Before Mad Men's third season, fans wondered when, as in what year, series creator Matthew Weiner would resume the story.
There was reason for the anticipation: In the Season2 finale, Betty (January Jones) revealed to reformed womanizer Don (Jon Hamm) that she was pregnant, and viewers were curious how that would play out. But more significantly, everyone wondered whether or not Weiner would skip over the Nov. 22, 1963, assassination of President John F. Kennedy. After all, Weiner said more than a few times that he didn't think he had anything to add to the historical landmark.
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But Weiner changed his mind. "My attitude about the assassination changed as I got deeper and deeper into the period and after I wrote the first two seasons," he tells TVGuide.com "I thought it was a melodramatic trope the way it had been treated...
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Smoke, drink and be merry. That's the motto ad executive Roger Sterling lives by, even after suffering two heart attacks last season on AMC's critical darling Mad Men (Sundays at 10 pm/ET, AMC). We asked for some insight into the character from John Slattery, the Emmy-nominated actor who plays him.
TV Guide: How lucky do you feel to be on this show? John Slattery: It's the best job I've ever had! Every time I read a script, [Roger] always has something to say that I can't wait to do.
TV Guide: Are the glowing reviews at all surprising to you? Slattery: Sometimes you're surprised that other people like what you like — and the fact that everybody seems to think it's even better this season.
TV Guide: What's the secret of Mad Men's success?Slattery: I don't think it's a
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In case you hadn’t heard, AMC’s Mad Men is not only a hit with the Emmy voters (the most nominated drama this year, with 16) but it’s a bona fide critics’ darling, walking away with three Television Critics Association Awards over the weekend at the 24th annual ceremony in Beverly Hills. Mad Men won for new program, outstanding achievement in drama and program of the year, prompting Emmy-nominated co-star John Slattery to quip (during one of the show’s several acceptance speeches), “How glad I am that the message of smoking, drinking and whoring Mad Men puts across has registered with the TCAs.”Jon Hamm, also an Emmy nominee, thanked reality shows like Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Flavor of Love, Rock of Love (all three seasons) and Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader “for pushing the envelope so far that way that there was a place kind of on this side for us to sneak in.”HBO’s epic John Adams miniseries won two awards, for Paul ...
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Jon Hamm, a Golden Globe winner and likely Emmy nominee, isn’t taking the critical success of Mad Men for granted. “It’s phenomenal. It’s a wonderful experience. But the swirl that happens around the show exists outside the show.” Still, as he quotes his co-star John Slattery, “It makes you feel like … you’re not crazy. Other people like good stuff too.”Critics certainly like good stuff, and AMC’s session promoting Mad Men’s upcoming second season was easily the biggest lovefest so far in the TCA press tour, currently in its first week devoted to cable presentations.The group laughed when a critic challenged the show’s famously tight-lipped creator Matthew Weiner to explain to fans why the mystery surrounding what happened to Peggy’s illegitimate baby — the jaw-dropper of the Season 1 finale — remains unresolved by the end of the July 27 season opener. “I would say, trust me. I will give you the informat...
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Cheers to Desperate Housewives for finding a creative way to dispatch Victor (John Slattery, who's better suited to Mad Men anyway). Fairview's Machiavellian mayor met his maker during the ABC soap's spectacular "twister" episode when he was impaled on a shard from a white picket fence. The week's other casualty, crazed ex-mistress Sylvia (Melora Walters), seemed like a bit of a cheat, especially since the opening voiceover led us to believe the ladies of Wisteria Lane would lose a "friend." Still, when the final shot revealed the tornado's devastation, I was blown away.• Read and react to Bruce's opinions on My Name Is Earl, Dirty Sexy Money and more!• Share your own raves and rants about other shows on the Reader Cheers & Jeers discussion board.• We may feature your Cheer or Jeer on TVGuide.com or in TV Guide magazine!
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