'Mad Men' season 4: 18 days and counting... down
The Emmy-winning AMC drama is back on July 25.
Are you ready for more Lane Pryce and Joan Harris in your life when "Mad Men" comes back? I sure am!
From the Department of Why I Love My Job: this morning, the FedEx truck arrived with the "Mad Men" season four premiere, which gives me two and a half weeks to fully process it so I can have my review ready to go as soon as AMC finishes airing the episode on Sunday, July 25.
Per the usual gentleman's agreement on this sort of thing(*), I can't/won't say anything about the content of the premiere - including when it takes place, since Matt Weiner likes to treat the setting as a surprise for the audience - but I will say that I enjoyed it thoroughly from start to finish. Don at one point makes a reference to how the press loves to build people up so they can tear them down, and if Weiner threw that in as a preemptive strike against some kind of critical backlash this far into the run, I don't think he needs to worry.
(*) Not everyone in the media will stick to that agreement, of course, so let's remember the usual No Spoilers rule around these parts. If you've read something elsewhere that gives more detail about what happens - or when it happens - please do not mention anything in the comments here. Thanks.
Much as I'd love to invite you all over to watch it with me when I take my second pass through it, I can't. But if you want to at least get a sense of the look of season 4 - and try to search for clues about what's going on and when - HitFix has up a gallery of 17 new photos from the season. Enjoy, and I look forward to discussing the show with you here as much as I did back in the old digs.
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About This Blog
All through his childhood, Alan Sepinwall's relatives told his parents, "All that boy does is watch television! How's he going to make a living doing that?" His career as a TV critic has been 15 years and counting of his attempt to answer their concerns. "What's Alan Watching" is a blog whose title is self-explanatory: Alan watches TV shows, then writes about what he watched. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupMarc poor Weiner, yeah he doesnt get enough accolades, let me get my violin out. Plus it already appears everyone that's seen it is already raving, so he didn't need to add that disclaimer. Sorry I just find him a bit cocky and that little bit about the press loves to build you up only to rip you apart doesn't help, as it appears he's enjoying the building up very much.
July 7, 2010 at 1:13PM EST Reply to CommentLJA Marc, I completely agree with you. The only reason his ego is even slightly tolerable is that he actually puts out a product worthy his smug arrogance.
July 7, 2010 at 1:38PM ESTciotog Hmm, that last photo has Ken but no Kinsey. And in the first photo, that doesn't look like Henry Francis talking to Betty, but who else could it be?
July 7, 2010 at 1:17PM EST Reply to Comment
July 7, 2010 at 3:01PM ESTfilmcricket I noticed that too (about Ken but no Kinsey). I feel bad for Michael Gladis if he's not invited back.
July 8, 2010 at 8:33AM ESTfilmcricket Also, there are at least two pictures where Pete's not wearing a ring either.
July 8, 2010 at 8:35AM ESTps I noticed Paul's absence as well. Was there some hidden truth to his disappointment of being passed over for Peggy in the season finale?
July 12, 2010 at 9:27AM ESTI prefer Paul to Ken; his character seems more complex. I hope he's in a couple episodes.
not Bridget Per comments answering your comment: Have all the Married Mad Men worn weddings rings? Back then & even now, men aren't as likely to wear them as women are.
July 14, 2010 at 7:44AM ESTTask while waiting for the new season: Review old shows, checking for rings...
Dallasite Re wedding rings: In S1, when Pete returned from his honeymoon, he flashed his band to Don who replied "I don't wear jewelry." (or something to that effect).
July 14, 2010 at 5:12PM ESTthegeniusking Now to find someone with cable. I don't imagine there's any chance these will stream online, I know Hulu, even with its premium service won't show AMC shows, and I bet the AMC website won't do it either. Shame in this day and age someone willing to pay to watch a show (without wanting to buy a whole cable package) can't.
July 7, 2010 at 1:17PM EST Reply to Commentsepinwall I believe they're on iTunes. You'd have to pay for each episode, but it'd still be cheaper than a cable bill.
July 7, 2010 at 1:19PM ESTRachel I buy them off of iTunes. The only problem is that they aren't available until Monday morning.
July 7, 2010 at 3:27PM ESTPotatoSolution I buy seasons of AMC shows off amazon.com's Video on Demand and download them to my Tivo. Mostly because I want to watch them without the ghastly yellow "AMC HD" bug they use to cover a quarter of the screen in the broadcast version.
July 7, 2010 at 3:38PM ESTcadfile They do have full episodes on the AMC web site just not same day though
July 7, 2010 at 7:43PM ESTTyroc How do I convince AMC that I too am a TV critic?
July 7, 2010 at 1:20PM EST Reply to CommentSO JEALOUS!
