Get ready for an action packed, emotionally jarring ride on the third season of AMC's "Breaking Bad" which bows March 21.
Without giving away too much, series creator Vince Gilligan promised that it would be a momentous season for the key characters. It will be especially active for Anna Gunn, who plays the long-in-the-dark wife of Bryan Cranston's Walter White, the cancer-stricken high school chemistry teacher who turns to meth manufacturing and dealing to support his family.

Walter will face incredible consequences for his actions over the past two seasons, Gilligan said during Saturday's TCA panel, which also included Cranston, Gunn, Aaron Paul and Bob Odenkirk.
"Walter is like Dr. Frankenstein - with good intentions he's created a monster," Gilligan said.
Cranston (pictured above left with Aaron Paul) quickly joked that "Elsa Lanchester is going to star in our show."
But quips aside, Gilligan and Cranston spoke at length about the challenge of doing a show where the character is changing so dramatically with every season.

"I don't care about your marriage, or your work, or any of that. As long as I know you're with me."

Whoa, Don Draper. You'd better have a flak jacket on underneath that tuxedo because you're about to face incoming missiles from all sides: your wife, your lover and your professional family.

This was the rope-a-dope episode of "Mad Men," one that meandered along with great character bits until just about halfway through when ... wham! Betty hears the keys to Pandora's Desk rattling around in the dryer and she unlocks more of a mystery that she ever bargained for. I love the way this mammoth plot development was played so randomly -- what if she hadn't done laundry that morning? -- and without any hint (at least that I caught) that it was coming.

Leave to Don Draper to engender not one but two psycho femmes with cause to come after him with both guns blazing. I found the scenes between Don and his latest extramarital squeeze, school teacher Suzanne, to be kind of creepy, frankly. She's nuts, folks, and it's only a matter of time before it all spills out of her upstairs apartment and onto the sidewalks of Ossining and the halls of Sterling Cooper, for Betty and the neighbors and the office chipmunks to see.

At first as this episode unfolded I was having a little trouble buying the Suzanne-Don relationship, which we're seeing in full bloom for the first time in this seg, "The Color Blue," penned by Kater Gordon and Matthew Weiner and helmed by Michael Uppendahl. Suzanne's a budding feminist, artsy/craftsy type who's probably headed to Stonybrook or Haight-Ashbury in the next four years or so. What does she want with a married Mr. Establishment type (even one that handsome)? She oughta be dating Ken Cosgrove. But then I saw how they were hinting at her brewing discontent with the relationship and it made more sense.

"One minute you're on top of the world. The next minute some secretary is running you over with a lawn mower."

This was quite possibly the most action-packed, darkly comic and confounding episodes of "Mad Men" yet. I've been trying to sort it out for two days now and I still don't have many conclusions about "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency." From the title on down, it's a rip-snorter. But what does it all mean??

I know the story thread about Sally Draper and her need for a night light was symbolic of being afraid of the dark, or fear of the unknown. I know it wasn't accidental that Joan's big moment with her creepy husband came in the dark, after she fell asleep waiting for the bastard that she supports even after she calls him out for being drunk and for telling her an abject lie.

I know it had to be a conscious decision by scribes Robin Veith and Matthew Weiner (I noticed Veith got top billing) that this episode had more uses of the term "Mrs. Harris" than any other, as it to reinforce to Joan as she's on her way out the door that she is no longer herself, but her husband's wife.

I know that Harry Crane's line "What just happened here?" after the board room coup instigated by the doomed Brit executive Guy was clearly meant to encapsulate the randomness of life in the business world and life in the cosmic scheme of things. It takes someone else to explain to Harry that he's the only one who got an actual boost in responsibility in the reorg that was so cheerily and quickly detailed by Guy Smiley.

It took me longer than that to realize that the hierarchy laid out by the Brit emissaries not only leaves Roger Sterling out (duh?) but also essentially demotes Don as he would have had to work under share authority with Guy Mackendrick. Yes, I know Don's crestfallen look should have made this clear but I can be a little Harry-ish at times, especially when engrossed in this show.

