I hadn't expected to change the blog logo so soon -- or to use this specific one -- but today AMC announced the "Mad Men" season three premiere date as August 16 at 10 (with limited commercial interruption for the premiere), so I couldn't help myself.For those wondering when there would be a season two marathon, it'll be on August 10 starting at 7 a.m.
Excellent news about the marathon - we got hooked on the show through Netflix and have been eagerly awaiting the chance to catch up on season 2. Thanks for the news!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for the new season!
ReplyDeleteThe countdown begins!
ReplyDeleteAlan - Any chance you'll be interviewing Matthew Weiner during the Mad Men publicity before 8/16? If so, would you ask him for a "cultural reading list" of sorts for season 3? For example, before season one, I would have loved to prepare by reading Exodus and seeing The Apartment; last season, I would have read Meditations in an Emergency and seen La Notte beforehand. I know he's tight-lipped about plot, but this is more of a request for cultural reference.
That is a very good idea, LA, and if I talk to Weiner in advance of the season, that'll be sure to be on the list. I may not talk to him, though, seeing as his spoiler-phobia makes him better suited for an end of season post-mortem thingee.
ReplyDeleteEXCELLENT - hey Alan, I got my wife into it halfway thru last season. Will there be another season 1 marathon or do I need start getting her the DVDs?
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Whoo! I miss Mad Men. I was just reading your 30 Rock posts on the episodes with Jon Hamm and it made me miss Mad Men even more!
ReplyDeleteLOVE the banner.
ReplyDeleteYay yay yay.
Bryan, I believe season one is available On Demand starting today, and season two will be On Demand starting July 20.
ReplyDeleteBoy, if he changes the logo with only the announcement of a premiere date, imagine what he'll do when the show actually starts, like, airing. Will he make a Mad Men image a background for the entire blog? Will he temporarily change the name of the blog to "Alan's Watching Mad Men, Stupid!"?
ReplyDeleteI had a bunch of themed blog logos ready to rotate in -- some devoted to a single show, some (like the one I was using for the last week) with people from different series. The Mad Men announcement seemed a good excuse to use the pre-made Mad Men logo.
ReplyDeleteWhen the show actually premieres? Hmmm... Maybe I'll get a silhouette of Joan tattooed to my forehead.
That's funny, because I was just going to suggest that you make the logo all Christina Hendricks, all the time.
ReplyDeleteOh, and hooray for Mad Men! True Blood is fun summer fare, but Mad Men is the real deal. I cannot wait to experience another season of greatness that still manages to be inexplicable. It's great because of the writing and performances and set design and the rest, but I've never been able to sell it to anyone with more than, "Just watch, you'll see."
This, then, is as good a time as any to plead any DirecTv people out there to get off their a$$es and start broadcasting AMC in HD.
ReplyDeleteTL, truer words were never spoken! I'll send an email to Directv today.
ReplyDeleteAmen on the DirecTV plea!
ReplyDeleteJust watched Season 1 on Blu-Ray (Season 2 available next month) and I'm hooked. Not looking forward to watching in standard def when Season 3 starts though.
I love D*, but this is the only channel I watch that it doesn't have available in HD.
And after watching Mad Men I have reached the conclusion that I was born in the wrong era. (Sorry ladies!) :)
too cool for words. Need to get the VCR (yes I'm still using that outdated technology)lined out for season 3 of MM. Thanks Alan!
ReplyDeleteAlan, get the Joan tattoo on your arm so you can see it whenever you want, and make it dance like on Pete & Pete.
ReplyDeleteThank goodness! I am so ready for some decent TV!
ReplyDeleteI hate to be a drag, but what is it about Mad Men that has everyone so crazy about it? My wife and I gave it a real shot, and we both came away completely unimpressed. Frankly, we both found it boring. Many of my favorite shows (e.g. The Wire) are the same Alan discusses here, which is why I read the site, but this one has puzzled me for a while. What am I missing?
ReplyDeleteA couple of random points:
ReplyDeleteAlan, thanks for the heads up that S2 is available On Demand today. I just got done watching AMC's re-run week by week, which feels painfully slow next to the chance to "marathon it."
