The assassination of JFK on Sunday's episode of Mad Men may have been the catalyst for Betty Draper's "awakening," but it's been a long time coming.
Here comes my rant: I, for one, am sick and tired of seeing the women in this show get walked all over! I know it's the way things were back then, but the times they are a changin', so I'm hoping we'll get to see more women stand up and take charge of their lives.
I was cheering when Betty stood up to her lying, cheating, skank of a husband Don and told him she didn't love him anymore. Bonus points for driving off to meet your lover, Betty. Hopefully, he won't cheat on you.
Now if Joan would leave her loser fiance who raped her at the office and then went about his business like nothing happened -- that'd be the icing on this women's movement cake. I'd say that she and Roger Sterling belong together, but she's too good for him.
I had been expecting the JFK assassination to become part of the Mad Men storyline from the moment they showed us the invitation for Margaret Sterling's wedding on November 23, 1963. Expectations are one thing. Watching the way the national tragedy was depicted was quite another. As I watched the scenes unfold, I was riveted to the screen – and that was a surprise to me because on Fox the Yankees and the Phillies were locked in a very tight World Series game, and I cared about the outcome.
But I found myself unable to turn away from Mad Men. It wasn't pleasant to watch those black and white images of anchormen Walter Cronkite and Chet Huntley. The moment I saw the flickering images behind Harry and Pete in the Sterling-Cooper office, I knew what was happening. It was terrific storytelling, by the way, for the viewer to know, but for Pete and Harry to be oblivious.
Today I made an executive decision and gave the podcast an oh-so-creative name: "The TV Squad Podcast." This was after we recorded it on Tuesday, so I still refer to it by its old APB name. If you have any suggestions, let me know at tvsquad [at] gmail [dot] com.
In this episode, Late Show writer Bill Scheft joins me, Danny Gallagher and Kona Gallagher to talk about his new book Everything Hurts. Of course, there's lots of good behind-the-scenes info about what it was like to work at The Late Show, especially on how the events of the past month affected the staff and the show's writing, including the monologue.
He also tells some funny stories about being canned from Sports Illustrated (and spawns a new catchphrase), feeding lines to the guy who played Mike Singletary and more. It's 45 minutes of fun.
After the interview, Kona, Danny and I give our picks of the week. Run time is 1:03:02.
Rules are meant to be broken... especially for these ten television characters. For them, the rest of the world has one standard to live by and they have another. It makes them interesting and fun to watch... you just wouldn't necessarily want to be the person having to deal with them because they could drive you to distraction. Here's my ten pack of characters who live in a world of their own, according to no rules except their own. From the not-too-bad to the really bad.
10. Patrick Jane, The Mentalist
You would think that as a consultant to the CBI -- California Bureau of Investigation -- Patrick Jane would be compelled to uphold the rules and regulations of the department. However, Jane is a free spirit when it comes to office protocol. He does his own thing. For instance, bugging the office of a CBI higher-up is definitely not kosher. Jane doesn't care; he did it anyway and will probably get away with it.
(S03E11) Autumn in New York, why does it feel so inviting... That's a great song, and I thought of it while watching the opening of this episode, with the Draper kids all excited about Halloween. And there was also that chill in the air between Don and Betty. Actually, the icy glare was all Betts. She was off to see her brother about selling their father's home, but what was really on Betty's mind was the contents of Don's desk drawer. More on that and gypsy and the hobo, after the jump. By the way, this was a great Mad Men episode.
So ... Betty Draper is starting to get an inkling of Don's dark and secret past on Mad Men. In Sunday's episode, she found the box with all his secret things. Really, you'd think he would keep it in a safety deposit box or something. You can't just leave that stuff lying around the house, even in a locked desk drawer. Someone's bound to find it, just as Betty did.
My question is what will Betty do with this important information? She' s already been stung by Don's affairs, and now she's got this to contend with.
Week two of the revival of TV Squad's APB podcast has arrived! In this episode, Bob Sassone and Danny Gallagher join me to talk about TV's doings this week:
The cancellation of Southland and the role of The Jay Leno Show in that cancellation,
Lately, Don Draper has not been coming off as a very nice guy on Mad Men. In fact, he's been a complete jerk. However, if there's one thing positive about the tall, dark and handsome ad man, he's a great dresser. Jon Hamm looks amazing in Don Draper's suits. Well, now so can you. Brooks Brothers is selling the Mad Men Edition suit for a mere $998. (Hey, that's not a grand, unless you count tax).
Don't dawdle, though. There's only 250 suits in the limited edition run. The look is inspired by the Mad Men 1960's Madison Avenue style, which could also be the How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying look from the Broadway show or The Dick Van Dyke Show look, depending on your favorite reference point from the '60s.
Are you shocked? Apparently, the industry press is. Gordon had risen from personal assistant to writer's assistant to member of the writing staff. After the Emmy, you would think that she was in like Flynn.