And then what happens next in this show is straight out of "The Twilight Zone." The lawn mower that Ken Cosgrove so playfully rides into the office to illustrate his latest account snaring coup becomes the lethal weapon that takes Guy's foot and kills his career, in the eyes of his corporate overseers. Office parties at Sterling Cooper are just plain dangerous. And of course, it would be Lola! Lois! Of course!

The scene in which Lois and the lawn mower go out of control was as jarring a scene of random violence as anything I've ever seen on TV.

Let's call this the long, awkward pause edition of "Mad Men" There are some good ones in this third installment of the season,"My Old Kentucky Home."

It's also an insightful, oh-so-telling study of the nature of couplehood in all of its many stages. In another life, Matt Weiner surely would have been a marriage counselor. He has a keen eye for those little details and small gestures that reveal everything about a relationship. 

And any episode that gives us Joan playing the accordion ("C'est Magnifique") and Peggy Olson, proud graduate of Miss Deaver's Secretarial School, smoking her first joint has got to be a goodie. I nearly choked on her declaration to Paul Kinsey et al: "I'm Peggy Olson. I want to smoke some marijuana."

Overall, this is an interesting episode for the women of the Sterling Cooper mob. We're seeing more assertiveness, certainly from Peggy (when Paul tells her to go get the blender, she shoots back "You get it"), but in subtle ways from other characters -- even Carla, the Drapers' housekeeper, in her dealings with Gene, Betty's batty dad. I think it's all part of the theme of great social change enveloping our characters. The show is a Petri dish for all of these New Frontier experiments, and we get to watch how various personality types react. (Harry Crane is so voting for Goldwater. And Nixon.)

It's no accident that one of the two headline news items of the day that are referenced in this episode is the then-scandalous marriage of socialite Margaretta "Happy" Murphy to New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller, barely a month after she got a divorce and had to give up custody rights to her four children. Betty has clearly followed this tabloid affair (she's a closet New York Post reader?) because she knows all the details when the surprise marriage is referenced.

The other news that seeps into this episode, penned by Dahvi Waller and Weiner, is the radio report that references Birmingham, Alabama. (Try as I might I could not make out the first part of the report, the sound was too muddy). If this episode is taking place on May 4, 1963 -- the date of the Rockefeller wedding -- then the radio report is clearly about the civil rights demonstrations led by Martin Luther King Jr. against segregation in Birmingham ("greatest city in A-la-bam," per Randy Newman). These were protests that yielded scenes of unbelievable brutality -- children and teenagers getting beaten with billy clubs, bitten by police dogs and cut down with fire hoses -- that helped turned the tide of public opinion and pave the way for landmark civil rights legislation in the years ahead.

Ouch. Everybody is uptight and angsty beyond belief in the second episode of "Mad Men's" third season. The title is "Love Among the Ruins," but it might've been called "Where Did Our Love Go?"

Perhaps the most shocking turn the seg is that Don Draper actually does something selfless in order to make Betty happy by taking in her dementia-troubled father, Gene. He pulls it off in pure Don Draper sotto vocedramatic fashion, pulling Betty's brother into the study of the Draper manse in Ossining and telling him how it's going to go down.

After Betty forces Don to accept the invasion of her brother, his wife, their children and her ailing father for the week of spring break, he gradually realizes that Betty's finely honed sense of guilt about caring for her father will eat away at her if she doesn't take care of him -- or worse, if her brother's wife winds up playing nursemaid. Goodness knows she's already enough of a b-i-t-c-h. Could she be any colder to her kids?

Don would have to be blind not to notice Betty's pain (though that's never stopped him before). Betty declares herself to be in a "foul mood" while worrying about her father, and she later declares herself "the world's worsta horrible daughter" just before Don takes matters into his own hands with Betty's waffly brother.

