# Mad-Men: season 6 premiere (open spoilers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 7, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103 "2013-04-07T21:33:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/101 "2013-04-09T16:03:53Z")
I don’t recall the nuances of the doorman scene well enough to comment but I do agree I could live without the (increasingly regular) chronology-jerking. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/102 "2013-04-09T16:36:37Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > No, I just rewatched it (on Vudu). My description in post 95 is exact. The collapse, and start of the CPR, is slotted almost seamlessly into their return. It’s really weird, even by the standards of the little twists Weiner has been throwing in. > > The exact sequence is: > > [ul] > [li]Don and Megan come in the entry doors with suitcases.[/li][li]Cut to Jonesy coming out of the back room (bathroom, I assume). He asks how their trip was.[/li][li]Cut to D&M. Megan says, “Wonderful, Warm. How are you feeling?”[/li][li]Cut to Jonesy, who collapses.[/li][li] **Cut back to D&M in different clothes, no suitcases, as Megan screams.** [/li][li]CPR, doctor, phone calls, Don obviously disturbed.[/li][li]Sharp cut back to Jonesy offering to help with suitcase and Don refusing.[/li][/ul] > It’s that first, perfectly timed and seamed cut that really throws reality out the window. A more conventional technique would to have been Don obviously begin flashing back or otherwise separating the time stream. Pointless and irritating to do it this way, IMVHO. Comes off as jerking the viewer around Because They Can. Oh, I wasn’t commenting on the exact editing - just how I thought the actual chronology went. Obviously, Weiner was playing with us to try and make us think that Don was the person in the opening shot, followed by his non-speaking for the first several scenes in Hawaii. I spent most of the first 8 minutes thinking he was having a near-death experience, which I’m sure was the point given the way the rest of the episode went. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/103 "2013-04-09T16:37:46Z")
Seems like they did that chronology jerking in the episode with Joan and the new account and everyone reacted favorably because it was sort of neat and now they are just throwing the time stuff in there willy-nilly. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/104 "2013-04-09T17:01:59Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Obviously, Weiner was playing with us to try and make us think that Don was the person in the opening shot, followed by his non-speaking for the first several scenes in Hawaii. I spent most of the first 8 minutes thinking he was having a near-death experience, which I’m sure was the point given the way the rest of the episode went. Yes, you could almost hear Weiner giggling as he moved us along with Don remaining silent. I didn’t see it as fantasy, NDE, flash-forward, anything… just wondered why he was doing it. If there was a good or clever reason, it missed me. I guess it was mildly intriguing. > [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Seems like they did that chronology jerking in the episode with Joan and the new account and everyone reacted favorably because it was sort of neat and now they are just throwing the time stuff in there willy-nilly. The Joan timeslip was much more conventional - showing us an outcome and then jumping back to show us it’s not what we thought is used fairly often (and usually fairly well). I guess I can sum up S6:E1-2 as… I’m beginning to think Weiner isn’t really as smart and talented as he thinks he is. The smooth deception and story-building of the first three or four seasons has become cynical, snarky audience-yanking, a little sophomoric, even. It’s “look how fucking cool we can be” and I think Don Draper would have fired them long before. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/105 "2013-04-09T17:23:19Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Megan’s foray into advertising was a failure & she’s back to acting By what measure was Megan’s advertising career a failure? She left almost immediately after securing a major account for the firm–after demonstrating to everyone that she wasn’t simply the woman fucking the boss, but actually possessed of her own talent and worth. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/106 "2013-04-09T18:48:05Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > By what measure was Megan’s advertising career a failure? She left almost immediately after securing a major account for the firm–after demonstrating to everyone that she wasn’t simply the woman fucking the boss, but actually possessed of her own talent and worth. This is also still an era when doing ads is a step below being a “real actor.” IIRC, it wasn’t until the mid-1970s that big-name actors could do ads without being seen as slumming, and it was a black mark on new actors at least through that time. Of course, it sounds like Megan’s current gig is one of cookie-cutter soap opera evil temptress, a highly disposable role. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/107 "2013-04-09T20:05:10Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > This is also still an era when doing ads is a step below being a “real actor.” IIRC, it wasn’t until the mid-1970s that big-name actors could do ads without being seen as slumming, and it was a black mark on new actors at least through that time. I think you’re confusing coasts. It might not have been acceptable for A-list movie stars to do television ads, but they had been appearing in magazine advertising for 40 years by that time. [Lucky Strike](http://www.pophistorydig.com/?tag=movie-star-cigarette-advertising) did many major campaigns using stars, and so did other cigarettes, and any ad firm that worked for Lucky Strike would have to know this history. Radio stars did ads routinely as part of their shows, and they often got their movie star guests to take part. Many of the early television shows did the same thing, since ads were live and included the stars. In New York, ads were part of the culture. Actors could move back and forth between theater, television, and advertising. It was one large pool. I can’t think of any time when an actor doing commercial work was seen as a disadvantage, let alone some kind of black mark. It meant you had talent. So did soap opera work, and literally hundreds of soap actors later went on to movies. Megan is a bit older than the norm so she may not have a big movie career ahead of her but her getting this far this fast at her age with her lack of experience is a very big deal in that world. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/108 "2013-04-09T20:10:55Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Megan is a bit older than the norm so she may not have a big movie career ahead of her but her getting this far this fast at her age with her lack of experience is a very big deal in that world. And I wonder how she got so far this fast… Couldn’t have anything to do with being married to one of the biggest bigwigs in the NYC ad game. If her and Don have a falling out, I predict we’ll see a quick end to her professional acting career. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/109 "2013-04-09T20:23:30Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > In New York, ads were part of the culture. Actors could move back and forth between theater, television, and advertising. It was one large pool. I can’t think of any time when an actor doing commercial work was seen as a disadvantage, let alone some kind of black mark. It may not be that cut and dried either way. I have the pretty firm impression that appearing in TV ads was low-man work to be avoided whether you were a A-lister or still bouncing on casting couches, and in the era when nearly all advertising came out of NYC. Certainly the hosts and stars of shows were huckstering cigarettes and coffee from the earliest days, but that was a special case, I think. Can’t think of any absolute proofs offhand so I will just say “you may have something there” and perhaps someone with more time and better references can fill things in. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/110 "2013-04-09T20:30:51Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > And I wonder how she got so far this fast… Couldn’t have anything to do with being married to one of the biggest bigwigs in the NYC ad game. > > If her and Don have a falling out, I predict we’ll see a quick end to her professional acting career. In the last episode last season, Don watched her screen test & realized the camera loved her. Is she really a _good_ actress, in Broadway (or off-Broadway) terms? Hard to say. Don’s influence may have opened a few doors for her, but I doubt any show would keep her on just to please him. I could see her acting career even taking her out to The Coast (the show’s Promised Land). What if she moved beyond the marriage? It was appalling to see Don up to his old tricks–but we don’t know what Megan has been up to since the last season ended… ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/111 "2013-04-09T20:55:33Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > In New York, ads were part of the culture. Actors could move back and forth between theater, television, and advertising. It was one large pool. I can’t think of any time when an actor doing commercial work was seen as a disadvantage, let alone some kind of black mark. It meant you had talent. So did soap opera work, and literally hundreds of soap actors later went on to movies. Megan is a bit older than the norm so she may not have a big movie career ahead of her but her getting this far this fast at her age with her lack of experience is a very big deal in that world. As of 15 years ago in New York TV and movies are called legit, as opposed to commercial acting (and also industrials.) That’s a holdover from the culture of A-list talent not doing commercials, even though 15 years ago they certainly were. At Megan’s level commercials would not be a black mark at all, though. I have a DVD of old commercials, including lots of stars of TV shows doing them - even Lucille Ball. But they pretty much did them in character, which might make it a bit different. There were also lots of B-level celebrities doing endorsements, like opera singers for cigarettes to prove they didn’t scratch your throat. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/112 "2013-04-09T21:07:03Z")
Does anyone know who the comedian who told raunchy jokes about ear necklaces on _The Tonight Show_ was supposed to be? I got a Rodney Dangerfield vibe from the guy who was trying to duplicate the jokes. He was kinda cute too. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/113 "2013-04-09T21:34:35Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Does anyone know who the comedian who told raunchy jokes about ear necklaces on _The Tonight Show_ was supposed to be? I got a Rodney Dangerfield vibe from the guy who was trying to duplicate the jokes. He was kinda cute too. Good article [here](http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/04/07/mad_men_premiere_season_6_vietnam_zippo_and_tonight_show_stand_up_comic.html). In short, it didn’t actually happen. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/114 "2013-04-09T21:36:46Z")
I thought the episode was great. The episode really kept me interested throughout. There were some slower moments, but I still found myself interested in watching. It’s weird to see Don’s character actually interact with some of the underlings. That wasn’t really shown at all in the early seasons. So all in all, a great start to the season. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/115 "2013-04-09T22:02:04Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > Good article [here](http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/04/07/mad_men_premiere_season_6_vietnam_zippo_and_tonight_show_stand_up_comic.html). In short, it didn’t actually happen. Simply unimaginable that anyone would have been allowed to tall a joke about severed ear necklaces on television in 1967. In fact, it wouldn’t have been reported anywhere in 1967. That article refers to a 2003 report that first reported the news about the severed ear necklace and I don’t see anything in a Google search that says it was revealed earlier. Somebody might have, in a magazine or book, but not a chance that anybody talked about it on television. That was one of the biggest anachronisms in the series. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/116 "2013-04-09T22:05:44Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Simply unimaginable that anyone would have been allowed to tall a joke about severed ear necklaces on television in 1967. I can see it conceivably happening if it was a Lenny Bruce type and it was live TV after more innocuous material was given to censors. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/117 "2013-04-09T23:07:18Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Simply unimaginable that anyone would have been allowed to tall a joke about severed ear necklaces on television in 1967. I thought the same thing. Weren’t things pretty tame on Carson back then? Maybe the Smothers Brothers but not Carson. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/118 "2013-04-09T23:13:05Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I can see it conceivably happening if it was a Lenny Bruce type and it was live TV after more innocuous material was given to censors. I don’t think Carson was live in 1968. In any case, they seem to have forgotten that back then TV shows were not recorded by average people. Today such a joke would perhaps go viral, back then it would be soon forgotten unless the comic telling it was very famous (like Jerry Lewis talking about going to the bathroom over Alabama or Mississippi) and people were stupid enough to complain. Maybe the Koss people were supposed to look paranoid, but I have a hard time believing it would be an issue. Not that any comedian would risk offending Carson that way, even if Joan Rivers had been guest hosting. Lenny Bruce actually talked about begin booked on Steve Allen and them requiring him to do a bit exactly the way they approved it. So even Lenny wouldn’t have gotten away with it (besides him being dead at the time.) This rang as untrue as the Star Trek bit last year. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/119 "2013-04-09T23:14:55Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > I thought the same thing. Weren’t things pretty tame on Carson back then? Maybe the Smothers Brothers but not Carson. While Carson was against the war, he mentioned in his Playboy Interview that he didn’t think it was his place to protest it on the air. And they’d never let a joke like that get through. I don’t think even the Smothers Brothers would have. (Not CBS, them.) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103/120 "2013-04-09T23:37:59Z")
Did they say it was the Carson show? I know they said Phyllis Diller was guest hosting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mad-men-season-6-premiere-open-spoilers/655103.md?page=7)