I just watched possibly the best 10 minutes of television this year (possibly several years). The season-ending episode of the superb AMC series, Mad Men, set in 1960 featured Don Draper (Jon Hamm) making a pitch to Kodak executives. He takes their new-fangled slide projector ‘wheel’, renaming it ‘carousel’, in a pitch that is not only pitch-perfect, but also manages to break your heart. Nostalgia in a show that re-creates a past that many viewers never really knew existed. It’s an ad-world where women are largely props, where the few women who are able to verbalize their worth stand out in stark relief from the boy’s club.
I love this show, and I was excited to see that the show will return in 2008. Tonight’s show ended with the perfect Dylan tune..it might have actually been recorded a few years later, but I’ve never heard a song that fit so perfectly with a final shot. Bravo to Jon Hamm, and all the fine actors comprising the cast of ‘Mad Men’, not to mention the writers and producers.
Sometimes I’m actually proud to watch TV…
2 Comments
October 21, 2007 at 7:16 pm
I just finished watching the finale (out of town all weekend–DVR’d it), and I’m simply stunned.
You said it was a the perfect Dylan tune–you didn’t say it was my FAVORITE Dylan tune of all time. And to use it in such a quietly gut-wrenching way…fighting tears, I am.
I freaking love this show, and I’m not okay with having to wait until next summer for the second season.
October 23, 2007 at 5:14 am
I’m with Holly, I don’t want to wait.
Honestly, you said it best. Sometimes I’m sorta proud of television too.
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