So we all saw legendary ad agency McCann Erickson buy Sterling Cooper in the season finale of Mad Men. Some people might not know that McCann Erickson is a real-life ad agency (that's one of the reasons I love this show, they use real companies and products). Well, the company welcomes Sterling Cooper in this video on their web site.
The agency is also buying big ads in magazines like Adweek and Brandweek to welcome Sterling Cooper. Has their ever been a show based in a particular industry that is loved by the real-life industry it depicts more than Mad Men?
I know, saying "Don Draper's mistress" doesn't really narrow it down, does it?
Abigail Spencer, who played (plays?) schoolteacher Suzanne Farrell on AMC's Mad Menthis past season, has landed a role on the new NBC drama Rex Is Not Your Lawyer. I guarantee that will be one of the odder titles for a new show in 2010 or whenever the show debuts. It's about a lawyer who gets anxiety attacks (that has to be a career killer) so he actually teachers his clients how to represent themselves in court. Spencer will play another lawyer.
What does this mean for Miss Farrell? Who knows. She could appear on both shows though. Alison Brie appears on two different shows too (Mad Men and NBC's Community), so it's possible that Spencer could still appear on Mad Men while on this show. Of course, I hope she's out of the picture and we see Rachel or Midge again.
(S35E06) There was a strange moment of nodding recognition at the end of the night, as I watched Jason Sudeikis and January Jones in the cloud-gazing sketch. Throughout, the man pauses to consider the woman's weird behavior and then concedes, "Ohh, you're a very pretty, pretty woman." Yup. That's pretty much how I reacted the entire night, especially during really bad sketches like the farting Grace Kelly (take a moment to think about that: Farting. Grace. Kelly.)
Jones was kind of a stiff host with not particularly daring material, but, goodness gracious, her real-life 50s Barbie prettiness was mesmerizing. Her performances in the mid-century instructional video and the aforementioned cloud-gazing sketch were the best of the evening, but that's not saying much since the rest of her appearances were strange and wooden. Even her good night felt like it had been programmed in and auto-tuned for maximum polite insincerity.
If Mad Men is any indication of what its like to work in the real advertising world, then the writing process alone must cause more migraines than swimming in radioactive sewage.
That's still no excuse for stealing material, if that is in fact the case with this British ad. UK comic Micky Flanagan claims an ad agency stole a joke from his act for a phone service commercial and is a stone's throw away from filing a lawsuit. Punchline Magazine posted videos of the joke and the ad. Is this just a coincidence or is the ad pulling a Carlos Mencia?
It was an eventful week in TV, especially for fans of Mad Men. This week, Jason Hughes and Bob Sassone join me to talk about the show's finale and what may be in store for next season. We also talk about:
Why November sweeps don't mean as much as they used to,
Another dip into our Ask TV Squad mailbag, where we discuss why we promote SlashControl and other AOL-related ventures,
Marti Noxon will be writing the remake of the cult 1980's flick Fright Night. For those who don't know, Noxon is a writer on the series Mad Men (for which she got a WGA nomination) among other shows. She is best remembered for her singing appearances on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Once More With Feeling" (she was a writer and producer on that show too) and the Internet phenomenon Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.
Getting into movies for a moment, Fright Night was always a guilty pleasure of mine. Noxon is a good choice to write it too. Along with the diversity of her writing experience, she has used the same sort of combination of horror/humor when she wrote Buffy.
Of course, she's not the only Buffy alumnus writing a comedy horror. Joss Whedon himself is involved with project called Cabin In The Woods. He has the spare time to complete it now.
Are you a fan of Mad Men? Are you a fan of X-Men? Have you been hoping that Matt Weiner and Stan Lee would somehow meet up at an exclusive Hollywood party and eventually create a series that combines your two favorite television franchises?
If so, please get out of your house more.
And that hasn't exactly happened but the funny folks at Madatoms have done that for you with their new line of Mad Men/X-Men mash-ups. The shows are actually eerily similar when you think about it. Both of them feature ruthless characters who will stop at nothing for ultimate power. Both deal with the changing intolerance of their respective ages. The only thing missing are the tight fitting spandex outfits, but hey, a man can dream, right?
