Did anyone notice . . .

. . . that childish Peter was chuckling at “Davey and Goliath” with his bowl of cereal in last week’s “Mad Men?” Is that what drove him to prey (ha! punny) on that poor German au pair?

Butler and I used to watch this every Sunday morning . . . just after “Jubilee!” if I remember correctly.

Betty’s been into the Lileks again! Most likely that gallery of regrettable food

Amaze picky eaters with wiggling vegetables!
A mother’s dilemma: how to get them to eat their vegetables? Bury veggies in jello! Behold the astonishment when you approach the table with a delectable platter of wiggling peas, corn and carrots! — Betty Draper’s online diary

If you have never wasted pointless hours marveling in James Lileks’ fun house, by all means do start now.

BTW . . . does anyone have episodes 1-3 of season 2 that Dick and I can borrow? We can’t wait until mid-July when it comes out on DVD. Must catch up now before season 3 starts.

Ready for Mad Men season 2

I love being addicted to a TV show.

Yes, you heard me right.  That next-episode anticipation can’t be beat. Being able to carry on a water-cooler conversation about a TV show is a big bonus.

For me, it started in the early ’80s with Hill Street Blues every Thursday, and progressed to my unspeakable addiction to Twin Peaks. Of course nothing will ever be better than The Wire. I have been enjoying Dexter with my sister, but the older I get the harder it is for me to get past the first episode without wanting to turn it off. I tried Boston Legal, for example, where the women attorneys dress like prostitutes, and the John Adams miniseries, which drove me to go rearrange my sock drawer.

But now Dick and I have finished season 1 of Mad Men and I’m ready for more. This is not poetry. This is not The Wire. But there are a lot of really good things about it. The clothes, the hair and the interiors, to mention three big ones. 

Really, what's not perfect about this? knotty pine, harvest gold, Playtex Living Gloves. I want shelves like this by *my* kitchen window.

I like the way the show positions us, in 1960, on the cusp between the upstanding 50s and the liberated 60s.  It’s one of the many things Mad Men does to put us a little on edge, the biggest being that frighteningly catchy theme music. Stradding the decade makes it perfect timing for perfect Betty to assert her own needs, for Peggy to pioneer a career path, for the wives in the ‘hood to get over their shock at the divorcee down the street.

Betty’s couch sessions with the creepy shrink remind us that Modern psychology is behind Madison Avenue’s methods of selling happiness. In fact, that unattainable perfect happiness the ads are selling is a big  part of the characters’ unhappiness.

So what’s the easiest way to get my hands on season 2? Go ahead and chuckle that I’m behind by a whole season. Maybe we’ll catch up before 3 starts.

Mad Men

  

Are you a Betty or a Joanie?

Dick and I will be making our way this evening through disc 3 of season 1 of Mad Men. It ain’t The Wire, but it’s worth watching. Love the clothes (especially Betty’s) and the way the men look. And the offices, of course. Best of all is the food and beverage. Fish sticks and Veg-All tonight, kiddies!