Gawker
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blessings
The Perfect Antidote to the Summer of Death: Jon Hamm Publicity Tour
With the stink of celebrity deaths and recession wafting around us, we need a restorative figure of youth. A symbol of American virility. A man who, despite his antiquated views of women and Jews, can make America feel giddy again. More » -
trade roundup
Sam Weir, Omar Little, and Don Draper Walk Into a Bar...
Young people do extraordinary things in Hollywood, and make, I'm assuming, extraordinary money. Some good news about television, plus some bad news. And a film wins a very deserving prize. More » -
trade roundup
The Only Ones Who Really Understand Us are the British
News from sparkly TV shows about music, plus sparkly movies about gays. The British really like our sad American TV shows, while Maria Bello likes to fire people. Plus, Elmore Leonard. More » -
30 rock
Jon Hamm Smothered In Frosting For '30 Rock' Appearance
Via Videogum, we bring you a sneak preview of Jon Hamm's "multi-episode arc" on 30 Rock, playing Liz Lemon's ice-cream-making, frosting-smeared pediatrician neighbor and crush object. (He debuts the episode after next.)
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television
Mad Men Creator and Studio Make Up
The drama over whether Mad Men executive creator Matthew Weiner would return to the show for a third season has come to its expected conclusion: a big fat seven-figure deal for two more seasons. More »
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Comment by sunnyciegos: Don't ask me how I know, but Weiner was asking for $11 million a year, and was - at one... 7 Responses | Other threads
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mad men
Unsigned 'Mad Men' Creator Sounds Ominous Season 3 Alarm
Though AMC recently set an optimistic summer return date for the next season of Mad Men, show mastermind Matthew Weiner (whose contract dispute remains unresolved) has a much gloomier forecast, he tells E! More » -
mad men
AMC Sets 'Mad Men' Return Without Matthew Weiner
Good news for all the chain-smoking, emotionally inaccessible men and the girls who love 'em: AMC just announced a return date for the third season of Mad Men! There's just one problem. More » -
mad men
Frosty Isn't A Snowman: He's A Snow Time Machine, Taking Us To A Place Where We Ache To Go Again
We're really in the holiday spirit around Defamer HQ: We're currently tanked on Jägernog, our stockings are hung like Thomas Jane, and we keep replaying this Mad Men-spoofing video Christmas card. -
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tress tests
Don Draper's Hair Is Much Better Than Jon Hamm's
Thank the 'do deities that Jon Hamm knows something is terribly wrong: "It's the bane of my existence. Goofy hair," he tells CNN. And looking at a range of photos, clearly something's amiss: [Jezebel] -
dexter
WGA Awards Recognize Every Half-Decent Show On TV With Its Own, Worthless Nomination
The Writers Guild unveiled its 2009 TV nominees this afternoon, revealing a radical shift in taste that rotated only one new drama and two new comedies into the year's Best Series nominations — all replacing old nominees that weren't on the air this year. Let's hear it for attrition! -
short ends
Before Sterling Cooper, Joan Holloway Was Everclear's Cuecard Groupie
· We think it was Sterling Cooper's resident alpha-lioness Joan Holloway who once said, "Sometimes when people get what they want they realize how limited their goals were." Good thing Christina Hendricks saw beyond Everclear videos. [Thanks, Videogum!] More » -
heroes
Is Killing a Great Series the Answer to Stopping Bad TV?
How do you know when campaign season is over? Maybe when the boldest idea of the week comes from film and TV critic Marshall Fine, who argues today for the termination of TV series after one year. Even the hits! (Especially the hits, in fact.) And we might even sign on — with a few exceptions. More » -
the simpsons
'Hi Diddly Ho, Draper!': 'The Simpsons' Gets Its Best Ratings In Five Years
Last night's Treehouse of Horror episode of The Simpsons featured a direct homage to Mad Men—the familiar strings accompanying a silhouette of Homer tumbling down the side of a building on whatever Springfield's answer to Madison Avenue is. More » -
acting
Can Jon Hamm Become A Movie Star?