If you've ever wondered what it would be like to see Betty Draper play Beer Pong, you got to see it last night on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Then January Jones helped Pittsburgh Steeler Troy Polamalu demonstrate the best way to tackle someone.
OK, that headline is a lie. Nothing can hold us over until Mad Men season 4. We'll just have to suffer until next summer.
But these five Mad Men parodies that our friends at URLesque have compiled are pretty clever. Some are better than others (I still think the Sesame Street one could be better). Here are my two favorites (these might be mildly NSFW).
You've read Allison's review and Joel's take on the Mad Men season finale, and I'd just like to add that I think it was the best episode of any TV series I've seen in years. Brilliant, dramatic, funny, even exhilarating. Here's a behind the scenes look at the episode, including interviews with Matthew Weiner and the cast.
That was some Mad Men finale, wasn't it? If you haven't seen it yet, please stop reading now, because there was just too much going on for me not to just launch into some discussion.
OK, I'll wait until after the jump to really get into things. But, suffice to say, the end of season three left some characters going down a pretty well-determined path, but others have entered a sort of limbo state, where we don't quite know what their roles will be in season four.
(S03E13) It's a cold Friday, December 13, 1963. The President's been killed and the world as Don Draper knows it has pretty much fallen apart. For most of the season, the ground has been shifting under Don's feet and he's be holding on, trying to right himself and his life. He's tried with Betty. He's tried for Sally and Bobby and Gene -- at least as much as Don is able to try.
With Conrad Hilton he's never been on a level playing field, and from the moment he was forced to sign the contract, Sterling Cooper has not been his domain as it had been. With this episode, this season finale, all was changed and, perhaps, all has been righted. More after the jump.
At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes, then new episodes of The Amazing Race, Three Rivers, and Cold Case.
NBC has a new Football Night in America at 7, followed by the Cowboys vs. the Eagles.
FOX has a new Brothers at 7, then new episodes of American Dad, Family Guy, Family Guy Presents: Seth & Alex's Almost Live Comedy Show, and The Cleveland Show.
Cartoon Network has a new Ed, Edd, 'N Eddy at 7.
At 7:30, ABC has a new America's Funniest Home Videos, followed by new episodes of Extreme Makeover, Desperate Housewives, andBrothers & Sisters.
At 8, PBS has a new Nature, then a new Masterpiece Contemporary.
At 9, HBO has a new Curb Your Enthusiasm, followed by the season finale of Bored To Death.
Showtime has a new Dexter at 9, then a new Californication.
Food Network has a new Next Iron Chef at 9, then a new Iron Chef America.
Syfy has 2012: Startling New Secrets at 9.
At 10, AMC has the season finale of Mad Men.
Discovery has a new Storm Chasers at 10.
At 11:30, Cartoon Network has a new Titan Maximum.
At midnight, Cartoon Network has a new episode of The Venture Brothers, followed by a new Metalocalypse.
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.
One of the things I love (out of many, many things) about Mad Men is the advertising, business, and social history that serves as a background to much of what goes on in the lives of the characters on the show. For example, Conrad Hilton has been a character on the show this season, hiring Don and Sterling Cooper as an ad agency. I assumed that Matt Weiner and his writers approached the Hilton family and/or the Hilton chain about using him on the show. But that's not what happened.
So we all saw legendary ad agency McCann Erickson buy Sterling Cooper in the season finale of Mad Men. Some people might not know that McCann Erickson is a real-life ad agency (that's one of the reasons I love this show, they use real companies and products). Well, the company welcomes Sterling Cooper in this video on their web site.
I know, saying "Don Draper's mistress" doesn't really narrow it down, does it?
It was an eventful week in TV, especially for fans of 
Marti Noxon will be writing the remake of the 
Are you a fan of Mad Men? Are you a fan of X-Men? Have you been hoping that Matt Weiner and Stan Lee would somehow meet up at an exclusive Hollywood party and eventually create a series that combines your two favorite television franchises? 
The assassination of JFK on 
The TV Squad Podcast: The Prisoner, '80s TV, soap news and more
Let's talk about spoilers ...
The Prisoner -- An early look
