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MONDAY 12:30PM UPDATE : I've learned that writer’s assistant-turned-staff writer, Robin Veith, quit Mad Men before she could be let go by Matthew Weiner.
A source tells me: "It was at the very worst mutual. She needed to move on and see how she would do after leaving the nest. Matt is a genius, and he gave lots of people an opportunity, but never let's anyone forget it. I'm sure he'd never tell anyone she quit, because that is a rejection of him. Anyway, they are friends and made a mutual decision."
A show insider replies, "There are staffing changes every season. It is the nature of television shows to fine tune. Why is it news this season?" Because the show won two best drama Emmy's in a row, and with success comes attention. Deal with it.
UPDATE: A prominent female writer (she asked not to be identified) knows both Kater Gordon and Matthew Weiner and sets the record straight for me: "As a female writer who has worked with many strong showrunners, I have to say that any 'Letterman' talk on today's thread about Kater Gordon really disgusts me. The same kind of talk followed me and my success. So you see, you can't win. If you're young and female, you'll always be suspect. Success or failure, it can't be because you've actually got the goods. I feel compelled to come to both Kater and Matt's defense on this one. Kater was a fantastic writer's assistant, the best. She totally got the show and deserved the break she got. There was NOTHING illicit in her relationship with Matt. I believe Kater will go on to great success, if she so desires, and their parting of the ways was amicable."
EXCLUSIVE: Well, this is a big surprise. As recently as September 20th, Kater Gordon won the drama-writing Emmy 
with Matthew Weiner for the Mad Men episode "Meditations In An Emergency". Now that Season 3 has wrapped, Gordon is off the Lionsgate show that airs on AMC. Here's what I've learned: Matt originally hired Kater as his personal assistant. She was soon promoted to be his writer’s assistant, and by the end of that same season, Matt offered her the opportunity to co-write the season finale -- a particularly important show for him as Weiner also directs the final episode of each season. Then, without requiring Kater to generate any other spec material on her own (usually required for a writer’s advancement), Matt promoted her to be a full-time staff writer for this past season. (Mad Men has a predominantly female writing staff...)
So what happened? A show insider emails me this explanation: "One of the great things about Mad Men is the tradition that Matt has established of offering higher-level opportunities to staff, writers and artists in all of the various departments. From the beginning, Matt has fought to get people approved by the studio which almost always lobbied for him to hire more experienced people instead. In every season thus far, relatively new actors have been cast for significant roles, aspiring writers have been given opportunities to write scripts, and first-time directors have been offered their first chance to direct.
"We think [Kater's] done a great job, particularly for someone whose career has progressed so quickly. Now, however, Matt has reluctantly decided that their relationship has reached its full potential. She’ll be missed, but the series has consistently benefited from the influx of new writer talent, and there’s absolutely no doubt that Kater will continue to have unprecedented success in her career as she spreads her wings. She leaves Mad Men with our love and respect and a well-deserved Emmy."
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I’d bet money on the real truth being that SHE opted not to come back next season. “Fired” is a very vague term in TV writing.
I do not know the details behind this. What I do know is that Kater’s shows have been the strongest this season. Her voice is clear because Matthew co-writes so many other scripts that do not come across like Kater’s episodes come across. This past Sunday’s show is a prime example. She has a gift. Obviously, Matthew’s influence has had a tremendous impact on her. She is a true talent. I will miss her voice on MAD MEN. I will be watching her wherever she goes. Whoever lands her is very lucky. I’ve worked in TV for over a decade. I’ve seen this kind of thing happen over and over again. Every situation is different. The truth will surface when we see Kater’s future work. I look forward to this.
Something tells me in 50 years we will have a cable show about the writing room of Mad Men.
There was a really weird moment during the acceptance where Matt kind of ’snatched’ the Emmy from her. Can someone post a Youtube of it? The photo gets at it but I remember it being uncomfortable to watch.
I always trhought they worked with these relatively inexperienced people on this show primarily for financial reasons. Allows them to put as much money as possible up on the screen.
Aside: The episode they won for, the Season 2 finale, was obviously not the best one of last season. It was actually a real come-down from the brilliant penultimate episode, which featured Don’s side-trip in California. “Meditations on an Emergency” was a bit more “regular” by comparison.
Please – the episode of Don’s California trip was the weakest of the scripts. I thought they let the real writers go on vacation and got a crew of subs to write that script. You can’t tell me that we needed all those weird characters to be injected into the story when we have a whole cadre of wonderful characters that could be richly utilized to advance the series.
I think we all know having your name on a tv script doesn’t mean you had a lot to do with the episode necessarily. Maybe she just wasn’t that good. Although why are you posting a random staff writer firing, Nikki? Happens all the time. Maybe not for such an acclaimed show, but that’s just a matter of numbers.
kudos to matt
keepin it fresh
lol the scene with Don barking at Peggy takes on new significance
Anyone who believes this horseshit is completely naïve. Matt Weiner is the lowest of the low in our business. He is a egomaniac and the likelihood is that he was incensed that he had to share credit and let alone an Emmy with her. A lowly former writer’s assistant. As far as he is concerned, he is solely responsible for the success of this show and no other writer, producer, director, actor, key grip have done anything to contribute to the show’s success. For Pete’s sake, he didn’t even let Kater Gordon say a word when they got up on stage. It was her moment as well but Weiner made it ALL about him. I don’t recall him even acknowledging her. It is most likely he fired her from the show because she had the misfortune of having her name on HIS script. He is a disgusting human being.
I’ve met her, she’s a wonderful person to be around. Someone should pick her up quickly.
thank you, Nikki for the revelation. What you are effectively telling us is that a nobody, without a modicum of talent, can be hired at “Mad Men”, while other experienced talented writers CAN’T BE HIRED, CANNOT WORK at AMC-regardless if they are men or women, because they don’t have a relationship with Weiner. The predominantly female staff is nothing to cheer about. It’s an anachronistic BS feminism throwback.
I think that the show awfully sucks, and personally puts me to sleep…
“…Matt has reluctantly decided that their relationship has reached its full potential. She’ll be missed…”
To use an old expression, ‘Something’s rotten in Denmark.’ Nikki, that explanation emailed you by the “show insider” smells bad from the first word. There’s no way that’s the real reason, and it’s fairly clear she was fired – there’s no other word for it. I hope you find out what REALLY happened, Nikki, and report it.
