"Mad Men" on AMC (US) - (Spoilers Within)

[MrBern]

I don't know but after how "The Walking Dead" and "Game of Thrones" have upped their game recently I found the entire episode quite boring. NOTHING, not even Roger's hippie, drug enduced orgies had any staying power. For the first time since beginning this show... I just didn't care.....

Worf

Thats probably why the premiere had its lowest ratings in 5 years.....

 

[MrBern]

Incidentally, in case anyone missed this fabulous trailer for the new season 7
[video=youtube;Sy--Tvj3wOQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy--Tvj3wOQ[/video]

 

[Fading Fast]

I don't know but after how "The Walking Dead" and "Game of Thrones" have upped their game recently I found the entire episode quite boring. NOTHING, not even Roger's hippie, drug enduced orgies had any staying power. For the first time since beginning this show... I just didn't care.....

Worf

I was close to the "I don't care" feeling as well. I found my mind wandering and that is one step away from no longer watching. I will probably stay with it since it is the last season and I kind of want to have seen the whole thing, but hopefully, they'll get into a better groove soon. In addition to not caring about Roger's drug exploration, I am tired of Don and his wife's angst. They are both so self-centered, emotional volatile and angry that I not only dislike them, but am getting to the point where I don't even care to see what happens to them.

 

[Worf]

^^^^^ With "Breaking Bad" ending with a BANG, if they're not carefull this 2 year 14 episode stretch out could wind up blowing up their faces. There's just too much other good stuff to watch or binge watch to waste my time watching Don cry in the cold... AGAIN!!! Unless they get a grip and I mean soon.. this great series could go out with a proverbial whisper..

Worf

 

[Fading Fast]

^^^^^ With "Breaking Bad" ending with a BANG, if they're not carefull this 2 year 14 episode stretch out could wind up blowing up their faces. There's just too much other good stuff to watch or binge watch to waste my time watching Don cry in the cold... AGAIN!!! Unless they get a grip and I mean soon.. this great series could go out with a proverbial whisper..

Worf

Agreed completely. Now, have you been able to squeeze any "True Detective" in yet - can't wait to get your thoughts on that one.

 

[Feraud]

I was close to the "I don't care" feeling as well. I found my mind wandering and that is one step away from no longer watching. I will probably stay with it since it is the last season and I kind of want to have seen the whole thing, but hopefully, they'll get into a better groove soon. In addition to not caring about Roger's drug exploration, I am tired of Don and his wife's angst. They are both so self-centered, emotional volatile and angry that I not only dislike them, but am getting to the point where I don't even care to see what happens to them.

Agreed. I find I can 25-30% of a season and have enough of Mad Men. It's basically a well dressed soap opera with few redeeming characters. I find myself not liking anyone on the show.

True Detective is a must see!

 

[MrBern]

Incidentally.
a little throwback to 1960s advertising stunt.
Its th 50th anniversary of the Ford Mustang debuting at the 1964 World's Fair.
There was a 60s advertising stunt of placing a Mustang convertible on the Empire State Building.
Last nite in a snowstorm, Ford recreated the stunt.
click for story
http://mashable.com/2014/04/15/ford-mustang-empire-state-building/

http://nydn.us/Q9tACC

https://www.pinterest.com/empirestatebldg/ford-mustang-celebrates-50-years-at-the-empire-sta/

 

[The Good]

Here are some of my thoughts so far, about the latest two episodes. I liked the second episode more than the first, for some reason. Could it be because of Don's interactions with Sally? I suspect as much. Sally and Don's relationship seems to be growing stronger. There was a look of sadness on Don's face after Sally said that she loves him, and left the car. I have found myself disliking Peggy more and more, though, ever since the last season. Ted is so far a likable, level-headed character this season. He even offered his office to Pete, so maybe he is too easy-going. I'm not sure why exactly Ken was so angry during the last episode, however.

 

[vintage.vendeuse]

I came to Mad Men late, and have watched all six seasons in the last 3 months. Wow! It really drew me in, the character development was fabulous... until recently. I feel like I lost touch with the the characters during season six and, so far, season 7 isn't improving the situation. Peggy has gone from being a favorite character to being someone that I dread seeing onscreen. We don't see enough of Joan, Betty, or Harry Crane (who I found interesting), and for crying-out-loud, Don doesn't even work at the agency any more?! The show feels so disjointed now... I'm really hoping the writers are doing this on purpose and are planning something big to bring it all together. Please...

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

I can understand the disappointment with season 6 and so far with season 7, but Mad Men's worst days are better than most other program's best days. There is nothing else like it on TV or the movies. There is some fantastic TV out there right now, but not any other series has everything hitting at a high level like Mad Men. I truly enjoy The Walking Dead, True Detective, Downton Abbey, Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones, The Good Wife, Masters of Sex, The Americans, Breaking Bad, and even Black Sails. None of them are in the same league. They have their strengths, but none rise to the level of fine art like Mad Men. And yes, I'm okay with Mad Men watchers being snooty about it. They have a right to be. It's truly unique.

"And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he forever flies within the gorge, that gorge is the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar.” –Herman Melville

 

[MrBern]

From a list of great sentences. One that MadWen fans should enjoy
http://theamericanscholar.org/ten-best-sentences/#.U1r6YChdjb-

It was the United States of America in the cold late spring of 1967, and the market was steady and the G.N.P. high and a great many articulate people seemed to have a sense of high social purpose and it might have been a spring of brave hopes and national promise, but it was not, and more and more people had the uneasy apprehension that it was not.

—Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Slouching Towards Bethlehem is a 1968 collection of essays by Joan Didion and mainly describes her experiences in California during the 1960s. It takes its title from the poem "The Second Coming", by W. B. Yeats.

