I didn't know about this show until aerwin mentioned it, but obviously a lot of people are fans.

It's interesting that two of those who have been watching it and like it, aerwin's nephew and fc's son, are in an entirely different generation that is so different from the 60's.

I like the clothes as well and think that there was a definite distinction between occasions to dress and occasions to be casual back then, whereas now it's more common to have to decide what degree of casual is appropriate. To digress a bit, I was looking at some old photos displayed in an exhibit and it was so interesting to see the attire in the 30's and 40's when people dressed up even to shop at the public market. Men wore suits and hats and women wore dresses, gloves and hats.

Yes Janice! Now I remember you saying you were on a waiting list. I don't want to buy it, I thought maybe you can rent something like that. But maybe not. I never tried to rent a whole season of a show. We have two small libraries by us. I wonder if I could get on a waiting list at those. I will have to dig out my cards!

My son Justin loves the look of that era. He loves suits and he has two fedoras! He wears one sometimes out with friends to be cool. But they are getting a wee bit too small for him. Probably all that hair

It is really something how people used to dress up for everything. I think that is kind of nice! When I married my hubby he was required to wear a full suit and tie to work everyday. Then he didn't need to wear the jacket. Now no tie except for certain meetings. He only has to wear dress pants and a dress shirt for most days. My father was ALWAYS dressed to the nines for work. He was the VP of a company and looked very much the part - even though he was a little shorter than most business men

You can rent it. We rented it from netflix. My brother is renting it from Blockbuster. So now I think he will be hooked on it.
My husband wears polo shirts and jeans. No one at his company dresses up. When we first got married he had to wear khakis and dress shirts. I remember my dad going to work though and being dress to the nines.

It is interesting about the younger kids liking this show. I suppose it is so foreign to them. The dress, and the prejudices.

I grew up in that era too and I remember any time we went into the city my sister and I - and pretty much every other little girl I knew - had to wear a hat and gloves. In fact, I think we wore gloves to pretty much all dress up occasions. I remember I had this one hat which was kind of a fake fur headband with cherries on it.

Hamm Interview! (I really like this guy)

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By Brandon Voss
From The Advocate September 9, 2008

It’s a white heterosexual man’s world in the AMC series Mad Men, set in 1960s Manhattan. But that world is somehow less oppressive with a handsome star like Jon Hamm calling the shots. He won a Golden Globe and is nominated for an Emmy for his leading role as hard-drinking, chain-smoking, skirt-chasing advertising exec Don Draper. Here, the 37-year-old former prep school drama teacher explains why he’s just mad about men like costar Bryan Batt, Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank, and especially Keanu Reeves.

I hear you’ve had a long day of back-to-back interviews, but hopefully this will be your gayest one ever.

I don’t know. We’ll see. I’ve had some pretty gay interviews before, my friend.

Congratulations on your Emmy nomination. But what’s an Emmy when you’ve won the title of Salon.com’s Sexiest Man Living?


[Laughs] I would suggest that those are two very different feelings. There’s been a crazy amount of completely unexpected publicity and attention for the whole ride. It’s interesting that it all started happening after the first season of Mad Men aired. Nobody really watched it, but the tastemakers and the right people saw it. Fortunately we live in a world now where you can get it on demand or on iTunes or on DVD, so the snowball effect happened, and I couldn’t be happier.

How would you create a Mad Men ad campaign geared specifically to the gay community?


Well, it’s a very high-drama show, and it’s very stylish. Three things that the gay community responds to are attitude, sexiness, and style. We’re a prime property for a big gay following—I love it.


We’re an easy sell, Jon -- just show us some skin.


[Laughs] I don’t know about that. I don’t know if you want me anywhere near any kind of skin thing -- that’s a nightmare.

You could enlist the help of Bryan Batt, who plays Salvatore, the closeted ad man.