Oh, swoon. Just when we thought we couldn't like him any more, Mad Men star Jon Hamm has to go and do a guest-spot on funniest show ever 30 Rock. As a potential love interest for Liz! So that's pretty great. He ably hosted Saturday Night Live last weekend, so we're confident he'll bring the funny. Is this guy on track to be the next George Clooney or what? He's charming and amiable but stern at times, has rugged good looks, and a relaxed but assured masculinity. He's got it all! Or does he...
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13,830
Comment by Winston Smith: He should play Superman in a re-boot of the franchise. 8 Responses | Other threads
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mad men
Why Poor People Don't Watch Mad Men
It looks like Lionsgate will find a way to come to terms with Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner on a third season of Mad Men. That's good news for fans of the show, 49 percent of which — we learned in the solid ratings for Sunday's finale, perhaps due to Jon Hamm's SNL appearance the night before — make over $100,000. That so many rich viewers aged 25-54 watched each week is certainly a plus for advertisers, but the secret to the show's continued success may be the expanded audience it received off . Click to find out just why lower income viewers aren't tuning into Mad Men with greater frequency. More »
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Comment by Baroness: A new contract? It was a kind of stunning plot turn when it was revealed Don doesn't have a... 11 Responses | Other threads
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mad men
The Future of Weiner. A rumor that Lionsgate is approaching various agencies in search of a Mad Men showrunner to replace a too-rich-for-their-blood Matthew Weiner was shot down by an insider, who told Defamer the negotiations had just begun, and that while he asked high, they were absolutely "not looking to replace him. He IS the show." Fret not, Mad Men fans still in mourning over the end of Season 2 and sweating the fate of Season 3: the studio is confident the deal will close before Christmas. (And without the celebrity dancing competition Jon Hamm promised in his SNL monologue.) -
mad men
Mad Men Is All About Women Now
Last's night's Mad Men season finale took place during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but the real action was happening to the AMC series' gorgeous and successful women. While the men of Mad Men cower in their apartments, bang tables in anger and hide under desks, the women have taken center stage to become the show's centerpiece. Yes, Mad Men has stopped living up to its title, and might deserve a new one for its third season.
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Comment by Midwesterner in NYC: Am I the only one who likes Pete Campbell? Or at least his character? I think a less intelligent show... 13 Responses | Other threads
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magnetic elusive ad wizards
Don Draper Should Get What He Wants In the Mad Men Season Finale
For Mad Men's slender but loyal viewership, SNL's Don Draper's Guide to Picking Up Women sketch peeled back the hard, handsome mystery of the adultering marketing genius underneath. On tonight's season finale, Don's silent journey into the abyss best get some resolution. And if you haven't sampled the best show on television before, you now have another reason to. More »
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Comment by Spirit Fingers: Cheerio, Alex! I like this, especially the bit about The Wire. Still need to know where you stand on Firefly, though... 8 Responses | Other threads
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stylista
Your Sick Boss Fantasies Acted Out On Stylista
In its review of Elle-focused reality show Stylista, the Times finds plenty to like, surprisingly. It seems hippie editor Anne Slowey does a surprisingly convincing impersonation of Meryl Streep imitating Miranda Priestly standing in for mean old Anna Wintour of Vogue. (So much for those embarrassing preview clips from a few months ago.) The catfighting is inspired and "novel." And yet that's not what will hook you on the show. You'll watch because you are aching to pretend, for an hour each Wednesday, that the brutal hierarchy of yesteryear lent work an elegant simplicity. Writes the Times' Gina Bellafante: More »
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By Ryan TateComment by sinycali: You know, this, on top of the economy, on top of the fact that I could never work for this... 1 Responses | Other threads
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clips
Celebrating The Women of Mad Men
Season two of everyone's favorite misogyny-fest, Mad Men, ends next week. But good news! AMC just ordered a third. In the meantime, you can't have a TV drama about a bunch of women-hating he-men without women for them to hate. And what are those women like? Video intern Marian Lorraine has compiled the ladies at their super retro bitchiest. Click through for awesomeness! More »
