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I gotta admit that Sunday’s episode featuring John Slattery in black face was a shock to the system. As was the whole show, to be honest. So many loose ends which I can’t wait for Matthew Weiner and his writers to tie together. Or not. What isn’t a surprise is that Mad Men was renewed for a 4th season today by AMC after the August 16th 3rd season premiere pulled in 4.5 million viewers and the second season of the series 16 Emmy nominations after the first season garnered Emmy wins. You all know this is my favorite scripted show on basic cable (though Burn Notice and In Plain Sight come a close 2nd and 3rd). And here’s hoping that its drama stays on the small screen and no longer seeps behind the scenes. (See below.) Hard to believe that nearly a year ago I broke the story that the Lionsgate bigwigs were calling Hollywood agencies looking for a showrunner to replace Weiner because he wanted more moolah.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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I can actually agree with you on something! Burn Notice is AMAZING
Best show on television. It’s not even close.
Terrific characters, writing, performances. Everything. In other words, the polar opposite of that piece of elephant shit 30 minute commercial known as Entourage.
Yeah, this great news!!! Mad Men + True Blood (season 2 of True Blood has improved the writing)= Best shows on TV!
Mad Men is a great concept with excellent period details – but the stories are BORING. Feast or famine. Either nothing happens, or too much happens. C’mon – some guy puts his hand on her pregnant stomach?! What was that about? The black face? Honestly, it’s not the 30′s. It’s trying too hard to be clever. And by the way, is Peggy Olsen’s kid being raised by her sister? At what point do we see him? This show frustrates me. It has potential, but rarely reaches it.
Last week with the gay episode was the best by far. But now it’s watching the slow decline. Don’t agree with you Nikki. We need a better period show.
Nikki – COME ON! MAD MEN HAS WEAK STORIES, AND MATT WEINER IS EGO CENTRIC TO THE POINT OF REPLACING HALF THE WRITERS THE FIRST SEASON. STORYLINES WERE DROPPED IN MID=SEASON. EVEN THEIR COMMERCIAL BREAKS FEEL ABRUPT. THIS SHOW NEEDS HELP.
Please. Nikki, NO ONE believes you actually watch these shows.
I’m sorry, but Mad Men has let me down. It sets up great stories, but never comes through. I predict that the ratings will fall each week, as people get more and more frustrated with stories that have no meaning and no ending. Yes, the details are spectacular – but that only goes so far. At a certain point, you get lost in the haze of Don Draper’s smoke. But the show like the cigaretts, is all smoke and mirrors – nothing really there. I long for a period show that shows strong women maybe.
The blackface was awful as was the entire episode where multiple characters break into song for no apparent reason. And how bout that exciting plot where the kid steals $5?The show was brilliant the first season but has gone steadily downhill as Mr. Weiner started buying into his own press. It is shameless the way he slaps his name on every script just in case that’svthevthat wins the Emmy. The writing this year is slapdash and self-important.
I love period shows. I love the details. But Nikki – you couldn’t be more off on this one. I think what you’re longing for is a show that reminds you of when you were a kid. And the details harken back to an authentic time in our history. But these stories are so random – so off, with little or no follow up. Last year the guy with the beard was dating a black chick. He even marched in the civil rights movement. No idea what happened to them, it’s just dropped. Peggy Olsen’s kid – dropped. Draper’s mysterious past – dropped. Don Draper’s kids the worst in TV. Honestly, I love period shows. Long for them really. But other than Joan, these are all just one offs with no story and no life beyond the episodes.
Shame on you Nikki. You fell for the set dressing, not the story. Give us period shows with real stories. By the way, weren’t there any strong women in those days?
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t blackface popular during the minstrel shows at the turn of the century? I want to like MAD MEN. But unfortunately NOTHING HAPPENS. I agree with your other posts, give us a period show about something. Anything. Matt Weiner has duped us in the details. But details with no substance cannot sustain an audience, Mr. W.
I fear if I watch another episode of Mad Men I may become one. They lost me at mammie.
Hey Nikki – you can’t wait for Matt Weiner to tie up loose ends? Don’t hold your breath. He doesn’t tie them up, he just lets them dangle in the wind of one writer being fired and another one on the way in. That way no one can claim the show as their own. SPEAK TO HIS ORIGINAL WRITING STAFF, they’ll fill you in on the truth of this guy and his horrific ego.
The show is mediocre. A soap opera with mild suds. Gimme The Guiding Light any day. At least they follow story lines. Better yet, give me another show set in the 60′s with a real soap opera I can care about.
True Blood crushes Mad Men in the ratings on a network that is in less homes than AMC.
You are not a artist Peggy, you solve problems!
I think the world is ready for a period show. 40′s/50′s – 60′s is achingly too close to the 70′s and that becomes kitch. But Mash is right. MAD MEN should receive accolades for the setting. But let’s not confuse setting with story. When you look back on season one, there was great promise in the set up, and the reason much of it wasn’t followed on is that the writers who conceived it were fired. Nikki – I know you like it. But, maybe what you like is all the unPC dialogue and you are confusing that with being clever. By the way, many critics are doing the same thing. So hungry are we for ANYTHING non-CSI. But I urge you to look at the substance or lack thereof.
