Predicting where ‘Mad Men’ might pick up in season 5
York, PA – Gin and ice rattle in a martini shaker.
The bartender pours his concoction into a glass and slides it toward a suit, who doesn’t know whether it’s bitter, sweet, dirty or sour.
Sunday night, that bartender is writer/creator Matthew Weiner. The martini, the season five premiere of his AMC TV series “Mad Men.”
The suit or skirt hunched over the bar is the audience, thirsty for tonight’s two-hour premiere titled “A little Kiss.”
After “Mad Men’s” season four finale aired Oct. 17, 2010, the show went on an extended hiatus, leaving fans with little to do but watch reruns and speculate about what’s to come. Weiner carefully guards scripts, so there have been few clues about season five.
Here is what the audience does know:
The season four finale left characters hurtling toward 1966. and the white-male-dominated world of the mad men — new York City advertising executives — is falling to pieces.
The new season will most likely include the usual mixers — impeccable style, unexpected plot twists and meticulous attention to period details. But one of the most important ingredients — the time element — remains a mystery.
It’s time to pour “Mad Men” mocktails to predict possible season five plot points.
Drink No. 1: The show’s fifth season picks up in early 1966.
Jan. 1: by law, all U.S. cigarette packs have to carry the warning: “Caution! Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health.”
Jan. 1 to 12: Bus and subway service shuts down in new York City for 12 days when unionized employees strike.
April: The Uniform Time Act of 1966 set Daylight Saving Time to begin on the last Sunday of April.
March: In an interview with a London paper, John Lennon compares The Beatles to Jesus; World Trade Center construction begins.
June 30: The National Organization for Women (NOW) is established in Washington, D.C.
Sept. 16: The new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in new York opens with the opera “Antony and Cleopatra.”
July 25: Poet Frank O’Hara is killed in a dune buggy accident on fire Island, new York.
Nov. 8: former actor Ronald Reagan is elected governor of California.
Dec. 15: Walt Disney dies.
End of the year: American forces in Vietnam reach 385,000 men, plus 60,000 sailors stationed offshore. More than 6,000 Americans have been killed this year and 30,000 have been wounded.
Sources: mta.info, metoperafamily.org, now.org, energy.ca.gov, biography.com, frankohara.org, pbs.org, telegraph.co.uk, panynj.go, tobacco.org
Drink No. 2: The show skips 1966 and the fifth season starts in 1967.
Jan. 27: three astronauts are killed after their Apollo spacecraft catches fire during a launch simulation.
March 29: The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) call the union’s first national strike. it lasts 13 days and affects 100 locations across the country. an agreement is reached right before the Academy Awards broadcast.
April 9: The first Boeing 737 (100 series) takes its maiden flight.
April 15: Spring Mobilization to End the War starts. More than 400,000 march in protest of the Vietnam War from Central Park in new York to the United Nations building. Protests occur in San Francisco and other U.S. cities throughout the year.
Summer: Race riots break out in Newark, N.J.; Detroit; Milwaukee; Minneapolis; Washington, D.C; and other U.S. cities. Thousands of young people flock to San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury district to join the hippie movement.
Nov. 29: U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara announces his resignation after President Lyndon B. Johnson rejects his proposal earlier that month to freeze troop levels, stop bombing North Vietnam and hand over ground fighting to South Vietnam.
Dec. 12: “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” a movie about an interracial relationship, is released. it stars Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn, who wins an Oscar for her role in the film, and Spencer Tracy, who died six months before the film’s release.
Sources: history.nasa.gov, aftra.org, pbs.org, boeing.com, lib.berkeley.edu, imdb.com
If you watch
What: “Mad Men” season five premiere
When: 9 p.m. Sunday
Where: AMC
For details: amctv.com/shows/mad-men
Predict
Share your predictions at yorkblog.com/flipside
Become a Mad Man or Woman:
Banana Republic’s “Mad Men” collection: bananarepublic.com/MadMen
Estee Lauder’s “Mad Men” make-up collection: esteelauder.com/madmen
Create a “Mad Men” avatar: amctv.com/madmenyourself
Read about York County history:
York Town Square blog: yorkblog.com/yorktownsquare
Remember Oral History Series: ydr.com/remember
“Mad Men” timeline:
Season 1 (Early 1960 through Thanksgiving of that year)
Cultural touchstones worked into the show:
The Billy Wilder film “The Apartment” is released.
John F. Kennedy defeats Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential election.
Season 2 (The show skips ahead 14 months, bypassing 1961. This season runs Valentine’s Day 1962 to fall 1962)
Cultural touchstones worked into the show:
John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth.
The CBS television series “The Defenders” airs the controversial episode that deals with abortion.
Marilyn Monroe dies.
America finds itself on the brink of nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Season 3 (Spring 1963 to Christmas of that year)
Cultural touchstones worked into the show:
The film “Bye Bye Birdie” starring Ann-Margret is released.
Civil rights activist Medgar Evers is murdered.
A total eclipse of the sun occurs.
Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his famous “I have a Dream” speech.
President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas.
Season 4: (November 1964 to late summer/fall 1965)
The Beatles’ play a concert at Shea Stadium in new York City.
Read more: madmenshow.com/page/Mad+Men+Timeline
Bewitched’s Darrin Stephens and Larry Tate Were TV’s Original Mad Men
As the AMC original series mad Men starts its fifth season, there is great buzz over the return of the dapper Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and his crew. the show certainly captures the 1960s with great precision, but there is an even better way to catch a view of advertising execs in this era by watching the classic television sitcom Bewitched.
The premise of the show is simple: less than average looking guy Darrin Stephens (Dick York, and later Dick Sargent) marries gorgeous Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) and learns afterwards that she has a little secret: she is a witch. while that would be enough for countlessly awkward situations beyond belief in the quiet new York suburb where the sitcom was based, the added tension came from Darrin’s work: he was an advertising executive at McMahon and Tate. With deadlines for ad campaigns always looming, Darrin’s creativity was constantly challenged by Samantha and her loony family of witches, including the incomparable Agnes Moorehead as Samantha’s mischief causing mother Endora and side-splittingly funny Paul Lynde as Uncle Arthur.
For me the most interesting thing about the show was the advertising angle. People watching it now will perhaps think that it has not aged well, but the dynamic of Darrin having to be creative all the time and the pressure put on him by his spineless boss Larry Tate (David White) is interesting in perspective. also, the fact that the offices always had their cocktail bars and Darrin and Larry were always lubricating their clients (and themselves) fits well into the world now depicted on mad Men.
Those fans of the current show probably would laugh at this comparison, but the high pressured advertising world depicted in Bewitched, and the fact that all the historic aspects of the 1960s are available in less than impressive technicolor, makes the juxtaposition of the old sitcom and the current AMC drama a must for serious viewers of mad Men. It also provides a unique perspective for many fans who were not even born when Bewitched first aired, or who saw the disappointing Will Ferrell film and define Darrin by his performance.
Darrin Stephens and Larry Tate were TV’s original mad Men. Those who take the time to watch some episodes of the old show will be surprised by the depiction of the advertising world and get more than a few chuckles along the way as well.
Photo Credits: Bewitched (beckyland.com) and mad Men (insidetv.com)
Categories: madmen Tags: 1960s, uncle arthur
'Mad Men' Season 5 Premiere: What the Critics Are Saying
It’s been 17 months since the boozing, womanizing ad men have been on the screen, and critics had plenty to say about their long-awaited return.
PHOTOS: 'mad Men' Season 5 Premiere Red Carpet Arrivals
Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner and the cast have been tight-lipped about the changes that season five will bring, and critics followed suite by not giving away any major (and even minor) plot points from the special two-hour premiere. They did, however, comment on the tone, attitude and slight changes of the new season.
“the premiere is visually thrilling as viewers get to witness what the passing of time has brought to the characters,” writes the Hollywood Reporter’s Tim Goodman. “perhaps most impressively, there’s a palpable difference to the series, something effervescent about it that conveys movement without hitting viewers over the head.”
STORY: 'mad Men' Premiere: the Cast Teases Season 5
“without giving away the year, there are noticeable changes in season five — broader indications that change is constant and the times are perhaps moving too swiftly for some of the characters, Don included,” adds Goodman.
“As usual, a double-length opener notwithstanding, it is impossible yet to say where the season is going to take us,” writes The Los Angeles Times’ Robert Lloyd. “But if we're to judge by the opening notes, we should expect variations on the parallel theme of passing time and onrushing age.”
TV REVIEW: 'mad Men' Season 5
“As it returns on Sunday, it is still specific, and peculiar, and the same mad Men it ever was,” writes HitFix’s Alan Sepinwall. “it is smart and funny in some moments, sad and ugly in others. it is meticulously, beautifully observed. it understands its characters intimately, and recognizes that its viewers understand them as well and don't need to be spoon-fed.”
“This new season starts off strong,” says The Washington Post’s Hank Stuever. “the contrast is sharper now — the psychological gloom within Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce clashes with the verging sense of psychedelia just beyond Madison Avenue.”
“Change is definitely in the air for all of the employees of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce – and the world around them – but the past won’t let go of any of them so easily,” writes Sarah Rodman of the Boston Globe. “Whether it comes in the form of lovers, clients, identities, or ideals, the shadows linger and the characters alternately cling to them and shoo them away.”
“no show is perfect; small errors will always slip by,” writes Robert Bianco of USA Today. “But no series sets a higher, more consistent level of excellence, a level sustained, fans will be pleased to hear, as mad Men returns after a 17-month absence.”
‘Mad Men’s’ pint-sized fashion icon: Kiernan Shipka – The Style Blog – The Washington Post
Kiernan Shipka, who plays Sally Draper on mad Men, is 12. Twelve! And yet, when she appears on red carpets, she can steal the spotlight from grown women with her elegant, classic and age-appropriate style. Fashion blogs have been heralding Shipka as a new style icon ever since she became the unofficial face of Portugal designer Papo d’Anjo, whose fashions she regularly wears on the red carpet. She recently did a shot for Grazia magazine in Versace.
