Madmen.....

[herr_oberst]

Ultimately, it becomes the story of the AdMan who wrote one of the most iconic tv ads in history, in a fiction.

All in all, a pretty good finale, the whole thing wraps up on a mostly positive note.

Sort of the Yin to the Soprano's 'lights out' Yang.

[Heel n Toe]

Weiner has said that he's done with it... no spinoffs.

I think I'm glad for that and will be interested to see what he does next. Very well written, compelling show... you have to give it your full attention to get the most out of it.

For some intelligent, interesting discussion on the finale, go to the IMDb Mad Men message board and look around, going back a few pages because there's been a lot. There are very few trolls: Board: Mad Men (2007) - IMDb

Hey, Uncle Miltie dropped by.

[Heel n Toe]

Here's an example of the kind of thinking you can find on the IMDb board...

modsquad20 Did you notice what Don was wearing at the end when he smiled?

… a white dress shirt, open for business.

Jim Hobart's white whale. Moby Dick. Dick Whitman.

The "Teach The World to Sing" Coca-Cola ad is the Mona Lisa of advertising. It's the greatest commercial ever made. That may be hard to understand for anyone not alive at the time, but the cultural shock wave it made was immeasurable. I haven't seen that ad since it aired in '71, but when it came on at the end of the episode, I knew every note and every lyric as I know Happy Birthday. It's message is universal… it's a testament to personal happiness.

This had to be Weiner's starting point for the entire series. He took the 60 second high point of an entire industry and asked himself, "Who created this ad? Why was THIS idea born? What was going on in the life of a man to want to even conceive a campaign like that?" A man who was lost, broken, afraid. A man who has lived a life of great pain and heart ache. A man seeking peace within himself at almost any price.

The ending to the series was where series started.

"Advertising is based on one thing: happiness. And do you know what happiness is? Happiness is the smell of a new car. It's freedom from fear. It's a billboard on the side of a road that screams with reassurance that whatever you're doing is OK. You are OK."

[Heel n Toe]

One more thing...

Mad Men Creator: Finale Coke Ad Came From Don's 'Enlightened State'

For those of you who need to hear it straight from Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner‘s mouth: Don (and not Peggy) wrote the Coke ad.

“The idea that some enlightened state, and not just co-option, might’ve created something that is very pure” was an attractive way to end the series, Weiner said. “To me, it’s the best ad ever made, and it comes from a very good place.”

The assertion was one of the highlights of a public conversation Weiner had with A.M. Holmes (The L Word) at the New York Public Library on Wednesday evening, four days after his AMC series’ final episode aired.

Weiner conducted no interviews after Sunday’s episode, so the conversation was the first time fans had an opportunity to hear Weiner’s thoughts on the finale.

“I’m so pleased that people enjoyed it and seemed to enjoy it exactly as it was intended,” he said, adding that the episode had been locked down since October.

During the conversation, Weiner shared some of his influences (such as President Richard Nixon and Catholicism) and recent insights about the show’s final hour.

“Don likes strangers. Don likes winning strangers over,” Weiner said. “He likes seducing strangers, and that is what advertising is.”

However, “Once you get to know him, he doesn’t like you,” he said. “I think that’s why he married Megan over Faye.”

Weiner also addressed criticism (like some levied by TVLine) that Don spent too much time away from his New York colleagues in the final few episodes.

“I thought, ‘I want to see Don on his own. I want to see Don out there. I want to do an episode of The Fugitive,'” he said of the series’ penultimate hour, adding that he brought Draper to the Esalin retreat center in the finale because “I liked the idea that he would come to this place and it would be about other people.”

Other insights from the talk:

* If Weiner ever creates a show for a streaming video service like Netflix, “I would try to convince them to let me just roll them out so there’s some shared experience,” he said. “There’s not much left that we have communal now.”

* When Joan got pregnant with Roger’s baby, “I [originally] thought Joan was gonna go through with that abortion,” he said, but conversations in the writers’ room eventually changed his mind. He also said he never conceived Joan as a single mom feminist, but loved that “This woman made a practical decision not to take any s—t anymore.”

RELATED Ratings: Mad Men Ends on High Notes

* Weiner originally meant to wrap Pete and Betty’s stories in the final episode, but Mad Men co-executive producer Semi Chellas argued that that would be too much in one sitting. “She was totally right,” he said.

* Don’s finale attire was a look that Mad Men costume designer Janie Bryant had been holding for a while. “Don Draper in jeans… we’ve never seen that,” Weiner said. “He is definitely out of uniform.”

* The only unscripted line that ever made it into the episode, Weiner said, was Don saying, “Sweetheart,” to one of the ladies to get the lights during an ad pitch in an early episode.

* Though Weiner had known for seasons that the end of the series would feature the Coke ad and Betty’s cancer diagnosis, the same can’t be said of one other huge, fan-satisfying development. “I didn’t know Peggy and Stan would end up together,” he said. “That had to be proved to me.”

Watch Weiner’s talk in full below.