Yeah, what an amazing and complex role, and it gets even better and deeper in season 2. It’s not a joke, a stereotype, or a sort of queeny, campy whatever. He’s just a real guy. He’s actually based on a real guy who was closeted throughout the ’60s and worked in the advertising industry. As a gay man, Bryan does a wonderful job with it, but I’d take that part in a heartbeat—gay, straight, or indifferent.

What would happen if Salvatore came out?


I think it would be devastating to him, career-wise and culturally, as an Italian man with an Italian family. This is before Stonewall, even. And we’re not talking about the Midwest; this is New York, the cultural capital of the world, and it was still a very closeted time, so I think it would be tremendously challenging for him to come out. Now, in 10 more years, in 1972? Then it’s a different story.

Your character, Don, is kind of a slut. Any chance of he and Salvatore hooking up on the sly?

[Laughs] I don’t think Don swings that way, but in 10 more years, who knows? The swingin’ ’70s.

With 0 being exclusively straight and 6 exclusively gay, where does Don fall on the Kinsey scale?


Well, I don’t think anybody’s a pure 0. He’s a heterosexual man, but I think sexuality runs along a continuum. The big thing now is the man crush -- I love this new phrase, which tries to butch up the idea as much as possible. But guys like guys all the time. They don’t necessarily want to have sex with them, but they have relationships with male friends. No one’s a 0 and no one’s a 6; I’m pretty sure of that.


Who’s your man crush?


Man, Matt Weiner, who wrote this goddamn thing… [John] Slattery, who’s fuckin’ genius on it… I have tons of men who have inspired me in my life.

What about Keanu Reeves, whom you worked with on the upcoming remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still?


You look at Keanu Reeves and you think, You gotta be kidding me. I think I’m a pretty good-looking guy, but c’mon, man, that’s not fair! And he couldn’t be nicer or more laid-back or more of a regular cat. It’s like, Wow, you’ve got the whole package? Really?

When you were on The Division from 2002 to 2004, were you aware that the Lifetime network was television for women and gay men?


Yes, I was. And I was sort of the token man on that show too. Being the emasculated perfect man is a challenge, so it’s nice to be able to explore the other side of that on Mad Men.

You played the beefcake in other “chick” series, such as Providence, Gilmore Girls, and Charmed. Did that put pressure on you to maintain a physique?


I’m not really a health and fitness nut, and I’m not a gym guy. I can’t do repetitive motions; it makes me crazy. But I do live in a beautiful part of Los Angeles that’s really near Griffith Park, so I’m able to go outdoors with the dogs, go hiking in the hills, and play tennis and golf. I much prefer playing a game or anything that takes your mind off of the fact that you’re working out.

Have you ever played a gay role?


I played Cliff Bradshaw in Cabaret in college, and there’s very clearly at least a bisexual side to that cat. Talk about the swinging years -- the Weimar Republic back in Berlin in the ’30s, which gets back to my point that with sexuality it’s not one or the other.

So are you itching to play a gay role on-screen?


Well, c’mon, if I want to win awards, let’s talk gay. [Laughs] Now, if I were a mentally disabled gay man, I’d hit all the boxes. If there’s a great part out there, sure. For me, it’s much more about being a part of telling a great story. After the first audition for Mad Men, I said, “I will do any part in this script.” I just wanted to be a part of telling this story.

What’s going on with you and your girlfriend of nearly 10 years, Jennifer Westfeldt [cowriter and star of Kissing Jessica Stein]? Are you waiting for gay marriage to be legal before tying the knot?


Yeah, that’s a totally fair observation. Somebody once said -- more hilariously than I can -- that everybody ought to be allowed to be miserable in the same way. And it’s not fair that a man and man and a woman and a woman can’t choose to be protected under our government’s laws together. That’s just stupid, and I don’t understand the rationale behind it. I think marriage, the institution, is driven much more by religion and family than it is by any sort of practical application of love. Love exists outside of government, so that’s how Jen and I have our relationship. We discuss it all the time; we’re like, “We’re totally in love with each other, so why would we want to change the rules of that, if in fact that would?” Then, of course, you get into the practicalities of it, like, “What if you get sick and I can’t visit you in the hospital?” or “What if you die and all your stuff goes to the state?” You’re like, “Well, that makes sense. Shit, how do we handle that?” So it’s unfair that the practical applications of it are not available to everyone. Then you mix in all the political grandstanding and bullshit that surrounds it, and it goes from unfair to absurd.

