Shut Up It's On

Mad Men: The Rejected

Liz — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 23:19:19 +0000

It is about time we had a non-Don centric episode. We know virtually nothing of Pete and Trudy in this season and Peggy has had no concrete part this season besides that awful publicity stunt they pulled. Shall we dive deeper?

Just to show in a comedic light how strapped this company is for cash, Lucky Strike’s Lee calls to basically tell Roger and Don that he knows his money isn’t going just to Lucky Strike. They need money and the guarantee of a few million from Pond’s is needed, at Pete’s expense. Clearasil has to go and Pete had to bend over backwards to get his father-in-law to agree to the agency switch so, he is pissed.

When Pete goes to meet Tom for drinks he tries to prolong the news as much as possible but Tom strikes him with some information of his own. Trudy is pregnant! Pete is so overwhelmed by the surprise that he can’t even fathom speaking of the agency drop. When Pete gets home, he’s not even mad at Trudy for hiding it, just happy it’s happening. Trudy offers to be the one to tell her father but Pete declines, he can deliver this message on his own.

When Peggy leaves the office she greets a woman in the elevator and they talk of nude photographs. That’s my icebreaker too, you know. This lady, Joyce, continues to hit on Peggy and then checks her out as she walks out of the elevator. Do I smell a crazy twist happening?

The next day Peggy, Don and Freddy are having a Pond’s focus group with some girls from the office, including Allison. Everyone’s favorite market researcher, Faye is back to talk to these girls and basically just figure out how they work and what would appeal to them. Things run a little off course when one girl breaks down about her boyfriend and this sends Allison over the edge. She looks up basically through the mirrored glass straight at Don and soon after leaves the room in tears. Peggy leaves to comforts her, someone always cries in these things but Allison let’s it all go. She looks to Peggy for sympathy but gets none of it when she implies that Peggy has slept with Don to get where she is now.

When the meeting is over and Don gives Allison some more time to be alone in his office he enters and echoes Peggy’s “everyone cries” statement. Allison tells him that he’s the reason she’s crying and that she thinks it’s best that she finds a job elsewhere. Don seems indifferent, do whatever you want to do, Allison. She asks him for a recommendation and Don agrees, even telling her to just type it up herself on his letterhead. His callous attitude toward her finally came to a head with this statement, she throws some shit across the room and calls him a bad man. Too bad she didn’t figure this out when we did, her heart might still be intact then.

The most wonderful part of this freak out Allison had is when drunk Don gets home from work. He sits down and writes the 60s equivalent of a drunk e-mail. How lucky were people back then? That their drunk, impulsive alter egos didn’t embarrass themselves through social media. I’m jealous.

After Pete gets a snarky Lane telling him he must go through with this Clearasil meeting today, Pete meets Harry and Ken for lunch much to his chagrin. Harry excuses himself for a phone call and Ken just lays it out for Pete. He’s been talking a lot of shit for no reason and Ken wants to understand where this hate is coming from. Pete apologizing for any miscommunication and then they continue their meal like the friends they were before that whole, shared Head of Accounts thing.

Peggy’s lesbian friend comes by the office and asks her if she wants to go to a photography event hosted by the guy that shot the nudie pictures she liked. Peggy agrees and the receptionist calls her pretentious as she leaves. Peggy agrees as they both stare off at the space she was once in. Girl crushes all around!

Pete arrives home to Trudy and the in-laws, presumably dreading what he has to do. Trudy tries to slyly be the one to drop the news but Pete takes control and goes at it himself. Now that Pete has finally given Tom what he wanted, a grandchild, Pete can be a little more decisive in the business end of things. Pete talks his way through what is happening and gets Tom’s back against the wall. Either he gives SCDP everything Vick’s has to offer or he will be dropped. Tom is not happy about these new stipulations but he has no choice.

Peggy arrives at her sketchy party and smokes some weed and talking about who owns whose vagina. She meets the photographer who is, as expected, a real douchebag and one of his friends. The cops show up and he takes her and they hide in a closet. They kiss for a moment before Joyce breaks that up and they leave quickly.

The next day we get to meet Don’s hilariously old new receptionist and hear of Pete’s good news. A bigger account acquired so no need to let Clearasil go. But what will happen to Pond’s and Freddy then? When Don tells his old lady to move his meeting with Faye she takes that as “call an emergency meeting with Faye” and she comes in to discuss the group and her results for Pond’s. Don isn’t happy with this, everyone wants to just get married hypothesis and gets unreasonably upset at her. Don really needs to start seeing a therapist.

As Peggy is explaining her night to Joey we find out that she really doesn’t read the newspaper. She also learns that Trudy is pregnant. She doesn’t sign the card but instead goes to Pete’s office and congratulates him in person. They share a moment of “this could’ve been us” before she leaves and slams her head against her desk. She doesn’t want to feel what she feels for him and damn every girl knows that feeling.