However, something must have gone awry or why has she been given her walking papers? And if you think it's not a dismissal, listen to this announcement from the show:
(S03E09) Nobody was getting any sleep, or so it seemed, and many people were acting like babies who wanted what they wanted when they wanted it.
Conrad Hilton has become more of a headache to Don, and the way he's being played, he's very Howard Hughes-like to me. Eccentric, powerful, demanding and hard to read. For a master player like Don, it has been unnerving to have Connie pull his strings. Don doesn't like being a marionette.
Don wasn't the only one having his strings yanked. Lucky Strike, in the form of client Lee Garner, Jr., pushed Pete and Harry around, but it was Sal who suffered. And Henry discovered that Betty was more complicated than any Ossining housewife he ever knew. More after the jump.
It's hard to say that a show that's already won a small U-Haul's worth of Emmys and other awards can be having a breakout season, but that seems to be what's happening with Mad Men during its third season. The buzz around the show has been as loud as we've heard since The Sopranos went to black, and that's not a coincidence; the man who created the early-1960s world of Sterling Cooper, Matt Weiner, was a writer on the landmark HBO drama.
Weiner just completed shooting season three, and he took time out of his post-production process to sit down with me on Monday and talk about how the season has been going so far. I tried to get him to talk about what seems to be the show's inevitable roll towards the cataclysmic event of 1963, the Kennedy assassination, but Weiner was tight-lipped as usual. However, his observations on how he approaches events like that is an interesting read. Oh, and we also touch upon how he came up with the idea to run over a British ad exec's foot with a lawn mower, which is a good story by itself...
For all of their problems and dalliances, Mad Men's Don and Betty Draper are one sexy couple. Sunday's episode, "Souvenir," was another stellar offering, and one of my favorite scenes was when Don and Betty pretended to be strangers in Rome, then went back to their room and made sweet love.
It made me swoon, not just because they're two really handsome people (her beehive-type hairdo was something else), but also because I felt like I was part of the whole deception involving the Italian guys at the cafe. Very fun.
And this, after Betty accepted a kiss from Henry Francis after the courtroom scene. She's such a cold fish with these things, and I have to wonder if she's just doing it to get back at Don for his affairs. She doesn't seem to enjoy the attention of other men. She doesn't seem to enjoy much of anything. Bob likened it to Revolutionary Road, and I quite agree. And it's no wonder Sally has repressed anger issues. She comes by it honestly.
Some shows are really creative with their use of music, and one that stands out for me is Mad Men. In last night's episode (read Bob's review here), the song that played over the end credits was "Sixteen Tons," and they couldn't have picked a better song. After signing that contract, Don Draper did indeed owe his soul not only "to the company store," but also to Betty and to a life he doesn't seem all that happy about leading.
Another show with great use of music is Sons of Anarchy. In his review of "Tears," Danny noted, "Letting Katey Sagal sing a solemn cover of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday" was really a great move on whomever made that call." I couldn't agree more. The song just washed all of the sadness and weight of her rape over us in a big way.
There was a real conundrum for Mad Men last Sunday night. Did you watch the Emmys and see Mad Men win as Outstanding Drama Series or were you tuned in to watch latest episode from Season Three? Of course, most of you reading are DVR owners and could watch one live and record the other, but watching an award show after you know the winners is a little like watching sports when you know the results.
Well, if a Mad Men fan has missed any episodes this season, or if they're piled up on the DVR/Tivo queue, making you feel guilty for not keeping up, here's an out. AMC is going to show a Mad Men Season Three marathon on Sunday, September 27, starting at 10 a.m. All six episodes will air up to the premiere of the last, episode seven, at 10 p.m.
The good news is the Kristen Chenoweth won an Emmy Sunday night. But the bad news is the she was so ill backstage she needed to be checked out by paramedics. Here's what happened.
Early during the Primetime Emmys, when Kristin's name was announced for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy, I don't know about you, but I let out a whoop! She won for Pushing Daisies, a show – as she pointed out in her tear-filled speech – was no longer on the air. At least one of the fine actors on that wonderful, fanciful show was recognized!
The assassination of JFK on Sunday's episode of Mad Men may have been the catalyst for Betty Draper's "awakening," but it's been a long time coming. 
Today I made an executive decision and gave the podcast an oh-so-creative name: "The TV Squad Podcast." This was after we recorded it on Tuesday, so I still refer to it by its old APB name. If you have any suggestions, let me know at tvsquad [at] gmail [dot] com.
So ... Betty Draper is starting to get an inkling of Don's dark and secret past on 
Lately, Don Draper has not been coming off as a very nice guy on 
Last month, 
(S03E09) Nobody was getting any sleep, or so it seemed, and many people were acting like babies who wanted what they wanted when they wanted it. 
It's hard to say that a show that's already won a small U-Haul's worth of Emmys and other awards can be having a breakout season, but that seems to be what's happening with 
For all of their problems and dalliances, 
Some shows are really creative with their use of music, and one that stands out for me is 
The good news is the 
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