TV DeathRay Archive

October 19, 2010

‘Mad Men’ Review: Letters From ‘Tomorrowland’

Filed under: featured,Recaps,Recaps — Tags: , — Aaron Broverman @ 9:52 am

I’m sure you noticed that TV DeathRay was missing its regular Mad Men review last week. Well, last week’s episode happened to fall on the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday. Unfortunately for our loyal readership, I was stuffing myself full of turkey in Edmonton, Alberta and was unable to find anyone kind enough to roll my bulk in front of the TV.

Fear not though, you didn’t miss much. All you really needed to know in preparation for this week’s season finale was that things have gotten worse for Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.

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October 5, 2010

‘Mad Men’ Review: SCDP Is Headed For A Fall In ‘Chinese Wall’

Filed under: featured,Recaps,Recaps — Tags: , — Aaron Broverman @ 10:29 am

The death knell tolled for Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce as the firm dealt with the departure of the prized Lucky Strike account on this week’s Mad Men.

Roger Sterling must have stepped up and told the partners he lost the account, right? Wrong. Instead, account man Ken Cosgrove had to hear it from a rival at BBDO, where North American Tobacco had consolidated the marketing plan for all of their brands. The rug was pulled out from under all the partners at SCDP one by one as word got around. They never had a chance to find their footing thanks to Roger’s silence.

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October 1, 2010

‘Mad Men’ Review: Secrets Abound in ‘Hands and Knees’

Filed under: Recaps,Recaps — Tags: , — Aaron Broverman @ 12:15 am

Bombs started falling hard and fast from the very first scene this week. Joan delivered the first salvo to Roger when she announced, “I’m late … I’m very late.” No sexual indiscretion happens without consequence on Mad Men, and it seems like their alleyway tryst last week was no exception.

Sadly, it seemed an abortion was the only option for Joan, who wasn’t about to break up any marriages, especially her own. Roger suggested fudging the dates so Greg would assume that the baby was his, but Greg would be wise to such a move instantly. Plus, Joan nixed Roger’s hope that Greg would die in Vietnam as a viable option (something many fans hoped would happen as well).

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September 21, 2010

‘Mad Men’ Review: The ‘Beautiful Girls’ Live in A Man’s World

Filed under: Recaps — Tags: , — Aaron Broverman @ 10:44 pm

It seems only fair that the ladies in Don Draper’s life got a turn at the wheel after last week’s relatively sunny meditation on 1965′s post-modern man.

It certainly wasn’t a picnic being a woman in ’65 – The Feminine Mystique was only released two years earlier and second wave feminism was in its infancy – but this week, Matthew Wiener got in touch with his feminine side to convey a portrait of the women who know Don best. We learned just how much they sacrificed to keep the men in their lives comfortable.

This episode centered on four women: Joan Harris, Peggy Olson, Don’s ten-year-old daughter Sally and Dr. Faye Miller. (It looks like Dr. Miller beat out Bethany Van Nuys as Don’s long-term girlfriend, thanks to a passionate nooner in the opening scene.)

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September 14, 2010

‘Mad Men’ Review: Don Turns the Corner in ‘The Summer Man’

Filed under: Recaps — Tags: , — Aaron Broverman @ 4:45 pm

Don Draper got his groove back in this week’s episode of Mad Men.

A major theme this season has been Don’s depression over the divorce. He lost almost everything after the split with Betty, and he’s been seeking solace at the bottom of a bottle ever since. But as summer began, Don’s noir-style narration informed us that he was ready to make a change: “They say as soon as you have to cut down on your drinking, you have a drinking problem … Summer’s coming, I smelled it.”

With that in mind, he started hitting the New York Athletic Club on Tuesdays, and it seemed to be working. At first, he couldn’t take a lap without coughing, but by the end of the episode he was able to pull ahead of a fellow swimmer by half a lap. As soon as The Rolling Stones’ ‘I Can’t Get No Satisfaction’ accompanied his walk to work, and women – real women – started giving him second looks on the street, it was clear that Don’s swagger was back. Even Don’s secretary-of-a-certain-age, Miss Blankenship, took new notice of him when he asked for Bethany Van Nuys’ number with authority.

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September 13, 2010

Morning Blast: ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Smallville,’ ‘Human Target,’ ‘Glee,’ and More

Filed under: News — Tags: , , , , , , , — TVDR Staff @ 9:38 am

Good mornin’ … Here are a few quick nerd TV newslinks to help you start the week …

- HBO released a new teaser for Game of Thrones, its new fantasy series based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels. The network also released an image of Emilia Clarke as Daenerys (left). Game of Thrones premieres next year. [Deadline]

- Check out 5 TV spots for Smallville season 10, which, sadly, will feature the return of Darth Lex. [Movieweb]

- The awesome Lennie James, who played the unforgettable baddie Baptiste last season on Human Target, has landed a series regular role on Hung as Charlie the pimp. [THR]

- Rocky Horror Picture Show alums Meat Loaf, Barry Bostwick and possibly Susan Sarandon will appear on an upcoming ep of Glee. What, no Tim Curry? [E!]

- And here’s a look at John Stamos as Dr. Carl on Glee. [The TV Addict]

Head after the jump for Nathan Fillion, Venture Bros., Heroes, Mad Men news and more … (more…)

September 8, 2010

‘Mad Men’ Review: Peggy Goes 12 Rounds with Don in ‘The Suitcase’

Filed under: featured,Recaps — Tags: , — Aaron Broverman @ 10:14 pm

On the night of February 25th, 1964, Cassius Clay defeated Sonny Liston for the World Heavyweight Boxing Championship. But while most of the men and wives of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce were preparing to enjoy a closed-circuit broadcast of the fight, Don and Peggy were unwittingly preparing to endure emotional blows of their own on this week’s Mad Men.

Don seemed to be in good spirits at the start of the day: he put $100 down on Liston and even made dinner plans with Roger Sterling before the fight. Later that afternoon, he got a message from Stephanie in California. Suspecting it was not good news, he was emotionally unprepared to return the call. His disposition spiraled downward, and he helped it along by hitting the bottle – again.

To celebrate her 26th birthday, Peggy expected to get away for a romantic evening with Mark, but Don pressed her for a progress report on the new Samsonite suitcase ad. Rejecting all of her team’s prepared pitches, and not knowing that her “plans” were for her birthday celebration, Don ordered her to stay late. Still trying to get away to the restaurant where she knew Mark was waiting (but unaware that he had invited her whole family to surprise her), Peggy kept right on pitching. (In the 1970s, one popular Samsonite campaign really did feature an elephant stepping on a suitcase.)

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August 31, 2010

‘Mad Men’ Review: Booze and Baggage in ‘Waldorf Stories’

Filed under: featured,Recaps — Tags: , — Aaron Broverman @ 9:30 pm

Mad Men was the big winner at the Emmys on Sunday, and ‘Waldorf Stories’ was just one example of why the show has managed to impress award voters for three straight years.

On television’s biggest night, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce was having a big night of its own. The team was nominated for a Clio Award for the memorable Glo-Coat wax commercial. Of course, given the ad’s allusions to Don Draper’s rural upbringing as Dick Whitman, this one had his creative prints all over it. Still, when he won and didn’t thank Roger Sterling or Peggy Olson, jealousy abounded among Don’s colleagues. Not that he needed any more drama to add to the huge pile of crap that is his life.

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