So Joyce calls Peggy asking her to lunch with a few friends and as Peggy is leaving, the Vicks people are in the lobby with all the important men of SCDP, minus pissy Don. Peggy walks out, laughing with her friends but takes the time to glance back over through the glass at Pete while he brown noses the my new client. There will always be something tangible between them, but not enough to bring them back together.

The last scene had to do with an old couple and pears in Don’s hallway and I didn’t understand this at all. If Don is all angry/upset over the fact that his world seems to be revolving around marriage (or the lack there of) wouldn’t seeing this old woman ignore her husband be a relief? Oh that will never be me kind of feeling? I couldn’t get a good read off of Don so maybe I’m just wrong here.

A few notes and quotes:

If I hadn’t known ahead of time, I would have still been able to tell you that John Slattery directed this episode. The one-liners from most of the cast just oozed of Roger Sterling. If I didn’t know any better I would’ve thought he wrote it too. I thought this was one of the best shot episodes this season so I’m looking forward to him returning to the director position later on.
Look at Peter Campbell, all grown up! Turning lemons into lemonade at work with Vicks and not even getting mad at Trudy about the baby. And there was close to zero pettiness when talking to Ken and he owned up to his words, apologizing like a man. I was thoroughly surprised Pete didn’t put his foot in his mouth when talking to Peggy too. When did this all happen?!
Ken Cosgrove appears in the opening credits so clearly, he’s back. How I want this to go down? Ken just waltzes into SCDP one day with all his big accounts, becomes a silent partner, like Pete and totally owns the place. It’s the only way I think we can get childish Pete back.
Faye is like a female form of Don. She’s charming and happy when she needs to be but authoritative too. Her true colors really showed when one of the girls popped into the viewing room, asking about Allison and Faye’s only response was, “Who”? She puts on a good act.
I had to pause and laugh at the show when after Joyce left reception they show Burt in the background, sitting on the couch eating. Of course he is.

Louie: Bully

Roger — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 08:35:00 +0000

Sex!

Violence!

I bet that got your attention! And lucky for us those were the two topics of the terrific Louie episode, “Bully.”

Usually on Louie, the stand-up portion of the show sort of sets up the short film that follows it. In “Bully” however, we have C.K. on stage talking about how when he was a kid he asked his father about sex because he “had boners all the time”. To demonstrate how awkward the situation was, instead of staying on stage at the Comedy Cellar, we actually get a flashback to his dad actually telling the seven-year-old explaining in graphic detail how to make love. Back on stage, C.K. talks about how overly clinical school was when teaching the reproductive system, which is also accompanied by a funny flashback, just to show us how confused young Louie was about fallopian tubes. Whatever those are.

And now for the violence! In the middle of a promising date with a woman, a cackle of obnoxious 18-year-old boys stroll into the shitty donut place. Because they’re loud and drown out most of the things C.K. and the woman are saying, Louie tells them to keep it down. One of the kids, Shawn, approaches Louie and asks him when the last time he had his ass kicked. C.K. eventually is forced to politely ask the punk to not kick his ass. “That was painful to watch.” Louie’s date admits that while she is cognizant that what he did was right, she instinctually perceives him to be a loser.

Louie: “That’s why there are wars and stuff. Women like you who choose stupid strong people over the weak and the gentle.”

Woman: “Listen, I’m a grown woman. And my mind is telling me you are a great guy. But my chemistry is telling me you’re a loser.”

After trying to avoid getting beaten up, that was one punch to the gut.

C.K., probably justifiably angry at hearing the truth, puts her in a cab home, never to be seen again. So what does Louie do? He follows the punk down the subway, shadows him on the train, and even gets on the Staten Island Ferry with him. Is Louie really a ‘great guy”? Or is he going to waste an entire evening following a teenager to beat him up? Thankfully, when C.K. gets to Shawn’s house, he knocks on the door calmly. Louie basically tattle tails on Shawn to his parents about how he threatened him. When Shawn is yelled at to come downstairs he gets a lovely smack in the face from his father. C.K. then lectures, a bit too didactically, this stranger that his son turned out the way he turned out because he learned the ways of the world through a violent father. Not liking being told how to raise children, Shawn’s mother smacks Louie in the face and forces him out of the house. Shawn’s father apologetically follows Louie outside and offers to smoke a cigarette with him and talk things out. Shawn Sr. explains that his father hit him and it’s the only way of parenting he’s ever known. Ah, but how did Shawn’s dad’s dad teach sex?

During the closing credits, Louie visits his seven-year-old self. “What happened to you? You’re fat, you’re ugly.” “And you’re going to be bald too!” The seven-year-old says that that sucks. Louie looks at him, then directly at the camera, as if to ask us what could he possibly say to his younger self if given the opportunity? No matter what you are taught, there will always be underlying primal instincts that will dictate how you and your loved ones react. Seven-year-old Louie wouldn’t understand that if he was simply told such a thing – he’ll have to be alive for awhile to find that out for himself.

