3/22/12

March Madness: Return of Mad Men

After a 17 month wait, Mad Men returns to AMC this Sunday (March 25, 9 EST/9 CST) with a two hour premiere.  I look forward to the fifth season of Don Draper and his adventures as an ad man.  We shall see if he can stay sober this season, whether marriage number two goes well, and who is gunning for a promotion at the firm.  TVRage has a good summary of the previous episodes.

Fortunately, creator Matthew Weiner signed up for a total of seven seasons, so we can live in the 1960s that much longer.  Of course, the negotiations between AMC and Weiner were probably more dramatic than anything on the show itself, but I am less concerned about the sausage-making than the final product.  Nothing is easy in Hollywood nor a sure thing, as we saw recently with Luck

The Guardian put together a nice series on favorite moments.  It is worth checking out to remind you of the great scenes over the years, from the lawn mower incident to the family picnic. Here is a quick reminder of the picnic:

It's been the perfect outing, but at last it's time to make a move. The couple rise with a satisfied yawn, the kids are inspected for cleanliness before getting into Don's gleaming motor (a great touch for what follows) – then comes one of the most shocking scenes in modern drama: Don gives one last squint into the distance and then blithely flings his empty beer can while Betty does what any hardworking American suburban housewife would – lifts the corners of the picnic blanket and showers their rubbish all over the grass. A gem.

The Guardian also has a good summary of each character.  Reading this reminds us all about the depth of each person on the show and how they have become very real in this sometimes unreal world of ours.

Update:  Slate magazine has a nice recap of the first four seasons here.

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