Tag: MadMen

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Mad Men Continued

Imagine what happens to our favorite characters post-MadMen7 in the ’70’s:

Don Draper changes his identity again to hide more bad behavior. He moves to San Francisco and becomes ‘Hal Riney’ where he builds the West Coast network of Ogilvy & Mather. Then, he starts his own eponymous agency and launches “You’ve Only Just Begun” campaign with Paul Williams for Crocker Bank.

Sally stays close to her Dad and moves to L.A. to study acting. She is the youngest winner of an Oscar for Paper Something. Her brothers are much happier with a loving aunt and uncle. Creepy Glen forever goes away. Yay.

Pete is recruited as CEO of Procter & Gamble. He hires Salvatore as his CMO. Peggy ditches Stan and rises to Creative Director at McCann. Roger tires of zou bisou Marie and returns to his original wife, also his real life Talia Balsam. Zou bisou Megan back in New York is the “Irish” ingenue star of Ryan’s Hope.

Joan, the smartest best business person of the bunch, my fave, leverages her success in the new entrepreneurial venture to become Managing Editor of Cosmo Magazine in its heyday. Yeah. I know. I can’t let go.

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mAd Times

Congrats to mAdStars! Team mAdBen and OgilvyOne New York. Big get for Aetna’s Consumer Brand biz. Check it out. MediaBistro. AdAge.

Move over Roger. MadMen’s last season will stretch over two years, 7 episodes each. Boo. We need an interim fix. Robin Williams in Crazy Ones is the facsimile of a Chicago advertising mogul. He’s no Don Draper. More like manic Mork.

As the madness manifesto careens out of control in the Capitol.

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PrinTemps

Springtime weekend. Masters class. Tiger, Sergio, Phil navigating azaleas and pine straw. A fourteen-year old phenom from China. Lindsey Vonn wearing a Megan hat. Speaking of whom, Matt Creamer’s MadMen premiere recap is here. Agree, death is the theme, but not enough emphasis on the juxtaposition of Vietnam doom and gloom against tacky Hawaiian tourist escape. More ad biz, less location shots. And, am I the only person who missed the Sylvia Rosen tryst?

Check out this great Brooklyn via Northampton folk-rock band. The Sun Parade. A musical Girls-esque video. Great strings, production. Beautiful young talent.

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Mad Men 6

The return of Don. He’s still with Megan. I want my story. The one where Don does Megan’s betrayed friend. Weiner & Co. are still on vacation in Hawaii. What did that have to do with anything? It’s as if last season didn’t happen. No transitions. Fast-forward to somewhere boring. A disjointed, erratic script.

Megan as  soap actress, wanting more scenes with Victor. Must be Y&R. Joan looked like a bloated clown in her purple outfit. The long sideburns on the men were revolting, if authentic of the day. Peggy has become silly strident. Betty has morphed into her mother-in-law, capped by the black hair. What was with the St. Mark’s Place sojourn and Sandy? Random. Not cleverly so. Don has disappeared into himself. Hope they wake up from their sunburns and next week is better.

No offense, MadMen. It was 2 hours of ads and very little show.

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Mad Memories

Dreams of my father. Mad times in Manhattan 1960’s. Train from Springfield, dining car with formal tablecloths, waiters, silver, china. First plane ride on a PamAm prop to Idlewild from Bradley. Lunch at TootsShor watching an already drunk Jack Lescoulie at the bar during a day of buying men’s clothing at the Sperry Rand building at 1290 Avenue of the Americas. Jack was Dave Garroway’s sidekick on the Today show.

Sardi’s for dinner, then Jilly’s singing around the piano bar with Nancy Wilson into the wee hours. Memories of trips to New York with my Dad. Priceless.

Copa Cabana to see Sammy Davis, Jerry Vale, lots of other Italian singers named Frankie or Johnny or Tony. The bocce court at Il Vagabondo. Cousin Joey DiVito and his wife Tootsie (really) took care of me. P.J. Clarke’s, Elaine’s. Those were the days.

