You have to agree, the ampersand is funky
June 28, 2013 8:28 AM   Subscribe

 
STERLING • COOPER • PEGASUS
posted by Artw at 8:43 AM on June 28, 2013 [4 favorites]


An damnit, I was going to do a big post finale post with this in it. I was also going to include slate's video " How Mad Men Fought Vietnam."
posted by The Whelk at 8:49 AM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


I've never seen Ted's last name spelled out until now...Chaough is not what I expected it to look like.
posted by morganannie at 8:49 AM on June 28, 2013




Bert Cooper rising from the grave to tell Don to fuck off with his bullshit was epic.
posted by Artw at 8:52 AM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


( fun fact, if you type Is Don Draper ... into google it autocompletes with " an alcoholic?" " a sociopath" " going to kill himself?")
posted by The Whelk at 8:53 AM on June 28, 2013 [2 favorites]


The new logo has really, really grown on me. I can't get over how beautifully kerned the 'STERLING • COOPER' lettering is. It's really just perfect and the font is absolutely divine, as is the color contrast between the two elements. The leaves of the SC&P are wonderful as well. It's the sort of emblem that if I saw it as, say, a brushed metal door handle I'd probably wrap my hand around the edges before letting go.

(Maybe I need to pull back on the throttle a bit with this Mad Men addiction, yeah?)
posted by iamkimiam at 8:55 AM on June 28, 2013 [5 favorites]




No Kim, give in, go buy a blue blazer both cause you needed it and cause it finished your Bob Benson outfit....let it flow through you.
posted by The Whelk at 8:58 AM on June 28, 2013


1960 vs 1968

Young Pete! Young Pete's hairline!
posted by rewil at 9:01 AM on June 28, 2013 [8 favorites]


So who would have designed the logo? Since the firing of Sal I'm not sure if I remember any characters introduced as being from the Art Department. CGP's art guy was the late Frank Gleason. Who's the resident artist/illustrator at SC&P?
posted by rocket88 at 9:01 AM on June 28, 2013


Stan's an art guy.
posted by rewil at 9:03 AM on June 28, 2013


"Bread and salt? Interesting choice of catering for an AGM Peggy"

*Hack* *Splash* *Squirt*

PIZZA HOUSE IS BORN.
posted by Artw at 9:05 AM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


The best part of that logo is that ugly orange that I associate with the 70s.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:18 AM on June 28, 2013 [3 favorites]


( fun fact, if you type Is Don Draper ... into google it autocompletes with " an alcoholic?" " a sociopath" " going to kill himself?")

Bob Benson
..."serial killer"
..."don draper son"
..."shorts"
posted by Iridic at 9:19 AM on June 28, 2013 [6 favorites]


Interesting that the D for Draper is gone but the P for Pryce remains but standing for something else.

Looking back, it should have been obvious when Don casually accepted the new name that he was gonna be out by end of season. Draper was the selling point for the agency. Why on Earth would they take his name out (unless he wasn't a selling point anymore.)

The best part of that logo is that ugly orange that I associate with the 70s.

Simply oozing with 1969-1971. I don't like it, but it's good.
posted by mrgrimm at 9:22 AM on June 28, 2013 [3 favorites]


I was looking for Roger's joke about Chaough's name and found this instead.
posted by kimota at 9:23 AM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


Bob Benson
..."serial killer"
..."don draper son"
..."shorts"


"In five years time, we'll all either be working for this guy or dead by his hand."
posted by mrgrimm at 9:25 AM on June 28, 2013 [2 favorites]


Bob's shorts should have their own holiday.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:26 AM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


We have deli platters and drink coffee during the feast of St. Benson
posted by The Whelk at 9:30 AM on June 28, 2013 [5 favorites]


Bob Benson! In a blazer! Out of this blue, so much hope and promise flows...I feel confidence at just the imagining of the collar gently touching the back of my neck as both arms slide into a blue Bob Benson blazer. It makes my knees weak and I will be unable to resist their lead to go forth and meet other knees. A new outfitoutlook has come together now...I am powerless to the allure of a blue Bob Benson Blazer.
posted by iamkimiam at 9:33 AM on June 28, 2013 [2 favorites]


Young Pete! Young Pete's hairline!

I have to admit, 1968 Pete (and his hairline) looks eerily like my grade school music teacher (who was the choir director at a local evangelical Baptist church) It's enough to make me cry in fear.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:38 AM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


I love the new logo so much. My favorite aesthetic is that sort of 70s orange and brown thing. I dream of someday owning a house with a wood paneled den.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:39 AM on June 28, 2013 [3 favorites]


You need a conversation pit
posted by The Whelk at 9:41 AM on June 28, 2013 [3 favorites]


I call brown, orange, yellow and white the "Brown rainbow" or "70s rainbow". Though actual rainbows are pretty 70s too.
posted by Artw at 9:42 AM on June 28, 2013 [2 favorites]


This is making me miss my dad's old Chevy van with wooden bumpers that he outfitted in the back with wood panelling and blue and green* shag carpet.