Myself, I’d bet that Weiner’s inflated ego resented sharing credit & an Emmy with Kater Gordon and wanted her out of the way. I could be wrong, but that email reeks of the kind of shit flacks send out. And this one is a damn fool; he just put in writing something that any lawyer would have a field day with. Not to mention the California Labor Commission (and I hope they’re listening).
I’d like to add that I love MAD MEN. And for me, this reprehensible behavior on Weiner’s part now gives it a bad taste. He’s shown the world that he is a very talented guy, as well as a back-stabbing, double-dealing bastard.
BTW, is this the new grounds for terminating someone… when “their relationship has reached its full potential”, as that insider wrote? If that’s true, then 9/10’s of the suits in the executive suites should have been fired long ago.
Hey JBN,
It’s not an old expression, it’s a quote from Hamlet: There is something rotten in the state of Denmark.
That answer doesn’t explain anything, it just sucks up to Weiner.
If it’s a ” a predominantly female writing staff”, where is the story here? It’s not like she was the only female writer?
The only episode she wrote by herself was “The Fog” and it was terrible. Looks like Matt got too excited and promoted her too quickly…
I agree, “The Fog” had some horribly on the nose dialogue, although we did get a couple gems like from Gene: “You’re a housecat: you’re very important and you have little to do.”
My review tore up Kater Gordon, so I was surprised to see her win an emmy and now even more surprised to see her gone…
http://tinyurl.com/yff9a6g
p.s. I always assumed Weiner was gay, no?
OK, so what is the real story?
So which AMC or Lionsgate flack was that “insider email” written by? If that isn’t press release material, I don’t know what is…
Ummm, that “show insider” should go work in D.C. because that was an incredible amount of words used to say absolutely nothing.
Something very definitely does not add up here. I think that the key is their phrase that Weiner’s and Gordon’s “relationship has reached its full potential.” That sounds like she was hit with some sort of adverse action. I hope that we can hear from Kater to get her side of the story. Also, is this something that the WGA can look into?
that’s a cruel thing for him to do
Impossible to know how much Kater actually contributed to the Emmy winning script. 5%? 50% 90%. What has she done on her own? Why would a talented writer get bounced from the show?
What was his arrogance at the emmy’s? I missed that. He seemed pretty gracious. The woman is a staff writer and I think she was freelance last season…
MW: “I am the only one in this room who has full creative control.”
[I paraphrase, but that's the gist of it.]
This dismissal message sounds like something Roger would have said….
Only one person was able to make an acceptance speech at the Emmys, so why not him? It is HIS show. I’m sure she was relieved. And I recall he gave props on her behalf to her fiance. She may have been just lucky – like Jill Franklyn getting a credit on Peter Mehlman’s Emmy-winning Yada-Yada script for “Seinfeld”
After reading all this one thing becomes apparent. When nobody knows the facts they’ll make ‘em up to fit their own shortcomings and bias’.
Much ado about NOTHING.
Fine he fired her. Writers get fired all the time. But he did punk her this year at the Emmys and last year when she was nominated and he called her his assistant. Mathew please get that there is enough to go around for everyone. One thing David Chase never did was punk those publicly who worked for him. He let you guys all shine. You have a hit, can’t you help other people without diminishing them.
The irony is if Peggy is shown the door in the same manner.
I worked with Kater Gordon on Mad Men and with people that have known her for years. She was the friendliest and sweetest person I met while working there. Saying she had some sort of affair to get her position is the most irresponsible and reckless thing a person could possibly say. Everyone knows that Matt Weiner is the most talented prick in Hollywood.
Look at how shocked and annoyed Matt W is when this question is not directed to him. And look how he holds his Emmys too, in case we didn’t know he won twice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pkcw4A0TI8&feature=player_embedded#
ouch…he does look pissy. thanks for the link.
Wow, this video’s pretty telling. This guy’s a douche
The Emmys only allow one person to speak when multiple people win an award.
That’s not an explanation, that’s a bad press release. He hires newbies because he wants them to view him as a patron, not a collaborator. He doesn’t want to work with experienced writers because they’re more likely to challenge him in the room.
I know he’s the prince of the WGA right now but everyone in town knows this guy’s a jerk. Ask around. Ask David Chase.
TAM just got it right in the previous post.
Ask David Chase? Shit, ask anybody who has worked with Weiner.
So is this how you succeed as a writer in this biz? You get a job as a personal assistant to a writer and hope that he/she promotes you to work on their show?
I always thought writing great spec material was a path to success, not managing some writer’s schedule, answering his phone and taking out his dry cleaning. My guess is that she really isn’t that good of a writer. The Emmy was mostly for Matt’s work and she just couldn’t pull her weight in the long run.
A “Writers’ Assistant” isn’t the same thing as a “personal assistant to the writer”. Depends on the show, but usually, they’re in the writers’ room, keeping track of ideas, and serving as an important part of the writing process.
Actually, working as a writer’s assistant has been a tried and true stepping stone to getting an episode or a staff writer position probably since the inception of television… TV gigs always go to insiders first, outsiders last. But don’t give up on your spec.
I was a writer’s asst way back when and launched my 15 year career that way. I still had to write the specs and have the ‘goods’. I’m an executive producer level writer now. All earned. No sleeping with anyway, thankyouverymuch.
TV writing is a tough business…
Often personality clashes with the showrunner lead to this kind of ending… doesn’t mean she’s a bad writer, doesn’t mean he’s banging her. Everyone will move on to bigger and better.
I asked my agent to put me up for this show as a writer and she said she’d already had two writers on the show and they both quit saying it was the worst experience of their lives.
i’m sure that’s why your agent didn’t put you on the show after a simple request. keep plugging.
Amazed at the reflexive anti-Mad Men, anti-Weiner crap that pops up here so often. It’s the best show on TV, and Weiner’s exacting nature is the reason it’s so intricately detailed. He’s a great showrunner, and being a showrunner means firing people. Maybe the writer got too big for her britches after the Emmy (and let’s face it, it’s likely that Weiner ultimately wrote every word of the script). Or maybe she got bored and decided to use her newfound cred to land a job on another show.
What a load of crap this comment is.
Wow, thank god this blog wasn’t around when *I*, as a young tv writer, didn’t get my contract picked up on a high-profile show. It happens a lot, for a lot of reasons. Just about every TV writer I know has been fired at least once, for any number of reasons.
