A Semi-Recap of "Mad Men"

I learned something very important this year. If you are going to write a humor blog which has a weekly recap of a television show, make sure that show is one people actually watch, like 24.

Last year, I toiled over a weekly recap of Mad Men, which is the best television show about people that smoke ever in the history of the universe. To be honest, I probably should have won a Pulitzer, or at least a Noble prize for these brilliant pieces of comic blog-dom.

This year, I hate to announce, I will not do a weekly recap of Mad Men, unless of course, somebody wants to pony up some cash, then that’s another matter. However, since the premiere was last Sunday night, I am compelled to bring people up to speed about this show.

Mad Men is about a group of advertising executives that smoke and drink a lot. The main character is Don Draper who is a sexy suave identity thief who is married to the hot but clearly insane Betty Draper. Don’s secretary was Peggy, a nice Catholic girl who beds down men named “Duck” and had the slimy Pete Campbell’s baby. They all worked at Sterling-Cooper. Roger Sterling is a rich wiseacre while Bert Cooper is a simply an old man. That is until last year.

Last year (1963), Sterling-Cooper was owned by a British firm that clearly had no idea what advertising was. Before this firm could sell Sterling-Cooper out, Don and the guys broke out and created their own firm, Sterling, Cooper, Draper and Pryce.

Meanwhile, Betty found out of Don’s real identity and divorced him to marry an aide to Gov. Nelson Rockefeller. This gentleman is willing to take on Betty, who is smoking hot while also loony as a Betsy bug and her kids: Sally, Bobby and Baby Gene.

That’s where we are at now: 1964.

Don has an interview with a one legged reporter from Advertising Age. The reporter decides to do what most people think the media does: writes whatever they feel like. The article comes out and make Don seem like a, um, not a nice man. This causes SCDP to lose a big account because Draper does not mention professional Jai Alai which causes them to pull out, leaving American Tobacco as 71% of their billings.

We see the new digs. It is brighter than the old place, but looks definitely smaller. Not as many people milling about. There is a new guy who does the old “John-Marsha” routine with Peggy who has a new hairdo and a spunky new attitude.

Pete, Peggy and the New Guy work on the boring subplot about a stunt to get a client’s name in the newspaper. Pete actually seems like he is working instead of sitting around wondering when the money is going to fall on top of him.

Roger is still his witty self. He sets Don up with a date with this girl he says looks like “Virginia Mayo”, which she didn’t. She sort of looked like a skinny Brenda Carlisle to me. Don appears to like her, but he just barely gets to first base with her.

Meanwhile, Don has to pay for his action now. He has a prostitute over for Thanksgiving and it was pretty graphic for basic cable. He should have gotten his money back, in my opinion.

While Don is doing the Hudson Hula in his apartment, Betty is meeting her new family for Thanksgiving. Since Don didn’t have a family, this is the first time Betty’s had to share Thanksgiving with another tribe besides her own. Of course, Sally, whose next family will probably be the Manson’s, shows out by not eating her food. Betty does her famous Betty parenting technique by trying to stuff sweet potatoes down Sally’s throat. Sally reacts by throwing up on the plate. What a way to impress the new family!

The client subplot has a bathing suit company coming in for a pitch but they do not sell bikinis and want to make sure everyone understands that they are a family company. Of course, in New York this means they make fun of you and Don ends up yelling at his customers because he didn’t give them what they wanted.

The show ends with Don doing another interview, this time with The Wall Street Journal and fades out with a hit song from the era that really doesn’t fit “Tobacco Road”, but it sounded pretty cool. By the way, it is 1964 and nobody mentioned The Beatles, Barry Goldwater, or Jim Brown.