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Here's what happened between Mad Men seasons
By Ray RahmanJuly 27th, 2010, 1:10 pmComments (13)
Lane Brown over at Vulture has compiled a useful, revelatory list of major events that happened in real life between Mad Men's Season 3 finale (Christmastime, 1963) and its Season 4 premiere (Thanksgiving, 1964). Brown, consulting Wikipedia's remarkably handy entry for an entire year, culled events that were likely to have affected the course of Mad Men and added to them some (mostly) clever guesses on how the show's characters reacted.
We've included some of Brown's more interesting insights below, but if you want more, you can check them out over here or rent Forrest Gump. Spoiler alert: those who've yet to reach the tenth grade (or eleventh graders who slept through US History II) may want to stop reading now.
February 9: The Beatles' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show is seen by 73 million people. Unfortunately, Harry bought ads for jai alai to run on competing networks during the same time slot.
March 30: Jeopardy! debuts. A newly jobless Paul Kinsey is one of the show's first big winners. He blows his $250 haul on a giant bag of weed.
July 2: President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act into law, ending racial segregation. Betty makes an appalling comment to housekeeper Carla.
July 18: Race riots break out in Harlem. "Where's Harlem?" asks Trudy, to a round of laughter at a blackface sing-along.
November 3: Goldwater loses the presidential election to LBJ in a landslide. Roger, Bert, Don, and Lane vow never to speak of this again.
Commentarium (13 Comments)
You would think Betty would be a freak in the sack, but i'm not sure, she was pretty stiff on SNL.
Does anyone else think Matthew Weiner is on the dl, (and I don't mean the disabled list)?
Joan is so awesome. I'm a season behind, but I'm going to catch up just because of her character. She's such a great role model for women today.
It's like Joan had read Erica Jong anachronistically or something. Hourglass, our ass.
um... i don't think joan is at all a great role model for women "today." in fact, peggy reminds me of most the women i know today, as she represents the girls-often-do-better-than-boys-but-get-less-acknowledgement-pay-and-respect model that still endures. (though of course, peggy's not perfect... because nobody is.)
Peggy is definitely the better role model. Being bitchy shouldn't be confused with being a strong woman.
The whole show is about people with huge, gaping holes in their character. I would look other places for role models.
@Me: I agree with you on that point for just about everybody but Peggy... sure, she has her faults, but does the character really have any "huge, gaping holes"?
I only just finished the second season, so I don't know everything that's up with her currently, but I think she lacks self-confidence. She's always surprised when well-deserved things happen to her. It's fairly rare that she takes a stand. Most of the bad things that happen to her, especially the ones related to her pregnancy and relationship with Pete, can be traced back to her lack of self-confidence. She's definitely a better role model than Betty or Joan, but I'd look for heroines in...gee, I'm not sure. Not TV?
That little bitch Sally is starting to get on my nerves. First she stole her grandpa's money, now she's headed for an eating disorder. Petulant little thing. The Draper genes are coming to the fore.
i'm not sure that timidity/insecurity is a "huge, gaping hole" as much as a common trait found in many actual, real-life human beings
Of course it's a common trait found in many actual, real-life human beings (although Peggy's insecurity is much worse than most women's). That's why people can relate to Peggy. She seems like a real person. But a role model she is not.
Oh, I dunno, Peggy tossing her child aside like an outdated purse seems like a huge, gaping hole.