Earlier this year you appeared on Real Time With Bill Maher. What did you learn from your fellow panelist congressman Barney Frank?


I learned how to talk really loud and shout over anyone who disagrees with you. No, he’s an incredibly intelligent guy and a pioneer. Talk about having the balls to speak your mind.

Growing up in St. Louis, when did you first realize what being gay was?


I don’t have a recollection of knowing what gay was in high school, and if I did, it was a nebulous thing. Then I was in the theater department at the University of Missouri, and it was like, “Well, now you know!” But it was never treated with any sort of disdain or secrecy, and that’s the wonderful part about most theater departments: Everybody’s everybody and you are who you are. Gay, straight, or indifferent, it doesn’t matter -- there’s enough drama on the page that you don’t need to bring more into it.

Was your upbringing anything like Judy Garland’s in Meet Me in St. Louis?
It wasn’t the turn of the century, so no, not at all. I couldn’t have been more of a regular, goofy Midwestern kid.

Fair enough. But if you ever get asked a gayer question than that, Jon, you call and let me know.
[Laughs] OK.

Source: http://www.advocate.com/issue_story_ektid59212.asp?page=1

Very good interview. He seems like a cool guy. Hey the guy that plays Harry on Mad Men is going to be on The Office this fall.

Cool for him! You know, I have never watched "The Office". It was always on when I was watching something else. I should check it out someday. I do like that Steve guy who is in "Get Smart". I have just never seen a preview that makes me want to watch it though.

The Office is fuunay. I love it.

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Pete and peggy!
On the "Mad Men" premiere last summer, a boozy Pete Campbell hauled himself from his bachelor party to the door of Peggy Olson's modest Brooklyn apartment.
"I wanted to see you tonight," implored Pete, an overzealous ad account executive who, at that late hour, was gripped by panic at his looming marriage.
Peggy, the winsome new hire in the Sterling Cooper secretarial pool, surprised herself by letting him in.
Airing on AMC Sundays at 10 p.m. EDT, the Peabody Award-winning "Mad Men" now is in its second season. And it has kept Pete and Peggy entangled in multiple ways, none of them romantic and most of them hush-hush (including the child that Pete still doesn't know about).
Fortunately, things are much lighter between Vincent Kartheiser and Elisabeth Moss, who play that pair on the splendid '60s-era drama. In a joint interview, they tease each other, laugh a lot, and seem like pals.
Turns out Kartheiser (at 29, a former regular on "Angel," the spinoff of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and Moss (who is 26 and played presidential daughter Zoey on "The West Wing") had met before they got "Mad Men." A few years back, both took part in a filmmaking workshop.
"You had a prima donna actor," says Kartheiser in self-appraisal, then nods toward Moss magisterially, "and Miss Perfect."
"Two sides of the coin," chuckles Moss.
Kartheiser recalls a scene: "I had a disease called congenital analgesia, which means I couldn't feel anything. My character was always burning himself with cigarettes and saying, 'Whatever.'"
"And I was supposed to be in love with you," says Moss with a grin.
On "Mad Men," they enjoy far more, um, dramatic leeway.
"At the beginning Peggy was definitely naive," muses Moss, appraising the distance she's come, "and I wouldn't say she's toughened up, but, instead, the problems hitting her now have become bigger. At first, it was learning to use a typewriter, and now it's a baby — with the father of the baby someone she works with."
But she's moving up in the agency. A quick learner, she's now helping create ad campaigns. And she's gingerly overcoming anti-female bias in the workplace — even from Pete Campbell.
Meanwhile, Campbell continues trying to win approval from Don Draper, the magnetic though tormented agency exec at the show's core. But Draper (played by Jon Hamm) hates him. Campbell, for all his skill in the advertising game, lacks people skills. He's sort of a jerk — isn't he?
"Well, it's unfortunate that you see it that way," Kartheiser tells the interviewer with mock indignation. "Some people just AREN'T as likable as others, no matter what they do. Pete Campbell does the same (stuff) as Don Draper, but Draper's way more likable, and gets away with things."
Of course, no sweeping term such as "likability" does justice to the series' world of characters, who, even as they all share screen time, emerge as complex individuals.
"Jon is the lead, and he always has something going on," says Moss. "But I don't think the rest of us feel left out, or that we don't get our moments."
"We trust Matt," says Kartheiser, meaning "Mad Men" mastermind Matthew Weiner. "I don't think anyone in our cast has any doubt that he always has the best story line in mind, and that's what we're there to serve."
"Yesterday he said to me, `The next episode we're shooting is about objects,' and I said, `OK,'" Moss marvels. "He always has this grand idea, and we're just lucky to be part of it."
Moss even feels lucky to have "carried" Peggy's "child." It was a shrewdly gradual plumping-up process that went unrecognized as anything other than weight gain, even by the unwitting mother-to-be — until, much to Peggy's shock on the season finale, she went into labor.
"Over seven episodes, I had four stages of padding and three stages of makeup," says Moss. Friends she hadn't seen in years watched the show and — shades of Kirstie Alley! — worried that she had an eating disorder. "But they didn't want to ask."
"Like: `Did you quit smoking?'" chortles Kartheiser.
But that was last season (and 1960). Now "Mad Men" has progressed to spring 1962.
For Moss, who (like Kartheiser and most of the cast) wasn't born yet, it's a history lesson she is moving through.
"But I've learned more about the similarities than the differences between then and now," she says. "Usually, you look back on another era in terms of the milestones. But at the same time, people were just living their lives."
She might have added: That's where the unexpected drama unfolds, where "Mad Men" lives its life.
___
AMC is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings LLC, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.
___
On the Net:
[url=http://www.amctv.com/]www.amctv.com

