Let the MadMenness begin!

Have you seen it? Don't tell me what happened! I have to watch it On-Demand so I didn't get to see it last night... know what it is? The only other show I am quite mad about other than 'Key West'... What is it you ask? You have to have heard by now-- it's been all over the press and won two Emmy's. But better yet, the critical reviews have been fabulous. The American Film Institute awarded it best television series in 2007,8, 9 & 10 and the Television Critics Association named it the best television series in 2007. Its genius lies in not being a Hallmark Family show with a "lessons well learned." When Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield said "Don Draper's a quintessential fool... Every American wants a clean slate, but nobody wants to lose what they've got... Don Draper, as the greatest of scam artists, the one who never fails to seduce the rubes, is also the biggest sucker of them all... this guy believes in Hollywood happy endings... and if Don Draper falls for his own promises, what hope is there for the rest of us?" he nailed it. That's is in a nutshell. Don Draper has a little bit of our whole schizophrenic society inside of him. So tonight I am going to be watching (drum-roll please!)

 In case you haven't seen it, you might want to borrow the first four seasons from your local library or rent it from itunes or Netflix (I assume they have it). If you jump in now you'll have missed a whole bunch of the story that just won't make the madness complete.

 But just as a little teaser I will remind you that when we last saw him, Don Draper was in bed with a dark-haired woman whom he barely knew. She was his stand-in secretary after the old (and I do mean old!) one passed away, sitting at her desk (yup, you can't kill anybody off any funnier but still sad than that!). After the nanny was unceremoniously dumped (by his bitch of an ex-wife!) he invited her to California to watch the children while he completes some business. The attraction was obvious and by the end of the trip he had given her an engagement ring he had been given by... well, that's all part of the backstory that you will want to catch up on.
So will the two virtual strangers get married?
Will his ex-wife decide she wants him back, dump her new husband and make a play for her soon-to-be-married-ex-husband?
And what happened with Jane?
Is she keeping the baby?
Will she renew her relationship with Roger (her former ex-lover boss?) 
And what about Don's daughter? How will she survive the dysfunction? (probably just like all of us from dysfunctional homes did)  
How will the madness go on???

I don't know! I have to go watch and see!

 

So what are you watching? Anything as gripping as the advertising men of the 60s? 

Nothing funnier!

Women don't usually do physical comedy and they are not always very good at it- in fact I haven't seen a woman who was really good at physical comedy since Lucille Ball. I mean was there anything funnier than the episode with her and Vivian working in the chocolate shop??? But recently Mo discovered a British comedian who is brilliant! He first saw her on "Would I Lie to You" which led him to her sitcom "Miranda". One episode and we were ready for more ... well, actually within the introduction we were hooked! The first line, "Hello to you and thanks for joining. This is exciting, isn't it? Aye? Now, let me get you up to speed. Previously in my life, my mother tried to marry me off...." Well, just watch...
 

On Monday we'll be "driving" down the Keys so this is just a little weekend entertainment! 

Enjoy!!!

Thumb's down for the NBC anchor

A few weeks ago, while perusing the television dreck (i.e. channel surfing), I paused a moment to watch Rachel Maddow- one of the newsy type shows that I will watch and even then I watch it knowing she is subject to corporate censorship as she depends on sponsors to stay on the air. This particular day Rachel was in Louisiana doing the journalism gig on the oil volcano that was just making it into the public eye although it had been spewing with ferocity since the 20th of April. (note: since the first days of the spill the numbers went from 42,000 gallons of oil per day to 200,000 gallons per day to the most current lowballed estimate of 56,000  BARRELS of oil per day and that assumes that April 20th was indeed the day the leak began). In an attempt to fill in time Brian Williams News anchor and managing editor of one of the Big Three mainstream news shows- NBC Nightly News. As Rachel spoke with him about the disaster, he gave his cheerleady comment that the experts that were on the field leading the cleanup efforts knew the most about the problem- that's why they're doing the job they are doing- because they are the experts.

Just makes me want to weep! They know best! They are so good that we should be happy they are the ones in charge- even though they are the ones who caused this in the first place.

But that wasn't the end of his words of wisdom to the peons who were watching the destruction of the gulf, he went on to add in his rivaling a Buffalo Jill tone (paraphrased) "The men who are hired by the White House to advise the president on financial matters are often criticized for having come from the banks but these are the men that KNOW- these are the men that understand the financial institutions from the INSIDE."

OMG! So you, Brian Williams, are going to sit there in that seat of honor as a guest for Ms. Maddow  and advocate for the men who have aided and abetted the financial sting of the century- and made sure it was legal while at the same time praising the people who are destroying the gulf coast? Mind boggling. You, Mr. Williams, are either as dumb as the people you generally talk to (and you might recall you are on the Rachel Maddow show NOT on NBC nightly news when you speak to people like their television numbed robots who barely know how to use their remotes) or you think you are as smart as the crooks that committed these crimes --and I am inclined to think that is the case. 

But here is the Big Problem with Mr. Williams little hypothesis that the oil volcano and the financial meltdown can only be handled by those who understand "The Business"-- they, the bankers and the oil industry and big business..., have gamed the system. They have made the rules and they made them so that they will benefit from them. They are like the cheaters we all remember from when we were kids-- you know That Kid? The one who got all the kids in the neighborhood gathered round to play his new game and then he gave his lengthy specifications until the disgruntled parishioners finally jeered, "Ah come on, let's just play the game." So the game is afoot and the future Monopoly creator watches over the game like a Hawk after dinner. Sensing the possibility of losing the game a New Rule is suddenly shouted out. There is some disgruntlement but the game continues until yet another... and another... new Moment of Concern causes That Kid to call out a new rule to adjust the game back in his favor. It's not that the game is so complicated or requires only the smartest kids to understand them, it's simply that That Kid adjusts the "rules" so that he is always going to win.

When we were kids we all knew what this was: It was called CHEATING.

And cheaters are not going to do anything but continue cheating until they are shut down. The way to solve the problems on Wall Street and with the Oil industry is to clean up the rules and enforce them- we will never figure out how to play their game because they will keep changing the rules so they will win.

The interesting difference between the game That Kid, the neighborhood cheater, developed is that eventually the kids in the neighborhood figure out they can't win and quit playing. We just keep playing...

The boob tube

Generally so much of what is on television today is drivel and too many people watch it out of habit, out of... whatever, mindlessly soaking in whatever is on at the expense of getting outside, reading (exercising the mind!) or relating to their families. But watching great television can also make the evening fun (especially if you have a special show you make a fuss over!) It just takes a bit of searching to find those shows. That's why I recommend a show like 'Madmen' to those who are interested in seeing those productions that contain a bit more thought. Another one that we're excited about is 'Primeval' (a BBC production) that was being show on BBCAmerica over the summer/fall and will be premiering it's third season next month on BBCAmerica and OnDemand. In it Nick Carter, an evolutionary zoologist, discovers prehistoric creatures running rampant through the streets of London. Chasing them down and getting to the bottom of the time rift that has enabled the beasts to lop off a head or two of the Londoners they run across is the gyst of the weekly romp.

Also, from the BBC: check out the new season of 'MI5' (a.k.a 'Spooks')! Just released this week, the British FBI is always in the process of foiling the conspiracy of the week. Not averse to killing off their spies (all too graphically in some cases!), they are also not afraid to show the dark side of the agency or the weaknesses of their personnel. Little torture anyone?