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Mad Men Season 4 Premiere OPEN THREAD

2010 July 25
tags: ,
by TopIdol

Is everyone ready for tonight’s season premiere of Mad Men? Watch the show with your fellow fans tonight at 10pm EST! (You can start commenting now, too, since I know you are all SUPER EXCITED.)

You know what might get things going? Time Magazine’s 10 Questions for Jon Hamm!

Spread the word. Do it.
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from → Randomness

  • deez

    http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/popwrap/christina_hendricks_9wpP55uxx28MGPoGrTX77L

    I absolutely love the first photo from this article!

    • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

      LOVE!!!

      PW: Joan’s other season three party led to one of the most beautiful and memorable moments of the whole show — that accordion performance.
      Christina: Thank you. That was something I knew was coming from the beginning of the season. They called me and asked if I spoke French and played the piano. I said, “I could learn French and I don’t play the piano, but I do play the accordion.” So they got me some freshen up lessons. It was a one of those great things as an actress where you get to refine another skill.

    • JaneRochester

      That scene about did me in. As a painfully shy child who was trotted out by the parents to perform at her instrument more times than I care to recall, it was excrutiating. Only the rape was worse.

      And then, of course, there was the vase. Ahhhhhhhhh. Sweet victory.

      • JaneRochester

        I should learn to spel. That’s excruciating.

  • jukejoint

    If anybody is still willing to come back to this thread, I wanted to share the Wall Street Journal’s drawing (they call them hedcuts) of Don Draper. That man looks hot even in tiny dots and cross-hatching.

    http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/07/26/mad-men-what-the-journal-would-really-ask-don-draper/

  • Trish

    Sorry to be so late to the party. I haven’t read any comments yet, but I have to say I was rather underwhelmed by Sunday’s season premiere. I think I was similarly underwhelmed by last season’s premiere, so I’m hoping they were just setting up for another fantastic season. I’m worried, however, that all the over-exposure and over-hyping of Mad Men is spoiling it for me a tad.

    Frankly, I actually enjoyed Terry Gross’s interview with Matt Weiner yesterday more than “Public Relations.”

    Fear not, I’ve already bought my HD season pass on iTunes, so I’ll be in it for the duration, but I’m nervous. Not as nervous as I get every time Brad Lidge takes the mound to “save” a game, but nervous nonetheless.

    Here’s the link to “Fresh Air.” Check out Terry’s earlier interviews with Matt if you haven’t already heard them. Good stuff!

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128770109

  • CayKat

    Did anyone else find it funny that the sponsor was BMW? I laughed when I remembered that Jon Hamm has that gig doing Mercedes commercials… makes me want to buy one every time.

    Truthfully, I thought the BMW ads were brilliant. Doing those throwbacks to their old ad campaigns.

    • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

      BMW has been a sponsor since the beginning. Mad Men has the most desirable audience of any other TV show. Rich people. ;)

      (And us, of course.)

      I did point out to my friend who was watching the show for the first time that Hamm does the Mercedes commercials. I also introduced her to Hamm before the show as we ate our fajitas by playing his last SNL.

      • JaneRochester

        You were actually able to eat during that? I thought I was going to break something durin g the Scott Brown sketch.

        You know what blows my mind? That a guy can look like he does, and be such an insanely good actor (have you ever noticed how, when Don smiles, it hardly ever reaches his eyes, but when Jon smiles, it couldn’t be more real?) and have struggled for as long as he did in throwaway roles. It boggles the mind.

        (My, but that was fangirly.)

        • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

          No, no. I’ve had the same conversation with my mother and father, in fact, I just did this weekend. It’s amazing how he spent years in nothing roles without being discovered. But hey, he may have been worth the wait. ;)

  • maturin

    For some reason, all today, this show became all about NewPeggy (as JaneRochester dubbed her downthread).

    Maybe because standing up to a guy I find charasmatic and leadery and yet disapproving is both a fantasy and an impossibility to me. Loved the awkward wonderful ham stunt. Loved her and Pete becoming an alliance.

    Aw hell, I love all of it, from Don’s whoreslap and dismay over the Ad Prudes to Sally rebelling against awful adults in the only ways she can: barftasically.

    Throws up some sweet potatoes in solidarity.

