Indian Summer- Lucky Strike

Roger appears to be in a decent mood all things considering, when everyone comes out to say hi he even jokes for them to get back to work

Lucky strike is concerned about Roger being gone and not involved in their campaign so Pete arranges them to have a New York style delicatessen lunch. Pastrami, sour pickles, and coke cola

They have just finished up a law suit, blame is one thing, and mallis is another. Lee Garner Sr. worked his way around Washington buying dinners trying to make things easier on himself

Roger, as a shareholder, called the Surgeon General’s office and they said it would be at least 3 years before they can file a report, warning signs on packages.

Plenty of time to worry so we’ll wait to see if share drops off before we think about a new campaign.

Lee Garner Sr. says he’s glad they came by because he missed everyone. You New Yorkers: said in his southern accent, of course making them seem so glamorous. Then Roger drops down with coronary number 2. Not so glamorous.

This is the beginning of the big time Don, Garner Sr. says that him and his board all like Don Draper, but you should try and show him you like him too. Half the accounts here came for Draper.

Poor Roger... I guess this is what happens when you have to put on a healthy show when you really aren't up to it.

It's a Mad Christmas!

In an effort to keep my holiday as full of Mad Men as possible, I kept my menu very 60's. My family and I decided to have a rib roast that I cooked per Julia Child's instructions for rotisserie chicken wrapped in bacon.

I know what you must be thinking, chicken and beef are completely different! Well friends, no matter whats in the oven, the bacon fat still baste the meat the entire time it's cooking.

I asked my grandmother to borrow her rotisserie oven and thinking she'd give me the one I've seen her use, I thought, piece of cake!

Well as if the woman read my mind, she instead let me borrow her rotisserie oven that she got as a wedding present in 1951! After giving it a little TLC and plugging it in to be sure it worked, I was in business!

I tried to keep my best Julia Child voice up for most of the day, and my family thought it was hilarious. I also got a Mad Men instrumental music cd for Christmas so that was of course playing throughout the day.

The meat came out great and when I took it out and was cutting the strings I kept waiting for Don to say snarkly "it's just us tonight".

Here's a picture of the oven with the roast slowly turning away! Happy Holiday's everyone!

Long Weekend- Menkens

The campaign designed for Menken’s is more of a store redesign versus’ an advertising campaign. Paul gives the pitch, wider aisles to show off the Chrome display cases, elegant tea room, modern classic signs, and champagne linens. All of this sounds really great, but it doesn’t strike me.

Mr. Menken we meet here and he seems to be willing to do the changes but not without wiggling his foot around (like he’s going to place it firmly down, what a bluffer!).

He never signed up to be in the restaurant business and now 30% of his ground floor is devoted to it. 3 months of construction while we build enormous anticipation. Like a movie premier. The new Menken’s, you will have a line on that first day; even if you have to pay people to stand in it.

He makes it known that he’s not against change but drawing attention to Rachel, sitting next to him cowardly, which is very unlike her(this shy, cowardly creature becomes apparent again later in the episode)

Can’t I keep what I have and just build on it? The unpleasant truth is Menken’s is nothing, your customers can’t be dependent on. Over the years people have developed new taste. They are like your daughter, educated, sophisticated; they know full well what they deserve and are willing to pay for it.

Why would I want to own a store I don’t want to shop it?

Un-fitting to the role of dutiful daughter she is currently playing, Rachel makes a comment about how her father actually started with nothing and their stores story isn’t just some PR effort to run in their 4^th of July circular.

Then she begs the question,” How many of you can say that?” the shot stays on her and her father and nobody says a word. Could it be foreshadowing? Could it be that Rachel stuck with Don throughout seasons 2 and 3?

Another client from this episode that I don't feel is deserving of a post is Dr.Scholls- because they lost them.

Does anyone out there in blog world think that perhaps by the end of season 3 with the impending sale of Sterling Cooper that Don did think of Rachel's comment?

Long Weekend- Nixon

The entire view of Nixon throught Sterling Cooper's eyes is like one big, months long pitch. They fight for him and do everything they can as an agency(but not his agency) to make him look better.