The point is, this woman does *not* deserve to be in the klieg lights like this.
good grief is it really the only possibility that Weiner was schtupping this cupcake? believe it or not folks, people get fired from jobs every day, even when you are there behind the scenes it isn’t always clear what the truth is, even less so in television where careers ride on spin…also “arrogance at the emmy’s” is a dumb meme that anti-Weiner folks bitterly spout hoping you didn’t see his emmy speech which was perfectly fine
The one episode she wrote on her own was considered the worst episode of Mad Men ever by its fans, so if they had to cut someone from the writing staff I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise that they cut her.
I’m trying to imagine David Chase preferring to keep the writing staff of THE SOPRANOS populated with young women in their twenties. Please.
This is not a story. She was a writer’s assistant and was given a freelance episode to write, and it happened to win an Emmy. Next, she’s made a staff writer, and it didn’t work out. There’s more to writing on a series than talent. You have to be good in the room, you have to fit in with the other personalities on a team, etc. That’s it. Why isn’t anybody talking about how the ENTIRE staff of Fringe was fired before this season, or how EVERY season writers are fired from shows. Again, this is not a story.
Still, better to get fired than to quit – at least Weiner has to pay out a complete season staffer salary…
I don’t understand the ‘explanation’. English is my first language.
First the was war in Afghanistan and now this.
Great fucking line. Well done!
I can see where these accusations fly from because the truth is that Kater Gordon is a beautiful woman. But none of you in the Finger Pointing and Wagging Club have any concept of the talents of this young woman, nor the moral terpitude of Mr Weiner. There’s no “Letterman action” going on, though it’s a classic assumption members of the FPWC would come up with. After all, with the miniscule knowledge and limited intelligence of it’s members (made up of Hollywood suits and television writers), what other conclusions could we draw?
The only journalistically-relevant fact in the above article is that Gordon won an Emmy. TV writers, as you idiots know, are often not asked back. Get back to work on your Gossip Girl specs you knitting club dolts.
I don’t think it’s fair to harp on Kater’s getting promoted despite a lack of experience. She got promoted to staff writer, not producer. And as anyone who’s actually spent time in a writers’ room knows, the assistants often learn and know the show better than people on staff. They’re on that computer all day, every day. It’s a logical position from which to promote, and it’s not at all uncommon to get a script as an assistant and then move up to being on staff the next season.
That said, didn’t Matt fire the ENTIRE writing staff after the first season? That staff included men and women, and from the person I know who was among their ranks, the reasons had nothing to do with sex. Maybe Kater was on the chopping block already, maybe the Emmy win sent him over the top, but the Letterman comparisons are ridiculous.
And by the way, her association with the show all but guarantee she won’t be hard up for work any time soon. Forget the Emmy. In a town that loves Mad Men as much as it does, her credits there are pure gold.
Andy’s remarks are likely the most valid in this case.
Not the entire writing staff. About half. At least three people stayed on, 4, if you count Robin Veith being promoted to story editor.
Unless you are inside the show and know what happened, you have no idea what happened. There dozens of plausible scenarios.
Matt hires women at the lowest level staff positions and then claims to have an all woman staff. Staff of cleaning ladies. There are no women in the EP, Co-Ep, or Supervising producer positions where there is real money and influence. Matt hires women at the lowest position so he can pay them nothing and be their sugar daddy. “I believe in you. I am giving you this chance…” This is a total abuse of power. Then it makes it easier to put his names on all their scripts. He’s going to rewrite and steal the credit from an established writer? Something the classy show creators DO NOT MAKE A HABIT OF DOING. Women with no power will not object. So this assistant made writer won the Emmy with Matt. OF COURSE HE FIRED HER!!!! Can’t be too powerful than Sugar Daddy. That is the deal at Mad Men.
“There are no women in the EP, Co-EP or Supervising Producer positions”.
That’s news, I’m guessing, to Lisa Albert and Maria Jacquemetton:
http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/2009/09/mad-men-emmy-win.php
Lisa Albert – supervising producer on 33 episodes
Maria Jacquemetton – supervising producer on 14 episodes, consulting producer on 6 episodes
Marti Noxon – consulting producer on 15 episodes
Are you kidding? Are you callonhg Marti Noxon a “low level” writer. People often take consulting producer credit to protect their quote.
This is like life imitating art or vice versa. Is Kater supposed to be Peggy?
Not really a surprise–episode credits are often given to assistants as a reward for their hard work as an assistant. Sometimes, the assistants don’t even write the episode they get a credit for. Usually, they write a first draft, which is then heavily rewritten. It’s also not uncommon for that assistant to get promoted to a staff writer and then let go the next year–again, the staff writer bump is mostly done as a form of reward. Don’t get me wrong, oftentimes the assistant deserves it…but just as often they don’t.
I’m not saying either way with Kater–I don’t know her. But this feels like an attempt to create an air of sexism where there’s a more realistic explanation that should at LEAST be mentioned. It could also simply be a parting of ways. TV rooms are all about interpersonal chemistry, after all.
I’m surprised Nikki posted this without telling the full story of how television credits and writers rooms really work. Just because your name is on an episode doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed you wrote a single word of it. I’m normally a fan, but this is a half thought-out article.
Finally someone gets it. Does anyone really think that she had anything to do with the episode? Weiner shares credit with someone on every episode now. That’s only so he won’t look megalomaniacal for taking sole credit on every one.
Of course he was doing his assistant a favor by giving her a credit – he now also gave her an Emmy. Just because he didn’t hire her doesn’t mean it’s sexist, get real. It just means that she didn’t do a great job, and isn’t a true fit for the show.
Now I’m not giving Weiner a ton of credit for being an amazing person. He probably runs the show like David E. Kelley and Aaron Sorkin before him – he makes people do a lot of the hard work, he then “polishes” up the scripts, grabs credit and moves on. Heaven forbid he didn’t put his name on every one at this point. What if one of those happened to be the one to win an Emmy? He’d never forgive himself.
People continue to work for the likes of him and Kelley (well, if he can get another show on the air) because of their awardbait reputations, but everyone is aware that the writer’s contribution to those shows is minimal at best. So in effect, the credit doesn’t do all that much. If you have a job and never actually write, how can anyone know what you’re really capable of?
I’m sure this woman will do fine. IF she has actual samples that are well written, and IF she is personable and can do well playing with others. Because really, that’s what 90% of a TV job is all about.
David Kelley writes far more scripts from scratch than he “polishes” from other writers. But I agree in this case Weiner probably rewrote the whole thing/wrote the majority of it and she got credit and an Emmy
Trust me, they weren’t very close, she didn’t have that much to do with writing “Meditations” and the completely professional relationship was becoming strained as the season went on. It really wasn’t a surprise at all.