Things To Say While Withholding Pleasure So She Demands It And Eventually Explodes

“Shall I get the door for you madam because I am a man and you are a woman and not strong?”
“Show the class the penis!”
“Come on. Watch me eat a donut.”

This Week In Television: August 9-15, 2010

Roger — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 05:05:33 +0000

Weezer will be releasing an album titled Hurley, featuring Jorge Garcia on the album cover. However no songs on the album will have to do with the show Lost. This makes as much sense as the actual show.

Entourage will be ending next season, but they still might make a movie so people can say, “Why did I watch that movie even though I want to physically maim all of the characters?”

Jane Lynch will host the October 9th episode of SNL. The Association of Track Suit Enthusiasts applauds this.

Lynch and the rest of the Glee cast have gotten the comic book treatment.

The new cast of Survivor: Nicaragua will split the groups by their age. Also Jimmie Johnson, former head coach of the Dallas Cowboys Jimmie Johnson, is a cast member on the show. I might actually watch!

Danny McBride and Rhys Darby are the early front-runners in the Who Wants To Replace Steve Carell on The Office? contest. If McBride punches Dwight in the face at least once in every episode I’d be all for his hiring.

The median average age of a Fox News watcher is 65 years old. CNN’s is 63 and MSNBC’s is 59. So why do they bother airing at night?

Lorne Michaels claims to be a South Park fan. Anything to convince the young kids that he’s hip and not square.

General Beckman has been promoted to a regular cast member on Chuck. Will that make her less annoying?

TV Guide released a list of the top money makers on television. The most wealthy actor going right now is Hugh Laurie, who is netting 400 grand an episode. AN EPISODE!

Party Down will be available for digital downloading on September 24th, and will reappear on Netflix instant by the end of the year. Starz can still go to hell for canceling the show.

Mad Men: The Good News

Liz — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 22:14:16 +0000

Somewhere during last season I had written off Lane Pryce as one of those main characters that you never really get to know (or want to know) more about because their lives don’t add much to the lives of others. I was surprised to see the emergence of Lane and maybe a replacement of Roger as Don’s office best friend? He is one fun drunk…

Before Lane, a few questions are answered about Joan’s life now. Greg is not in the army yet, she has had two abortions and wants to conceive a child before Greg goes away. Her doctor seems confused by her timeline, I’m confused by a doctor smoking while checking out someone’s vagina. We’re all even here. We get to see that the interactions between Joanie and Greg has not really changed. He has issues that she passive-aggressively responses to, he gets mad, she coos, everything is alright.

It’s those weird few days between Christmas and New Year’s and the office is still open for a reason unbeknown to Harry and Joan. All everyone talks of is the impending vacation, except for Lane. He says there is still a lot to be done and shoots down Joan when she asks for a few days in January off. Doctors have weird schedules when going to basic training, you know. He throws out an angry “don’t go and cry about it” and tells her that her charms don’t work on him. Someone’s panties are in a knot.

The following day, while pretending to care about Peggy’s life, Joan gets roses and storms off. She walks right in to Lane’s office and let’s him have it. He’s is rather confused until they figure out the flowers he sent for his wife and the flowers for Joan were mixed up. After the secretary is fired, it settles down and goes back to normal.

On the other side of the country, Don has stopped in to visit Anna for a bit before heading to Acapulco. They’re always glad to see each other and he’s also greeted by Anna’s sister and niece, Stephanie. She stays for dinner at a bar and when they come back we can assume Anna didn’t break her leg by slipping in the kitchen. She’s a sloppy drunk, y’all. Don offers to drive Stephanie home and of course hits on her. She responds by telling him Anna has cancer, but doesn’t know. Don is totally heartbroken and when Anna’s sister arrives the next day he puts on his angry face and asks for answers. After hearing her side, he doesn’t want to, but he agrees she doesn’t have to know. Don regretfully leaves, as it may be the last time he sees her.

It’s New Years Day and Joan has waited up all night, preparing a meal for Greg. He comes in and rudely says he already ate but still sits at the table. Joan goes to make him some fresh orange juice and cuts herself pretty bad. She wants to go to the hospital and seems more shaken at the idea of Greg stitching her up than the cut. After he soothes her, tells and joke and successfully finishes the minor procedure, Joan let’s out a cry. He plays it off, the joke was supposed to be funny! Joan clears thinks less of Greg than what he truly is and what came out as a cry was probably more like a sigh of relief in her mind. He isn’t a terrible doctor and she can put her mind at ease, they will be alright.