The president is a product, the Kennedy ad is multi shots around Kennedys issue points with a constant jingle in a very annoying voice, Nixon has a single shot of himself, medium shot just staring at you, he discusses his issues but its so boring.

The first thing you learn in any video production or scriptwriting class is that the key to success is short shots. If the shots are short they keep the viewer interested, if they are long its awkward for the viewer and they turn away.

Nixon’s campaign is very much a PR effort versus an advertising effort. The Sterling Cooper gang says it shouldn't have been this close, but Nixon brought this close campaign on to themselves.

Every time these men discuss Nixon something more important seems to be on the horizon. The Nixon guys don’t want to run with an agency but SC is doing nothing to fight their case. In this case they decide to leave it as it until after the long weekend

In this same episode, Kennedy begins running an anti-Nixon campaign, featuring the president hat Nixon was VP for, he is asked to give an example of when Nixon thought of an idea that he implemented” the President responds ”give me a week and maybe I’ll think of one.

The Hobo Code- Belle Jolie

“My Momma always said that life is like a horseshoe, its fat in the middle, open on both ends and hard all the way through.” –as much as I hate to say this, since it’s a quote from Don’s step-mother who seems kind of like she was mean to him, but this is really insightful!

It’s a big day for Peggy and Pete, both as individuals and as with each other. Pete’s moving and Peggy’s copy is being pitches to Belle Jolie.

The idea that Peggy pitched during brainstorming has formed into an actual campaign and it’s time for the boys to pitch it to the client.

From a basket of kisses she picks one, it makes her unique, it colors her kiss and her kiss colors her name.

The big guys only see one color in the drawing (good to see they have eyes) and he gets defensive that women want colors: lots and lots of colors. He’s not considering that most women pick a shade or two of lip stick and stick to it. We can’t all pull off hot pink and fire engine red.

Ken tries to back up Don and Freddy but Don doesn’t need any help. “You’ve already tried your plan and your number 4, you’ve enlisted my expertise and your rejected it to keep on going the way you have been.”

Is this campaign going to refocus the core of their business? Are women still going to want lipstick when the ads are speaking directly to them? Belle Jolie is not thinking like a woman, and Sterling Cooper wouldn’t be either if Peggy hadn’t actually come up with this.

A sentence or two later they realize that the creative team is right. It’s time for change.

Season 5 pregnancy predictions

I don’t think it’s reaching too far to think that maybe Suzanne Farrell got pregnant with Don’s baby. I could totally see Sally's former teach having had a baby, but based on the time between season 3 and 4 the baby would probably be at least 2 by now. So why now? Why not come to Don after he left her in the car all night? I think it’s very possible that she just could have had too much pride.

I think an even better unexpected pregnancy story would be to revisit Peggy and Pete's child; maybe the adoptive parents died and have no family so the baby is given back to her. Imagine all of the awesome drama that would cause for everyone!  

Pete and Trudy now have a child of their own, when he had to pay to keep SCDP afloat she was very mother lion about providing a more than adequate life for their daughter. I would like to think Trudy would be pleased with another child around, she was after all the one pushing to adopt a child, so wouldn’t she love any child she got to raise?

Trudy was forgiving when Pete admitted his indiscretion with the German nanny but I think if she found out he created a love child with a secretary on the night of his bachelor party, she wouldn’t be so forgiving. In s1.e1 Pete had to promise to let her look under his fingernails after the bachelor party just to stop her nagging.

People automatically think Greg will die because he's going to Vietnam but I think it would be a great twist if they killed off another useless spouse- Jane. With Jane dead, Greg and Joan get a divorce because she’s pregnant with Roger's baby and then Roger can be with Joan. They don't seem like that great of a couple in the present time but in the flashback and in season 1 they just seemed so right together.

For more predictions go watch this awesome video!

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/08/let_harry_crane_not_spoil_mad.html

And for a look into the "10th season" of Mad Men, go see this video!
http://www.babelgum.com/6001229