Matt has begun to realize that he has promoted people too quickly in the past and he’s trying to change the way he does things.
Promotes people too quickly? Are you kidding me? He hires the lowest because he won’t hire the best because he’s threatened! So Matt is just thinking about what poor schmuck he can give an opportunity to? Not a chance.
This all about abusing power. And people who abuse power are always threatened someone will take it away.
I think it is really weird and suspect that Matt doesn’t hire established and experienced writers on his staff. My feeling is that he’s not “promoting people too quickly” but wants a staff he can run over like a steam roller. He has the money to hire qualified people. But out of the goodness of his heart he doesn’t? Give me a break. This not how David Chase operates. Or Alan Ball. Or Vince Gilligan. To name a few of cables best showrunners.
If Matt wants to hire women he should hire experienced one hour or feature writers. They are everywhere looking for work. Then he wouldn’t have to rewrite so much the young and inexperienced women he hires.
“Something the classy show creators DO NOT MAKE A HABIT OF DOING?”
You’re an idiot, Serafina!
Sorkin does this all day and every way to Wednesday. So does Chuck Lorre. And D. Kelley. So much for “class show creators.” Shall I name more? How about feature writers? Ron Bass! And trust me on this one…there’s a feature writer. A female. And this one hasn’t written word one of most any scripts she’s sold (and she has sold tons!) the last half dozen years.
They all do this. And ify ou think they don’t stay up late at night figuring new and improved ways to screws younger writers…you’re a bigger idiot that I thought.
Anonymous–you’re wrong. Kelley and Sorkin both got a ton of shit from both other writers and the WGA for big-footing their staff on credit.
The majority of show-runners let their staff take the credit for even heavily re-written work.
The face that you cite feature writers means you have no clue about how the two different worlds work.
Do your research before you start calling people idiots.
Thanks Jorge. You are a prince among men. These are different worlds. And although Kelley and Sorkin were credit hogs they were wrong to do it. It hurt the moral of their staffs and crew. The majority of showrunners give their staff credit. They are getting paid big bucks. No need to take money out of the bank accounts and pensions of their staff.
Just because Matt has decided he may have promoted people too quickly in the past or wants a fresher voice in the writers room doesn’t make it appropriate for him to publicly humiliate Kater in this manner. There are a dozen classier ways this could have been handled, and leaking “insider” statements to Nikki Finke isn’t one of them. Because trust me, no “insider” would have released such an extensive and canned statement without Matt’s prior consent.
You know what? I’ve decided to take this at face value–Kater Gordon has proven to be a wonderful writer, and her smarts and talents allowed her to move up from assistant to staff writer. If Mad Men and Matt Weiner had anything whatsoever to do with it, good for them. Nice to know people can recognize talent and nurture it, no matter what direction it goes.
I don’t see anything in this news that indicates that any of the participants should be anything but very proud.
Serafina, that is absolutely not true. Watch the credits on the show sometime. Plenty of women in high-level writer-producer positions.
As art, Mad Men is no Sopranos. As a human being, Matt Weiner is no David Chase.
Grammy for best comment that fits in a fortune cookie.
You’re right, The Sopranos drowned in self-indulgence form the start, and featured grotesquely padded seasons in order to make $$$ for HBO…I mean the whole gay subplot with Vito, I rest my case.
This is a non-story. It’s his show and his staff needs to function for him. I don’t see anyone writing stories about why they love a show’s ’staff’ – they love the vision the show gives them, and that comes from its leader. Particularly when talking about an assistant who became a staff writer. That’s a service job – and all of this is making a story where there simply is not one to be told.
Well now that an unnamed source has said that everything was handled appropriately, I’m sure that it’s undoubtedly the truth. Nikki, I would think you would do better than to obviously side with Matt, the person in power. Everyone who has worked longer than two minutes in Hollywood knows that Matt is (increasingly notoriously) a difficult person to work for…perhaps you or one of your unnamed sources should mention that instead of so blatantly reporting on something that could be potentially damaging to him and then smoothing over your relationship with him once postings are negative by coming to the rescue with an unnamed source. I expect more from you who prides herself on sticking up for the little guy.
She won an emmy. She asked for more money. ‘Nuff said.
Existenz –
Great spec work is only half of it. Yes, working on a series where the higher ups are confident enough to staff people is the best way to go about it.
The is so sad all around. It is like promoting your Little League player, your son into the Major Leagues. When you own both teams and your son is only 12. I am proud of every writer who can write on such a great show like Mad Men, and I do believe in Affirmative Action for women but this is wrong because it devalues every writer who has paid their dues. The 5 act structure is a craft not an artform but the skill comes in bringing your own personal craftmanship to the work. Mad Men is a subject matter like Menace to Society where a first time writer can draw from their life experiences to tell a story of how life really is on the cold streets of urban America.
This is just another example of how showrunners really pick a staff who they like – I mean really really like… aka the good ole boys network. Matt & Kate Plus 8.
im surprised that you so easily accept the confidante “who knows both” and offers still a planted quote…a tad suspect. nothing explains her leaving a show after such a quick rise..and to leave NOW and without anything explained except that its “amicable”?!
Almost the entire writing staff was let go after the first season. It’s a show with a notoriously high amount of firings.
This is no different except she had been an example of Weiner’s being generous in the past. But still not newsworthy and awful that people like you would throw accusations around.
I know of a few female writers who were up for gigs on Mad Men. They are good, quality writers who were denied meetings for a staff job on Mad Men because their only ‘flaw’ is being female. And in another instance, every female writer was let go from one big network show recently, while the men on that show were retained. It would seem Hollywood is still a boys club after all.
Just looking at the list of writers on “Mad Men” episodes so far this season, I see 7 female names: Cathryn Humphris, Dahvi Waller, Kater Gordon, Robin Veith, Maria Jacquemetton and Lisa Albert. I see 3 male names: Andre Jacquemetton, Andrew Colville, and Matthew Weiner. That doesn’t sound to me like a place with a “we don’t hire women” policy.
There are plenty of women. That is not the issue. They work mostly lower levels. Look at their titles. It’s not just about being hired to be a writer. It is at the level you are hired at that is a measure of experience and pay.
Matt hires a lot of women at LOWER LEVELS. I work as an assistant at an agency. Other shows hire far more experienced staffs. For more money. Mad Men doesn’t have a big budget but it is important to note lots of lower level hires.