The only thing this show is good for is to clue network execs in to the fact that instead of another lawyer/doctor/crime scene show – give us a period show with great characters and great arcs, and yes, great soaps. How about Desperate Housewives in the 50′s when they really were desperate?
I believe there is a show being developed at ABC that’s set in the 50′s with Richard LaGravenese . They’re keeping it pretty quiet. Something about Levittown, NY and how desperate the housewives were to break out. Desperate Women meets Mad Men. Could be great. So they probably won’t make it.
To the people complaining about ‘nothing happening’ in Mad Men a bit of advice: go watch a Michael Bay movie & don’t change the channel to TCM or go watch live theater.
Nikki thrilled to find you’re both a fan of Mad Men & Burn Notice. Not digging In Plain Sight myself (Criminal Intent for me since 2001), but 2 outta 3 ain’t bad.
Also do the True Blood corporate shills get paid by the number of blogs they clutter up with their content-free comments? I know that they’re not being left here by real True Blood fans, because those people actually say something substantive about why the show, the actors etc are ‘great’. They’re also mostly on Twitter.
Nikki, let me just say that if you met creator Matt Nix, you would love Burn Notice even more! The most awesomely talented, truly decent, dedicated family man ever in Hollywood!
Matt Nix truly is a fantastic person. One who is deeply committed to not only the show, but the talent, the crew, and treating each and everyone with the upmost respect. Beyond his obvious genius, he’s a pleasure to work for.
Here’s some REAL information folks:
Mad Men on AMC at 10pm Sunday dropped in week 3 by 20%, down to 856,000 P25-54 and 742,000 P18-49.
While the industry loves the show, clearly the actual viewers don’t
I’m sorry, but how are Mad Men and True Blood even being compared in the same breath?
I want to like True Blood, but the dialogue is lame, the plot twists are incredulous, and Anna Paquin’s horrible take on a Southern accent makes me wince every time she speaks. Her Kiwi tones keep slipping through. I swear I want someone to kidnap and put her in a room in Mississippi with a heaping plate of chitlins ’til she gets the accent right.
They’ve been fortuitous enough to hire gorgeous, talented actors who do a lot with what they’re handed on paper. Michelle Forbes has made the Maryann character palpable, even though her storyline is annoyingly tiresome. The two mains are bores. Alexander Skaarsgard seems like the only reason people watch the show, and that’s just because he’s beautiful. Evan Rachel Wood has never looked more amazing anywhere than in the last episode, but yet again they have a talented actor saying the most ridiculous things. Nelsan Ellis has endeared people to Lafayette, but seriously, even his character is stuffed with non-sequitors.
As alluring as a bunch of bloody half-naked people can be, it’s still complete gimmickry on a scale that Weiner and his staff have not even delved near. Talk about MM as soap opera? True Blood reminds me of the teen soap “Passions,” with a bigger budget.
I’m actually really pleased with where MM is going, since I saw the third episode. I’m from the South, and as much as the white folks hate to admit it, there are still a bunch of them that don’t think through their racism. I was shocked, but not surprised, to see his character put that act on in the ’60s. Don’t even get me started on the fact that it was at a Long Island country club.
Mad Men has fallen apart. Weiner doesn’t seem to know what to do with Don Draper. Calling the plotting open-ended is generous. It’s either pretentious or shoddy or both. The pot smoking story? Who cares. Gramps doddering around the house looking for his lost nickel? Feels like a movie of the week from the 1980s. (Why in the hell would Don agree to take in the old fella? The unfortunate answer: because Weiner wanted him to.)
The only character Weiner seems to know how to write is Salvatore. The whole show feels backward looking – like Weiner’s more interested in pointing out little cultural differences between then and now than in really developing the characters. We get it, Weiner. They drank too much, they smoked too much and only the rich folks had automatic windshield wipers.
Just read the string of comments above and have to agree: Weiner is a dildo. Pretentious and self-important, like his show.
the “Mad Men” spoof by Casual Mafia was posted on your site last month. Just wanted to drop another line in honor of the show & its creators:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeKPWcmdXdg
Nikki, I agree on the awesome that is Burn Notice.
I’m surprised by the comments suggesting that Mad Men has a “weak storyline.” I find this season to be quite the opposite. Very subtle interleaving of character themes to create a complex storyline. I love it. If only cinema were like this.
Katheiser’s Charleston, Slattery’s striking/shocking Jolson imitation, Moss’ incompetent dopesmoking, Hendrick’s skill at accordianisms…something unexpected is brewing beneath the “simple” surfaces of characters we thought we already knew. I wouldn’t dare to predict what Weiner’s going to do with these tantalizing suggestions of ethnic/racial soul in his WASPy principle cast, but it stands a fair-to-middling chance of being riveting.