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Thanks so much for that!!!

I am so upset with myself! My BIL came in for a visit and we all got talking and I completely forgot to watch Mad Men!! :x I just read a recap on-line, but it's not the same. I went to the Mad Men site and it appears they do not put the episodes on-line. Hopefully I can catch a re-run showing of it. I am just not used to watching it and it just went out of my mind to put the TV on last night.

http://schedule.amctv.com/schedule?category=Mad%20Men

FC here is the scheldue for this week , it is reun several times during the week. I recorded it and will watch tonight.

THANK YOU!!

Weds. at noon! Or maybe that is 11:00 AM central time - either way I will be home. I have to take Justin to an appointment at 2:00 but other than that I will home. I usually take my Mom out on Weds. but because I will need to leave my house at 1:30 to go get Justin out of school I am taking her out Friday instead. So this works out perfectly!!

I LOVE this show. The writers have done their research so well and the details are right on the money!

You aren't kidding Janice! You would think it really was done in the 60s! I can't wait to catch Weds. afternoon!

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Posted: 12:00 am
August 17, 2008
Colin Hanks badgered "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner for a year to get a role on television's hottest show.
"When I first saw it, I said, 'I can be on this show and I could look as I normally look," he says. "I met with Matt and stressed how much I would love to be on the show. He was kind enough to keep an eye out."
His wish finally came true and the episode, Hanks' first of three, airs tonight. It is a pivotal episode-one might say the most dramatic in the series' second season-as a charismatic young priest, Father Gill, ingratiates himself into the lives of the Olsen family and in particular, Peggy Olsen (Elisabeth Moss).
"The fact that I was going to play a priest was a bit of a shock," Hanks sas. "I wanted to look dapper in a great suit. But it's a plum role and a huge challenge. I'm not a Catholic and I'm not a priest."
Like many of the show's characters, Father Gill is poised on the brink of change. The sweeping reforms that were to revolutionize the Catholic Church as a result of Vatican II have not yet occurred, yet Gill wants to seem more modern and hip than his elders in the priesthood. And so he improvises a prayer when blessing the food at the Olsen house; when he's finished, Peggy's by-the-book Catholic mother (Myra Turley) says to him, "Thanks, Father, now you can say Grace."
Hanks, 30, plays Father Gill with just the right mixture of yearning and humility. He fits in with the period and the period furnishings, down to the good Sunday lace tablecloth on the Olsen dining room table. But Father Gill is more than a set decoration. When he learns about Peggy's success in advertising, he asks her to give him some pointers for his Palm Sunday sermon. They have an unexpected rapport.
"He's a young priest looking to make the church relevant to young people," Hanks says. "Peggy fits into that category."
He says he had some "good laughs" on the set with Elisabeth Moss and was generally so impressed to be working with the cast of a show he so admires that he's already thought of 20 "great" storylines that will bring him back to the series - not as the star, necessarily, but "there, involved."
