Mad Men - Season 4

I can't wait.
Amc has the 2 best dramas on Tv right now (Treme and Boardwalk Empire might challenge that soon though).

I'll miss Sal, but hopefully he can guest star down the line.

Well done, sir.

Can't wait to see what direction they go in after that last incredible finale.

Wonder if they take the show all the way to 67-68. Summer of Love and/or the election of Nixon would be ideal thematic endpoints.

Or it could end with Don looking for Sally at Woodstock, having his life changed by Hendrix, and opening a health food store in California.

Well, Weiner has said it won't go beyond six seasons, so there's some time to get to 1970*. I really hope we get a full season just in '68, though. And although the focus is more on women as opposed to gays or blacks in terms of equal rights, I'd love to see Sal's journey through that time period as well.

Woodstock would be cool, but I'm one of those guys who is sick of Woodstock and thinks that the sixties were already "dead" by then. I think cults/Manson/Weather Underground stuff is where Sally is headed (a la American Pastoral). Would be funny if she found Jesus, though.

Still need to get caught up on Season Three! Still my favorite show ever (yes, even over West Wing).

*Although it would be interesting to see a Six Feet Under style ending where we follow the characters through to close to the present day (as Weiner has suggested that Don would still be alive).

Well, that junks my "clever" so-obvious-no-one-suspected-it ending for the show: a live action version of the intro, with Don jumping out the window to his death.

This show has a lot of things that make it incredible, but I've never watched it for it's depictions of important cultural milestones. I think those tend to take a backseat to the characters, which is a VERY good move. The fact that Season 3 didn't end with JFK's assassination is a remarkable testament to the writers commitment to not let the series get hijacked by history.

That being said, I hope the series ends with a real snappy and hip montage of every event listed on this page and various characters reactions to them.

I've had that idea as well. I'd be fine with that ending. An older Don is listening to some banal sales pitch to Colgate when he just decides to make a run for the glass window. As he falls in slow motion we hear the Mad Men theme kick in.

I think that's why Season 2 is my favorite so far, in that nothing really major happened until the end of the year (although I do enjoy the Marilyn episode). I completely agree with Patrick, though.

Just finished S3. Goddamn, I cannot wait for this next season. Rewatching S1E1 right now.

Yeah, I'm of the same theory. That quick cut of her wiping the blood off her face last season says to me they intend to take her down some dark alleys.

People have always projected a doomed ending for Sally for some reason and I find that really strange. First, she was going to be a hippie that ends up dead in the Kent State shootings (lame), now she's going to be a member of the Manson family? That's even lamer! How about she just grows up and becomes a well adjusted young woman despite her fucked up upbringing? Or, she becomes a baby boomer. Or something else that's not so sensationalistic (and totally atypical of this nuanced show).

I've only ever got to like the 3rd ep of Season 1.

Time to rack up the Blu's in the Netflix queue and catch up by July.

Not sure what kinda cable you have, but Comcast has season 3 on demand right now so people can catch up before the season 4 premier.

I agree. Sally isn't Jenny from Forrest Gump.

I enjoyed the setup of the new ad agency so much that I wouldn't mind if next season didn't have a big jump or if the jump happened mid-season. I'd love watching Don and Roger schmoozing their way through New York picking up clients.

Each season spans about a year or so, so I imagine the first few episodes would feature them doing just that.

I have no cable. Coming up on a decade without it.

This show is so beautifully shot, I really want to just dive in on Blu since it's the best quality.

Don't get me wrong. I love 'reverse engineering' the show and figuring how everyone wound up where they did after a time jump. It's just that the last episode was so damn charming that I wouldn't mind if the show would stay in that state for a little longer.

Just talking about this makes me want to go watch the last couple of episodes right away.

To be fair, I don't think she's joining the Mansons. But they've shown her drinking, smoking, and getting in fights since the beginning. Add to that the already antagonistic relationship she has with her mother, the disappointment she's faced with her father, the fact that she's now a child of divorce in an era where the stigma to that is still high, the coming turbulence of the decade and I think you're going to find that she's not gonna have an easy go of it.