* = ADULTERY CARPET RITE?
posted by invitapriore at 9:45 AM on June 28, 2013 [2 favorites]


@BobBensonHere is a delight

Also this is your daily reminder that Bob totally called Pete a little bitch to Manny.
posted by The Whelk at 9:46 AM on June 28, 2013 [2 favorites]


I don't like the new logo at all. It has some potential, but it is poorly designed.

The proportions of the characters do not mesh. I would have drawn the S something like this, so the S matches the C more closely. That doesn't really work either, but it's better than the existing design.

I hate the ampersand's position, it forces the C to be smaller, like it's lower case. Bert Cooper should be pissed at being minimized. The position makes it less clear if it's S&cP or Sc&P I would have just run them all the same height. The contrast between the bold modern graphic font and the old style ampersand would work better if they were all the same height.

I would have kept the four squares of the old logo and just put the new characters in them.

S C
& P

But the press release is brilliant. If I recall the earlier seasons correctly (and I watched S1 through S4 all in one marathon session, the day before S5 started) Bert, Roger, and Pete all know Don changed his name, but I think only Pete knows all the details. I am confused, I thought Pete was a partner too. Not that he deserves it.
posted by charlie don't surf at 9:47 AM on June 28, 2013 [2 favorites]


I thought Pete was a partner too.

He is, but there is a ton of confusion over the scene in the season finale where he's apparently going to California. So maybe he quit? Or something? Nobody seems to know.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 9:48 AM on June 28, 2013


There seems to be a few places in LA giving those mugs with the purchase of coffee.
posted by curse at 9:54 AM on June 28, 2013


Please, everyone knows the best coffee comes in a blue amphora deli cup delivered by a handsome yet enigmatic stranger.
posted by The Whelk at 9:57 AM on June 28, 2013 [2 favorites]


but there is a ton of confusion over the scene in the season finale where he's apparently going to California. So maybe he quit? Or something?

I was confused by that, too. It's almost as if they cut a scene in editing. One moment, Pete was still at SC&P, and the next moment he's kissing his girl goodbye and heading to LA. I can't imagine Ted would want Pete with him in the LA office, so who knows what's up with that?
posted by Thorzdad at 9:59 AM on June 28, 2013


They did cut a scene--it's in some Weinery interview somewhere. Pete is going with Ted, but Weiner decided to use the time to focus on other characters not for exposition.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:04 AM on June 28, 2013


I has all huh? At that at first too, then it ended up working quite well at the 9am meeting reveal. I'm kind of hazy on where Ted is off to though.
posted by Artw at 10:22 AM on June 28, 2013


Ted's clearly going to LA. Didn't you see the bit where Ted begs Don to go to LA in his place? I'm not so clear about Megan. She said she had auditions already lined up in LA, but it sounded more like she was leaving him.
posted by charlie don't surf at 10:36 AM on June 28, 2013


I don't like the new logo at all. It has some potential, but it is poorly designed.

I had the same reaction for different reasons. The arrangement is fine but the letters are too severe and the ampersand is too fussy--it's fighting itself. I'm not a design guy, but when the heart says ick, one listens.
posted by psoas at 10:38 AM on June 28, 2013


Right, but he not get bumped again because Pete's off to LA?
posted by Artw at 10:41 AM on June 28, 2013


You need a conversation pit

Hey, let me show you the scars from all the times I tripped into/out of goddamn sunken living rooms (the less-hip version of conversation pits!) as a child. Those things are a menace. I still know people who have them, too.
posted by emjaybee at 10:59 AM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


I don't like the new logo at all. It has some potential, but it is poorly designed.

You really have to approach it as a period artifact. It's pretty pitch-perfect, perhaps even a bit ahead of the period, reflecting the emergence of photo typography, and an explosion in new font designs.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:13 AM on June 28, 2013 [3 favorites]


Ted's creative, Pete's accounts. (And a junior partner.) They fulfill different roles that are both needed in LA.
posted by rewil at 11:18 AM on June 28, 2013 [2 favorites]


I was confused by that, too. It's almost as if they cut a scene in editing. One moment, Pete was still at SC&P, and the next moment he's kissing his girl goodbye and heading to LA. I can't imagine Ted would want Pete with him in the LA office, so who knows what's up with that?
Why not? Pete is an account guy, and Ted's creative. He needs someone with him to whine and dine the clients. Pete was going to Detroit, until Bob Benson power-moved him out - now he's going to CA instead.
posted by delmoi at 11:36 AM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


Fair enough. I guess with the setup of a single position in California that was being fought over it seemed like a switch when it wasn't.
posted by Artw at 11:43 AM on June 28, 2013


Hey, let me show you the scars from all the times I tripped into/out of goddamn sunken living rooms (the less-hip version of conversation pits!) as a child.

