The Return of Mad Men

The fourth season of AMC's Mad Men is off to an interesting start.  Don Draper is without a family, without an established office, and without a sense of humor.  And his uncharacteristic outburst with clients towards the end of the show makes you wonder if he is approaching a nervous breakdown.  Without his familiar moorings, as well as his irritable disposition, it feels as if anything is possible.  Gone is our cool and calm Don.

I noticed one new addition to the cast - Matt Long, from the earlier WB series Jack & Bobby, is now assisting Peggy.  I expect we may see new additions as the show moves along, though some of the old cast may not be returning (such as Sal the art director).  I was also happy to see Joan back in the office.  While she had a very small part, she may represent the little bit of stability in the new firm.

A few web sites that are starting to faithfully track the fourth season. The New Republic has started a new series, and Slate is back with an ongoing discussion.  Slate had great commentary on the last season of Lost, and it is now faithfully following Friday Night Lights.  I look forward to following both of these sites.

By the way, here is a fun video making fun of Betty's parenting that was highlighted by Slate in its first installment.  And here is an excerpt from "Mad Men and Philosophy, Nothing is as it Seems," should you want to catalog some of the terrific dialogue to date.  I love this quote from Roger, which really sums up the man:  ” On lasting commitment: “I’ll tell you the same thing I told my daughter. If you put a penny in a jar every time you make love in the first year of marriage and then you take a penny out of the jar every time you make love in the second year, you know what you have? A jar full of pennies.”

The Latest Louie

The show just gets better and better. In the latest episode Louie takes on the airlines and the absurd security policies. Trying to bring personal lubricant on the plane, he asks a question we should all ask when told it would have been fine in checked luggage: If the substance is so dangerous in a carry-on, why let it on the plane at all? This is the value of good writing and sharp jokes - we laugh and think at the same time. While simple jokes may have their place at times, give me the thinking man's joke. It is basically an animated political cartoon. Americans are starting to understand Russian humor where you make the best of a crazy and unthinking bureaucracy. Fear has made us dumb, yet such humor shows we still have a chance to get through this period. Slate magazine calls him an "existential hero," stating "having meditated on the world's absurd injustices, he greets them with absurdity in kind."  Go Louie!

Haven: A Weak Version of Fringe

I have now watched the first two episodes of SyFy's new series Haven and the show is barely working for me.  It is a pretty simple story.  An independent female FBI agent, supervised by a secretive African American boss, starts to encounter strange happenings and decides to partner with a loner who has his own secrets.  Sounds a lot like Fox's Fringe to me.  And yet the acting and writing is only half as good, and the story lines are pretty weak.  The second episode starts with a large metal ball crashing into a local bar.  Not exactly as thrilling as Fringe's parallel universes.  With the addition of strange town folk, who are most likely a permanent part of the show since the female lead decided to stick around, it looks like the program will be a mix of Northern Exposure and The 4400 (yes, it appears that many of the townies have unknown special powers). I am not hopeful, but I may watch one or two more before a final verdict.

The End of a Bully

Remember the story about threats to the creators of South Park after they portrayed the Prophet Muhammad in one of the show's episodes?  Well, Zachary Chesser, also known as Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee, has been arrested for providing material support to Somali terrorists.  Employees at Comedy Central can now sleep a little better at night.  I wonder if the prison's television will be broadcasting episodes of South Park.

Louie, Louie, Louie

I have now watched the first three episodes of Louie on the FX network and enjoyed each episode.  While the pilot was probably the best, with its monologue on milk cartons and the most obnoxious bus driver in TV history, the next two shows had their moments.  The language can be crude, yet you do feel you are watching real conversations between a divorced dad and his friends on everyday life.  For instance, a fight broke out between Louie and his friend in the third episode where Obama was the topic.  The tension and fight that ensued was scary yet laughable and real.

What is it about comics getting their own show?  Be it Roseanne, Seinfeld, or Tim Allen, it seems to be a smoother path than I would expect.  And like Seinfeld, Louie C.K. integrates his act into the program.  Of course, this is not Louie C.K.'s first attempt with television.  He was perfect as a shy police officer dating Amy Poehler in Parks & Recreations on NBC. 

I expect the show will do well, and so far the critics seem to agree.  As Scott Wampler writes in the Chicago Examiner:

FX's Louie immediately becomes one of the best comedies on television and it's only two episodes into its first season.  Here's a show pitched precisely between the banality of Seinfeld and the misanthropy of HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.  There were moments during the opening two episodes where I was laughing too hard to hear the next three punchlines, and moments I genuinely have never seen anything like on TV before (how many leading men are lining up to get Jiggy with a "plus-sized" woman?).  Louie is everything fans of Louis CK hoped it would be.