Mad Men Season 6 episode 3 The Collaborators

Tonight episode of Mad Men was full of bombshells. Every scene was another explosion. Also we got to hear Don's motto from his lip "This didn't happen" I wonder how many times he's said that during the run of this show. Finally getting to see a glimpse of his life after his father's death cleared it's origin up quite a bit.

Last season when Don said he was raised in a whore house I was confused, but tonight we see he was. His "mother" was taken into her sister and Uncle Mack's cat house. He saw her with Uncle Mack and I'm guessing johns after that. I was under the impression that Uncle Mack and his mother were an item so, if I'm right, at some point she must take him from her sister. Then I assume they either take over the whore house or move on. Either way I'm guessing "this never happened" was said to Don a lot.

It took me awhile to figure out the title The Collaborator. But I think the Heinz guys explain it. Sometimes the person you think is on your team is your worst enemy. Exemplified by every marriage in this episode. First we see Trudy and Pete at a dinner party being hit on by all their neighbors. Then the first bomb shell that Megan has had a miscarriage, apparently while she was considering an abortion. Of course there is Don and Silvia's relationship. According to this episode there is nothing but Is in team.

Peggy's relationship with Stan continues it's late night calls. But when she let's slip to Chaugh the information Stan has given her about the Heinz Ketchup client, it's her turn to decide if she is ready to be about advertising and not friends. All of her underlinings are already scared of her and when she tries to be a little supportive of them they respond by giving her feminine itch powder and a cruel client profile folder.

Seeing Trudy throw Pete out was a long time coming. They were a great power couple. Trudy kept giving Pete more and more slack and finally he hung himself. Loved her line "I'm drawing a 50 mile perimeter around this house. If you so much as open your fly to urinate, I will destroy you." And I believe it. God I hope they don't draw him back in with Peggy.

In the end it's all "like Munich" none of these people will ever be happy with what they have been given. They always want more and in the process will lose any chance at happiness. Don of course being exhibit A.

This and that:

Bob is the new Pete.  Pete is the new Don. Don is the new Roger. Roger may actually have figured out how good he had it to start with and seemed like he was trying to get Mona ( his first wife) back in last weeks episode.

Dance with the one that brought you.

Don burying icky Jaguar guy with back handed praise

Joan slamming Jag guy with "I know there's a part of you, you haven't seen in years.

Teenage Don with a Moe hair cut. Ugly duckling and how!

Jim Garrison mentioned in the tonight show clip Pete watches about new JFK assassination evidence is perhaps the ultimate in your collaborator stabbing/shooting you in the back.

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Jon Hamm on #TheNerdist on BBC America #Mad Men

This Saturday Jon Hamm from Mad Men will be the guest on The Nerdist on BBC America, along with Betsy Brandt from “Breaking Bad” and Rich Summers (Harry Crane from Mad Men).

I was (totally stoked) very happy to be at the taping of this show. So look for me in the audience. Jon Hamm was his usual ridiculous self. How this man ended up finding fame in a character as unfunny as Don Draper, I have no idea. The whole taping was hysterical, but pretty blue. So much so that I'm a bit curious how they are a. going to edit it for television , and b. cut it down short enough for the segment. Thank god that's not my problem.

If I have any criticism of this show it would be the set. I know last season's set was strictly public access TV, but I liked it. Now it is very smooth and professional. Oh well, it still has the rest of it's components so I won't start a letter writing campaign just yet.

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Mad Men Season 6

Mad Men Season 6 started tonight. I love this show!

After a brief moment of someone being resuscitated  we open right up with Don reading Dante's Inferno "Midway on our life's journey I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood." Is there a better description of Don?

Megan and Don are on the beach in Hawaii (for a hotel client) and throughout the scenes on the vacation Megan's wardrobe reminded me of Betty's in Italy (for a hotel client). First she was wearing red ball earrings that looked a lot like the ones Betty wore when she was all dressed up in her black fringe in Italy. Then the next morning she puts on a dress that looks like the one Betty wears the day they get back from Italy. Looks like things have fallen into old patterns.(no pun intended) He's even sleeping with someone on the side.

Megan has landed a part on a soap opera. She's recognized by fans. By the end of the show her part has been expanded and she is going to be the character everyone loves to hate. I'm guessing she's going to be too busy to deal with home life.

We see Betty looking like she is trying to be, or at least look like, her mother in law. She spends a lot of the episode worrying about Sally's friend who runs off to the city. It may be that she sees herself in this character, who wants to go to the city and have an exciting life. That's what Betty did and then married Don and we all know how well that worked out. She even goes into the city and spends an odd day in a flop house. In the end she seems to decide to let the girl go and completes her transformation into her mother in law by dying her hair brown.

Roger comes back to us in a therapy session. He seems like he wants answers but then he seems pretty sure about life being meaningless. All women are the same and all relationships leave you unchanged. Even with the news that his mother has died he's unfazed.  Only at the end of the episode does he break down over a shoe shine box that his, also deceased, shine guy's family has sent to him, since he's the only one that's asked about him. Roger's party seems to have come to an end. He may need some more acid?

While in Hawaii Don meets a private whose getting married and ends up giving the bride away. Some how their military issue zippos get switched. The private's has the inscription "In life we often have to do things that just are not our bag." Apparently, a common phrase inscribed on Vietnam vets zippos. I don't know if Don has ever figured out what his bag is. But regardless, he can't get rid of it fast enough. He tries to throw it away, but it gets returned. In the end he lies to his secretary and says he found it and ask her to try to return it.