Hanks was born in Sacramento, Calif., the son of Tom and his first wife Samantha Lewes, an actress and producer who is now deceased. He studied acting at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. His 10-year career includes a small role in his father's miniseries "Band of Brothers," some movies ("King Kong" and "Inescapable") and a nice run on "Roswell," where co-starred with Katherine Heigl.
"I was very lucky to get a full-time gig that early on in my career," he says of his role as Alex Whitman. "I was essentially the friend of the two humans who were dating the aliens and then I started dating an alien, too. Just saying that makes me giggle." He loved working with Heigl. "She's a sweetheart. I found her to be a lot of fun. And now she's a movie star and I could not be happier."
He moved to New York two years ago with his girlfriend Samantha, a restaurant publicist, and sardonically says that he would like be working more in the city and not flying out to Los Angeles. "Apparently they only make cop and cougar shows here, along with some fine comedy programming," he says. "I am just trying to be the best cultural attache to the city that I can be."
He says he's moved beyond the point of asking his dad for advice about the acting business. "I've been working for now 10 years. He knows that the dude who willingly throws out advice is the guy you probably shouldn't be listening to."

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I love Colin Hanks! I was a huge fan of "Roswell" and never missed it. I was so sad when he left the show. I hope he gets to have a long and successful career. I am anxious to watch him on "Mad Men".

I didn't know that Rita Wilson was not his mom and that his real mom passed away. So sad.

Thanks for bringing the info here Aerwin!

I know he is a doll!! Let me know after you watch the new episode.

I am watching it right now! It did start at 11:00 AM our time. It just started! THERE HE IS!!

OK, I just finished watching it!! Oh so good! I won't discuss details as I don't know if you all have seen it yet.

But, am I sick because I want to see Peggy and Father Gill become a couple They have great chemistry together!

Oh I wanted to discuss it?! I s Janice watching S1? One thing I do want to say is this everytime I think Don is the cad of all cads he does something to make me feel symphathy for him. Why is Betty on that little boys case all the time?

aerwin, I haven't seen S1 yet...still waiting, but if you want to discuss it I certainly don't mind if others don't mind either. It would fill in some blanks. Thanks for posting the bio on Colin Hanks. I didn't realize the priest was Tom Hanks' son.

In the last episode, I also was wondering why Betty is on the boy's case so much. Could it be that it is Don's son, but not hers? Since he strays freely, it's a possibility and maybe it's someone who is a friend or co-worker. She seems to expect Don to be the one to discipline him. I have no idea why they act they way they do...just speculating!

No the little boy is her's and Don's. I just wonder why she is on him so. I think Don hesitates to spank him because he was beaten as a child. He had a very rough childhood so I think perhaps he wants a better life for his son. That's what I mean about Don he basically does despicable things but then he will do something decent. So I can not make myself dislike him entirely. For instance in S1 he championed Peggy and encouraged her. Then this week he refused to spank that little boy , which btw I think he was right.