Don doesn’t go to Acapulco (maybe the plan all along?) and heads in to the office. He finds Lane there and they share a drink before Don heads to his office. Later Don shouts at Lane that they are going to see a movie. They mull over ideas while filling a flask and land on Godzilla. Lane is a fun drunk. After, at dinner, Lane admits his wife is leaving him but he barely minds, he loves New York. He takes his steak and loudly proclaims it’s his belt buckle in the worst Texan accent I’ve ever heard. Lane is a hysterical drunk. They then go to a club where a comedian makes fun of them before their dates (read: escorts) arrive and even when it seems like, just for a second, the night is going to turn sour, it doesn’t.

They head back to Don’s place, they each get their respective booty and the next morning Lane is thankful toward Don for the distraction from his life.

In the final scene, the conference room is full of SDCP head men and Joan. Lane arrives a little late and Joan asks them if they are ready to begin 1965. Well, I am.

A few notes and quotes:

“The minute she saw who I really was, she never wanted to look at me again.” Betty isn’t even in this episode and I still hate her in this episode.
The way Joan asked Lane about the fried chicken got my mind going. Then the way she reacted to the roses? I immediately thought, “OMG THEY’RE HAVING AN AFFAIR” then ,”EW” and five seconds later a sigh of relief. That would’ve been too much.
Lane points out at dinner with Don that he never had felt as though the the office had welcomed him to America. It has been what? Two years? That’s is an awfully long time to be ignored. Lane seems like he was okay with it though, and maybe this inability to gain friends from coworkers, him just waiting for life to happen, is a reason his wife left him.
Something about this episode made me think of character development. The way Don brushed off Allison, how Lane spoke to Joan, just Pete being alive. These men are assholes. Don of course has his redeeming moments since you can’t completely hate the main character but look at the rest. Duck wasn’t a great guy, neither is Greg; Pete, Lane, Roger, Freddy, Father Gill even; all have their moments in the asshole sun. This show is pointed out for having sexist dialog that is of course, on par for the times but it’s like the writers are balancing it out by making the women (minus Betty) much more likable than the men.

Louie: Dogpound

Roger — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 01:01:14 +0000

When left to one’s own devices, a person can really let themselves go. Where they go can be a very dark, confusing, surrealistic, rabbit-costumed place.

After dropping off his kids with their mother for an entire week, Louie gets a call from Pamela, Ser’s mother. Pamela extracts the information from Louie that he goes off on bad binges and is despondent when he isn’t with his children for such a long period of time. Pamela tells him to simply not do that this time, and Louie at first takes her advice and joyfully goes to the bodega for a simple bottle of water. Oh but then he looks down and sees the ice cream. “No I shouldn’t because…” It’s too late, he buys the ice cream. And a pizza and other unhealthy junk food.

Sitting there, fat and depressed after a two day eating binge, Louie gets a phone call from his unloved by his mother Ronnie telling him to just exercise for once. After one failed attempt at jumping rope, Louie smells pot smoke and tells his neighbor to knock it off because he doesn’t want the smell in his house. The neighbor is the most dryly sarcastic character on television in a long time and manages to convince Louie to smoke some of the pot and to drink some vodka to make it even worse. The imagery of Louie high is perfectly wacky but not in an over the top fashion.

The next morning C.K. goes to the dreaded “indie coffee shop” that he has mentioned in both of his stand-up specials. All of the young people throughout the scene talk in nonsensical language, which is either to do with the fact that they’re young to Louie or that he’s super hungover, or most likely both. C.K. throws three 20’s on the counter for one cup of coffee and walks outside to pet a dog tied to a leash. He decides he needs a dog and heads to the dog pound, where a cute saleswoman (I guess she’s a saleswoman) convinces him to get an old dog named Bear. Bear drops dead a minute after entering Louie’s apartment. As soon as Animal Control drives off with the dog’s corpse (sad) a cab pulls up containing Louie’s children. The self-destructive week is over!

Things To Say While Smashing A Car

“And I’m shitting in hitler’s mouth…”
“What’s her name?” “Piss Shit Fart. Her parents were hippies.”
“I wish there was a way to cover your vagina.”
“He loves this.”
“I want to shit in my own mouth!”

P.S.

Louie has some nice shades.

My uncle’s dog is named Bear. It’s still alive.

The IT Crowd: Bad Boys/ Reynholm vs. Reynholm

Roger — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:14:23 +0000

The final two episodes of the fourth series of The IT Crowd were funny. Haha and such. All apologies for the long delay.

In “Bad Boys”, Roy bets Jen 100 pounds (about $150 American supposedly) that he can’t go the whole day without saying his catch phrase, “Did you try turning it off and then on again?” Not feeling appreciated in the office and feeling in a rut, Roy convinces Moss to play hooky from work for the afternoon. While they’re away Douglas throws a party for an employee who was there for only a week, only to reveal that the party is actually for the underappreciated IT group, only to reveal that the party is ACTUALLY for the aforementioned employee who is actually an efficiency expert. The expert can tell Jen knows absolutely nothing about computers and insists she take an exam at the end of the day. Before this can occur a suspicious package arrives in front of the office. Roy and Moss, who seemed lost and despondent and in Moss’ case ridiculously insane without the structure work gives them, happen to walk by right when the police bomb-testing robot thing is trying to open the package. The robot won’t work, so Roy is forced to tell the cop if he tried to turn it off and turn it back on again. Moss, who earlier had stolen video games and is still on his illegal rush, punches the guy who was an asshole to him in the opening moments of the show and kisses the woman who has the hots for him before getting arrested. Roy ends up next to the robot all the way up until at least that very evening, because he is paralyzed by fear. The lesson as always: stay in school. And by school I mean work. And I guess by in I meant at.