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/s/mad-men-creator-finale-coke-004247003.html

[Heel n Toe]

Mad Men Creator: Finale Coke Ad Came From Don's 'Enlightened State'

For those of you who need to hear it straight from Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner‘s mouth: Don (and not Peggy) wrote the Coke ad.

“The idea that some enlightened state, and not just co-option, might’ve created something that is very pure” was an attractive way to end the series, Weiner said. “To me, it’s the best ad ever made, and it comes from a very good place.”

The assertion was one of the highlights of a public conversation Weiner had with A.M. Holmes (The L Word) at the New York Public Library on Wednesday evening, four days after his AMC series’ final episode aired.

Weiner conducted no interviews after Sunday’s episode, so the conversation was the first time fans had an opportunity to hear Weiner’s thoughts on the finale.

“I’m so pleased that people enjoyed it and seemed to enjoy it exactly as it was intended,” he said, adding that the episode had been locked down since October.

During the conversation, Weiner shared some of his influences (such as President Richard Nixon and Catholicism) and recent insights about the show’s final hour.

“Don likes strangers. Don likes winning strangers over,” Weiner said. “He likes seducing strangers, and that is what advertising is.”

However, “Once you get to know him, he doesn’t like you,” he said. “I think that’s why he married Megan over Faye.”

Weiner also addressed criticism (like some levied by TVLine) that Don spent too much time away from his New York colleagues in the final few episodes.

“I thought, ‘I want to see Don on his own. I want to see Don out there. I want to do an episode of The Fugitive,'” he said of the series’ penultimate hour, adding that he brought Draper to the Esalin retreat center in the finale because “I liked the idea that he would come to this place and it would be about other people.”

Other insights from the talk:

* If Weiner ever creates a show for a streaming video service like Netflix, “I would try to convince them to let me just roll them out so there’s some shared experience,” he said. “There’s not much left that we have communal now.”

* When Joan got pregnant with Roger’s baby, “I [originally] thought Joan was gonna go through with that abortion,” he said, but conversations in the writers’ room eventually changed his mind. He also said he never conceived Joan as a single mom feminist, but loved that “This woman made a practical decision not to take any s—t anymore.”

RELATED Ratings: Mad Men Ends on High Notes

* Weiner originally meant to wrap Pete and Betty’s stories in the final episode, but Mad Men co-executive producer Semi Chellas argued that that would be too much in one sitting. “She was totally right,” he said.

* Don’s finale attire was a look that Mad Men costume designer Janie Bryant had been holding for a while. “Don Draper in jeans… we’ve never seen that,” Weiner said. “He is definitely out of uniform.”

* The only unscripted line that ever made it into the episode, Weiner said, was Don saying, “Sweetheart,” to one of the ladies to get the lights during an ad pitch in an early episode.

* Though Weiner had known for seasons that the end of the series would feature the Coke ad and Betty’s cancer diagnosis, the same can’t be said of one other huge, fan-satisfying development. “I didn’t know Peggy and Stan would end up together,” he said. “That had to be proved to me.”

Watch Weiner’s talk in full below.

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/s/mad-men-creator-finale-coke-004247003.html

[biosurfer1]

So I'm finally getting around to wrapping up the series, just got the finale to watch tomorrow night.

I got to say, it's been a pretty good series but I am totally confused by this last season, and more specifically the final 7 episodes. It is jumping around so crazy fast it seems like they are trying to cram years worth of story lines into a couple episodes. There are characters I either never noticed or were added like the guy who was left in the old office with Peggy....where did he come from?!?!

I won't say I don't like the last season because I enjoy watching what happens next but it doesn't feel like the show is ending in anyway, or that there is any kind of logical progression of the storyline. It seems like every episode I'm left thinking "WTF was the point of any of that??"

[Embraer]

Screenbid they're auctioning off stuff from the show...

[Baz]

[Zeke]

Great show. My family was in advertising. Even the offices looked the same. If Don Draper were Cooper's son then the script was written way before Mad Men. Because Don and my dad were the same, just less drama.

[Baz]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Great show. My family was in advertising. Even the offices looked the same. If Don Draper were Cooper's son then the script was written way before Mad Men. Because Don and my dad were the same, just less drama.

That's pretty cool, Milt - thanks for sharing!

I know that sales and advertising are two different animals but because of my background in sales plus my baby boomer status - hence growing up in that show's era - I really enjoyed it.

[Zeke]

If I followed my dad's path I'd have died 10 years ago. Smoking and drinking Don Drapers don't last. My dad died at 70. My granddad started the business. He lived to 84. He hated smoking and drank very little, only when out and only on occasion. My dad made a lot of money and he spent a lot of money. Instead of Cadillacs it was Lincolns. Only difference in the MM script was my parents divorced when I was about 17, not as young as the MM show. But the same script was my life and DD lived the same way my dad did.

So, not so cool. Glad I was the family outlier.

[Baz]

Harry had the quintessential look of someone from that era.

You can almost smell the Vitalis and Brylcreem......