Did you miss the part about Mad Men having a predominately female writing staff? So how could being female be the only ‘flaw’ and reason why these women didn’t get considered? Maybe because they’re your friends and the TOLD you that was the reason. We all need to consider how whenever any writer gets rejected, they make up a b.s. excuse rather than look hard at themselves or their writing. It’s my first knee-jerk, reaction, too. It’s impossible to see your personality and work objectively, so of course you want to find a reason that has nothing to do with either.
And there’s been many shows that feel they need to hire a woman for the staff position and won’t meet with any men. So the entry-level men can’t get meetings either.
It’s a shitty business.
If the show really did wish Kater well, they would not have given this story to Nikki on a Sunday morning, when it would be sure to get significant play.
The other commenters are right — it’s *not* a story. The writers’ room has wrapped for the season, and in coming months, some of this year’s staffers will be asked back, some won’t. Those decisions may not even happen until weeks or days before the room opens for Season 4.
I’ll go one step further — Matt Weiner could have killed this story in three seconds by either a) denying it or b) giving Nikki something even juicier to run with.
I have no love for Kater Gordon, who has gotten more than one of my friends fired as she climbed the ladder at “Mad Men,” but she doesn’t deserve this kind of public takedown. And Marti Noxon — aka the “prominent female writer” — doesn’t help things by saying Kater was a great writers’ assistant who deserved the break she got. Boy, that’s a vote of confidence — a great writers’ assistant, huh? Not, say, a great WRITER? Or even a promising writer? No? Hardworking maybe? No, I guess not.
This is bullshit and Kater doesn’t deserve it, regardless of what lead to her departure.
DebrO you got it 100% right. And if we all agree this is not a story, why did Weiner and Hornbacher choose to make it one on a Sunday morning when there’s no news and this would be the top and only new post all day long?
It is a good show. I do not care what kind of torture it takes to achieve this quality. Remember that SNL sketch with a pseudo-Coppola hitting the actress to get an Oscar-worthy performance out of her? This is not the Red Cross.
Weiner is no Coppola. Coppola never stooped so low as to use the public forum to systematically tear a collaborator apart. That’s the problem, and the great dysfunction here: this stuff may happen all the time in Hollywood and writers may get fired from rooms every season, but NO ONE TALKS ABOUT IT PUBLICLY.
She was a great writer’s assistant. Women love to take women down!!! Way to go.
‘She’s a great writers assistant and she may be successful is she wants.’ She got an Emmy, the woman giving an update didn’t get an Emmy. Clearly, she wants success. That’s why she would put up with working on that show. You’re acting like she wants to go run a cupcake stand. She’s a writer. If you want to send an update. Don’t minimize her achievements regardless of what you might think of them.
My theory is that she was fired for suggesting the show find a plot.
Mad Men is a case of Emperor’s New Clothes: it’s like watching ADD schoolchildren wander through a museum of the 60’s. 99% foreshadowing and 1% pay off.
“99% foreshadowing and 1% pay off.”–Kudos! That’s it exactly.
I do like the show, but to sound heretical, it’s not because of the writing. It’s the art direction, costumes, make-up, lighting, etc. It’s hypnotic, like a Hitchcock movie. Brilliant work that I believe wasn’t even fully credited at the Emmy Awards. There is some outstanding writing, but there’s also soap opera. This season in particular has too much soap. Everybody’s answer to their troubles is to sleep around. Don’s character is getting slimier and I never cared for his identity switch device. It really wasn’t necessary and makes him too remote. So, it could simply be that it was time to let in some fresh blood to maybe stir things up a bit and get it edgier.
WOW…famous writer pays some compliment: Kate was a FANTASTIC writer’s assitant! Hey MS. EGO this is a story not about a WA but a writer!! If you can’t pay her a compliment about her writing keep your trap shut.
Like someone saying about you….She was a fantastic waitress…She was a fantastic salesperson. Just can’t bring yourself to say writer can you?
Nice slam to a fellow sister…you are a selfish bitch who does NOT want another woman…one who won and Emmy to be your competition!!
Hag.
Whatever Matt’s doing is working for him. He has the best show on television, by my estimation, and I think he deserves props for promoting from within. Maybe those people don’t always last for the long haul. That’s show business. She was given a wonderful leg up and hopefully she’ll parlay it into something else that’s great.
So someone got fired. Big fucking deal. There are too many diction drops anyway on Mad Men. But when they get it right, it’s really glorious.
Well, “disgruntled viewer” is right and I have no clue about this particular situation.
But we all know about others–instances of people who to this day couldn’t compose a compelling thank you note yet who, by virtue of swimming in the suck-up mix, swiftly ended up staff writers on major shows, winning Emmys, banking large checks, selling crappy scripts, etc…
Hey, scrambling up ladders is a talent of sorts too, right?
Success for a writer in Hollywood is an unstable equation of talent, skill, timing, relationships, hustling, and luck.
However, while skill and talent have been conspicuously subtracted in some instances, could any other element be removed from the equation?
I don’t think so.
For writers with outsized talent but a principled (if self-inhibiting) aversion to the suck-up system (and, yes, sometimes “suck” applies literally), this is a discouraging reality. But I say take heart: a new strain that blossoms in someone else’s greenhouse will always be a vulnerable captive; only one that reaches maturity in nature can become a self-sustaining perennial.
Though odds are still that you’ll wither and die.
But f*ck it. Better to wither with honor than thrive as just another top-dollar bottom-talent ho… whoop that trick! Ha!
Hilarious. 99 percent of the comments made on this thread are by people who clearly have no idea what they’re talking about.
I especially liked the one about female writers not given a chance to work for Mad Men when the truth is you won’t find a writers room with more women in it.
Trying to find a good writer to work on a series is like trying to find a good brain surgeon. That’s how rare they are. And if and when things go wrong, the patient/show runner is FUCKED. His/her life that season is OVER. Goodbye family, goodbye weekends, goodbye everything. Instead of celebrating Christmas Eve with kith and kin, he/she is re-writing that night and he/she might well as well be in the hospital doing speech therapy or trying to relearn how to use the toilet, that’s how much fun it is.
Put this into your pronouncements, you of little knowledge.
But who said the show runner is a good writer themselves? A lot of not so great work comes from that position too.