They've also shown the character to be intelligent, and have a slight rebellious streak, which is why I don't think it's impossible she gets into some political activism.

But it's things like that weird shot of her wiping the blood off her face, as well as the show's ability to go dark at times (the lawnmower scene) and sensationalist at others (Peggy's unknown pregnancy), and a stated influence by writers like Phillip Roth (American Pastoral), and Weiner having come from the Sopranos, that makes me think she has a different fate than just being a future character in The Big Chill.

ETA: I'm thinking political activism and drug addiction, personally. There's no way they move into through sixties without addressing drugs, adn it would give Don something to reflect on, via his own alcoholism and wahtnot.

Yeah, since I'm the guy pointing out the Roth connection (which had to be pointed out to me in turn), I want to say that I trust the show to be a lot more nuanced than a surface "she joins a cult" storyline. There's a big difference between how Roth treats it -- especially since American Pastoral has a lot to do with the character's actions on her parents -- and Jenny from Gump.

Bump.

I wasn't terribly hot on Season two of the show, but my gal and I watched S3 together and then she wanted to go back and watch the other two so I've almost finished re-watching the whole show.

Season one held up just like I expected it would. I still think it's the best season. I can't think of a weak episode and some of the earlier ones are particularly pitch perfect.

But season two is much better than I remember. There are still some side plots and story lines that don't do the show any favors (like Peggy and the Priest: I understand why it's important for her as a character, but I think the way it is handled meanders and could use more storytelling economy) but the amazing thing is how much better the second season plays after viewing the third. I'm not saying they had everything planned out in some super-uber plot-construction kind of way. But man, do they know their characters, through and through. The decisions they start to make in their minds and the situations they get themselves in and out of pay off in season three in huge ways.

This show is so smart and so beautiful constructed. I can barely wait for the 25th of July.

Season 4 poster, bitches.

http://ausiellofiles.ew.com/2010/06/...n-4-poster/#mb

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I CAN'T WAIT I'M SO EXCITED

Just one more month until we can be awash with sweet, smart and stylish dysfunction. I can't wait.

So is that Don's brand new office in the upstart company's space before they move in . . . or is the single phone all Don has left?

I get the feeling they're going to jump long, and add a black cast member or two to deal with the Civil Rights era theme. In particular, I think a black character will replace Sal.

I really want to see Sal return (and I'm not satisfied at all with the writers' explanation for his departure), but I'm intrigued with the possibility of a black ad man at SCDP.

Btw, will we see the return of Kinsey and Cosgrove?

I want that poster.

I still like the Season One posters they did best, but that's a close third to Season Two.

I think a jump to '65 or '66 is where we'll wind up this year.

Finally, I proposed this last year but anyone interested in doing a rewatch in the lead up to the fourth season?

Sure, why not?

Allow me to add some love for the season three poster.

this was an obligatory post for future historians researching the reception of the show that yes we loved all the posters. also, sorry for your world being a post global warming scorched earth wasteland

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...ese-new-pics/1

Pictures!

What happened to Peggy?

Cool, right when I'm trying to quit smoking again. Fuck me.

EDIT: I think she got her hair did, Tati.

Peggy looks quite a bit older.

Yes but the rest of the cast doesn't.
First i thought "huge time jump" but that can't be.

I think the women will have more drastic changes in appearance than the men. Women keep up with the current fashions more so than men so I wouldn't expect to see Don or the other guys to be sporting sideburns and loud ties any time soon.

Peggy is rocking the Jackie Onassis look. All she's missing are the sunglasses.

The look of the show should start to be interesting, since this season will probably start at a time when fashion, cars, and other things were clashing between the styles of the '50s and '60s. The Kennedy years were essentially a continuation of the '50s. I can't wait to hear Don complain about "damn hippies."

So I'm going to rent the first 3 seasons on DVD so I can catch up...having heard only amazing things about this show, but having never actually watched it before.

Damn...how did I not watch this show before now! This show is incredible!

Where you at right now?

I don't remember the windows in his old office being that high.

I'm at episode 9 of the first season.