Having rendered himself rootless with no family, Don also instinctively understands that Betty can't bear to sell the family home in order to put the father in an old folks home, as Betty's brother suggests. (The brother Don referenced last week as being someone who's always borrowing things and putting his name on them, and whose name, WilliamHofstadt, Don assumed for his near one-night-stand in Baltimore.)

There was a heck of a lot going on in this episode -- written by Caryn Humphris and Matt Weiner and helmed by Lesli Linka Glatter -- but to me the stuff with Betty's father was the most weirdly intriguing.

After last week's season opener, I was hoping for an episode with more Betty and more Peggy, and darn if Weiner and Co. didn't deliver on both counts.

A triumphant return. I find it wonderfully confounding that for all the speculation in the ten months since "Mad Men's" second season closer about the big changes in store for Don, Betty, Peggy, Pete, Sal, Joan, et al, the major developments in the third season preem,"Out of Town," reinforce that nothing much has changed at all for our core characters.

Don is still a serial philanderer, attracted to ultra sexually aggressive Bobbie Barrett types who work outside the home. Betty is back to the blithe state of denial and I-just-want-everything-to-be-perfect mental state that can only mean she's in for a hard fall when life inevitably turns out to be less than perfect.

Peggy is still living in the deepest, scariest state of denial as she pursues her professional career above all else. Pete, even after learning last season that he has a child by Peggy, is still fueled by his status- consciousness more than anything else -- acknowledging that he's fathered a child out of wedlock or ending his marriage to Trudy (as was indicated in last season's finale) would be too much of a blemish on his social-climbing endeavors.

Sal by the end of this episode is shoved more firmly back in the closet than ever, after the cruel tease of very nearly experiencing sexual ecstasy at the hands of a Baltimore bellboy.

Joan is still the Machiavellian queen bee of Sterling Cooper, even if she's outwardly proclaiming her distance from office politics -- post British invitation -- and her desire to leave it all behind after her planned nuptials.

And in the larger scheme, the picture of mid-1963 America presented in this episode indicates that the Cuban Missile Crisis period -- when we last saw our heroes forced to face the threat of nuclear annihilation -- has not had a lasting impact on the New Frontier/Camelot zeitgeist of the moment.

(Doing the math based on Betty looking to be about seven-eight months pregnant, it would mean that at least six months have passed since the October 1962 period of the sophomore season finale.)

We at home, of course, know that trauma that is lurking around the corner (Dallas, the grassy knoll, a convertible limo -- you get the picture). But for now, life is all about empire-building, the march of capitalism, sex appeal and getting in good with the ladies from the docent program at the Met.

(Read Brian Lowry's take on this episode.)

"Mad Men" fever is upon us.

Although I've already seen the season opener, I'm still excited for Sunday's preem because it's the official start of season three -- and it means I only have another week to wait for fresh meat. If the first seg is any guide, we're in for a heck of a ride.

Please watch this space on Mondays for episode recaps. I enjoy doing them, even though it keeps me up late on Sunday nights, because writing helps me sort out the intricacies, cultural and literary references and foreshadowing of this most intricately crafted series. At least on my best recaps. However, the oh-so-prolific Alan Sepinwall of the New Jersey Star-Ledger and the What's Alan Watching blog always puts me to shame with his insights and analysis.

There's not much I can add here to the tsunami of pre-launch coverage that "Mad Men" has received in the past few weeks. The most intriguing thing I've heard about the show's future was an offhand comment from creator-exec producer Matthew Weiner during the cocktail party that AMC hosted during the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Pasadena.

Weiner was talking about how happy he was to go into the third season knowing from the get-go that the show was assured of having a fourth season. When asked how long he would ideally like the series to run, Weiner paused for a moment and then replied: "I'd like to see us do the decade" of the 1960s.