“Reynholm vs. Reynholm” was an episode that showed the limitless potential of a Douglas Reynholm spin-off show. Douglas, after marrying his second wife, finds himself wondering where she went after she disappeared while washing the car. When Victoria returns Douglas doesn’t want to be married anymore, even though she is as insane as he is. Victoria threatens to take enough money in the divorce to run Reynholm Industries out of business. Since Roy and Moss are no help on the witness stand because they are Roy and Moss, Doug’s only hope comes from a now well-groomed and blonde Richmond, who claims Victoria is a part of his new business, Goth2Boss. But she isn’t. Well it was nice seeing you anyway Richmond you mighty boosher you. Jen pleads with the judge that Reynholm Industries needs to stay afloat because clearly all of the nutty people paraded in the courtroom would be unemployed and unable to fend for themselves in the real world. Victoria agrees to not completely bankrupt Douglas and all is well. In the final scene of the season, Roy, Moss, Jen and Douglas have the milk-looking champagne at the weird restaurant, and seem happy. Shananana.

Things To Say To Get Out Of Jury Duty

“I don’t expect to be put on a pedal stool.”
“What operating system are you using?” “Vista.” “We’re going to die!”

P.S.

Moss thought about kissing Roy again, since it worked last time when they were trying to avoid the cops.

George Lucas looked so disappointed!

I can’t decide if I want to see more of Douglas’ Star Trek sex tape or if I want to unremember watching a part of it in the first place.

Louie: Double Date/Mom

Roger — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 05:21:32 +0000

Family – amirite? Or am I right? The thing is I know I’m right – in these contemporary times (the future!) the much more normal family is the dysfunctional family. Usually television will make a mother or father super kooky in a broad fashion, but Louis C.K. knows that. So instead, he kept it real and wrote an episode in which his mother was subtle and oblivious to how inconsiderate, self-centered, and tactless she can be to her children. THEN came a crazy over-the-top twist to make it very funny.

Before the opening credits we see Louie back with his seemingly stupid psychiatrist. When told by his patient that when he looks at his daughter he sees his mother, the psychiatrist takes this literally and becomes confused.

After the Reggie Watts opener, Louie and his brother Robbie are at the gym. Hmm. Okay. Robbie gets into graphic detail about his hot n’ sweaty nights with an attractive young lady he’s currently seeing. The only problem is that this certain female can only get wet with two dudes. The not-famous C.K. asks his bro to be the second dude, not to be physically in a threesome but to hang out for a little while and then make up some excuse at the last second to leave. Louie tells him that he loves him, which is why he will only not talk to him for three weeks as a result of this conversation.

But that isn’t the most uncomfortableness our antihero gets from his family tonight: his mother shows up out of nowhere. She is a low-key but completely selfish old woman who we later find out ruined Christmas. In a very funny twist, Mrs. C.K. reveals that her unexpected visit is to tell her son that she’s a lesbian. She should have known this because she only had sex with her husband twice in her life (Robbie and Louie) and hated it. The twist gets even better* when we see at a family dinner that Louie’s mom’s wife is a scorching hot woman in her late twenties. Robbie, who loves mom, tries to get the old lady to admit that she loves him, but she refuses and walks away. Robbie still has never heard his mother tell him that she loves him. Louis couldn’t care less about that – he goes back to staring at his mother’s wife.

* C.K. is basically the M. Night Shyamalan of comedy. Only talented.

Things To Say While Getting A Menu With Bigger Print

“I’m gonna go home now and not talk to you for about three weeks, okay?”
“If you murder somebody and never get caught, it’s fine. You never did anything wrong.”
“Oh that’s right, I came to tell you I’m a lesbian.”
“My body is a woman. WO-MAN. Woman!”
“You’ve gotten fatter.”
“It’s not wrong morally, just geometrically.”
“So you’re gonna get screened for gay genes?”
“Who doesn’t love their mother?” *Louie raises his hand*

P.S.

Louie got renewed for a second season! YAY!

Mad Men: Christmas Comes but Once a Year

Liz — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 23:10:51 +0000

Christmas in the summer! My favorite! I had read a brief synopsis of the episode before watching and was certain Ken and his haircut were going to be joining us again but no. No fretting though, another old face does come back!