 

[Fading Fast]

I came to Mad Men late, and have watched all six seasons in the last 3 months. Wow! It really drew me in, the character development was fabulous... until recently. I feel like I lost touch with the the characters during season six and, so far, season 7 isn't improving the situation. Peggy has gone from being a favorite character to being someone that I dread seeing onscreen. We don't see enough of Joan, Betty, or Harry Crane (who I found interesting), and for crying-out-loud, Don doesn't even work at the agency any more?! The show feels so disjointed now... I'm really hoping the writers are doing this on purpose and are planning something big to bring it all together. Please...

Peggy is insufferable in a cast of many near insufferables (Don and his new wife this season, Don's old wife for the past few seasons - don't miss her complaining, did you catch her daughter's line about hoping her mother dies?). But Peggy is nails-on-a-chalkboard bad this season. Her anger, child-like emotion, anger again, horrible treatment of her secretary and, oh yea, more anger in the scene with the roses was intolerable.

 

[The Good]

I can understand the disappointment with season 6 and so far with season 7, but Mad Men's worst days are better than most other program's best days. There is nothing else like it on TV or the movies. There is some fantastic TV out there right now, but not any other series has everything hitting at a high level like Mad Men. I truly enjoy The Walking Dead, True Detective, Downton Abbey, Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones, The Good Wife, Masters of Sex, The Americans, Breaking Bad, and even Black Sails. None of them are in the same league. They have their strengths, but none rise to the level of fine art like Mad Men. And yes, I'm okay with Mad Men watchers being snooty about it. They have a right to be. It's truly unique.

"And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he forever flies within the gorge, that gorge is the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar.” –Herman Melville

I agree with you. Perhaps I may have a somewhat irrational devotion to watching the show, but I would still watch Mad Men through an 8th, 9th, 10th, or maybe more seasons. It is a unique show amongst the sea of others airing. I am content with a Season 7 ending for the show, and I can still handle waiting a year for the rest of the episodes (Although reluctantly so!), but the ending of Mad Men should be strong. I am sometimes afraid that Weiner will have the wrong sort of ending, and I could recall that in the past he thought that many would dislike the ending of the show.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

I'm really hoping the writers are doing this on purpose and are planning something big to bring it all together. Please...

This sentence made me laugh. Of course they're going to bring it all together. It's what they do. Nobody weaves fabric like this show.

I am sometimes afraid that Weiner will have the wrong sort of ending, and I could recall that in the past he thought that many would dislike the ending of the show.

This is a legitimate concern. Weiner liked how The Sopranos ended, and while I didn't feel it an abomination, I didn't find it particularly good, either. Endings on TV are rarely up to par with the rest of the program. I'm not looking forward to the final episode more because I feel they'll botch it than I am because the show will be finished. I hope they prove me wrong. It'll be difficult to raise it to the quality of the rest of the series. I almost want them to do something like Garry Knox Bennett did to one of his flawless furniture cabinets; at the last moment, nail a rusty, crooked nail into the face.

 

[vintage.vendeuse]

This sentence made me laugh. Of course they're going to bring it all together. It's what they do. Nobody weaves fabric like this show.

Glad I gave you a laugh. I didn't realize that writers wrote bad, disjointed storyline/character development on purpose, just so they could bring it all together at the end.

Seasons six and seven don't display the cohesiveness of the first five seasons. Since I watched the entire show in a short period of time, perhaps my perspective is different. During seasons 1-5, I was drawn in, I felt involved in the story. During 6 and 7, I felt more of an outsider, just watching what was going on. I actually find my mind wandering during the show now and don't mind getting up for a snack (or whatever). That didn't happen before.

For all my complaining, however, I certainly intend to keep tuning in, so they got what they wanted.

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Glad I gave you a laugh.

I apologize if I insulted you. It was not my intention.

I didn't realize that writers wrote bad, disjointed storyline/character development

I have yet to find either the case. I'd be the first to complain about bad story and inconsistent character, but I've seen neither. I have my favorite seasons and episodes, too. But I also found season 6 to be brilliant, and so far, season 7 has been great. The first episode was incredible how they opened up the table to so many possibilities, and this third episode was brilliant in every way.

 

[vintage.vendeuse]

I apologize if I insulted you. It was not my intention.

It sounded like you were trivializing my opinion. I realize now that you didn't mean it that way. Thanks for the apology. As for the other stuff, We'll just have to agree to disagree. eace:

 

[Barbigirl]

I am a die hard so I will watch it through to the end--plus I bought a season pass on itunes. But there isn't a single character I really like anymore. Still even getting into the 70's I am still loving checking out the hair and clothes.

 

[Fading Fast]

Hi, is somebody familiar with how partnerships work as it seems to me that Don would have more power being a founding partner than he seems to have. Can (if this wasn't a TV show) the other partners really force him to report to somebody that far down the line? Could he demand to be bought out? I am not familiar with the rights of partners, but I would think he would have more rights than he seems to have?

 

[Ernest P Shackleton]

Dick Whitman, aka Don Draper, is handcuffed and only has limited power and options, especially with Bert. Bert knows he isn't actually Don Draper. None of this is legal, and Bert having such knowledge could reek havoc on his own monies. And both Bert and Joan were looking forward to going public before Don unknowingly ruined that lucrative business move. They're emotional and not rational. Don also has the luxury of not understanding money, or really caring about it much, so he's in this fight for different reasons than what motivate most people. In other words, all these people come from such drastically different perspectives that no move would be simple or without big consequences. None of them are in a great position to demand anything.