Mad Men

By Paul Levinson(noreply@blogger.com) Meanwhile, back in New York in 1962, Cooper and Sterling and Cooper's sister agree to the merger. Peggy gets Freddy's vacant office. And Joan gets - Well, hers is the most wrenching, tragic story of the night. Her fabulous doctor isn't interested in making love to her in bed at night, only to rape her in Don's office the next day. Whether or not this would have been called rape by early 1960s standards, Joan clearly said no. Christina Hendricks is always excellent in her portrayal of Joan, but never better than tonight. And listen to my fabulous 20-minute interview last Fall with Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) at Light On Light Through challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News   [read the full post]

By noreply@blogger.com (Paul Levinson) Fine start of Life on Mars on ABC tonight, and you know that I'm going to review this American version of the British series here on Infinite Regress, since I watch everything I can get my hands on regarding time travel, including Journeyman, relevant episodes of Lost and Heroes, and Deja Vu, too. As is the case with Journeyman and Quantum Leap (3 series, featuring 2 Sams and a Dan), neither Tyler nor we can be sure at first if he is really in the past, or just dreaming in a coma. In Journeyman and Quantum Leap, that question is resolved by the end of the first episode - the time traveler is really time traveling. Further, we even pretty quickly learn why: to correct some bad event in the past. What we never learn in those two series is who is calling shots...   [read the full post]

By Paul Levinson(noreply@blogger.com) Mad Men 2.10 began tonight with a mention of Ray Bradbury as an attraction for Paul in Pasadena and ended with the Tornados' 1962 instrumental hit "Telstar" playing on the plane as Don and Pete fly to Pasadena... See also: Mad Men Returns with a Xerox and a Call Girl ... 2.2: The Advertising Devil and the Deep Blue Sea ... 2.3 Double-Barreled Power ... 2.4: Betty and Don's Son ... 2.5: Best Montage Since Hitchcock ... 2.6: Jackie, Marilyn, and Liberty Valance ... 2.7: Double Dons ... 2.8: Did Don Get What He Deserved? ... 2.9: Don and Roger And listen to my fabulous 20-minute interview last Fall with Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) at Light On Light Through challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News   [read the full post]

By Paul Levinson(noreply@blogger.com) Don and Roger have had a complex love/hate relationship in the past year and a half of the Emmy-winning Mad Men - mostly professional friendship, which is what I mean by love above, not hate - and in tonight's Episode 2.9 it has never been more compellingly portrayed. Don is as inscrutable - and thus fascinating - as ever. He tells Roger he has no feelings, other than relief, about being apart from Betty. But he clearly loves his kids ... and, I don't know, I think he loves Betty, too. So why is he is saying he feels nothing about the separation. A front for Roger? No, it didn't seem like that. challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News   [read the full post]

By Paul Levinson(noreply@blogger.com) Peggy has a good comeback, after Pete insincerely apologizes. No problem, you saved me 50 cents, she says. (I'm pretty sure I paid a quarter to see the movie at the Allerton Theater in Bronx, but prices were a little higher in Manhattan and maybe in Brooklyn where Peggy lives.) Peggy doesn't do so well with the other men at Sterling Cooper, though, who shut her out of their planning of a bra campaign. It's based on the premise that all women want either to be Jackie Kennedy or Marilyn Monroe, and Peggy looks like neither. Joan - unknowingly building on Bobbi's good advice from last week - sets Peggy straight. Stop dressing like a little girl if you want to be taken seriously, Joan tells Peggy. And, lo and behold, Peggy gets taken very seriously after she...   [read the full post]

By Paul Levinson(noreply@blogger.com) About as wrenching and Sopranos-like Mad Men - Episode 2.8 - as has been on so far, as Don and Betty start going the way of Tony and Carmella in the middle of their series, the priest gives more than a sermon, and Joan gets used - professionally - by Harry. Betty could not have just absorbed what Jimmy told her last week about Don and Bobbi and done nothing. Tonight it came to a head, in a great performance by January Jones, as Betty goes through controlled fury, confronting Don, perhaps trying to live with his lie and his denial, but seeing Jimmy on her television in his Utz ad and deciding to throw Don out. challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News   [read the full post]

By Paul Levinson(noreply@blogger.com) We already know that Don Draper is really Dick Whitman, who took Draper's identity in the Korean War. Pete knows this, too, and so does Cooper. And, as we saw last season, Pete's attempt to blackmail Don about this fell flat - the inscrutable Cooper took it all in, and left Don and Pete still employed in his company. See also: Mad Men Returns with a Xerox and a Call Girl ... 2.2: The Advertising Devil and the Deep Blue Sea ... 2.3 Double-Barreled Power ... 2.4: Betty and Don's Son ... 2.5: Best Montage Since Hitchcock ... 2.6: Jackie, Marilyn, and Liberty Valance And listen to my fabulous 20-minute interview last Fall with Rich Sommer (Harry Crane) at Light On Light Through challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News   [read the full post]

By Paul Levinson Meanwhile, in 2008, John's new relationship with Sara is already in danger - she, understandably, doesn't believe much of what John tells her of his past. At the end of the episode, John starts telling her the truth, and she walks away. Unlike Omar, she's not John's flesh and blood, has no memory of John never aging.... And a Google search she performs (it's amazing how quickly Google searches have become part of television drama) tells her there's no record of John more than five years ago. delivers on its promises" - The New York Times Silk Code trailerlisten to Light On Light Through podcast also iTunes Paul Levinson's books   [read the full post]

By Paul Levinson Mad Men on AMC was the most original, powerful new series of the year - which is not taking anything away from Showtime's The Tudors (Henry VIII) and HBO's Big Love (polygamy today), which were also superb, also nominated, and I loved. Jon Hamm was magnificent as Don Draper in Mad Men - but I wouldn't have been unhappy, either, had nominiee Michael C. Hall won it for Showtime's delightful serially killing Dexter. And nominees Jonathan Rhys Meyers in The Tudors, Bill Paxton in Big Love and Hugh Laurie in House gave powerhouse performances, too. It was a great year for riveting drama on television. That's why I call this the Platinum Age. challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly   [read the full post]