He hires unexperienced writers to save money. Period. And that’s why this show sucks so badly. You know I’m right. This show is so overhyped, it’s painful. I try watching again and again, only to turn it off or fall asleep because the whole operation is so amateurish. It’s depressing that this is what passes for Emmy-winning drama these days and people are too stupid (or desperate to be entertained) that they can’t see that the emperor has no clothes. Television is damned. You watch…Mad Men–not reality shows–will be the final nail in the coffin. Time to surf the net instead, people.
R.J., just so you’re being honest here, what show do you consider to be the finest drama on television right now? Mad Men is sometimes way too mannered for its own good, but it’s hardly “amateurish”. Wait, let me guess, your favorite drama is CSI:Miami, right?
R.J., this is unintentionally hilarious. If you don’t like the show, fine: complain about the plots being tortured, the characters being opaque, the dialogue occasionally being stilted … but to call the show amateurish is simply ludicrous. It’s meticulously professional and stunningly well-directed. Each episode has a distinct character and mood — and often even a theme running across multiple, layered plot lines. I understand some people’s need to play the iconoclast on forums such as this, but people would take your shallow criticisms a lot more seriously if you’d post some examples to back up your inanities.
I know someone inside the show very very well. Here’s how it works. Matt works out the season with all the writers, pulling on their personal experiences for the heart and soul of the characters. The season is mapped out – writers are given scripts. The writers write the scripts. Then Matt throws out the scripts and does what he wants. He needs these people to contribute in the way that they do – they have a valuable point of view and he wouldn’t be able to do the show without them. But he created it. It’s his vision. And he writes the scripts. When people are fired it’s because they’ve run out of personal experiences to lend to the show. Next!
Word has it that not only did Weiner let Kater Gordon go, but he let his other former writer’s assistant-turned-staff writer, Robin Veith go too. Sounds like this is a “fire everyone in the room” kind of situation. It probably does not have anything to do with anyone’s talent or anything else.
Why are people talking shit about “The Fog?” I happen to think (as do more than a few critics) that it was one of the most fascinating episodes of the season. I don’t know these people, don’t really care about their show politics, but that ep was pretty solid.
i did notice some funny frigid air between them at the oscars, too. matt acted with so much contempt towards her and i wondered why. now that ive learned that she was a writer’s assistant whom he allowed to co-write the episode with him, that it was her first one and that it wasn’t even the best episode of the season, i can see why he treated her that way. the award was more for the writing consistently throughout the show not just one episode. and then to have to share the award with someone who just fetched him coffee weeks earlier and is a total newbie to the show which out of the kindness of his heart allowed her to co-write an episode and then have her hog the stage without due deference to him, id be a very mad man as well. at first i thought he was just an egomaniac but i can totally see why he’s been burning with anger and eventually fired her.
How come nobody talks about the tragic situation that is Robin Veith? She was hired by Matt to be his assistant and help him create the show. She then wrote episodes with him and was nominated for an Emmy, but he STILL WON’T MAKE HER A PRODUCER! She is still just a Story Editor this season — after being nominated for an Emmy! I used to love Matt Weiner, but I am growing deeply tired of his over-inflated ego!
“prominent female writer”??? Now I know it’s made up!
If it’s a woman writer, she is obviously riding on producer’s creative genius. After all, she’s a woman. She can’t have any talent on her own! What would the world be like if women had any talent? And what would happen to men’s egos if they actually knew women had talent?! Why, they might retreat into seclusion and fire any nearby woman who dares to infringe on sanctified ground…
This seasons writing is terrible.January Jones is just about a bad an actress as one could get.And they focus too much attention on her character.The office dynamics is where the real show is.And the actors are incredible.I have to TIVO the show so I can skip all the crazy January Jones bs.It should be more like the Sopranos where Tony was not the focus on every episode the way Don is.The office characters are so good their rolls should be expanded.You have dropped the ball on Joan’s character.Joan should mhave an office affair with Don.She has the smarts to guide him through the upcoming shark waters.
Yes-finally someone who wants to talk about the show instead of the politics of who’s writing which words. I totally agree that the show smokes when the focus is in the SC office. Whoever writes Roger’s dialogue is a quick witted genius. Who wouldn’t want to be able to think of the quips and put downs at just the right moment? There were so many story lines that just were not mined this season. The whole Roger/Mona divorce situation and the daughter’s wedding. The surgeon failure of Joan’s rapist hubby (just a short jump to wife beating with the surgeon failure as the trigger). Sal and his wife’s sexless marriage (and she’s such a cutie). And what about Ken-he’s hardly been seen this season. The resentment that would be natural against the British firm hammering down the expense accounts. There was just not enough SC drama this season. The whole Betty “affair” plot line was just lame.
As a showrunner it’s YOUR JOB to make sure scripts live up to the consensus of the writer’s room. That’s why they pay YOU a million plus a year — to get it done. Spare us the ‘whoa is me wrap’ and why you won’t be spending your holiday with your family. I’ve worked with enough of you to know that most of the time the draft that comes back out of your laptop isn’t better then what the rest of us did. And we your staff laugh and joke about it with the studio/network and cast.
Be a man — you’re filling time between detergent ads. Nobody’s gonna remember you’re dumb medical drama or cop show ten years from now. Stop comparing yourself to Pinter or Mamet.
And P.S.
All the back stabbing you try to do around town telling people your staff sucks… yeah, it’s caught up with you. Everyone knows you don’t have any ideas… oh and that lie about having to rewrite the theme song to your own show cause the major label band you hired “couldn’t get it done.” Yeah, we believe that one too…
Look, some showrunners let their writers actually write and have control over their script (not complete control, mind you, but enough to show they’re respected), and some showrunners only let the writer take a crack at the first draft to get things going and then they are not allowed to touch it again, and the final revised shooting script has barely any resemblance to the original draft, sans that writer’s name on it. It’s the nature of the beast. And it’s up to that creator/showrunner to decide how things will be. But it’s their show, they’re running the ship, and when it comes down to it, it’s their vision. End of story. I’m not saying I agree with it — but as a low-level player in this biz who watches what goes on in the writers room as a fly on the wall, I understand the way things work… for better or for worse.
Here’s what nobody is saying on this thread: a vast amount of the “talented, experienced” writers out there — the same writers some posters are excoriating Weiner for his failure to hire — might be experienced but they sure as hell aren’t talented. Not nearly as talented as Weiner, anyway. Say what you want about his behavior (and I have heard plenty of first-hand anecdotes about the guy), but he’s got talent to burn. I don’t work for him and I doubt I’d want to, but I’m glad he exists.