Don shows up drunk at Roger's mother's funeral and while a friend talks about how much Roger's mother loved him to the exclusion of anyone else Don pukes into an umbrella stand. It may just be the liquor but I think it was a least a little about the fact that no one has ever loved him like that. He has never believed that anyone would love him just for himself, that someone would truly be his. To himself he will always be a whore child.

In the end Don pitches the hotel client an ad that looks like someone walking into the ocean to kill them self. The tag line was equally awful, "Hawaii The Jumping Off Point . I hope we aren't facing another season of the constantly plastered Draper who can't do his job.

Mostly the episode just kept coming back around to death beginning with what turns out to be their doorman being resuscitated. then the death of Roger's mother and shine guy, and of course Don's suicide in Hawaii pitch. Thing are off to a dark start.

This and That:

There seems to be someone sleeping on the couch in every scene in the work room at SCDP.

Peggy is still doing a great job but has her staff scared of her.

Abe needs a hair cut.

Roger's wife #1 telling him "Maybe there is nothing to drink about"

Roger mentions From Here To Eternity, which starred Donna Reed, and then later we see Don watching The Donna Reed show.


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PBS Michael Feinstein's American Song Book

Michael Feinstein's Season 3 American Songbook starts tonight on PBS. If you didn't see the first 2 seasons you're missing some great stuff, so be sure to catch this one. This season includes lost footage of Broadway performances by huge stars doing unforgettable numbers, old radio show performances, and interviews with everyone.

All that and Michael Feinstein himself, who I just adore!

Watch Season 3 Preview on PBS. See more from Michael Feinsteins American Songbook.

Here's the complete run down on each episode:

“Show Tunes” – Friday, April 5, 2013 at 9 pm. Stars in the Broadway universe don’t shine much brighter than Stephen Sondheim, Angela Lansbury and Christine Ebersole, all of whom appear in this episode about great American musicals. Sondheim reveals the composers he most admires and shows Feinstein some rare home movie footage of the original Broadway production of the classic Follies. Tony Award-winner Ebersole gives a tour de force performance of some of the greatest show tunes of all time, and Lansbury reflects on her Broadway career, from Mame to Sweeney Todd and Gypsy. (Feinstein has a surprise for Angela.) Feinstein discusses his personal relationship with Ira Gershwin (also the topic of his recent book) and performs the classic “Lullaby of Broadway,” “Let Me Entertain You” and “No One Is Alone.”

“Let’s Dance” – Friday, April 5, 2013 at 10 pm. Fred Astaire is Michael Feinstein’s favorite singer — but he also was the favorite singer of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and George and Ira Gershwin. Why was this dancer, first-and-foremost, so beloved by America’s great composers? With that question, Feinstein launches into an exploration of the marriage between music and choreography, unearthing rare home movies of Astaire rehearsing on set, and remarkable memorabilia from that other screen-dance icon, Gene Kelly. Kelly stuns in never-before-seen footage of his Broadway debut in the original Pal Joey, as does the iconic Cyd Charisse, seen in her first television performance. Liza Minnelli, who knew Kelly and Astaire, discusses their unique styles and techniques. She also is seen in vintage television clips dancing with Kelly and performing some memorably steamy choreography. Feinstein indulges his inner Astaire with private dance lessons, learning differences between the fox trot and the turkey trot, among others. Finally he explores the endless popularity of ballroom dance and performs the classics “Change Partners,” “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Shall We Dance” and “Let’s Face the Music and Dance.”

“On the Air” – Friday, April 12 at 10 pm – Today, “American Idol” is the country’s biggest music star-maker, but decades ago, the Golden Age of Radio fulfilled the idol-making role in the U.S. Feinstein traces the phenomenon with archival clips of Bing Crosby, Cab Calloway, Kate Smith and many others. He visits with TV and stage star Rose Marie (best known as “Sally Rogers” on “The Dick Van Dyke Show”) and learns about her career as a highly paid child radio star named “Baby” Rose Marie. On his own syndicated public radio program, Feinstein showcases the virtuoso talents of classical superstars, including violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Jeremy Denk, who perform together and discuss intersections of classical and popular music. This episode includes visits to collectors of vintage radios and radio programs. Finally, he discovers a lost radio program that featured Rosemary Clooney, and recalls his own memorable duet with her.

Spies of Warsaw on BBC America Tonight

Spies of Warsaw is on BBC America tonight, starring David Tennant (Doctor Who 10). Based on the book by Alan Furst. Spies is set in Warsaw in 1937, in the years building up to WWII. Full of espionage and covert missions, and of course a love story to round things out.

If you miss Tennant as much as I do, you'll be watching this tonight. It looks like a fun action packed spy movie. At last winters TCA (TV Critics Press Panels) Tennant and the writers promised this would be a very sexy show. There was lots of talk about sex on trains and Tennan'ts characters string of lovers. So there is that.

On a side note: I got a chance to speak with David Tennant and asked him if he saw his Doctor Who returning, with his alternate world incarnation still in existence. He wouldn't rule it out. Saying that you never know and that with Billie Piper looking younger every day she could definitely do it.

Spies Of Warsaw will air tonight, April 3 and April 10th. Check your local listings for times.

I'll be watching tonight and of course tweeting along. #SpiesOfWarsaw