It blows me away every time Duck is onscreen. Mark Moses doesn't feel like a modern actor at all, it's like he's a time traveller. The hair, the face, the voice, he makes me think he's a guy who started acting in the 1940s and that Mad Men was actually made in the 60s and he's just...part of the cast.

Everyone on the show is obviously great, but this is some of the best period piece acting/casting I've ever seen. There is no way this guy has ever heard of the Internet or an iPhone. This is an old-timey actor walking among us.

Essentially:

"I don't like you"

"I don't like you, either"

Lol, let's have sex

***
grainy screencaps from s6e10

The arc felt like it had so much potential. They had a cool dynamic and it could’ve built to something but it just felt like it was always an afterthought. Feels wasted

Unlike a lot of people, I actually kind of enjoy Megan’s character, but the one issue I have is how their relationship started. I love this show, I think it is one of the best ever written, but how they introduced Megan fell completely flat to me. She and don have a one night stand, then he invites her to babysit on vacation, then they get engaged. During this episode he says something along the lines of “I have love you for awhile now”. What???? Except the one night stand, nothing between these characters ever suggested that he loved her the whole time. This could be an attempt to show the impulsiveness of both the characters, but they need to have some sort of chemistry (which they didn’t). This is also when he is dating Dr Faye, probably my favorite one of Dons relationships. They were going strong at this point, and he had revealed more to her than practically anybody. To me it all felt very disappointing and a complete waste of dr Faye and a waste of an actual arc for don and Megan to get together.

Listening to a few Weiner interviews and the two executives who initially worked with him (and helped develop other early AMC shows, like "Breaking Bad" and "Prisoner") were gone only a couple of years later.

Christina Wayne seems to be the female executive who said that Hamm was too soap opera for the role, with an inauthentic "gravely" quality redolent of bland actors. And that Hamm wasn't sexy enough.

Rob Sorcher was more receptive to Hamm, but was willing to cede to Wayne's advice.

It took a "dog and pony show" dinner with Hamm, Wayne and Sorcher (in which Weiner was not invited) for the executives to shift their thinking about Hamm's sex appeal.

Both left around the third season (Sorcher to run Cartoon Network).

So my question is what was Weiner's dynamic with AMC like after they left? Were later executives frightened of Weiner?

It seems that Weiner (with his difficult reputation) continued to chide against the network and there reported money disputes in later seasons.

Season 4 Episode 9, The Beautiful Girls. All the women in Don's life around him, him in the center, his daughter in front of him. His future love in one corner, his former lover face to face with him... The diametric opposites of Faye and Megan on each of his shoulders. What other scenes in the show do such heavy lifting with just the placement of the characters?

When Don is spilling the beans about Korea to Faye, he says “but I think that’s all over now.”

“What happened?”

“North American Aviation told the government they need to know who I am.”

Shouldn’t the issue be that the government told North American aviation that they need to know who he is? Not the other way around?

Hi all,

I just saw a clip of actor John Cassavetes who, from certain angles, reminds me of Jon Hamm. The clip was from a film from 1964.

It got me thinking about Mad Men, and what actors would be cast if Mad Men was made in the 1960s or 1990s, etc.

So, do you have thoughts on who would play Betty Draper if the show was produced in the 1980s?

Or what about Bert Cooper if the show was made in the 1960s?

Who would be the perfect 1970s actor for Roger Sterling?

Just a fun thought experiment until Game 4 of the World Series starts!

Edit to clarify - my title is a little misleading. I don't mean recasting so much as who would have been cast if the show was produced in a different era.

Bob Benson is swindling health care at Grey Sloan hospital in Seattle and goes by the pseudonym of Seth Norton. (Grey’s Anatomy). lol 😂

Roger uses the phrase “shit the bed” talking to Don in 1968. I’m no spring chicken and this is a phrase that I never heard till probably 2000 or so. Am I wrong?

The book Don reads in bed in I believe S1, as he remarks how "dirty" it is and Betty mentions the movie not being as good. Have any of you indulged in some of the media mentioned on the show?

