So did Don Draper, the creative director of Sterling Cooper & Partners, actually “go off the grid” and leave the advertising world behind to live with a commune at the end of the May 17 series finale of "Mad Men" (2007-2015)?
Or, as the camera focused in on Draper as he meditates with several others in a sitting cross-legged yoga stance, eyes closed, a glimmer of a smile can be seen on his face. The scene then switches to that famous 1971 Coca-Cola ad featuring people on a hilltop singing “I’d like to buy the world a home and furnish it with love.”
Did Draper, as played by Jon Hamm, after falling on a downward spiral of self-destruction over the course of seven seasons and 92 episodes finally return to Sterling Cooper doing what he does best and create the bestselling ad of all time?
No doubt the 3.3 million viewers who watched the series finale on AMC Sunday night were asking those same questions the next day, if not minutes or hours on social media when Mad Men came to a close. The country was apparently so transfixed with the finale of this series that when I briefly channel surfed to IFC and the Sundance channels between 9 p.m. and 10:17 p.m. both stations had the statement saying they are watching "Mad Men" and asking viewers to switch to the AMC station for the time being. At first, I thought it was a joke. Then after seeing pictures of the characters and scenes from the show being displayed at random on both stations I came to the conclusion this was all for real.
If you devoted viewers think how much I missed out by not tuning into all 92 episodes, guess again. Watching clips of Don Draper’s family life throughout the show’s seven seasons on AMC to the tune of Paul Anka’s "Times of Your Life" was all I needed to know just how far into the depths of Hell Draper had fallen into.
Draper’s very confession in the finale called “Person to Person” where he tells Peggy Olsen (Elisabeth Moss) in a phone call the scandalous things he's done sounds like what Al Pacino’s Don Michael Corleone did when he confessed his sins to a cardinal in "The Godfather Part III" (1990).
“What did you ever do that was so bad,” Peggy asks him.
“I broke all my vows,” Draper says. “I scandalized my child. I took another man’s name and made nothing of it.”
I guess I should thank creator Matthew Weiner for getting me up to speed.
Perhaps when I finally catch all the other TV shows I missed over the years that include "Arrow" (2012-Current), "Battlestar Galactica" (2004-2009), "Daredevil" (2015-Current), "The Flash" (2014-Current), "Gotham" (2014-Current), "Lost" (2004-2010), "Once Upon A Time" (2011-Current), "The X-Files" (1993-2002) and "V" (2009-2011), I’ll watch "Mad Men" to see where it all began. That’s what DVD/Blu-ray box sets are for.
For now, I’ll just sit back and drink that Coke as advertised in that 1971 commercial, except in 2015, the soft drink is now a more personalized ad campaign with a name of someone on each shatterproof bottle. Mine says “Share a Coke with Joe.”
Like Don Draper, who exhibited that smile at the end of "Mad Men," I’ll also smile just a little bit as I watch all of you devoted viewers mourn the end of a much-hyped cable-TV series and wonder if there will ever be another award-winning show to replace it.
©5/20/15
Or, as the camera focused in on Draper as he meditates with several others in a sitting cross-legged yoga stance, eyes closed, a glimmer of a smile can be seen on his face. The scene then switches to that famous 1971 Coca-Cola ad featuring people on a hilltop singing “I’d like to buy the world a home and furnish it with love.”
Did Draper, as played by Jon Hamm, after falling on a downward spiral of self-destruction over the course of seven seasons and 92 episodes finally return to Sterling Cooper doing what he does best and create the bestselling ad of all time?
No doubt the 3.3 million viewers who watched the series finale on AMC Sunday night were asking those same questions the next day, if not minutes or hours on social media when Mad Men came to a close. The country was apparently so transfixed with the finale of this series that when I briefly channel surfed to IFC and the Sundance channels between 9 p.m. and 10:17 p.m. both stations had the statement saying they are watching "Mad Men" and asking viewers to switch to the AMC station for the time being. At first, I thought it was a joke. Then after seeing pictures of the characters and scenes from the show being displayed at random on both stations I came to the conclusion this was all for real.
I know in the coming days the answers viewers had about the Mad Men ending will be answered by series creator Matthew Weiner and maybe even star Jon Hamm. While it’s true that I was among the 3.3 million who watched Sunday’s finale I was never a devoted fan of the show. In fact, the most I watched of Mad Men was a combined two and a half hours Sunday night that included the two next to last episodes before the final one.Ok. I’m lying. On Sunday night I did what I normally do when it comes to what’s on the flat screen television. I just have it on to listen to while I’m doing something else. Ninety percent of the time it’s when I am on the computer. It’s a rarity that a television show captures my attention enough for me to stop what I’m doing. For about two minutes, however, I did just that as I stopped to find out which of the three female leads on "Mad Men" (Christina Hendricks, Elisabeth Moss, January Jones) had been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
If you devoted viewers think how much I missed out by not tuning into all 92 episodes, guess again. Watching clips of Don Draper’s family life throughout the show’s seven seasons on AMC to the tune of Paul Anka’s "Times of Your Life" was all I needed to know just how far into the depths of Hell Draper had fallen into.
Draper’s very confession in the finale called “Person to Person” where he tells Peggy Olsen (Elisabeth Moss) in a phone call the scandalous things he's done sounds like what Al Pacino’s Don Michael Corleone did when he confessed his sins to a cardinal in "The Godfather Part III" (1990).
“What did you ever do that was so bad,” Peggy asks him.
“I broke all my vows,” Draper says. “I scandalized my child. I took another man’s name and made nothing of it.”
I guess I should thank creator Matthew Weiner for getting me up to speed.
If I have any regret that I didn’t get into "Mad Men" sooner, it’s the fact I do like shows about dark conflicted characters. Especially since after taking a silly online quiz at Zimbio.com called, “Which Mad Men character are you?”, I found that I am Don Draper.The results revealed that I’m “brilliant, stressed-out, totally moody, and you drink too much. You should take a nap and some aspirin. You’re successful thanks to your hard work and drive, but you often forget the things that really count. It’s okay, you’re a work in progress.”
Perhaps when I finally catch all the other TV shows I missed over the years that include "Arrow" (2012-Current), "Battlestar Galactica" (2004-2009), "Daredevil" (2015-Current), "The Flash" (2014-Current), "Gotham" (2014-Current), "Lost" (2004-2010), "Once Upon A Time" (2011-Current), "The X-Files" (1993-2002) and "V" (2009-2011), I’ll watch "Mad Men" to see where it all began. That’s what DVD/Blu-ray box sets are for.
For now, I’ll just sit back and drink that Coke as advertised in that 1971 commercial, except in 2015, the soft drink is now a more personalized ad campaign with a name of someone on each shatterproof bottle. Mine says “Share a Coke with Joe.”
Like Don Draper, who exhibited that smile at the end of "Mad Men," I’ll also smile just a little bit as I watch all of you devoted viewers mourn the end of a much-hyped cable-TV series and wonder if there will ever be another award-winning show to replace it.
©5/20/15
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