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. Quick update 9/5: Wasn't sure yesterday if the video was created for or by standup comedian Richard Sandling -- it was, indeed, created by the comedian himself. (Thanks, Pete!)
Apparently, leaving the company does not mean leaving the show. Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner says that even though Elisabeth Moss's Peggy Olsen has found greener pastures at their competition, it doesn't mean we won't be seeing her again. Well, that's good news! Maybe she'll even stick around for the seventh season, by the end of which she might have Sterling Cooper Draper (Harris) running scared (or into the ground).
Weiner confirmed that Moss was definitely still going to be a part of the show, though he wasn't sure yet how much. While the show's fifth season showcased a major turning point in Peggy's life and career, now that she's taken that turn, someone else will probably take the spotlight. (Maybe Megan Draper (Jessica Pare)? Just kidding. She may have actually been the spotlight last season.) But we certainly haven't seen the last of her. Weiner compared the whisperings of a departure to the same rumors he heard when January Jones' character divorced Jon Hamm's:
“Everyone was like, ‘I guess January Jones is off the show,’ and I was like, ‘Why would she be?’ I never understood that.”
“When people leave Sterling Cooper, sometimes it is the end for [the character],” Weiner allows. “But I will spoil that one tiny piece of anticipation and tell people that Elisabeth will be showing up to work.”
So, good! Because who doesn't want to see Peggy take over the 1960s advertising world? I think the bigger question for Ms. Olsen is who is going to try to stop her, and how much fun will it be to watch them fail?
What was is like to be gay during the 1960s on Madison Avenue? David Leddick (who was worldwide creative director for Revlon at Grey Advertising and international creative director for L'Oreal at McCann-Erickson) wrote an entertaining essay for Huffington Post about his personal experience of being a gay mad man.
After I left BBDO, a friend told me he'd overheard comments about me in the elevator, along the lines of, "So, they were in a lot of trouble here when the queer that was writing all the great stuff left. But then they found another queer who could write just as fancifully."
When I finally hit Hockaday Associates, a small agency specializing in high-end fashion, furniture, cosmetics, and the like, it was a different world.
All the art directors were gay, and all the account executives were women. The agency president was in fact a Miss Hockaday, and she had her own take on the 1960s. Everyone really dressed to the nines. Everyone was good-looking, and there was wall-to-wall green carpeting in the foyer. A lady with a cart served tea every afternoon at 4 o'clock. Clients came in and were overwhelmed by the chic and wonder of it all. We were famous in the advertising world because Miss Hockaday dropped the Elizabeth Arden account. After Miss Arden kept her waiting for an hour for a meeting, Miss Hockaday swept in and said, "Miss Arden, you are a tyrant. We do not want to have this account," and swept out.
Can we please have more scenes like this on Mad Men?
After I left BBDO, a friend told me he'd overheard comments about me in the elevator, along the lines of, "So, they were in a lot of trouble here when the queer that was writing all the great stuff left. But then they found another queer who could write just as fancifully."