However, as a Comcast subscriber I noticed that Ep. 3 is missing from On Demand. (??!!) This ep has some interesting plot points--they wouldn't exactly ruin the rest of the series. But every ep has something important. Maybe people paying for this feature contact their cable company and ask them about this (if it extends beyond Comcast). Anyway....I just thought that was a pain in the ass considering how much each ep builds on the next.
And as a personal note, I'm glad that you have several banners availble throughout the summer. This announcement seemed like a great opportunity to pull out a MM banner. But I hope you'll go back to the summer banner soon: that image of Tony Soprano reading the Star Ledger is just TOO RIGHT.
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ReplyDeleteTo the Anonymous who didn't like MM, all I can say is that the Husband and I watched the first episode when it was broadcast, if I remember right, and were so put off by the sexism and by Vincent Kartheiser (bad taste of Connor still in our mouths) that we didn't watch any more. Then I heard an interview with Weiner on NPR a couple of times and the way he talked about the show made me give it a second chance, and for some reason the second time was the charm - I still find the sexism (and racism and anti-Semitism...) hard to handle, but in the context of the time period it's exactly right - as are all the other details, best I can tell (I was born in 1962, so I don't remember most of what is shown first-hand - but some of it, yes, it stuck around...). If you found it boring, I can't say you wouldn't continue to find it so if you gave it another chance - but as for us, we were sucked way, way in, and can't wait to see what has happened to the characters in seasons 2 and 3.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - I suspect the pacing of this show is the issue for you. Mad Men is character-driven more than it is plot-driven. I'd say for someone to really enjoy this show, they have to have a full appreciation of character (and style) over plot. Rest assured, a story IS there, but it is fleshed out at an extremely leisurely pace. For viewers who like resolution at the end of an episode, this may not be the show for them.
ReplyDeleteJust my 2 cents.
CH is not just a goddess but THE goddess. Jolie should lie down and bark at her feet. She's amazing.
ReplyDeleteI miss this show so much all the time. I love it. In my top 10 of all time.
Why can't Don and Joan hook up this season?
LA: Why don't you dive into ATLAS SHRUGGED from the first season? That'll keep you busy til Xmas, my friendo. Strangely enough, when I first started watching the show in the very beginning of S1, I felt like it was very Randian and I told friends things about it reminded me, especially of AS and, lo and behold, Bert Cooper tells Don to buy a copy of the book with his bonus check.
Yay for the return of Mad Men. I can't wait. Per Netflix, the S2 DVDs should be out in July. I hope to have a chance to rewatch before the start of S3.
ReplyDeleteYes, CH is truly a goddess and all (I hope S3 finds her rid of that horrid fiance), but EM also looks terrific in that dress in the picture. I'm glad she's getting defrumpified.
It's nice to see Pete up there, and kind of surprising too.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait til August!
Do you know if it will be available on itunes (the way I watched breaking bad) or streaming on their site? Fingers crossed
ReplyDeleteYeah, its sort of weird the way Comcast has it. On the HD menu, Ep. 6 is missing, but on the standard definition menu, Ep. 3 is missing. I guess I'll just have to watch the one episode in plain old 480 unless Comcast fixes the glitch.
ReplyDeleteI have Comcast, and the order is all messed up. I wanted to watch the Nixon/Kennedy episode, only it gave me the episode before that, "Indian Summer." So I tried "Indian Summer," hoping it would be the one I wanted, and it was an earlier episode. Yet the finale was still the finale.
ReplyDeleteTime to find my DVDs, I guess.
Season 1 is going up on-demand? Perfect timing! Finished the AMC repeat of Season 2 two weeks ago, and all it did was get me thinking about the earlier episodes again.
ReplyDeleteOh, I just can't wait until August 16th. What is it about this show, and these characters? I'm with other commenters who express this strange inability to explain the appeal... but I still want to shout it from the rooftops. Watch Mad Men!
Was rewatching some of season 1, I have a question. Who is the suicide that sends the shoebox to Don? Is it his half brother perhaps? The little boy from the train station?
ReplyDelete