This book is interesting in how it parallels the Mad Men universe and how the writer's room likely used it as a source when writing Joan, Peggy, and maybe some other female characters. The norms and cadences of the day are also very interesting (the book was published in 1958).

I also have "La Notte" in my HBO queue, the foreign film Don mentions to Bobbie Barrett. Looking forward to watching that one.

How is Don actually allowed to work without a contract, more importantly, how is he made a partner without a contract?

Was the idea that he's so good that he gets a "pass"? Or am I misunderstanding US employment laws?

Do you find Don's womanising ways a necessary part of the show or would you prefer that they had slowed it down in later seasons and just concentrated on him?

I have watched this show since release off and on, maybe 4 times now, on my 5th

I had never thought of this much, but Don was married to Anna legally in the past before Betty. She had told Don that she was leaving him the house but iirc it was discussed that Anna might stay there, it may have been a surprise to Don at this time not 100%.

But Stephanie, a college graduate in 1965, no job, she says to Don that she will be fine. But she then gets pregnant and is destitute but to call him on a payphone and beg for money.

I previously saw no link. And maybe it's not that deep. But he stepped into this life and offered Anna financial security for the benefit of not being ousted, she was the one person who knew his secret.

And then when she is gone you just assume that her next of kin will be hunky dory, that there is nothing of Anna's that should go Stephanie's way?

If he did insist to sell the house, a solid dividend to Stephanie and her mother, maybe a modest 10 or 15%, would have been nothing to Don. But moreover, why sell at all?

Stephanie left of her own volition, however had Don said, "Why leave? Just take the deed, hell if I need it.", I can't imagine she would decline him. She was primed to go out into the world and come what may, granted. Maybe she still would have gotten laid up with a dealer(not that thats something she didn't want or choose), but to beg for money while pregnant is a horrible thing.

I don't think that Don considers the consequences of selling this house and not making good with Anna's remaining family, even if Stephanie's mother despises him. A split or a deed transfer would have been the right thing to do, despite Anna willing it to Don.

Anna willed it to Don out of gratitude for him supporting her, as her husband Liutenant Don would have, had he made it out instead. Don didn't need to reap that from her next of kin, whom Anna was close with.

Sal was a damn fine artist.

Found on the back covers of old football magazines.

Like a lot of people here, Mad Men is my favorite show of all time. And while I have so much love for Sopranos, The Wire, etc. There's just nothing that beats Mad Men.

To me it has the most oddly relatable human moments and characters (and on the surface, I am absolutely like pretty much none of them).It's so uniquely rare and beautiful when a show/movie can capture that weird little moments that we all experience but I couldn't even put into words.

I always liked the show and at first glance it's because I have sweet memories as a kid staying up to watch it with my mom. It also didn't feel like a 60's period piece at all. It genuinely just felt like you were watching real people at that time, even though I never lived through it.

For me the moment I knew this show was on another level was "Far Away Places" (Howard Johnson's Episode)

After Don and Megan fought, he drove away briefly, came back, couldn't find her and in the wee hours of the morning drove home to see if she was there. He was so excited when the day first started. He got to play hooky with his wife, blow off work and show her this place that he obviously had a very personal connection to.

But now the day is ruined. They had a massive, semi public blowout (their first real fight). And now he's scared to death that he can't find her, so in desperation, he drives home hoping she'll be there.

The scene then cuts to a flashback of him, Megan and the kids driving back from the airport from Disneyland. It's winter and everyone's bundled up and warm in the car. Bobby and Gene are sleeping and peaceful in the back. Sally is happy and inquisitive in her Disneyland hat. Don and Megan are speaking sweetly to each other, both in a glow of romance and contentment. A genuinely beautiful moment.

Then the scene cuts right back to where it started. He's in the car racing down the highway back home. Its 3 am. He feels tired, sweaty, paranoid, dirty, embarrassed, frightened, angry and guilty all at the same time.

You see the regret in his eyes. "How did things get this bad? Why the hell did I drive away? Why would she say that?"

He thinks back to that moment. In the same car, at the same time of night, maybe even on the same highway, but completely different and shittier circumstances.

He'd give anything to get back to that moment.