Betty at Woodstock? Sal at Stonewall? Paul at the Monterey Pop Festival? Sally joins a commune? Don Draper joins the Nixon administration? I can just see Pete Campbell getting stomped by Hells Angels at Altamont.

Can't wait for Sunday...

Now that season three of"Mad Men" is all systems go, Matt Weiner says he's not expecting to make many changes in the writing staff from last season.

Fans will be happy to hear that the talented Robin Veith is definitely coming back for more adventures with the Sterling Cooper gang. (Veith last season penned three segs: "The New Girl" and co-wrote with Weiner "A Night to Remember" and "The Mountain King.")

Veith (pictured right) was Weiner's assistant nearly a decade ago when he first started writing the little spec that could. She bounced around a few jobs and was working in a behind-the-scenes role for a traveling circus when Weiner called her in 2006 to let her know the show was finally a go and she had a job if she wanted it.

Another "Mad Men" staffer getting a promotion for season three is Kater Gordon, who was the show's writers assistant for season two and has been upped to staff writer this year. Gordon's potential clearly impressed Weiner last season; Gordon was co-writer with the boss on the finale seg "Meditations in an Emergency."

Either AMC topper Charlie Collier has a great poker face or he is genuinely unconcerned that “Mad Men” creator-exec producer Matthew Weiner hasn’t signed up yet for the show’s third season.

“As long as we get the writers room up and running over the next three months, we’re fine,” said Collier after the network finished a panel for “The Prisoner,” a 1960s sci-fi series that’s getting a revision for a November launch. Collier added that the “Mad Men” isn’t behind production based on last season’s schedule and the show remains a firm go for a summer premiere.

Although the skein has never been a ratings magnet, its cache is vitally important to the network. The show has a slew of critical support, a rabid fan base and took home the Emmy in September as best drama.

“(Producer) Lionsgate continues to be in negotiations with Matt,” Collier said, with no other inside information to add. “We remain optimistic.”

That’s more upbeat than Weiner, who was upset when he spoke about the situation a few weeks ago when the show was nominated for a Golden Globe.

“This process has been going on for a long time. Everyone knew my contract was up at the end of the year. I did more than I promised I would do. It's frustrating that it's taking so long,” he said.

Weiner may add more from the podium at the Beverly Hilton on Sunday night if “Mad Men” takes home a Globe. Both the show and star Jon Hamm won last year, but with the writers strike canceling the show, nobody got a chance to speak.

— Stuart Levine

The first season of "Breaking Bad" was filled with all sort of surprises but none might have been as shocking as Bryan Cranston winning the Emmy for best actor in a drama.

The evening at the Nokia Theater remains a bit of a blur to the actor who was on hand with the rest of the cast at TCA to start spreading the word on season two, which begins March 8 on AMC.

"I had three previous Emmy nominations that I didn't win, so I was comfortable not winning," he joked, referring to his years on "Malcom in the Middle." "My wife was getting nervous, though, and started to get sweaty palms."

And when he heard his name called -- and not Jon Hamm of "Mad Men (another AMC show), who many expected to take home the prize -- it didn't initially register.

"For the first millisecond, I went, 'Oh, that sounds familiar. Oh my God, that's me!'  Then the one thought I had, after kissing my family, was please let me put a sentence together. Hopefully, whatever I said was coherent and appreciative."

Added series creator-exec producer Vince Gilligan, "It was one of the finest moments of my life. I knew it would be great for the marketing of the show, and it felt so unexpected. I've never had kids but this was the best moment of my life.

Chimed in Cranston: "I've had kids and it's better to win the award."

Gilligan says, in retrospect, it was fortuitous that the first season was shortened to seven episodes due to the writers strike.

"I wanted to have a slam bang season ending that would’ve been too much too soon," he explains. "For the second season, we didn’t pick up where we left off. The strike saved us from doing too much too soon."

-- Stuart Levine

"Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner enjoyed the attention the Golden Globes heaped upon his AMC show Thursday morning as he and his wife were in Milan, Italy, promoting the second season for European audiences.