  • Lucky

    Yes! I loved it! I need to watch it again, I was so distracted by the sight of Jon Hamm in HD. I had watched the previous 3 seasons on my computer this spring so I was mezmorized. He is just the best looking man on tv. Thought the episode was great, love, love, love Sally, I just wish she would have spit out the sweet potatoes all over Betty’s ugly dress. Really miss Sal, though :( Anyone else hope they put Roger and Joan back together? I think they have great chemistry.

    • deez

      Roger will tire of Jane. It’s inevitable (who wouldn’t though?). I’ll be surprised if they aren’t back together by the fourth episode, a year with Jane has passed after all. He’s got to be sick of her by now.

    • auntieaimee

      Roger likes the chase. Joan knows this. I think she’s done with the messing around. She wants a real relationship, and I don’t see her leaving herself open to being humiliated if Roger’s eye wandered to the next pretty secretary under her tutelage. She’s too smart for that.

      • deez

        IDK. There’s still something there (and always will be, I think). If anybody could calm Roger down it would definitely be her. Bu, you may be right…possibly just not meant to be.

        • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

          The bond “Joanie” and Roger share is something special, and if you remember last season, he pretty much acknowledged her as his soulmate when he told off that bitch who screwed him over in Paris as a young man. I liked that episode, because it gave you more insight into why Roger is Roger, and I always love the honest tenderness you feel between he and Joan. A midlife crisis/heart attack was the only reason he took up with Jane. I think he realized this around the time his daughter (who is an insufferable bitch) got married.

          • CayKat

            The storyline with those two is actually one of my favorite storylines throughout the series. It feels so real and I expect big things this season.

            I frigging hate the former Mrs. Draper with the heat of the sun. I loved how the mother in law totally called her out.

  • Blue Eyes

    So, I watched my first episode of Mad Men yesterday. I think it’s safe to say I am going to love this show!!

  • auntieaimee

    I knew it was coming from the spoilers (which I hate, btw), but I was still disappointed that they jumped so far ahead. I was hoping we’d get to see more of them setting up shop, with lots of Joan being supremely competent and running everything, but, no. I know they have an image to project, but I thought it was stupid to get a big office full of secretaries (and Peggy having an assistant? Is that who that guy is?) when they only had two clients. That seems foolish. I was also hoping that the fresh start would give us a renewed, re-energized Don. What is Don’s problem, anyway? I didn’t get his behavior at all, it seemed really self destructive and juvenile. He deserved to be slapped. *sigh* Maybe I am missing something. I don’t know.

    • deez

      I got the feeling Joey is a freelance artist… he mentioned working 2 days a week. (they probably can’t afford a Art Dept?) I guess he’s using Peggy’s office when he’s there. Just a guess.

  • deez

    Ok. I rewatched it. Peggy has removed the stick from her ass. I think that’s the difference. She doesn’t seem intimidated any longer, and has a sense of humor *gasp*. She seems more like a real person who has an actual life, and her face doesn’t seem like it would crack if she laughed. I don’t know if it’s the hair, less dowdy clothes, the new surroundings, or what…but there’s definitely a change.

    I like the new 60′s office. The old offices definitely had a heavier, more masculine 50′s look. I also caught a couple of things I missed the first time (too busy looking at scenery I guess)…Pete saying he could pay the actresses from his expense acct if he put them down “as hookers,” and Roger telling the Jantzen people they were in time for “jackhammer season.” There were a couple of other funny things, but now that I’ve typed all this, I’ve already forgotten what they were. I liked Don’s hooker better than Don’s date. (I’m not sure what that says about me, lol) Hated Henry and Betty even more the second time.

    I’m also interested to see if Ken and Paul reappear…Pete does seem less on edge though, now that his nemesis is nowhere to be found! (Ken’s character is listed as current @ IMDB, but Paul is not)

    • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

      I can’t wait to rewatch it. That’s one of the things I love about Mad Men.

      And yes, Don’s hooker was much better than his date. He needs to stay away from the WASP-y blonds.

      • JaneRochester

        How’s this for obscure? I spent 80% of Don’s date trying to figure out who she reminded me of. Then it finally hit me: her speech patterns are exactly like Domenica Scorsese in a 60-second walk-on role she had in “The Age of Innocence,” when she was about 14.

        Imagine my shock to learn she is Pam Beasley-Halpert’s sister. The one with odd taste in men.

        • jukejoint

          She’s not the one who slept with Dwight, though. That was a tall brunette.

