Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner on the symbolism of Don Draper reading Dante’s Inferno at the beginning of Season Six, which takes place in 1968:

This man is in his worst state — the way 1968 is — because it is overrunning his life and it’s page 1 in the story: He’s going into hell. This is the descent. Maybe he’ll come out on the other side, or maybe he’ll just take up residence there.”

image courtesy of AMC

Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner talks to Terry Gross about Don Draper, Existentialist:

I feel like Don is like a lot of existential characters: brave in the face of death but more deeply, deeply afraid of it — and trying to find some purpose and some control over it — because he is aware of the sort of meaninglessness of life. … Let’s say existentialism is a young man’s game. As he’s getting up there, he’s saying, like, ‘Why do I keep repeating this? Why am I in this process?’

image courtesy of AMC

I haven’t listened to it yet, but the word around the office as it goes through the editing process is that tomorrow’s interview with Mad Men creator Matt Weiner is prettay, prettay, prettay amazing. I believe it.

Season Six of the show premiered April 7. It’s not an overstatement to say David Bianculli was giddy about it.

Image of Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson in ‘Mad Men’ courtesy of AMC

David Bianculli reviews Sunday’s season premiere of Mad Men (He promises no spoilers!)—

“Matthew Weiner, creator of Mad Men, has established his own narrative rules for his Emmy-winning drama series, the continuing story of advertising executive Don Draper in the 1960s. On Mad Men, the breaks between seasons sometimes take longer than a year — and when the show returns, it doesn’t pick up where it left off.

Instead it leaves a gap, and viewers have to start each season as though they’re the ones who left — they have to catch up. What year is it? What’s the status of Don’s marriage? And what’s going on with all the other people in and around Don’s life?”

Image courtesy of AMC

Geoff Nunberg looks at how the language of the past is used and abused in the pop culture of the present:

Spotting linguistic anachronisms in Julian Fellowes’ Downton Abbey is as easy as shooting grouse in a barrel. “I couldn’t care less,” Lord Grantham says. Thomas complains that “our lot always gets shafted.” Cousin Matthew announces he’s been on a steep learning curve, a phrase that would have been gotten a blank reception even in the Sterling Cooper boardroom.

Disclaimer: the above are not direct Downton Abbey quotes.

Image via Telegrams from Downton

AMC has announced when Mad Men will be back in our lives! April 7! Mark it!

For good measure here are some more: !!!!!

And a Fresh Air interview with Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner.

Your mid-afternoon, post-Labor-Day pick-me-up. From Boing Boing:

I post this not just because it’s the cast of AMC’s Mad Men performing Rick Astley’s famous Rick-rolling anthem one word at a time, but also because of the sheer man hours spent looking for each word in the lyrics being said at any point during the show’s first four seasons — which, if every episode is about 42 minutes, amounts to about 36 and a half hours of Mad Men — and then editing them all together, to music, in order to create the appearance of an assembled song. Please, bask in appreciation of YouTube user Buchan39’s efforts. (Thanks, Pete!)

singinginlifeboats:

Baby Don Draper (via twoplus.us - big design for little people)

Adult Don Draper

Mad Men Creator Matthew Weiner on What’s Next For Don Draper

Today: Mad Men series creator and executive producer Matthew Weiner dishes about last night’s episode, talks about the character development of Don Draper and tells us where the series might be going next.

WARNING: Obviously, we will be talking about last night’s episode. If you did not see/are planning to watch/have never heard of Mad Men, please DO NOT tune in and then send an irate email to me. Pleasant emails are more than welcome. -Mel

We’re flawed because we want so much more. We’re ruined because we get these things and wish for what we had.

— 

Don Draper, Mad Men (via notacliche)

Monday: Mad Men head writer, producer and creator Matthew Weiner, talking about what happens in Sunday’s season premiere. [previously]

David Bianculli answers the burning Mad Men question: Was it worth the wait?

This photo and caption reveal nothing about Don Draper’s (Jon Hamm) state of mind at the end of Mad Men’s fourth season. This article does.

If you need to get up to speed before Sunday, Internet.

totalfilm:

Christina Hendricks wanted for Wonder Woman movie

Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive, Bronson) has revealed he’d cast Mad Men star Christina Hendricks as Wonder Woman if he ever got to make a movie about the superheroine.

Refn recently worked with Hendricks on Drive. The film stars Ryan Gosling as a stuntman, and has been earning rave reviews across the festival circuit.

The director’s long been attempting to get his version of Wonder Woman onto the big screen. “If I get to do it, she’s going to be it,” Refn told Vulture of his dream casting.

But…what about me? I can see this, though. She’s tall and voluptuous and Diana IS an Amazon warrior princess.

Jon Hamm explains how he approaches every new season of Mad Men: “I honestly don’t like knowing what’s going to come down the pike, for fear of somehow subconsciously playing the end of the story, or playing information my character shouldn’t have. That said, Matt and I sit at the beginning of every season and we talk about what the season is going to bring and what the arc of the season could be or should be or might be — but this is well before anything is written. And we talk in very, very general terms of themes and feelings and general ideas.”