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Comment by Violex: Someone explain the way of Americans to this foreigner: Why is this Ms. Holloway (gorgeous for sure) exalted for her... 6 Responses | Other threads
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mad men
Mad Men Audience: Drunks
Well now, we got our hands on a survey of people who watch Mad Men, the critically acclaimed show that consists of sex, sexism, cigarettes, booze, boozy sex, racism, and a bit of advertising. And guess what? The audience appears to be made up of off-the-charts alcoholics. Forty-seven times the normal rate of hard Irish Whiskey drinkers, for example. But there's one stunning twist in all this here data! More »
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Comment by minou: I'm teaching a class right now and I was just trying to explain "the tragic hero" using Don Draper as... 4 Responses | Other threads
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television
Television's Mid-Fall Report Card
It is already October 15th! How did that happen? I guess you could say that the Earth rotated around the sun a specific number of times and that days winnowed into nights which bled into days and so on and so on in the circle game. I think that's it. So, how have we been spending these ever-marching autumn hours? Watching TV, of course! Lots and lots of TV. Some has been good (Mad Men, The Daily Show), some has been bad (90210), and some has just been puzzling (Two and a Half Men?). So as we approach the ever-important November Sweeps Week—when networks set their ad rates based on inflated, extraordinary episodes that don't actually reflect typical week-in, week-out quality—let's take a second to give a quarter term report card. How has television been faring, you know, quality-wise (because we already know that ratings are in the toilet)? We'll analyze after the jump.
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park slope
Hey, Mr. Mom: Your Wife Wants To Bang Don Draper
Hey, fey Park Slope stay-at-home dad who's taking care of the kids and cooking dinner because you've been freed from the yoke of oppressive gender roles: your wife wants to fuck a real man! A swarthy, hard-drinking, two-timing, emotionally distant sex hound who's not going to stop in the middle of things and think about whether he packed the kids' lunches properly. Sorry, Park Slope dad; your wife thinks you're a pussy. More »
17,903
Comment by SinisterRouge: There is a healthy middle ground between pussified Mr Mom and Don Draper. A man can be manly without... 28 Responses | Other threads
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television
The Most Conservative and Most Liberal Shows On TV
The Gossip Girl kids have gotten political. Two of them at least, Penn Badgley who plays Dan and his off-screen ladylove Blake Lively, who plays his on-screen ladylove Serena. They're appearing in a MoveOn.org anti-McCain ad in which regular kids—including these two soap stars at that Hannah girl from that American Teenager documentary—condescend to their McCain-voting parents as if they were about to drink or take doobies. Har har. So Gossip Girl is a bit liberal, but it's not the only politicized show on the air. No indeed there are others, subtly (or not so) spouting rhetoric from both sides of the aisle. Our Photoshop expert Steve Dressler has created a simple chart that we'll explain after the jump. More » -
sex and the city
Six Degrees Of Carrie Bradshaw's Vagina
There was a time when a place in Carrie Bradshaw's vagina was the most coveted hot spot in premium cable. Honest-to-goodness stars like Vince Vaughn and Mikhail Baryshnikov visited Carrie's wonder spot, but it's not what you could do for Bradshaw's bits, it's what Bradshaw's bits could do for you. Just like Courtney Love, who famously said, "I have a magic pussy, If you fuck me, you become a king," doing time in Carrie's nether regions is a one-way ticket to televised success in 2008. Carrie Bradshaw's boyfriend is officially the new Jerry Seinfeld's girlfriend, as TV stars like Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross, and SatC's own Kristin Davis did it with Jerry before they hit the big time. After the jump, find out the four men who originally appeared as Carrie's beaux and are now part of the most critically acclaimed shows of the year. [Jezebel] -
things we actually like
Mad Men's Tiny Anachronisms
AMC's Mad Men, about Madison Avenue ad execs in the early 1960's, is meticulous in its period detailing—just the right mod sofa is moored in every living room, the ladies could have purchased their outfits on 5th Avenue just that afternoon, even the food is done retro (heavy, simple, ew). So it's sort of hilarious to see a dedicated fan of the show nitpick over its tiny details, finding cracks in its carefully put together 1960's veneer. Mark Simonson has done just that, down to the aging of a plastic shield on a typewriter and the fonts on various briefly-shown adds. Some examples of Simonson's delightfully obsessed Madness lie after the jump. More »