Yet, while Weiner is proud of where the show has gone, he's more than concerned he might not be around for its future. He and producer Lionsgate haven't been able to come up with a deal for season three, and the clock continues to tick.

The lack of a contract is clearly eating away at him, and even gobs of pasta and gelato can't solve the impasse.

"We're supposed to start back in the writers' room in the middle of January," he said. "This process has been going on for a long time. Everyone knew my contract was up at the end of the year. I did more than I promised I would do. It's frustrating that it's taking so long."

Weiner has always acknowledged the team effort it takes in putting the elaborately detailed "Mad Men" together — from the cast to the scripts, from set and costume design and all below-the-line categories — but, make no mistake, this is his baby, and he doesn't want to hand off his child to someone else.

"People know the mythology of the script and know I wrote it in my basement," he explained. "People are shocked that the show could go on without me. Right now it's just frustrating."

As for what's ahead for Don Draper and Co., Weiner has thoughts about where the tale leads, but he may not get a chance to tell it.

"This is all a very confusing business," he reiterated. "There's a strange logic to how things are done. I have every intention of coming back and have lots of stories to tell. I'm not done yet. I can tell you that."

— Stuart Levine

In preparation for the "Mad Men" finale, I watched the season opener, "For Those Who Think Young," again.

Kathy Lyford, Stuart Levine and I have consistently marveled at the intricate craftsmanship of this show in these weekly blog posts. But it really is amazing to look back at the 13 segs in their entirety and to consider the care and planning that went in to stringing the threads and revealing a little bit more of the puzzle week by week. Kudos to Matthew Weiner, Robin Veith and the rest of the "Mad Men" team. We owe you.

It struck me that a whole bunch of season two is described in this quote from the book "Meditations in an Emergency" that is featured as a voice-over from Don as he reads the book near the end of the season opener.

"Now I am quietly waiting for the catastrophe of my personality to seem beautiful again...and interesting... and modern."

This season began on Feb. 14, 1962, with a breathless Jackie Kennedy leading us on a tour of the White House via the small screen, and ended eight months later on the heels of her husband's famed Oct. 22 televised address warning the world that a nuclear attack could well be brewing. Enough drama for you?

Think of how much the world for the Sterling Cooper-ites changes in that time -- from the boundless promise of JFK's New Frontier to the Cold War chill, the confrontation of racism and the civil rights movement, the budding awakening of what will be dubbed "women's lib," and the underside of celebrity culture laid bare by Marilyn Monroe's self-destruction.

I can't wait to find out where we go from here. It's gonna be eight long months, presuming AMC sticks with its summer skedding pattern.

Before we say goodbye to season two, it's worth taking a look back at a highlights reel. I'd love to hear some comments/criticisms/suggestions from others who are as obsessed with this show as Littleton/Lyford/Levine, LLC.

To start, a shout-out to a few of the supporting players whose work hasn't been as heralded as much as the that of the core ensemble.

Kiernan Shipka -- Sally Draper had so much to play this year. This is one talented moppet.

Alison Brie -- She always does so much with Trudy Campbell's limited screen time.

Joel Murray -- We miss Freddy Rumsen already.

Melinda McGraw -- Oooh, did I hate Bobbie Barrett, to the credit of Ms. McGraw.

GREAT LINES:

"What did you bring me, daddy?" -- Peggy Olson (Episode 1, "For Those Who Think Young")

"It's so obvious why you're seeing her -- A supermarket checkout girl? The conversation must be stimulating. 'Lettuce costs a nickel...You, out there in your poor little rich boy apartment, in Newark or wherever...Walking around with your pipe and your beard. Falling in love with that girl just to show how interesting you are." -- Joan Holloway (Episode 2, "Flight 1")

"God, I miss the 50s" -- Roger Sterling (Episode 3, "The Benefactor")

"God, I miss the blacklist" -- CBS executive (Episode 3, "The Benefactor")

"My people are Nordic" -- Betty Draper (Episode 3, "The Benefactor")

In preparation for Sunday's "Mad Men" season two finale, hop on over to Season Pass to read Kathy Lyford's fascinating Q&A with "Mad Men's" main man, Matthew Weiner.

