Mad Men

[Johnnie]

Grown up Glen Bishop (Weiner's son IRL) looks like he could be Bronto's younger brother.

[Rex]

Favorite prediction/theory I've read: Don left the social security card in the car, Ambiguously Gay Andy becomes the new Don Draper, and the name is just passed along like the Dread Pirate Roberts.

[howard]

Some weak sauce, that. Cute ending joke, I suppose. But I expected more.

[howard]

Ok, I slept on it (forgot to post yesterday) and I changed my mind. I like the finale.

At first I didn't like the happily ever after for everyone (except Betty). But what bugged me wasn't the happy endings for all the other characters, but for Don. I was unsatisfied that after Don was laid so low, so desperate and empty, that something big needed to happen for his redemption. And short of something big, he needed to die (suicide, probably.)

But, his redemption via a stupid fucking ad* that became the biggest ad of all time, is kinda apt. Something I initially did not view as big enough, but upon further review, just the thing for redemption. And an apt bookend to the first episode ("It's Toasted!")

I still don't like Peggy finding true love w/an office romance. But, that's part of her becoming Don Draper, marrying her 'secretary'. Maybe Roger's fourth wife will be Rizzo's mom.

*I should note how fucking annoying this ad was to anyone who was alive in 1971. Consider the most vapid, ear grating syrupy radio hit song (which it was), played ten times more often than a big radio hit. My long standing hatred for that ad burst into a hatred for the ending. Plus, I drank Pepsi.

[Rush2112]

I think he did "die." Well, Dick Whitman did. With the hug of the man that represented what Dick Whitman was, a nothing, a nobody, he finally shed that skin and fully became Don Draper.

You can see it on his "Oming" face, he was at peace.


Also, I liked the various references to the camp in Big Sur in the Coke commercial (ribbons in the girls hair, particular outfits, etc.)
I'm glad that Peggy got together with Stan, I think it's Weiner's nod to the fans, rather than have he fall for the DC lawyer/blind date from earlier this season.

Pepsi sucks.

[howard]

Pepsi sucks.

You watch it.

I'll do you like you're getting done in the AFC Championship thread. I'll do you like a biker in a parking lot in Waco.

[Rex]

It is a happy ending for Don--coming up with the big idea is what makes him happy. That and more girls will probably want to play with his D now that he knows yoga and came up with the Coke song.

The Peggy/Stan ending was really corny, but they're cute together, and their kids probably won't grow up to be the Preppie Killer like Gene will.

[Rush2112]

Pepsi sucks.

You watch it.

I'll do you like you're getting done in the AFC Championship thread. I'll do you like a biker in a parking lot in Waco.

What's that? I can't hear you over the crowd..

[Johnnie]

I'm going to need to read a review from someone who watched this season much more closely than me about how I should feel about this.

I have no idea what happened with my attention span for this show, but I just couldn't focus with it the way I did Breaking Bad, Californication, Sons of Anarchy, or even Dexter.

But it was worth it to see Joan do coke. That made me chuckle.

(Please explain to this young'n the significance of that Coke commercial. Is that what made it a global brand? I get the feeling that was a major cultural phenomenon for the 70's. And what does it have to do with Don becoming a hippie?)

[Rex]

Coke was already a global brand, but that commercial turned out to be the most famous thing they've ever done, in a long history of heavy advertising. I think it was picked because it captures the ethos of the entire show so well: there's nothing that can't be wrapped up in a neat little package and sold; in this case, both the 60's counterculture and Don's long voyage of self-discovery.

[Johnnie]

Coke was already a global brand, but that commercial turned out to be the most famous thing they've ever done, in a long history of heavy advertising. I think it was picked because it captures the ethos of the entire show so well: there's nothing that can't be wrapped up in a neat little package and sold; in this case, both the 60's counterculture and Don's long voyage of self-discovery.

Like Joan's booger sugar!

