Mad Men!!!!
 

Finally it returns!

Early reviews of the first four episodes have all been great. I LOVE this show.

I can't wait for the season premiere. This is outstanding television.

I love this show and so does my 18-year-old son - he thinks Don Draper is the man! We're both looking forward to Sunday and one of the things I'll miss the most when he leaves for college next month is watching it with him.

I love that show! I think I will have a Mad Men marathon this weekend, to prepare for the new season!

That was what late June/early July was all about for me! I realized how much more you pick up on the second time through...

Can't wait for tomorrow night :D

Wow. So, did anyone else know that Don Draper was into some rough sex?

Slap me harder!

Nothing surprises me when it comes to Don Draper and sex. The whole episode kind of freaked me out, though, seeing everyone in their new context. Can't wait for next week ...

Commenting about the first episode: I kept wondering when the show would address Betty Draper's abusive behavior toward her kids. Last year...locking the daughter in the closet...this year pinching. The possible MIL (?) has it right, "The kids are terrified of her." She is the banality of evil, a gorgeous perfect package, with a black heart.

Really hated the lighting in parts of the show...too dark.

But the stories? LOVED them.

Thoughts on the premiere...

It makes me sad that Betty is becoming such an awful character. I started off liking her a lot in the first season. But she really has lost it and become very selfish and childish. Even though Don was not faithful to her and wasn't around enough, which obviously isn't ok, when he was home he was a good father an a kind husband. She didn't leave him because of the infidelity (which she was never 100% sure of), she left him when she found out he came from a poor family. She's a snob and she treats her children like pets. When they amuse her (like baby Gene does) she treats them well but when they annoy her she pushes them away (sends them to bed, gives them to Carla, tells them to go watch TV, etc). I'm still holding out hope for her to grow up, come to her senses and become a better person, but I don't know if it will happen. In the mean time - poor Henry. He got a lot more baggage than he bargained for.

Nonetheless, I would do terrible, terrible things to get the chance to raid Betty's closet.

Don seems like he's not in a good place right now, and I feel bad for him. The scenes between him and Betty, Sally and Bobby were so sad, particularly for me as a child of divorced parents (though mine were much more civil and adult about it!). Sally seems so much more grown up now... I can see teenage drama on the horizon with that one. Getting to see more of her personality will be interesting - like in the episode when Grandpa Gene dies. Anyway, in terms of Don - I think one of the great things about this show is that they can take someone who on the surface is so unlikeable (philanderer, absentee husband/dad, selfish and arrogant in many ways) and make him a very well-liked, well-respected character. It's interesting that now that he's actually on the market he's really lost his game, though.

Peggy is turning into such a badass - I love it. Although when she was sassing off to Don about the agency's reputation, that seemed uncalled for. I still secretly hope they'll end up together. She challenges him (like Rachel Mencken did) and it's good for him. She's also not the typical bimbo he steps out with. They would be such a great power couple!

I'm still annoyed by Pete. Something about him just makes my skin crawl. I wish they had left him at Sterling Cooper.

I love that Joan has her own office! But what's going on with her eyebrows?

And did they try to spice up the premiere by giving Roger 3x the offensive one-liners of any other episode? That felt cheap.

All in all I'm stoked for the season. I read on Perez that the numbers for the premiere were much lower than anticipated, though... hopefully things will pick up steam.

I see Sally with sunshine and moonbeams, a flower child in total rebellion very soon. Pete I love because he is such a counterpoint to the evolving of a nation. He is total fifties, and not in a good way. Betty was, in my opinion, not likeable ever. Her character is, to use an old term, a cold fish. BUT her clothes...God bless the stylist. And Don has always been a cypher, like a commercial. Gorgeous packaging and he is what you want him to be, like a good advertisement.

I wonder if we've seen the last of the other Sterling Cooper employees like Ken and Paul? I'm also dying to know what has become of Sal.

I, too, would kill for Betty Draper's wardrobe!

OK, for all you young uns....I think that Sal will emerge triumphant. Around this time in the village (oh please someone with a greater knowledge of this time and place step in) there was a riot when, I believe, the police stormed a gay bar in the village to make arrests. This was the first salvo to begin the civil rights movement for gays.

I have a real Pucci dress from the mid 60s in my closet. A friend's mom gave it to me when she was cleaning out the closet. Perfect condition. I love the clothes from that time.

Really? I thought Betty left Don because he lied to her about everything he ever was, not because he came from a poor family. And regarding Betty and Sally, I think on some level Betty is jealous of Sally. Sally is/was close to Don and Grandpa Gene, and I don't think Betty likes the competition.
As for Sterling Cooper Draper Price, I told my son the other night that maybe they would hire their first "negro" this season, but he doesn't see it coming.

It is certainly possible that the first person of color may enter their world. Again, you have to realize that the company is totally WASP. In those years there were Jewish advertising agencies that were entirely a separate culture. (One of my father's cousins ran one.) And there are markets that were yet to be tapped. So.......they may be dragged into progress...slowly and reluctantly.

Betty left because of a lot of things: she had an affair and he lied. But she also had a crush on the guy from riding. So, she is the "Diary of a Mad Housewife" just waiting to happen..and she did.

I think Pete's actually a more progressive guy in some respects. Remember, last year he proposed marketing some product (which I forget) to black customers; his idea was shot down, but we still saw him perusing an issue of Ebony. Also, when Roger was singing in blackface, Pete looked on with a bemused expression. (On the other hand, Trudy, who I do like, was amused by that performance, not to her credit.)