And if these “talented, experienced” writers are just going to end up being rewritten by Wiener anyway, then why the hell would he bring them in and pay their overinflated quotes just so they could sit there miserable that they aren’t actually writing anything? Furthermore, why is he being vilified for not bringing in writers who might “test” him or “disagree” with him? IT IS HIS SHOW! He hires whomever he feels most comfortable around, and his comfort level correlates directly with his creative process. He is obviously one of the more brutally insecure people in this business (see the Vanity Fair article where he relates the anecdote about his parents never congratulating him for his show) and that insecurity is what makes his writing and that show great. He surrounds himself with women not to bully them, but because they offer him a more comfortable environment in which to run his show. It’s the most logical answer, and, therefore, probably the best.
As for Gordon… who cares? If you have worked in TV you know how the assistant stuff works. She hit the lottery being on that show and winning that Emmy, and she will continue to work, so I don’t think anybody needs to worry about her. I agree that the “anonymous woman” who wrote in to Nikki calling Gordon a “great writer’s assistant” was ABSOLUTELY lobbing a bomb in Gordon’s direction. Robin Veith started as Weiner’s assistant, and she’s still there on staff.
Slow Monday, sorry for the overanalysis.
Robin’s out, too.
Robin is not coming back to Mad Men according to this update.
I have a friend who is was a first-time show-runner on a now hit-series entering its 3rd season; in the first season, the network forced writers on him…very “seasoned, experienced” writers, and they were terrible. 2 out of 4 did not complete their writing assignments, and he had to re-write their scripts. He earned the right to fire them all after the first season, and brought in writers he trusted. But still, the show is HIS vision…if you’re a writer, imagine another writer trying to write something that has come from your DNA…and routinely re-writes their scripts, not because he’s mean or venal, but because he has a VISION for the show that is very difficult for other writers to capture. Maybe it’s easier on a police procedural…Mad Men is the best show on television, if you think “nothing happens,” then you’re not paying attention and you don’t understand sub-text. Do agree, though, that JJ is the weakest link.
If by writers assistants “serving an important part of the writing process” you mean sitting there, mouths shut, basically taking dictation than yeah, um, right.
Why does everyone on this site (and by proxy Defamer who’s so desperate for content they republished comments from this website in an article) keep calling Weiner an “inflated egomaniac”?
Excuse me, but he ROUTINELY promoted writers assistants to staff writing positions! Hello! He can’t have that big of an ego.
In this town, those gigs are hard to come by, let alone on an Emmy-winning show, no matter who you blow or not!
Big difference between writer’s assistant and writers’ assistant, btw…
the show is unwatchable. At just over 38 minutes or so, most of your time will be spent watching endless commercials. The show move at such a slow glacial pace where just about absolutely nothing happens. There is so little content and we are endlessly dragged along while everything is strung out
This show and it’s creative team absolutely takes itself way too seriously. They are way to high on their own supply. Please don’t tell me that the won and Emmy. Big deal.
Mad Men and Matt Weiner get over yourself.
what’s sad is that this many people give a shit about this at all( including me,since I somehow ended up here!)It’s Hollywood…who cares???
Every series is the vision of the showrunner period. Many writers on staff fail to realize this until very late in the game. Their job is to support that vision. In the case of the fired staff writer, winning an Emmy on a script in which you are sharing the writers credit is a gift and a curse. A gift, if that inexperienced writer humbles themselves and continues to reap the rewards of being that “Emmy Award Winning Writer”. A curse, if this same inexperienced writer now wants to take more credit for the episode which she/he probably needed more help with to break than they would admit. There has been plenty of times when entire story plots and outlines are already completed BEFORE given to a staff writer to “type”. Here’s where the curse really matters… “the writers room”… this newly anointed scribe may actually feel that they are now the “voice” of the show. They may feel that their opinion should be listened to more than others… even the showrunner!… It is at this juncture that creative teams must part. It is time for the young inexperienced writer to spread her wings… elsewhere!
Yes of course suspicion falls on young, pretty women with no previous writing experience who have not followed apprenticeship (working on soaps, educational films, indie movies, etc) and leverage personal relationships with powerful writer-producers into careers. After Letterman, that’s the case. Young female writers can whine or deal with the fall-out. PC hectoring won’t change anyone’s minds. Solid production will. Talent and discipline speak for itself.
The Letterman comparisons ARE appropriate. Gordon was hired as a writer’s assistant based on her role as Weiner’s personal assistant. This was touted in article after article on Mad Men, presumably by Weiner or Gordon themselves since I saw it literally everywhere. Nothing may have happened. But post-Letterman, it just looks bad. This may have been a mutual move.
The writing (despite the awards) on Mad Men is pretty lame. Male characters are cardboard cads, and the women soap opera beautiful victims. Audiences have largely tuned out despite massive buzz. Mad Men gets around 1.7 million viewers for non-Premier episodes. By way of comparison, that’s less than Bravo’s “Top Chef” or “Real Housewives of Atlanta.”
Commenter Moe is right. The art direction is superb. Brilliant and what exists of the show’s appeal.
It doesn’t matter just what the parameters of Gordon’s relationship with Weiner was, the whole business is emblematic of a show that’s about 11 on the hype meter and B-O-R-I-N-G. Eskimos in Yellowknife know about this show, and it cannot pull an audience, beyond Santa Monica, the Upper East Side, Venice, and the Village. It’s television, the supposed realm of the mass audience. Crummy reality shows probably are more entertaining and enjoyable.
Unbelievable how many posters think Kater was given a raw deal. No spec material and she gets co-credit on an Emmy-winning episode of television?? Many writers assistants work years on shows and never get to write a story, let alone get hired onto the staff. Anyone who thinks she got hosed needs to scroll up… TO THE PICTURE OF HER HOLDING A #$@#@*! EMMY. Yeah, shame on Weiner.
Apparently, Weiner would sit at the Sopranos and go huh huh huh and haw haw haw to every fucking thing that came out of David Chase’s mouth. Well, people who kiss ass tend to later on be the most susceptible to other people kissing their ass. A rising tide should carry all boats, and yet Weiner revealed his character when rather than sharing in the success of the show with his staff, he got rid of the whole staff after the first year. Classy, no? Then in season 2, he got rid of half the staff halfway through the season.