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Comment by VoxPopuli: And because I'm a nerd, I know that the "beer cans" are carrot juice. According to the commentary on the... 7 Responses | Other threads
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mad men
No One Escapes the Emmys Unscathed: You might think that after becoming the first basic cable show to win the Emmy for Best Drama, AMC's Mad Men would receive a bump in ratings from first-timer curious to see what all the fuss is about. You would be wrong: the series fell from 1.9 million viewers to 1.6 million for its first episode since the awards ceremony. In the words of defiant Emmy figurehead Josh Groban, "Really? Really?!" [THR] -
yahoo
Mad Men's Don Draper lends dated persuasion to Yahoo's ad platform pitch
Adding some actual potency to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and president Sue Decker's pitch to Madison Avenue this morning: Jon Hamm, star of AMC's weekly ode to the world of 1960's ad guys, Mad Men. Yang and Decker were likely hoping Hamm's shine would rub off on them, just by having him in the room this morning to deliver lines like "what my friend Jerry Yang is about to share with you will rock the advertising world in the same way that radio and television did way back when." More » -
recaps
The Best & Worst of the 2008 Emmy Awards
The '60th Anniversary' Emmy Awards, recognizing "excellence" in television, paraded themselves around last night, vindicating and embarrassing the whole affair in equal measure. Some little-watched and much-deserving programs won top glittery trophies (30 Rock, Mad Men) while sycophancy, silly time wasting tedium, and suspicious whiffs of censorship soured the perfumed air. After the jump we'll give you some of the best and worst Emmy moments, as we saw them, for those of you (and I suspect that was most of you) who didn't watch any of the lurching proceedings. More »
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Comment by Calraigh: This was the highlight, for lots of reasons last night. Wowza. My male companion was rendered speechless after this sight. 10 Responses | Other threads
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the emmys
Blow Up Your TV: Defamer Liveblogs the 2008 Emmy Awards
Sunday greetings from Defamer HQ, where television's! Biggest! Night! has us shaking off our hangovers for live coverage of the 60th annual Emmy Awards. That's right — we're doing this live, bypassing that silly West Coast tape delay for the straight dirt as it happens on the red carpet, inside the Nokia Theater and wherever else history and fools are being made on this historic evening. You know the subplots to watch for over the long night ahead, so read along and join the party. And heads up: Spoilers (and a few advance clips) follow for anyone who can't bear to know Heidi Klum's hosting benchmarks or how much ass Mad Men is kicking before watching for themselves in primetime. That said, we've already filled you in this year's heroes in comedy and drama; what more is there to know? After the jump, join us on the express elevator into the heart of Emmy hell! More » -
emmy
Defamer Predicts the 2008 Emmys: The Dramas
We've already run through our predictions for Emmy's comedy categories, but now it's time to sit down for forty-four minutes (excepting commercials) and soberly judge this year's crop of dramas. Again, we'll be blogging the Emmys live from the East Coast starting at 7pm EDT/4pm PDT, so if Mariska Hargitay lets loose with an expletive-laden diatribe or Jeremy Piven has a nip slip on the red carpet, you can be sure we've got it covered. Now, onto the predictions: More » -
jon hamm
Jon Hamm Disses 'Crazy Showbiz Guy' Regis Philbin
Aspiring celebrities about to make your first rounds on the talk show circuit, take note. Earlier this year, we cautioned you regarding the pitfalls of repeating the same anecdote word-for-word on multiple talk show appearances, using Jason Segal's penis-bearing fable as our example. Tonight, we'd like to walk through the subtle art of how to recognize what kind of stories are good for dinner parties versus those that are suitable to be told to a national television audience, showcasing Mad Men star Jon Hamm's disastrously disrespectful appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Friday night. More » -
jwt
Mad Men Plot Comes To Life
Breaking: humongo ad agency JWT's entire New York office has been closed down due to a burst water pipe. Which has reportedly flooded the whole office and damaged lots of equipment. All the account execs are taking the secretary gals down to the bar to do the twist, while Don Draper silently lights a Lucky Strike and slips out for an afternoon fling. [Agency Spy]