Sally Draper is living a shitty life. She hates being at home and she knows Santa doesn’t exist. While tree shopping, Glenn creeps up and says hello to her, giving her some “new father” tips. Sally remarks on his lanyard but the conversation ends since Bobby is such a cock block. A few days later Glenn calls Sally and offers some advice on how things are going to change and don’t worry, they will. This is all top secret missions stuff, so don’t get telling your mother. Sally hates living in that house with them, where she expects her dad to be and Glenn tries to help her out. He breaks in when he knows they aren’t home and trashes the place. If they live in an unsafe neighborhood, they’ll surely move, no? The only room left untouched is Sally’s. Glenn let’s her know he was trying to help by leaving his lanyard for her. D’awww

Over some bridges and through some boroughs to SCDP we go. Don goes through his mail with his secretary and we learn of a Christmas Party! It will be small and the office really can’t afford this so no dates allowed. His girl, Allison goes to leave but he ensures her that even if it has to come from his own pocket, she will be getting a holiday bonus.

The first big surprise of the season: Freddy Rumsen! He called a meeting with Roger to discuss a possible job opportunity, Roger regretfully informs him they just don’t have the money, room, etc for another man but Freddy sweetens the deal with a big client, Pond’s. Roger can’t say no and the only stipulation? Pete goes no where near this account. Bad blood runs deep or some other mashing of idioms.

Freddy is greeted to open arms in Don’s office by Peggy and Pete. Pete tries to sour the situation as always, bringing up the past but Roger flips the conversation and somehow, Freddy becomes Santa at the party. Worth noting, he is a successful teetotaler. Not like that good for nothing Duck. Poor Chauncey!

The entire office is in the now-table-furnished conference room learning of a new way to dive into consumer’s minds, through intimate questions followed by ::SNORE::. Anyway, the example the foxy lady running the meeting uses is something about how your father treats you and then she asks for everyone to fill on out. Since Don is so sensitive and a pansy, he excuses himself and leaves the meeting because wahh feelings! Joey, the art guy that I am positive is gay (baby Sal) was hitting on Allison when Don takes the five steps to his office and he does not approve.

The next morning, Don is awoken by some banging outside. It’s some cute nurse putting up lights and garland for her own party later on. She claims they have run into each other on a few occasions but Don being Don, doesn’t remember. He goes back in his place to get ready for work and Phoebe is left outside to keep hammering away.

When Roger comes back from a lunch with the Pond’s people drunk, Freddy is immediately alarmed. Putting the pieces together on our own, Freddy didn’t land this account because they’re old frat buddies but rather, new AA buddies.

Awoken from a drunk, mid-afternoon nap, Roger answers the phone to find that Lee Garner from Lucky Strike is in town. Drunk Roger puts his foot in his mouth and in some round about way, Lee invites himself to the Christmas Party. Lane is going to freak! And he does! Now they have to make it a big deal and spend way more than they can afford to.

Peggy is at home and greets her beau, Mark, at the door. He came by for a surprise visit with cookies and an agenda, sexy time. Peggy tells him that she is making him wait because she knows it’ll be special and all this and he says something about her being a virgin. Oh, Mark. If you only knew. I wonder what has changed Peggy back into a school marm from the heated secret affair she was having with Duck. I hate that I’ve mentioned him twice now. Chauncey!!!

Don is coming home for the night, drunk and drops his keys while talking to Phoebe who is cleaning up a mess in the hall. She helps him inside and takes off his shoes, but nothing else. What a good neighbor.

While Joan and the girls are all aflutter readying the office for the night, Peggy and Freddy are discussing pitch lines for Pond’s. Freddy keeps harping in this whole “if you use Pond’s you’ll get a man” line and finally Peggy has had enough. She calls Freddy old-fashioned and that she just can’t commit to a project like that. Freddy leaves defeated, but Peggy still trying to be nice asks about Viola and his attendance in the party. Give it up girl, be a bitch or not.

So begins the party! All the couples are standing around discussing their vacation plans and we learn Don is heading to Acapulco solo. Peggy shows up with Mark and shoots a glance at Pete before heading for drinks. Joan is wearing the dress that Roger requested she wears but that doesn’t mean anything/much, Joanie’s husband is still around (un)thankfully.

They all wait for Lee to come in and greet him warmly. Lee is still the asshole we know that got Sal fired, asking Don when he’s going to actually be creative with Lucky Strike and then practically forcing Roger into the Santa suit when Freddy never shows. Then to ice that cake a little bit more, he grabs Jane by the waist while joking about Roger having a third heart attack. Classy fellow. Still gets what he wants though, a Polaroid camera and he’s happy, so the party was a success.

When Don heads out to leave, the consumer mind control lady comes in to his office, presumably to flirt but then asks why he didn’t stay for the survey. They fight/flirt a little and he leaves, no one noticing as Lee takes pictures of everyone on Santa’s lap.