Weiner loves nothing more than talking about his baby. In the excerpt below, he's responding to a question about how much of the Don Draper saga he had in his head eight years ago when he first wrote the spec script that was the crucible of this marvelous, Emmy-winning series.

"I told Jon (Hamm) the whole story before last year started. He was the only one I told, except for the producers, of course. And I told Jon about the brother and how the genealogy works and what kind of childhood it was and where he was from. There were a lot of these people. It’s an American story. You know mountain (folks), or whatever it is, coming to New York and shedding the whole thing. That’s the American dream on some level. Even though I didn’t finish the movie I did know where it was going. And I feel lucky to have that consistency and the audience can see that it’s not just being spun as it goes along."

Here's another interesting interview with Weiner that just came into my inbox. It's Weiner talking about the Jewish characters in the series, and it's just been posted as a podcast on Nextbook, a non-profit org dedicated to promoting "the discovery and discussion of Jewish literature, culture and ideas nationwide."

"The only thing keeping you from being happy is the belief that you are alone."

There were about a half-dozen lines in tonight's "Mad Men" seg, "The Mountain King," that reverberated around my living room and demanded to scratched down on my notepad. The quotation above is one of them. I've got whiplash from trying to keep pace with the plot developments and appreciate the craftsmanship of this stirring, wildly intriguing penultimate installment of "Mad Men's" sophomore season.

The themes and the visuals in "Mountain King" hark back to plot points and tidbits from earlier this season and in season one; it's no surprise the seg was written by Matthew Weiner and Robin Veith and helmed by Alan Taylor, the "Sopranos" alum who directed the "Mad Men" pilot.

We get a glimpse into how Dick Whitman crossed over into fully inhabiting the body, if not the soul, of one Korean War casualty, Don Draper. But of course, the glimpse only leaves us with a few million questions to fill in -- hello, season three.

Before trying to connect all those threads, it's worth a recap of what transpired in this action-packed seg for core "Mad Men" characters. (We'll leave Don for last.)

Peggy Olson: We are treated to the sight of Peggy Olson shedding her mousy I'm-not-worthy skin and sticking up for herself. She politely but firmly asks to be released from her banishment with the Xerox machine and to move into Freddy Rumsen's vacant office. It's appropriate, given that she's taken on so many of his duties.

We see her nail a new client in a heart-tugging pitch for Popsicles after she reaches back into her childhood for insights into how to sell those frozen treats as a year-round packaged good at the supermarket rather than a summertime treat bought off of an ice cream truck.
Peggy's flawless, supremely confident presentation to the Popsicle execs recalled Draper's killer pitch for Kodak's slide device in season one's closer "The Wheel" (also penned by Weiner and Veith). "Take it, break it, share it, love it." Sheesh, it almost sent me to the box of Popsicles in my freezer.

Peggy's haircut and wardrobe makeover that have been unfolding during the past few segs paved the way, but the last rocket-boost of confidence that got her the office upgrade stemmed from her score with Popsicle, and from the talking-to she receives from the Xerox repair guy. He's unwittingly prescient: "This is a sensitive piece of machinery. I you want it to work you have to treat it with respect."

The really beautifully shot, wordless scene of Peggy in the office alone after dark, stretching and rooting around in a secretary's desk for a cig (when did she start smoking, anyway?) signaled her ascent. She's a player now.

Heavenly shades of night -- this sounds like a blast. "Mad Men" cast members will host an old-fashioned, Rat Pack-style music and comedy revue next week at the El Rey Theater as a fundraiser for the L.A. chapter of the Recording Academy.