          This one was in the a show called “The Scene” written by Theresa Rebeck, a very hot playwright of the last few years. I HATED that play at the Humana Festival, and then it went to New York with Tony Shalhoub as the cheating, idiot husband and Patricia Heaton (I hate her, too) as his much-suffering wife who is trying to adopt babies from China while he boinks Anna Camp in their living room. In Louisville, when it wasn’t Tony Shalhoub, we saw his bare ass while they were cavorting all the living room. Don’t know if Tony dropped trou in NY or not.

          Anyway, everybody loved this show except me. It was very bitter and I HATED Anna Camp’s performance as this siren, this irresistible devil of a woman. I thought she was very mannered and fakey and plastic. And she got raves.

          So, of course, now I hate her, even though I suppose being in a play I hate wasn’t really her fault. But turning in a performance I hated was.

          • JaneRochester

            So you didn’t like it, then? :P

            I have no memory of this other sister. I guess I need to watch the ep again. I thought Pam only had one.

            Jane’s 2nd obscure observation of the night: I collect teen novels from the 40s & 50s. I have three books in a series about twin sisters, Pam and Penny. Pam is vivacious and outgoing. Penny is an introvert. Hijinks ensue.

      • CayKat

        my television worlds collided. The new blonde used to be on my other fav “True Blood”

  • deez

    WHO IS PEGGY’S OFFICE MATE???? Gahhhhhh!!!! It’s driving me nuts! I’ve seen him before and can’t place him. I looked @ IMDB and he wasn’t in the cast list (unless I’m blind). This is driving me nuts. (and that’s a short drive)

    I did discover that Jared Harris (Lane Pryce) is the son of Richard Harris, though…so my search wasn’t a total waste of time.

    • jukejoint

      I found it elsewhere — the actor’s name is Matt Long and the character’s name is Joey Baird. I don’t know him from any other show, but imdb says he was in “Jack & Bobby,” “Secrets of a Small Town” and “The Deep End,” if that helps. He’s cute. I hope he and Peggy get frisky. (Not a big Pete fan, although I do like Trudy. I want Trudy to have him if she wants him.)

      The guy who played Peggy’s “fiance” looks like David Archuleta in the stills at AMC.

      • deez

        Thank you!! He played the “Prince Charming” character in “Sydney White” (update of Snow White). And yes, I watch silly stuff like that :) .

        • JaneRochester

          I know him from Jack & Bobby. I liked that show, even if Christine Lahti left toothmarks on every piece of woodwork she came in contact with.

          • CayKat

            Jane, I loved that show. Quality.

        • Lucky

          Thank you for clearing that up Deez, it was driving me crazy too. It bothered me all night that I couldn’t place where I knew Joey from.

  • deez

    John & Marsha

    • JaneRochester

      Ha-ha!!! Stan is the man.

      • Beanbag

        Newbie chiming in…

        Thanks for the John/Marsha vid. I had no idea what they were doing, but assumed it must be a pop cultural reference. Don’t think I’ve ever heard that before – and I’m a Stan Freberg fan.

        I’ve been waiting for someone to show up in my father’s 60′s haircut, and the younger guy from the Jantzen(?) firm finally did. We also had the exact same shoeshine kit that Don Draper was using. I love seeing things like that. I kind of wish they hadn’t fast forwarded an entire year; we missed seeing them set up the new firm, the kids adjustment to the divorce – so many things we could have seen in that interim year.

        I miss Don/Betty, dysfunctional as they are, and really dislike the Betty/Henry pairing. I hope the writers don’t make Betty a one-dimensional stone cold B**ch. She hasn’t been at all likeable for a long time.

        Peggy was wonderful, and I will always love Pete, despite his toolishness. Oh Don, he is such a mess, but he’s still better and more affectionate with the kids than mom. All in all, a nice, if a bit slow, start to the season. So glad it’s back!

        • cc

          I hope the writers don’t make Betty a one-dimensional stone cold B**ch

          IA. I mean, I already hated her when she was with Don and kids (and trying to be a good wife and mother)… but with Henry, there’s nothing endearing left to her character (except for her ~new mother-in-law) and hating her will get boring so fast.

        • Lucky

          My dad had the same haircut!

          • JaneRochester

            Y’know, Stan is still kicking around. Wouldn’t he make a fine crony for Bert?

