Mad Men question.

Whatever happened to the gay art director Sal? I was watching season 5 last night and the reappearance of Paul Kinsey made me remember Sal and it’s been so long since I watched that season I can’t remember how they wrote him off or did he just not come back the following season?

I wondered that, too. I guess he was just dropped from the show. Too bad, as I really liked him.

He was fired and that was it. I suspect will see him again before the show is over.

I was trying to remember if he was still around when Draper, Cooper, etc. split off to form thier own agency.

Because he was outed? I know I watched that season but I’m totally blanking that part.

Since he was fired after he turned down the Lucky Strikes guy, I was expecting him to return, at least for a short story arc, once they lost that account. Oh, well.

The last we saw of him he seemed to be cruising in a gay pick up area in Season 3, Episode 9. Bryan Batt continued to appear in credits for the rest of the season (which ended with the formation of the new company). The story arc of his crush on Ken was just left sitting there.

They brought Paul back for a story, why not Sal who was far more interesting and actually useful to the firm?

Yeah, Sal was a likable and interesting character but I remember feeling so bad for his clueless wife who was trying so hard.

Season 5 was great I should add. Back to peak form.

The macho Representative of Lucky Strike (the firm’s largest client at the time) made a pass at Sal who rebuffed him. Angry, the guy (still in the closet) made the firm fire Sal but then dropped them not long after anyway.

I also thought he may come back but, as the show has implied, the industry was moving away from print and more into TV and commercials anyway.

Yeah. Especially while she sat there in bed as he acted out Ann-Margaret’s entire Bye, Bye Birdie routine.

I had forgotten that! Painful.

He was starting to make commercials. The Ann-Margret inspired one is the most infamous. The incident with Lee Garner, Jr. took place in the editing booth. He was making the transition at just the right time but then …

Maybe Sal will pop up the way one of the earlier characters did, can’t recall his name the one who became Hare Krishna follower. I think once ads stopped using artists, Sal didn’t have a career anymore and had to do something else.

That was Paul Kinsey, mentioned in the OP.

The weak dropping of Sal and Kinsey is one of my least favorite things about Mad Men. While there were some great moments in season five, I find myself consistently annoyed that Weiner keeps ignoring or dropping interesting, conflicted, lively characters for more sad sack Don.

Excellent point. Take Fay Miller for example. She was very unhappy about Don dumping her. She had some Italian family. I thought for sure that some connected fellow was going to visit Don and do something unpleasant to him. But she was completely dropped, despite being a strong female character that contrasted well to Peggy and Joan.

We could probably list at least 2 dozen such characters. They killed off Anna, should have gone with Phoebe (the neighbor nurse) instead of Megan, etc.