Oaktown Girl Hi Alan. I'm going to throw this out there just in case you might even possibly consider the idea: The timing of your posts for really popular shows like Lost and Mad Men has a definite East Coast bias. To play by the rules, commenters have to read all the comments first before posting so there's as little repetition as possible. Very understandable. But by the time the West Coast gets to see the show, even if we log on one minute after the show ends, there's already 99 comments or more. It's very frustrating not just for the extra time burden placed on the West Coasters, but that the rest of the country always gets to share their creative critiques and insights first.
July 7, 2010 at 1:21PM EST Reply to CommentMy proposal would be a rotating-time post. I can't expect you to stay up until 2am east coast time to post, but perhaps ever other week you could post your Mad Men review the next day at like 8 or 9am Pac time. NOT 5 or 6 am Pac time because that still heavily favors the other time zones.
Anyway, I seriously hope you'll consider this idea, or something like it.
LJA Oaktown Girl - I was feeling the same pain you are here on the left coast. There are usually well over 100 comments by the time Mad Man airs here. Check your cable listings in their entirety. I found an east coast feed of AMC deep in my channel listings just recently (I have Time Warner). If you can find an HD listing of AMC, you just may be happy to discover you can watch Mad Men at 7:00 p.m.
July 7, 2010 at 1:43PM ESTaforkosh Currently, AMC HD is actually shown on Comcast in the San Francisco Bay Area at the appropriate Eastern Time. Thus, 10pm shows can be seen at 7pm. This has been very convenient to me by letting me watch the AMC quality shows (Mad Men, Breaking Bad) before the main flood of Sunday night prime time cable first runs.
July 7, 2010 at 1:48PM ESTNote 1: This may change. Within the last month, Comcast moved the HD presentation of TNT from Eastern to Pacific Time.
Note 2: [Note Oaktown Girl] I assume from your sign on that you are writing from Oakland, CA. So am I.
Oaktown Girl Thanks for the HD tip, LJA and afrokosh. Sadly, because of the horrible economic situation (only one of 3 adults in my household here has a full time job), we had to give up the premium and HD channels. We're lucky to still have cable at all. (Hi aforkosh. Yes, aforkosh, I am from Oakland, CA, too).
July 7, 2010 at 1:57PM ESTHatfield Where my West Coast people at?
July 7, 2010 at 2:11PM ESTOk, sorry, that was annoying. LJA, I have Time Warner; do you know the channel number off the top of your head? I'm lazy and hate getting lost in the 400's.
LJA Hatfield - Try 479. Hope it works for you.
July 7, 2010 at 2:14PM ESTberkowit28 I'm on the West coast too. I'm sorry, but I don't understand why this is any sort of burden - I think it's a bonus! What's so special about finding no comments on the site?
July 8, 2010 at 1:12AM ESTJust remember not to check it until you've watched the episode - which is pretty obvious. Then when you come on board, Alan's recap is up, and so are 100 comments, of which about 80 are interesting. What's wrong with that? I'm sorry - is it that you're just so eager to write something without reading other comments first? Why? I find most of the comments interesting, and gives me more to think about.
You'll really need to explain to me why you think this is a problem, because I don't get it.
Hatfield I think my head just exploded.
July 7, 2010 at 1:30PM EST Reply to CommentLJA DYING over here. I don't know how I'm going to get through the next 18 days. I'm not even kidding.
July 7, 2010 at 1:36PM EST Reply to CommentAnna So jealous of Alan's job right now!!
July 7, 2010 at 1:41PM EST Reply to CommentMatt Alan, with Alison Brie on Community, do you know if Trudy is going to absent from this season or will she more or less be in the same amount of episodes per year she usually is?
July 7, 2010 at 2:15PM EST Reply to Commentsepinwall Dunno. Depends on what kind of deal Brie cut with NBC, I suppose. Adam Scott had three Party Down appearances negotiated into his Parks & Rec contract. I don't know if Brie did something similar, or if NBC cares the way Fox did with Jane Lynch.
July 7, 2010 at 2:43PM EST
July 7, 2010 at 6:45PM ESTbelinda From the department of why I hate Alan (and all tv critics) sometimes...
July 7, 2010 at 2:25PM EST Reply to CommentARGH! I'm so jealous. Stop rubbing it in! :D
Cshifty Kinsey was far more interesting/funny than Ken.
July 7, 2010 at 3:15PM EST Reply to CommentPotatoSolution Holy crap, seeing that picture of Lane and Joan just made me grin like a loon.
July 7, 2010 at 3:35PM EST Reply to CommentI love this show. 18 days!!
cadfile Peggy's look for season 4 caught my eye. She seems more mature and even cutting edge for the time period. Based on the hair I bet the time is 1965
July 7, 2010 at 7:56PM EST Reply to CommentMaureen I usually never wish my summer would go faster, but in this case, it is hard not to! I loved the pictures, and cannot wait for the new season.
July 8, 2010 at 1:02PM EST Reply to Commentaforkosh By the way, the first 3 seasons are on sale at iTunes. $10/season in SD and $15/season in HD.
July 9, 2010 at 2:06AM EST Reply to Comment