When Don gets home he realizes he doesn’t have his key and calls Allison to look. She find them and we find out how the office really feels about him, “he’s pathetic”. Allison goes to his place and let’s him in, and before she can leave he pulls her in for some of that Don Draper charm. She’s a little hesitant but concedes, blow away by what has just happened. She hurries and leaves, despite Don’s protests, she has to meet someone else. She does seem a little excited at the thought of that continuing though…

The next day the office is still a mess and Peggy comes in to find Freddy at her desk. They both apologize to each other for their own faults and Peggy even opens up a bit about Mark. While Freddy isn’t exactly the sage anyone would expect him to be, he does help. (Peggy has sex with Mark later that night)

Don walks in and avoids Allison for as long as possible, a short conversation with Roger, Alka-seltzer in hand and then to the lion’s den. He tells Allison to come into his office and in the coldest way possible, tells her that was a one time deal. She seems stunned, like maybe the one event set off a chain reaction in her mind that was not prepared for her to really just be another notch in his bed post. As some sort of consolation, Don hands her her bonus and she goes back out and mindlessly goes back to work.

Possibly to avoid his mistake or just the joy of others during the holiday season Don stays late and leaves when the office is completely empty, presents for his kids in hand.

A few notes and quotes:

“Looks like an Italian hospital” “Feel like with my hair you can’t even see me in here” Roger Sterling with the funnies.
Glenn re-emergence is nice because this is a lot closer to real life than many other shows would be. Bringing back a character you haven’t seen in seasons (just like Freddy) is much closer to reality. People come and go in our lives too, but its much more likely they’ll pop up again then just fall square off the map.
“Merry Christmas, Sweetheart.” That’s the second time Don has called Peggy that. They seem really frank and honest with each other too. The meeting they had at the end of season three was personal and touching for them both but who would’ve thought they’d be so close?
It was mentioned in the post for last week’s episode that maybe Roger is suicidal. I’m going to have to disagree wholeheartedly on this one. To me, he seems content to accept everything at face value. Everything is what it is. Although he may be working a lot more at this agency than his old one, he does seem happy and complacent with life.

Futurama: The Late Phillip J. Fry

Roger — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 08:41:47 +0000

I was talking to a fellow Futurama fan a few weeks ago about how we were a little disappointed with the episodes so far in this new season. I told her we should give them some more time – they’re shaking off the writing cobwebs, some of the writing staff must be different, etc. A little later I became the complainer and wished out loud that Futurama embraced their comic book roots and take advantage of how flexible their plots could be.

And then “The Late Phillip J. Fry” aired. And now I realize more than ever that complaining leads to getting what you want.

The ballad of Fry and Leela had been mostly muted for the first batch of the new season, so it wasn’t overbearing to have their romance take center stage in this episode. What also helped was that for once Leela wasn’t the one not allowing the two of them to get together with her stubbornness, but rather Fry being stuck in the future. Just Fry’s luck – right before he would leave to go meet Leela for a fancy dinner of two in honor of her birthday, Professor Farnsworth unveils his latest invention: a time traveling machine, and insists Fry and Bender accompany him to test it out. Really Farnsworth? A time machine? How original. Sarcasm. Anyway, instead of just going one minute into the future as intended, Farnsworth sends the kid and the robot to the year 10,000. Bit off there. And since the machine can only go forwards in time, (so this way you don’t do anything disgusting like sleep with your own grandmother, Fry) the three of them have to keep traveling further and further into the future until they find someone that invented a time machine that goes to the past. Along the way they run into a universe dominated by robots. Bender wants to stay, but Fry and Farnsworth understandably travel further along in time. The very next stop is a universe full of beautiful women who have the knowledge of backwards time travel. Bender, angry at what had just transpired, cock blocks the dudes and sends them even further along. The three argue until they get to the end of time.

With Fry, Bender and Farnsworth gone and presumed dead in the year 3030, Planet Express ends up being a hugely successful business. Leela misses Fry and projects that love onto Farnsworth’s child now adult clone Cubert. They get married but it predictably doesn’t work out. An old Leela discovers the video card Fry was recording to Leela when the time machine began to send him off into oblivion. She engraves a message that Fry later is able to read at their intended meeting place for dinner. She presumably died in peace.

The end? You’d think so. In a cute bonding moment, Fry, Bender and Professor Farnsworth enjoy some alcohol while watching the end of the universe. They then witness a second big bang and the world starting all a new. They travel back to the year 3010 A.D., but not before Farnsworth kills Adolf Hitler. Way to go Professor! Although doesn’t that cause a disruption…eh fuck it. But then they overshoot their landing again and have to travel to the end of another loop of the universe. They go through the beginning of time again, with Farnsworth this time missing Hitler and accidentally killing Eleanor Roosevelt. Same diff. Fry immediately jumps off the machine at 3010 A.D. and makes it right on time for dinner with Leela.

Best road trip ever? Best road trip ever.