Anyhoo, thanks for the perspective. I seriously had no bearing of the show. I was expecting the D.B. Cooper ending.

[howard]

More than you could possibly want to know about the iconic Coke ad that closed Mad Men

Another interview with dude who did the Coke ad irl

[brian]

Just started watching the first season this week and thinking this show is bullshit because who wouldn't want to go home to Alison Brie every night?

[brian]

That's a joke by the way. It's good.

[DC47]

More than you could possibly want to know about the iconic Coke ad that closed Mad Men

Another interview with dude who did the Coke ad irl

I enjoyed this. I was a New Seekers fan and actually liked the song. I think I still have some kind of promotional 45. That's RPMs for those of you after we used up all the fun.

I also enjoyed the story about how they shot the visual. So much can go wrong, and so much must go right.

Deep personal revelation: when I was but a lad, my mom -- a real looker -- and I were in a Coke ad. I paddled around her while she floated on a lounge in a swimming pool.

[howard]

Ah, child actor. From there to bar fights w/bikers.

[DC47]

As I recall, I appeared only twice in the film and advertisement biz. The second time was in a voice-over as Timmy the teenager in some kind of instructional video, while I was trying to become the next bop trombone giant. So not exactly a great acting career.

I did later direct TV and radio ads for a ballot initiative. I didn't appear; in one I cast my daughters. I had never owned a TV and didn't listen to commercial radio, but that proved no impediment to spending $200K on these spots. That was fascinating (and we won the election), but a one-time thing.

My real brush with the film industry was turning down the gig at what became LucasFilm in Marin to work on the second Star Wars II as a computer engineer. Almost ran into Sneak Pete Kleinow, post Burrito Brothers, on that one.

Lucas had a very small shop at the time. Credentials meant nothing. I was approached on the basis of an early computer game involving a junkie looking to score, who interacted with dealers, mugging victims, and police. Perhaps also because I had been found sleeping in a closet in the computer lab. No idea where my career would have gone if I had gone with Lucas. Ideally, getting together with Linda Ronstadt, as I was way more everything than Lucas. Except talented, mature, and rich.

More likely, suicide or heavy drinking, as I passionately hated each Star Wars more than the last.

Still, there were interesting technical challenges. That was how the job was sold to me. A bit after Star Wars I hit the studios I was shown material including still frames (e.g, 'see through' planets, jerky movements) that demonstrated how weak the effects were. The head of computing or whatever they called it had a vision of how to do it better. Obviously, someone made good on this. I liked the technical end, but no way did I want to be associated with such crappy movies.

[howard]

You stick out a couple more crappy space movies, and Pixar/Steve Jobs.

[DC47]

Well, I did kind of like Wall-e. But that would have required three decades of sticking it out.

[govmentchedda]

Just started watching the first season this week and thinking this show is bullshit because who wouldn't want to go home to Alison Brie every night?

Right? I think it just shows how much of a goddamned moron that Pete is.

[DaveInSeattle]

My GF and I finally finished off the last season of Mad Men last night.

I kinda hated how everyone got a "happy ending", except for Betty.

Pretty amazed that I was able to stay in the dark about it for 4 years...yes, I'd heard about Don and the Coke Ad, but nothing about Betty's cancer, Peggy and Stan, or Pete moving to Wichita to work for LearJet and getting back together with Trudy.

[Jerloma]

I just finished season 1 and I must have missed something. Why did he switch dog tags with the real Draper after the explosion?

[P.D.X.]

I just finished season 1 and I must have missed something. Why did he switch dog tags with the real Draper after the explosion?

So he could usurp his identity.

[Jerloma]

I know, but why?

[L-Jam3]

Because Dick Whitman was a loser and he wanted a new identity.

[brian]

I know, but why?

If you haven't watched beyond Season One, they actually do dig in a little as to why in subsequent seasons. It's not like a huge plot point or anything, but you get introduced to Whitman's childhood and upbringing.