LOL we lived in a late 1960s house with a sunken living room, with very expensive white carpet. The previous owners told my dad that their kids were never allowed to walk through the living room, in order to keep the carpet pristine. If they wanted to go from the entryway to the kitchen, they had to go downstairs through the basement and come upstairs on the other side. My dad tried to get us to do that. Yeah like we were going to obey that rule.
The white carpet had weird stain or something, about 3 feet wide, right in the middle of the room. When we moved in, it bugged the crap out of my mom, who spent some considerable effort trying to clean the carpet to remove it. She finally called a professional carpet cleaner, who informed her that spot was a misweave, it looked like it was stained a different color but that was just because the pile wasn't aligned to the rest of the carpet. It was an error in manufacture, and could not be fixed without replacing the carpet. She gave up.

I thought about that, during the scene the morning after Megan's party, where she complains that the white carpet was ruined, and Don says it was inevitable, and that he did photo shoots with white carpets and he always kept 2 or 3 extra carpets around because it got ruined so easily.

Stuff like this triggers me constantly while watching the show. I constantly see the furniture and props that are exactly the same as in my childhood home. I remember one scene in particular, where infant Eugene is sitting in a high chair with a stainless steel tray and banging his spoon on it, making an incredibly loud sound. Sally complains and asks Betty to make him stop, and she snarls back "It's either banging or screaming, take your pick." The moment I heard that banging, I remembered we had the exact same high chair. I remembered hearing that banging, and that brought to mind the stainless steel tray and then I realized it was a perfect match. And I remember being in the exact spot as Sally, wanting my mom to make it stop.
posted by charlie don't surf at 11:52 AM on June 28, 2013 [2 favorites]


Here's my take on how the next season could go:

Don uses his leave of absence to travel to CA with Megan, where she starts getting work. Don of course notices that Chaough's in town while hobnobbing with people in the film biz. He starts to see advertizing opportunities and feels more comfortable adopting the California lifestyle and ethos then Chaough, and sees a lot of opportunities he can't really cash in on - maybe he sends some work Chaough's way. After all, he's still a partner, so if the company makes money he makes money, right?

Then, Megan finds out about a great part in a film that still needs funding, that could really help her career. Don says 'fuck it' and gets a buyout on his share of the partnership for a few million dollars, funds the movie and gets a producer credit. No longer associated with SC&P he's free to start working on his own and starts his own agency in CA, and finds success by appealing to California's geographic pride, talking about his agency is LA based, because California is the future, bla bla bla.

I think it would be cool to see him become a full time movie dude, but what would you do with the other characters?
posted by delmoi at 11:55 AM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


I have given up trying to outguess this show.
posted by Artw at 11:56 AM on June 28, 2013 [2 favorites]


I always held " Don becomes one of the first super agents in LA and/or campaign man in politics." as a totally plausible possible ending.

Then again " abduction by aliens" seems just as plausible.
posted by The Whelk at 12:03 PM on June 28, 2013


Wandering bum that solves supernatural crimes.
posted by Artw at 12:04 PM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


I allready outlined Sally Draper : Demon Hunter. ( it was surprisingly easy)
posted by The Whelk at 12:05 PM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


(solving mysteries, hunting things with her groovy friends, in a Pizza House van..)
posted by The Whelk at 12:06 PM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


She should team up with Nikki the funky '70s Vampire Slayer, the one that Spike stole his coat from
posted by nicebookrack at 12:16 PM on June 28, 2013


She is basically in Mystery Inc. already.
posted by Artw at 12:20 PM on June 28, 2013


I'm not convinced that Pete still works for SC&P. He really blew that account, costing the company a lot of money and reputation. The team alluded to Pete either getting it together (re:Bob) or they will find somebody else to work with Bob. He's got no place to live as well. When he was saying goodbye to Trudy and his kid, Trudy reminds him that he's completely free and she explicitly says "Free of them."