  • deez

    Ooooh, did anybody check out the “longer preview @ AMC.com?” BRB.

    • deez

      Sneak peek vid from AMC:

  • Verbally Dyslexic

    GAH!! I caved and snuck a peek in here. I have no idea what is going down in Ep 1 but all this slapping and new office talk is going to drive me nuts! I have a huge presentation tomorrow and I need to get Draper and co out of my head until after it’s over. Although it would be kind of funny if the person I’m presenting this to turns out to be a Mad Men fan. Ha! Unlikely.

    • JaneRochester

      Get the hell out of here, VD. Go get ready for your presentation!

      (How’s that for a slap?)

    • deez

      Lol! I knew you’d cave!!

  • On The Edge

    FYI, the song that played at the end was “Tobacco Road” by the Nashville Teens, a British Invasion band that frankly didn’t invade successfully like the Beatles did. But nice touch…they didn’t go for the obvious to time-stamp the episode “1964.”

    I think Betty Draper-Whatever will be the most hated bitch on television this year. I don’t see the writers allowing one ounce of sympathy for her.

    • FreeDavidCook

      Like visiting with old long lost friends tonight.

      I never realized before just how much I hate Betty. She’s some piece of work, isn’t she, that Betty Draper-Whatever. I’m hoping this show continues long enough for Sally to wreck a righteous hell of teenage rebellion on her cold fish mother. Going to be hell to pay. Smug cow.

      There is something different about Peggy that’s kind of indefinable. Besides the hair.

      Pete less annoying than usual.

      Roger on the top of his game with the sarcasm.

      Don, Don, Don, starting off being evasive in an interview and ending up with a completely different take during the second interview. The slapping hooker. Throwing the Jantzen people out. Chewing Peggy out. I loved it.

      And lastly, it’s wonderful to see Joan again.

      Old friends, never leave us.

      • CayKat

        Sally is a grown ass woman in a child’s body. She will drive Betty to the brink of insanity… at least, that’s how I hope they write it ;-)

  • JaneRochester

    Well, things are getting uglier…and I don’t mean Don’s private life. As they walked through the “halls” of SCDP, I half-expected Dr. Hartley to pop out of one of those doors and ask Carol if he had any messages.

    Love NewPeggy. The “John, Marsha” thing was hilarious. I wonder if they’ll do The Banana Boat Song next.

    I’ve long suspected that Henry Francis had no balls. Happy to see I was right.

    Joan’s blue dress was faaaaaaaab.

    The closing interview was delicious. Don’s going for the jugular, after that insanely anemic Jantzen proposal. (WTF was that? Don is a lot of things, but rarely incoherent.) Loved him tossing off the reference to the second floor.

    His date was about as enthralling as the croup. He would have gotten more stimulation from a conversation with his housekeeper.

    And, as always, the teasers for next week might have been written in Swahili. I always picture them as a giant middle finger from MW to the suits. “You want previews??? I’ll give you f*cking previews.”

    • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

      What I found most notable was realizing why the hell they showed the Jai Alai clips in the “previously on Mad Men” section. A perfect example of showing how badly SCDP needs more clients. JAI ALAI. Yes! We do laugh at you behind your backs (Except for Harry. Because Harry is a really good guy.)

      • FreeDavidCook

        I adore Harry. He seems to be the only man there that felt any guilt for screwing around on his wife. We’ve certainly seen none from Pete or even Don.

  • deez

    Cool the way it was sandwiched between the interviews. I loved him throwing the Jantzen people out. I wanted to slap them.

    Harry Crane has embraced “The Dry Look”… I wonder if if Gillette is a client? LOL.

    So is ” John” (John and Marsha guy whose real name and character’s name I forget) the new Art Director? Peggy seemed different, can’t put my finger on it…not enough Joan! It will take time to get used to the new offices. What is Pete’s title? Head of Accounts? (Crap, I need to watch it again!)

    I HATE Betty. Now that she’s free of Don, I am finding NOTHING to like. *ZIIIIIING* to Don: “Believe me Henry, everybody thinks this temporary.” OH SNAP!

    • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

      The mother-in-law soooo has Betty’s number. And while she was older, the actress playing her kept making me think about how awesome it would be to get Margo Martindale on the show.

    • parsenip

      *ZIIIIIING* to Don: “Believe me Henry, everybody thinks this temporary.”

