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

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.

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?

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.

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.

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?

Essentially:

"I don't like you"

"I don't like you, either"

Lol, let's have sex

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grainy screencaps from s6e10

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.