Lionsgate is calling it "a night of music, comedy and cocktails," and to facilitate the latter it has recruited Chivas Regal as a sponsor. Cast members set to appear include Bryan Batt (Salvatore Romano) pictured left; Michael Gladis (Paul Kinsey); Maggie Siff (Rachel Menken); Robert Morse (Bert Cooper); Mark Moses (Duck Phillips); Patrick Fischler (Jimmy Barrett); Melinda McGraw (Bobbi Barrett); Colin Hanks (Father Gill); Alison Brie (Trudy Campbell); Crista Flanagan (Lois Sadler); and Joel Murray (Freddy Rumsen). Also on tap are "Mad Men" scribe Robin Veith, director Michael Uppendahl, set designer Adam Rowe, set decorator Amy Wells and costume designer Janie Bryant.

"Mad Men" composer David Carbonara said he got the idea "A Night on the Town with 'Mad Men'" after hearing that BBC radio hosted a "Mad Men" night playing songs from the era. The fundraiser will benefit the local Recording Acad chapter's music education and professional development programs. (As an added bonus, the El Rey happens to be a stone's throw from Variety's office.)

"Since fans always say the show makes them want a cocktail, I thought the perfect way to quench that ‘Mad Men’ thirst would be to do a live, musical show featuring our actors and celebrating not just the music but the culture of the time," Carbonara said. "In the early 1960s these kind of shows were very popular; Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason and, of course, the Rat Pack loved to combine musical numbers with easy going banter and comedy – so why not bring back that format for all of us who watch the show and want to step into it for a night?”

Hey, I'm there.

Let's call this one "The Hobo Code," part II, in which our "Mad Men" hero Don Draper runs away from his problems in New York, runs away some more and then gets smacked in the face with Palm Springs heat and the reality of how his actions are likely to affect his kids.

Episode 11, "The Jet Set," is one of those intriguing hours of the show in which at first it doesn't seem like much is happening, but on reflection there's a whole lot of moving and shaking below the surface.

In this seg, penned by Matthew Weiner and helmed by Phil Abraham, we learn, to use Ken Cosgrove's shorthand, that "Kurt's a homo," and that Peggy Olson with her strict Catholic upbringing is a model of tolerance and respect for diversity (Can we enlist Peggy to help fight California's evil anti-same sex marriage initiative, Prop. 8?).

We learn that Duck Phillips really is an incredible schemer, with a few martinis in his belly, and it sure seems like he's been laying in wait for his attemped Sterling Cooper coup attempt for a while.

We learn that Jane Siegel really shouldn't be writing poetry. We learn that Pete Campbell is just not a West Coast kind of guy. And in the most tantalizing tidbit, we learn there's someone out there somewhere that Dick Whitman, not Don Draper, wants to see -- "soon."

There's lots more to digest.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE (Cynthia's thoughts below)

In this "Mad Men" episode titled “The Inheritance,” it isn’t so much the money that’s been left from generation to generation, but the mental trauma and screwed up parenting that leaves a lasting legacy.

For the first time, To start we get a very revealing glimpse of Betty’s family as her father, Gene, has suffered a second stroke — though, it turns out, Betty didn’t even know about the earlier one. Upon hearing the news in a latenight phone conversation, Don convinces Betty to be with her when she visits her family, but once they arrive it’s obvious why they would never come to visit on a regular basis.

While Betty’s mother died a while back, her stepmom is a cold, emotionless fish who doesn’t even attempt to have a relationship with her stepkids. Don looks at this family and finds it hard to imagine how someone could’ve grown up in a house so sterile and without feeling, though her mom was probably much more nurturing. It forces Don to have a better sense of who Betty is and how’s she gotten there.

After all the rip-snorting plot developments in the previous "Mad Men" episode, "A Night to Remember," we take time in this week's seg for a few then-and-now reflections on American culture -- capped by a blast of plot-thickening in the closing minutes.