The real problem is putting your names on all the scripts. Here’s the deal: you’re an EP, you’re getting paid a great deal of money. Everyone knows it’s your show. Everyone knows it’s your voice, your vision in the end. Don’t fucking be grubby and put your name on every episode so that you can just be nominated for more Emmys (since the Emmys only allow you to be nominated once for any episode you’ve written by yourself, but you can be nominated multiple times if you wrote it as a different permutation of a team), especially because every time Matt Weiner puts his name on an episode for shared credit — or “co-writes it” — he takes half the episode writing fee out of a writer’s pocket. Now, for cable, that’s $10,000, not including a lifetime of residuals for that episode — which might not mean a lot to Weiner, but you better believe that means a lot to a story editor or co-producer.
Matt, we know it’s your show, we know it’s your vision. EPs are paid what they’re paid for that, and re-writing people is part of the EP job. How about for the fourth season, you let other writers have full credits on episodes they’re writing of your show? One of the best things about Tina Fey is that she doesn’t go slapping her name on people’s episodes — and this year, all the 30 Rock Emmy nominated episodes went to writers other than her, so she let other people share the glory. Classy.
Big Pussy has said it the best of anyone. Copy his message and repeat it ten times.
Matt does not have to put his name on everything. Tina doesn’t. I have run two shows and never done it. It takes away residuals and pensions payments for that writer. Matt gets paid a fortune to RUN the show. He gets created by and EP money and a shit load of dough when it sells again. He gets a piece of all the marketing. To put his name on every script he touches is despicable.
Taking food out of peoples mouths is not cool.
Huh? Kater Gordon got an amazing break and will get another job out of it. Nikki, I’m surprised that in your post you made it seem as though her break were unusual or suspect. When I was starting out in LA, I knew 4 staff writers, on Lost, Sex and the City, Grey’s Anatomy, and Arrested Development. Three of the four were promoted from writer’s assistants. It’s not weird. It’s how you get a job.
Rumor is, Weiner slaps other writer’s names on HIS episodes. He writes every word himself & micromanages Mad Men from the characters’ psychological arcs to their dialogue to the size of prop fruit.
Also, people say Veith was the Peggy muse from the beginning – Weiner developed the Peggy character by watching Veith & using her input while writing the pilot. She’s been there from day one. Robin Veith = Peggy
So the big question now is, what will happen with Peggy?
Why do Madmen and 30 Rock win Emmys when they are both lame and low-rated?
Because consumers don’t vote on the Emmys. Insiders do. And we are so self-indulgent that we can only relate to what we live each day.
This is clear in the case of 30 Rock.
With Mad Men it takes some thought but this article and the show illuminate.
Just like the show and the writing staff Hollywood is an old boys club where blacks are not wanted and women are cast in subservient roles and exploited.
To the people here who are dogging Matt Weiner, I say:
Don’t hate the player.
Hate the game.
Even though he promoted her to staff writer, maybe Weiner never saw Kater as anything more than an assistant, which sucks if that’s the case. And if that is the case, (and I really hope it’s not), well, at least she got a year’s experience as a staff writer. Who knows? I realize that many showrunners do promote their writers assistants, who do go on to upper-level staff positions, but there are plenty of showrunners who will toss a script at the writers assistant in order to satisfy WGA obligations of giving a script to a non-staff member, but have no intention of promoting the assistant to a staff writing position. That was my experience, and I thought maybe the showrunners hated me, but they didn’t promote the other writers assistant either, whom I knew they liked quite a bit. But again, who knows. Maybe we were just bad writers. I stopped taking writers’ assistant gigs after I got my second script (I had four specs already at that time), because I’ve seen serial writer assistant scenarios they get a script on each series they work on, but never the promotion, and I think eventually that raises some flags. Foolish, dumb? Maybe. Am I currently working in TV? No. It’s a frustrating industry, but thankfully there are other avenues for writing. Often with less notes.
What Robin Veith should have said is “Free at last, free at last, thank you Weiner, free at last!”
First the Iranian nuclear weapons program and the massacre of protesters in Tehran and now this.
He rewrites episodes and then “slaps” writers’ names on them? Oh, wow, what generosity! Seriously, what a pig. I’m a showrunner too, I’ve rewritten many, many scripts, sometimes every single word — and have NEVER and would NEVER insert my name into a script that was assigned to one of my staff. It’s a disgusting thing to do. It’s his JOB to rewrite his staff when necessary. That’s what being a showrunner is.
Matt puts his name on every script. It’s considered bad form for a showrunner to do that, even if you’re drastically rewriting. You’re the EP, you get all the credit anyway, and lots of money. Adding your name to the script takes money away from lower level writers.
A writer who used to be on the show told me Matt sees himself as Don Draper. Listen to Draper chewing out Peggy (and the rest of his staff) and you can hear the way Matt thinks of his writers.
It amazes me how far people can stretch a story. You guys are trying so hard to make a controversy out of this. As if any of you know anything about what goes on in the writing room.
It’s not the quantity of words that count, it’s the quality. Someone forgot that.
Please,
What a heroic show runner you are. I’ve done that job too, but I’m not the man or woman you are. After doing rewrites on staff writers during a few too many of my childrens ‘ birthday parties or on one too many a New Years Eve, I finally succumbed — a couple of times– to anger over the laziness or cluelessness (after months or even years of explanation and discussion in the writers room) on exhibit in the drafts and I put in for credit. May I rot in hell. May my huge swinish villa in Bel Air come crashing down on my head in the next earthquake. I feel so bad after reading your post.
The comments in this thread make this URL right here absolutely the bitterest and most depressing place in the world – this is about the lowest the Internet can stoop, I think. Sick people overwhelm medical sites with self-pity and self-loathing, bitterness and anger, and misinformation, but at least they are sick. Why would people so angry and out of touch be so bitter about an industry they are clearly not much a part of? Why would people spend this much time talking smack about a “terrible” show that they hate. It’s sad, and maybe I’m wrong that some of the commenters here aren’t sick. All I can say is based on the seething, judgmental, addled posts here, I have no trouble seeing why some of you can’t get writing jobs.
I can’t agree with Wow about anger and bitterness. It really upsets me when somebody doesn’t use the word “bitchslap”. Especially Terry Gross. That’s her formula and I’m a TV person and people break formula at their own peril. No one ever gets just slapped on this sight, they get “bitchslapped”. Some of the posters must be females like Terry herself, and if one of them was actually bitchslapped they might not like it so much and use the term less loosely. On the other hand I or someone else coulld probably be persuaded to show them first hand (no pun intended) a bitchslap so they could fulfill the old dictum, write about what you know about.