Kiernan Shipka. (Chris Pizzello – AP)
Shipka is among a new group of Hollywood tweens and young teens who have become fashion plates for adult couture. She and her fashionable movie-star peers, like 15-year-old Hailee Steinfeld and 13-year-old Elle Fanning, are often seen on the red carpet in grown-up labels and high heels.
But with all of the expensive and attention-grabbing clothing that Shipka wears, is it fair for us to look up to girls who haven’t yet reached puberty as style inspiration? It’s easy to see why designers love them — not only are they pretty and accomplished actresses, but they’re also tinier and thinner than any adult model or actress could ever hope to be.
There’s also the issue of fashion criticism: Shipka is young enough that her parents do not permit her to watch “mad Men,” except for the scenes that she appears in. as of a New York magazine profile last year, she was still playing with stuffed animals. If the fashion police were to criticize her for any potential red-carpet missteps, those are facts they should keep in mind.
With her teenage Grace Kelly style, it isn’t likely to happen anytime soon. If her quotes from interviews with fashion blogs and magazines tell any tale, it’s that her fashion knowledge and talent is preternaturally precocious.
●“this Papo d’Anjo shift dress is one of my go-to pieces. I find the pattern fun, but not too chaotic. I always carry around the Stella McCartney bag I’m holding. And the boots are Cole Haan.” — Lucky Magazine
●“Chloé has some amazing kids’ pieces, too, and I have a lot of D&G Junior. Grace Kelly is my fashion inspiration — a classic look, with beautiful pieces, and very pretty.” — New York magazine
● “I love organization, so I split my clothes into two closets according to seasons. Though I have to go to the guestroom to pull my fall and winter items, it’s still much easier than cramming all my clothes together in my one closet. I love ‘space’ in between hanging clothes.” — The Coveteur
Kiernan Shipka at the premiere of AMC’s “Mad Men” Season 5, in Miu Miu. (Frazer Harrison – GETTY IMAGES)
Shipka arrives at Relativity Media’s “Mirror Mirror” Los Angeles premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. (Todd Williamson – GETTY IMAGES FOR RELATIVITY MEDIA)
The cast of the television show “Mad Men” visit the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 21, 2012, after ringing the opening bell. (STAN HONDA – AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
Shipka in Oscar de la Renta. (Chris Pizzello – AP)
Shipka attends the Banana Republic “mad Men” Spring Collection Launch. (Christopher Polk – GETTY IMAGES FOR BANANA REPUBLIC)
Kiernan Shipka arrives at the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards. (Matt Sayles – AP)
Categories: madmen Tags: adult model, tweens
Scribblers and Madmen
Ezra Klein has a good column on the dangers of being wrong about Keynes. As he says, it’s very difficult to respond rationally to an economic crisis when politicians like Eric Cantor completely fail to understand what Keynesianism is all about:
In his book, Cantor goes on to describe Keynesianism as the theory “that government can be counted on to spend more wisely than the people.” He’s wrong — and wrong in a way that’s making it harder to recover from this crisis, and could make it harder to respond to the next one.
But where do these crude fallacies come from? it would be comforting, in a way, if they were solely the result of Republican anti-intellectualism — and surely there is plenty of that.
The fact, however, is that these very same crude fallacies are being enunciated, with confidence, by famous and influential economists. Here’s Eugene Fama, arguably our most famous and influential finance economist:
Again, here is my argument in three sentences.
1. Bailouts and stimulus plans must be financed.
2. if the financing takes the form of additional government debt, the added debt displaces other uses of the same funds.
3. thus, stimulus plans only enhance incomes when they move resources from less productive to more productive uses.
Are any of these statements incorrect?
In his attack on me Krugman implicitly assumes that sentence 3 above is true; that is, the stimulus plan will on balance move resources from less productive to more productive uses. This is indeed the focus of the issue.
That’s exactly what Cantor is saying. It’s completely wrong; the whole point is that stimulus is supposed to put resources that would otherwise be unemployed to work. but at this point, a large part of the economics profession no longer understands that. So why should we expect politicians to get it?
The point is that GOP ignorance on macroeconomics isn’t like GOP ignorance on, say, climate science. In the latter case the bad science comes from a handful of essentially bought and paid for “skeptics”. In the case of macroeconomics, the nonsense is coming from established economists with lots of widely cited papers. Paul Ryan doesn’t have to distill his madness from the scribbling of hacks at Heritage (although he does that too); he can get it over some nice wine from tenured faculty at the University of Chicago.
Klein suggests that what went wrong in the great Depression was that people hadn’t read Keynes yet; well, what went wrong and continues to go wrong in the Lesser Depression is that eminent economists, or at those so judged by their peers, turned their back on everything Keynes learned.
Categories: madmen Tags: eric cantor, finance, government debt, keynesianism, sentences