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Comment by PandoraSpocks: Draper's on the street since his wife told him not to come home, and I'm guessing Peggy's the only one... 4 Responses | Other threads
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classic ads
"Men grow neglectful when wives grow careless"
There's an episode of Mad Men (I told you I must relentlessly mine this show to catch up with every other ad writer) in which Sterling Cooper has to come up with an ad campaign for a stimulating "weight loss" machine that actually owes its popularity with women to the fact that it's an undercover vibrator. Cue the euphemisms: "Rejuvenator," "youthful glow," etc. Today, of course, euphemism is dead. The agency would sell the product with "Turn it on and cum!" So it makes us wistful to look back on how they sold embarrassing things in the good old days. (With sexism!). After the jump, classic ads that gently persuaded your grandparents to choose the right brand when they were feeling... not so fresh: More »
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Comment by TheHonJudgeSmails: Bleeding out your pussy again? Put these motherfucking cotton sticks in your cunt! 13 Responses | Other threads
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mad men
'Mad Men' Creator Matthew Weiner Knows How To Sell Himself
So Mad Men creator/EP/spiritual shepherd Matthew Weiner realizes he's sitting on something pretty special with his cast of desk-hopping, Brylcreemed creatives over at Sterling Cooper. Perhaps it was the 16 Emmy nominations that tipped him off. ("Don't think of them as Emmy awards," his inner Don Draper will intone on the big night, "Think of them as tiny angels, flapping their pointy wings to a place where fear doesn't live. They're saying, 'You are OK, Matt...It's all...OK.'") Weiner's contract with the show's studio, Lionsgate TV, is up at the end of this season, and Variety reports he's been shopping himself around town to the highest bidder: More » -
advertising
50 Years Of Stagnation
Now that I've started getting Mad Men on Netflix, I plan to catch up with every other ad critic in the past year by cleverly inserting a reference to the show into each advertising-related item that I write. In this way we seduce you with a connection to a piece of pop culture detritus you enjoy, then use that as a catapult into our sales pitch, represented in this case by a plea for you to read the rest of this post, with the implied promise that it will be worth your while. So, remember that Mad Men episode where they're all marveling at the Volkswagen "Lemon" ad? More »
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Comment by riskybusiness: I think Volkswagen was really killing it during the era when they did the Nick Drake "Pink Moon" commercial. That... 5 Responses | Other threads
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advertising
The Mock Cover
The spoof cover is an increasingly popular way to establish a character. Witness the fake issue of Wired flashed on the screen during a video tribute to Iron Man's arms manufacturer, Robert Downey's character, Tony Stark. HBO rival Showtime has borrowed the technique to advertise the new season of their tentpole show, the serial-killer drama Dexter, sacrificing a little authenticity for branding impact: Dexter's name is rendered in the style of the Wired and Rolling Stone logos, but replaces the magazines' names. (One assumes these fake covers will run on the back pages of the respective magazines.) But our current favorite is the mini-issue at the back of the latest Advertising Age, a 16-page 1960s version of the ad trade mag designed to promote AMC's critically-acclaimed show Mad Men—and Initiative, the agency that organized the innovative campaign. A scan after the jump: More »
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By Nick DentonComment by Lysergic Asset: The really sad part is that a role as a serial killer is probably considered far less controversial than an... 16 Responses | Other threads
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mad men
'Mad Men' TwitterGate: Honest Brand Management or Savvy Network Plug?
For the 987 readers (whoops — make that 988 and counting since starting this sentence) following "Don Draper"'s Twitter feed, today was an unusually turbulent day at Sterling Cooper Ad Agency. Same thing for the 1,207 folks following "Peggy Olson." You might have been among them, frozen out when AMC reportedly turned to Twitter with complaints about the Mad Men characters posting regular "updates" on the service — discussions which, for whatever reason, resulted in Twitter admin suspending a handful of feeds today until the a fan and media backlash supposedly helped whip them back into place a few hours later. More »
mad men
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