And all this was conveyed without anyone one character explicitly saying any of that. Show, don't tell.

Idk why, but that was just such a relatable moment to me. The amount of times I've had a fight with my wife, mom, dad, whoever. And you're miserable. Whoever's fault it was doesn't even matter in that moment. You feel like shit. You hate being at odds with this person you love. And your mind can't help but think back to maybe even a few weeks ago when you were in that same restaurant, car or house, when you were sweet to each other. When things were good.

A show's never made me feel quite like that before.

Another honorable mention would be when Lane and Don are both at the office alone on New Years, both depressed and deflated with their own issues at the moment. Lane's sulking and drinking in his office when Don tells him they're going to the movies. He doesn't ask. He just says "we're doing this whether you want to or not. Now pick a movie with me".

They see a movie, get drunk, have dinner, invite some women over etc.

That scene always gives me a comforting feeling. I've done that and that had done to me before too. When your friend just knows what's good for you. And in that case, get the hell out of the office, have some stupid fun, and forget about your problems for a night.

Those are mine. What's yours?

Would love any suggestions! Hosting a very small, immediate-family party with a Mad Men theme. The birthday person's fav characters are Joan, Bert, and Roger.

Thank you so much for any suggestions you have. This party is for a mostly homebound family member and we go all out on the decorations each year to make it special. I have several things planned, but I would love to do more! Thank you!

That he didn’t means there’s hope for him

Like the Carousel pitch or "It's toasted." What do you think makes him think so differently from everyone else?
Is Don's non-linear thinking a product of his past as Dick Whitman? Curious how people read it.

Diana was from Racine, Wisconsin. Racine is the French word for “root”, and knowing Matthew Weiner, nothing in this show is coincidental. Interesting locale for two very uprooted/rootless characters. Still trying to make sense of Diana after all these years. Haha.

I can't pinpoint what it is. The mystery? The restraint? The intensity? What gives Don that "it" factor?

Both Roger and Don are handsome, witty, confident, and powerful. Yet Don commands a level of respect, allure, and presence that Roger never comes close to (in my opinion). When Don speaks, people listen. When Roger speaks, people laugh. I get that Don is like 12 years younger, but there must be something else.

I am rewatching the show and I am paying special attention to the actresses this time around. Especially Sally and Joan are just amazing and those two might be the best actresses in this show.

Lets be real, Christina Hendricks and Joan often suffer from the same thing. Oversexualization. And she is stunning. Built like a B-52 is such an apt and yet crass metaphor.

But the writing of this show might be a love letter to the plight the real Christina Hendricks and similarly stunning women have to endure (Often starting during their teen years btw.). At times it seems that only Pete and Don dont try to get with her. Her female roommate, Lane, Herb, Bob Benson, all try to get with her.

Eventually she breaks through the mold of just the hot lead secretary, the office manager. She becomes an "Account Man". And still, people dont take her seriously.

Look at her expression in this scene. Season 7, Episode 8. Peggy and Joan try to talk with 3 men from McCann. These 3 men should be colleagues. Peggy and Joan prepared a 2 page sheet with relevant info, they try to call upon the resources of the "mother-firm" and are met with crude sexualization that just does not stop.

Christina Hendricks expression is full of sadness, she is trying not to cry, her head still held high because she refuses to let those men see her being vulnerable. To let them see how much it hurts. She doesnt cry, the next scene opens up with her being in an elevator, wide eyes, wanting to "burn this whole place down". Peggy tries to downplay it "at least we got a yes"

Peggy then tries to call out Joan for "dressing the way you do", Joan asks "How do I dress?"

So in effect, a love letter, a simmering pot of female rage, misogyny, internalized misogyny with issues still relevant today.

Now this isnt just about this masterpiece of an episode, this is about every single instance of Christina Hendricks showing rage, hurt, vulnerability, with just her eyes. She doesnt need to yell, she doesnt need to cry. You can just see it. Especially whenever she goes up against Don and wants to remove him for costing her money. (Hersheys, Porsche)

Amazing actress, amazing writing, amazing show.

I understand the LHO thought but what did he mean by “taking care of Texas, hell the whole South “