      Didn’t Henry tell Betty last season that he would take care of the kids because he didn’t want her to have to rely on Don for anything? And now he’s squatting in the man’s house! Something tells me Henry didn’t really think this whole thing through. And if Betty thought life in Ossining was claustrophobic before, wait until she gets a couple more doses of those in-laws.

  • deez

    It’s Time…See ya in an hour!!

    • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

      I would slap Don Draper for free.

      • FreeDavidCook

        Are you kidding? I’d pay to ride and slap Don Draper. Good money too…

        Who knew he was so kinky.

      • jukejoint

        Don Draper is one kinky boy. I liked the slapper better than the Barbizon chick, though. She’s an actress I do not like, anyway.

        Loved Peggy and Pete and the Great Ham Battle. Hee. I’d rather pull somebody’s hair over Hamm than ham.

        Want Betty OUT OF THE HOUSE. Yay for Le Mere Francis who knows a terrible mother when she sees one.

        The swimsuit people were fairly hilarious, too. And I love that the new offices are brighter and cooler. I think my parents had the sofa that’s in Peggy and the new boy’s office.

        I’m kind of sad that we missed the setting-up period for the new agency. It’s okay to see them a year later, but I want to see the intermediate part, too. My other complaint was that it seemed too short, too fast, too slight. I want more, damn it. I’ve wait months and months for this. But, you know…

        “My lord, that question just tied a knot in my brain.” I love this show.

        • JaneRochester

          OMG. I wonder if the whole ham thing was an inside joke. I totally missed that!

        • cc

          My other complaint was that it seemed too short, too fast, too slight. I want more, damn it.

          This. Especially if you’ve seen the other seasons with the help of dvd.

          • deez

            I know! It needed more set up! I felt like I was watching an unfamiliar show almost. Perhaps this will be corrected (tying up some loose ends) in subsequent episodes.

  • cc

    Yay! Just right in time for the partayy! :D *insert flailing gif*

  • On The Edge

    All I watched was that 5 minute thing on PopEater, plus the “Best Of” marathons they’ve done, so I’ll probably be totally lost, but I don’t care. I’ve picked up several series in the middle of their runs and was able to get into the groove of things. Bring on the Mad Men!

    BTW…um, does anyone here read Playboy? Because Christa Flanagan (aka Lois Sadler, John Deere driver) did a 60′s “Mad Men”-era layout in the latest issue.

    • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

      I saw that! I wonder if we’ll ever see her again. Lois Sadler is kind of the saddest character on the whole show. She was into Sal, she sucks as a secretary, she drove a John Deere into a guy and hobbled him.

    • jukejoint

      Didn’t she used to be on Mad TV?

      • On The Edge

        As it turns out, yes! I wasn’t a big watcher of that show though so I couldn’t place her.

  • FreeDavidCook

    I’m ready! I have 60s style canapes and scotch (really ice tea) ready to go on the rocks and another Mad Men fiend to watch with.

  • Verbally Dyslexic

    Dangit! I’m going to have to steer clear of this post until I get to watch a ripped and uploaded version. This is what you get for living somewhere where the time difference is in the double digits. :(

  • jukejoint

    I am not dressing up (just got back from a papier mache monster-making session and I’m lucky to be as clean as I am) or making special dinner (picked up Noodes & Co) or cocktails (I would fall asleep. Monster-making turns out to be hard work.)

    But I’m still excited and happy and counting the minutes. 166-ish left?

  • JaneRochester

    *Shriek.*

    You said we couldn’t flail and we couldn’t thud. You said nothing about shrieking.

    Is anyone going to enter the Banana Republic contest? I’m making a dress right now that could work. I’d just need the right shoes…..

    • http://topidolblog.com TopIdol

      I think I may have to enter. :)

  • Acrobat

    Yay! At your (and Tom & Lorenzo’s) recommendation, I finally started watching Mad Men about a month ago and caught up on three seasons in about two weeks. I’ll get SarahBeth to watch with me, too, even though she’ll have no idea what’s going on. Heh. But she’s in advertising, so methinks it’ll be right up her alley. Also: Jon Hamm.

  • DeeDee

    Well thanks to this blog I watched the Mad Men marathons the past 3 weekends so I have a good idea of what is going on (too much trouble to get the full seasons). It took me awhile to get into it but now I’m intrigued and have my DVR set (I hate commercials)