Just a thought.
posted by iamkimiam at 12:21 PM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


In other words, I think Pete is going to California to start his life over. Like Don in reverse.
posted by iamkimiam at 12:24 PM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


STERLING • COOPER • PRINCESSES
posted by tilde at 12:38 PM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


STERLING COOPER PONIES
posted by The Whelk at 12:41 PM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


I went back to look at the scene where Don was turfed. It was Bert, Roger, Joan, and Jim Cutler. Both Pete and Ted were absent. I assume with a majority of partners they still had quorum to make a decision like that.
But if Pete & Ted hadn't left for California yet at that point, why weren't they there?
posted by rocket88 at 12:59 PM on June 28, 2013


I believe they were both okay or neutral on the subject. (Pete and Ted not being there).

"I would say go to hell but I never want to see you again." Took me five times to really get that line. D'oh. That's got to rank in the top lines of the entire series that are not Roger Sterling Jr's.

Manolo - I spoke in a previous thread about the hearppearance of names; I don't necessarily see it as an alias, but I thought I heard more than his given name and Manolo spoken. People have been saying that if he were really smart he would have found out she was practically broke and not gone after her, but sussing out an estate is frikkin hard in some ways, even now. And he might have been trying to get bought off, too. Or it could be an accidental ocean swim.

I can see where using the four block logo with three letters is appealing, but they also needed a change to be more modern (less Mod) and to show a true rebirth. We never saw CC?s logo, did we?
posted by tilde at 1:10 PM on June 28, 2013


CS didn't have a logo it was just a letterhead I only remember because they had an anachronistic font
posted by The Whelk at 1:18 PM on June 28, 2013


That press release is exactly what some promotions person would write and think they were so clever. It's not up to the quality of the show. It's like something a fan would write, who writes injokes for the characters instead of in their voice.
posted by smackfu at 1:21 PM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'm not convinced that Pete still works for SC&P. He really blew that account, costing the company a lot of money and reputation.

They'd have to buy out his junior partnership, and given that they probably have to keep in mind the possibility of buying Draper out, that's a lot of cash for the rest of the partners. Considering the Chevy guys shot the last account guy, I think Pete's mishap didn't cost the firm as much as it might have in other circumstances. It seems more of a personal loss of face, as it so often is with him.
posted by rewil at 1:33 PM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


Pete could never, ever, ever go back, regardless of how anybody else felt about it.
posted by Artw at 1:36 PM on June 28, 2013


I watched S1 through S4 all in one marathon session, the day before S5 started

How many TVs do you have?
posted by cosmic.osmo at 1:43 PM on June 28, 2013


"'Watch it'? I watched it thirty-five minutes ago." /indicates wall of TVs.
posted by Artw at 2:07 PM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


The best part of that logo is that ugly orange that I associate with the 70s.

ONE wall of my bedroom growing up was painted that orange. The other 3 were panelled. The rug was white -- but with all the other colors sorta in there too. Now that I think about it, it sorta explains a few things about myself...
posted by mikelieman at 2:51 PM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'm not convinced that Pete still works for SC&P. He really blew that account, costing the company a lot of money and reputation. The team alluded to Pete either getting it together (re:Bob) or they will find somebody else to work with Bob. He's got no place to live as well. When he was saying goodbye to Trudy and his kid, Trudy reminds him that he's completely free and she explicitly says "Free of them."

Just a thought.
Huh. I hadn't even thought about that. I mean if you think about it, do you think Pete would miss the opportunity to be there when Don Draper gets fired for anything in the world?

Still, seems kind of un Mad Men like to do something like that, have it look like Pete is just going to CA to work with Ted when actually he got fired too.
posted by delmoi at 3:13 PM on June 28, 2013


Weiner confirms in this interview that Pete is going to CA with Ted.
posted by Biblio at 3:20 PM on June 28, 2013


If Pete was there when Don got fired the level of Smug radiating off him would suffocate everyone in the room, hell, the building.
posted by The Whelk at 3:26 PM on June 28, 2013 [2 favorites]


He seemed pretty chipper announcing the move.
posted by Artw at 3:31 PM on June 28, 2013


The new logo is very The Price Is Right.
posted by mynameisluka at 6:05 PM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


"Free of them"

I took this to refer to Pete's parents.
posted by mwhybark at 7:56 AM on June 29, 2013


Still, seems kind of un Mad Men like to do something like that, have it look like Pete is just going to CA to work with Ted when actually he got fired too.

What?! Pete didn't get fired. He's in charge of new accounts!
posted by mrgrimm at 1:24 AM on July 1, 2013


This is just to say Christopher Stanley (Henry Francis) was at my gym today.

thats all I got
posted by The Whelk at 3:02 PM on July 8, 2013 [1 favorite]


thats all I got

oh c'mon, you know you gots more
posted by mwhybark at 5:00 PM on July 8, 2013


Not as much as Francis HEYOOO
posted by The Whelk at 5:15 PM on July 8, 2013 [1 favorite]




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