Things To Say After Witnessing Your First Big Bang

“Hamboneeeeeeeee hamboneeeeeeee…”
“Time? I can’t go back there!”
“Everyone we ever knew? Eh I never liked those guys.”
“Has anyone seen Fry’s ass? It’s late for a date with my boot.”
“Everywhere I looked there were piles of bodies, and then the explosion struck.”
“We can settle down on that mountain of skulls.”
“Did you even SEE that mountain of skulls?”
“Let’s say the three of us grab a six pack and watch the universe end.”

P.S.

Leela’s birthday is December 3rd. Good to know I guess.
The only coworkers Zoidberg likes are Fry, Bender and Farnsworth. Every episode this season we seem to learn something new about the crab.
What will this “Eleanor Roosevelt died from a stray laser shot” alternate universe be like?
Did Fry ever consider stopping in the year 2000? Why didn’t they just stop with the sexy smart ladies again? Why didn’t Farnsworth wait for a supernova and put something in the microwave like Fry did in “Roswell That Ends Well”? Why don’t I just give up and enjoy myself?
One more question: how would it make you feel if you found out the universe repeats itself every million years?

Mad Men: Public Relations

Roger — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:12:12 +0000

Liz is having computer troubles so I’m here to over-snark on the season premiere of Mad Men. Yes, everybody else over-analyzes but here we make excellent prostitute jokes.

”It’s somehow dirtier not seeing everything.”

Don Draper is the face of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. That is unfortunate for Don Draper, a man who has spent his entire professional life avoiding the spotlight and kicking ass behind the scenes. When Don doesn’t give up much information about himself to an Ad Age reporter, it results in bad publicity. While he was jeopardizing his fledgling ad agency, Don also had to deal with a father and son duo from Squaresville trying to sell their bikinis in a “wholesome” manner. In what I believe was on purpose, Don gets mad at them when he tries to pitch a sexy ad campaign, which they of course don’t like. Don actually kicks them out of the office and demands that Bert Cooper set up an interview with the WSJ, where a cocky Don Draper spins the reporter a confident yarn about how he triumphantly told Lane Pryce to fire him one year earlier. Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce is about taking risks and being a part of the here and now of 1964.

Also we found ourselves seeing a Don who resorted to accepting a blind date with one of Jane’s friends. He didn’t even get to sleep with her! Not that it matters, because Don has acquired the services of a prostitute to slap him around and make sweet dirty expensive love to him. The son of a hooker hiring a hooker. Healthy! Or maybe he’s dealing with that issue? While having sex? So maybe he’s smarter than even I thought.

The show isn’t just about Dickie Whitman, so let’s see how everybody else is doing:

Peggy Olson is now one of the guys. She is completely at ease and in control at her job. Peggers also sports the most progressive haircut of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce with her Mary Tyler Moore doo. She still respects Don a bit too much, but that seems to be the case with virtually everyone else in Manhattan. Olson has a steady, seemingly submissive boyfriend who referred to himself to Don as her “fiance”, a title that Peggy later claimed to Don as fraudulent.

Pete Campbell now goes by Peter, which is subtle but brilliant because that’s exactly something Pete would eventually insist on. Peter’s friend Ho-Ho still insists on keeping that awful nickname and continues to exhibit petulance when Don didn’t mention his beloved Jai Alai in the original newspaper interview. Even though Harry had just secured a deal with ABC to televise the sport, Ho-Ho let SCDP go. We have to wait and see if Peter’s big client will stick around and how he’ll react to that.

Harry is still the town boob. He was mocked by Joan and didn’t even realize it. He also burns easily.

Joan Harris now has her own office and returns to her throne as office Queen Bee. No word on her hubby Johnny VonRapenstein.

Roger was more dryly coarse than usual. One blogger (I can’t remember which; I’ve read about ten reviews of the episode) is worried that Mr. Sterling is suicidal – Roger twice mentioned something related to suicide. Not to mention Don and Peter seemed a bit worried in the beginning of “Public Relations” and intimated Roger is reaching Freddie Munsen levels of alcoholic drinking. Something to look out for.

Pryce and Bert did virtually nothing. Bert set up Don’s Wall Street Journal interview and that’s about it.

Betty…oh jeez. Betty is more of a monster than ever. Matt Weiner seems intent on making the former Mrs. Draper completely unlikeable. She’s now married to Henry Francis who is having a tough year: the man he works for, Nelson Rockefeller, didn’t even get close to getting the ‘64 Republican nomination, and he’s married to Betty Draper. His mother speaks for everyone when she wonders what he possibly sees in her.

Things To Say While Drinking with Desi and Lucy

“You know something? We are all here because of you. All we want to do is please you.”
“Believe me Henry, everybody thinks this is temporary.”
“A wooden leg…They’re so cheap they can’t even afford a whole reporter.”
“Johnnn.” “Marshaaa.”