Daddy Joe always acted as if he were in his dining room at home. They responded in kind. No wonder restaurants have always been the center of my life.
Happy Birthday, Dad. 8/30/30

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Mad End

I’m maddened. MadMen’s Season 5 is over. Word of this season- ‘dirty’. Advertising, dirty business. Dirty dealings. Joan’s pimp-out, Lane’s bookkeeping. Dirty city. Zoobeezoo women, philandering men. Megan’s dirty double-cross.

Megan employed her pouty charm to get Don to marry her, then promote her. Tonight Don said, “You want to be somebody’s discovery, not somebody’s wife.” Yet, she begged. The screen test confirmed her transparent neediness. He lost respect, disappointed that she was not ashamed to use him. Her betrayed friend may have the last laugh. Oh, Matt Weiner. A season so evil. A finale so sweet. Peggy and Joan strong and triumphant in the end.

This photo tableau says it all. ByeBye, ZooBeeZoo. See ya next season.

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Mad Play

Tiger is back! Mad sick chip on the 16th. Jack Nicklaus said it was the gutsiest, best golf shot he’s ever seen. It was so much fun to watch. Long time coming.

Lane’s demise was predictable. As was Jaguar not starting. Don should have protected himself and the agency by confiscating Lane’s keys and making him leave immediately. Wait until he finds out about the big loan. Don is now haunted by two suicides for which he feels culpable. He bears no blame for Lane’s, he was too humane. Glen and Sally. Strange. Gratuitous. One more episode.

Matt Creamer’s AdAge recap spot on. Change in profit margins of ad agencies when fees/commissions replaced fat retainers. Life is crappy theme. Sally’s first period frame made him drop his iPad. In so many ways. Eeeyuu.

Dear Mr. President. Hurry up and get a new team. Leadership. Now. Krugman is right. It’s not the time for austerity in this teetering global economy.

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Mad Notes

The funniest thing I’ve seen in a while, the Obama-Dylan show. Best quote, George Will calling Trump a ‘bloviating ignoramus’. Best restaurant continues to be ABC Kitchen. MichelleO just had dinner there. Meryl was a cool sighting. For all who are bored with MadMen discussion, have heart. RHONY starts next week.

A final ‘mad’ note. I’ve had lively interactions with wise and wonderful women over the past days who think my perspective on Joan’s decision was askew.  When she took charge of the negotiation with Pete for a NON-silent partnership, that changed the landscape. She took control of her destiny. If she had done it for the money, she’d still have been considered a secretary slut at work. This deal put her in a different arena, using her leverage for a once in a lifetime game changer. It gave her equal status with the boys. Look at their behavior. ‘Whore’ is in the eye of the beholder. I make no distinctions for gender. Only 2 more episodes.

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Mad Women

1967. Things tipped earlier in Manhattan than in the ‘burbs. Peggy took her shot. Go, girl! Without good looks, she needed extraordinary drive, focus and talent to succeed in the mAd men’s world. Joan made a decision to use her physical assets to control her financial future, rather than continue to have them used and abused by Roger or even her own husband for no return. Megan’s beauty got her Don, and an easy chair at the copywriter’s desk. Making her Peggy’s peer. Megan has ad talent. But, she’s determined to be an actress. So, she’ll need to re-deploy her other skill on a casting couch to launch her new career. ZooBeeZoo.

Poor Don. He’s confounded and befuddled. When Joan strokes his cheek and tells him he’s one of the good guys, it’s clear. He’s not in Kansas anymore.

Here is Matt Creamer’s review. Don’t agree that Joan and Peggy were competing against each other to be Queen Bee. They both ended triumphant this week. If Don had talked Joan out of doing the deed and they got the account anyway, she wouldn’t be a partner. If Peggy had stayed, she’d always be Don’s protégée.