Before we dive in to episode-dissection, a hearty congratulations go out to Matthew Weiner, Scott Hornbacher, Robin Veith, the ensemble cast extraordinaire and to everyone else involved with the show for last Sunday's Emmy win for best drama series. Well done and well deserved. (Trivia question: In which category did "Mad Men" win its first Emmy? Answer at the end of the post.)

So let's start at the end of tonight's episode, "Six Month Leave." (Quit reading now if you haven't seen it yet.)

As our hearts and minds are so focused on Betty and Don's travails, we're thrown for a loop by the news that Roger has left his wife Mona (played by John Slattery's wife Talia Balsam) for "a secretary" in this episode, written by Andre Jacquemetton, Maria Jacquemetton and Matthew Weiner and helmed by Michael Uppendahl.

Specifically, Jane, Don Draper's new-ish secretary who seems predisposed to rub everyone at Sterling Cooper but Roger the wrong way -- most of all her boss. Given Don's angry reaction to this news, I guess the big question is whether this is enough of a jolt to force him to try to repair his own marriage. He sure didn't seem to be leaning that way earlier in the episode.

"Mad Men" fanatics alert: Some swell tidbits were shared by series creator/exec producer Matthew Weiner and his assistant-turned-staff-writer Robin Veith during Wednesday night's panel sesh with Emmy-nommed writers at the Writers Guild Theater in BevHills.

Most awesome, to my ears, was the anecdote that Veith shared about the unforgettable scene in the seg toward the end of season one where a stressed-out Betty Draper shocks her children by picking up a BB gun to shoot the neighbors pigeons as they fly overhead against a postcard-perfect blue sky. The neighbor had threatened to shoot the Draper's new puppy after the dog got a hold of one of the pigeons.

Veith vividly remembers being a shocked at the age of 7 or 8 while growing up in "farm town Maryland"  when her own mother did the very same thing after her dog, Boo, snapped the neck of a pigeon kept by their very unpopular neighbor -- whose birds were the scourge of their cul-de-sac.

"It was the greatest thing I'd ever seen," Veith said, with obvious pride.

Veith (pictured left) gave us another insight relating to an element in this season's segs that has generated a ton of commentary in "Mad Men" blog-o-sphere.

"Sally Draper mixing cocktails for her parents -- that was me," Veith said, noting that daiquiris were among her specialties. There was a momentary hush in the aud.

Another funny bit relating to a plot point from the first-season finale, "The Wheel," for which Veith and Weiner (pictured above) are nommed (Weiner's also up for the pilot): Weiner bought an actual "Relaxercizer" machine that he found in a thrift store more than three years ago, before "Mad Men" was even set up at AMC, with the idea that he would use it in the show one day.

"That's how I work," he said.

Posted by Kathy Lyford

I've watched a lot of television in my life but I do not believe I've ever seen a series so intricately complex and painstakingly crafted as "Mad Men." Not a detail is left to chance. It is therefore very difficult to recap. Forgive me for the length of this post.

This episode is all about the women and, with the help of outstanding performances from January Jones, Elisabeth Moss and  Christina Hendricks, we see the ladies' facades start to crumble.

Let's start with Betty.

It's been an undetermined amount of time since Jimmy Barrett let Betty in on the secret that their respective spouses have been involved in more than just business. We open with her, clearly frustrated, taking an early morning ride on her horse. And it must have been very early because she returns home to find Don still in bed. He's in a playful mood, even calling her "Birdy" at one point, but she's having none of it. She's as cold as the ice in one of his cocktails.

Preparations are under way for the big dinner party the Drapers are throwing for Rogers and Cowan exec Crab Colson and his lush of a wife Petra, the Sterlings and Duck. Much as she will later confront her troubled marriage, Betty confronts a wobbly dining chair, deciding in the end that it's easier to dismantle it than fix it. It struck me during this scene how utterly accustomed to dysfunction Sally and Bobby have become as they watch with mild curiosity as their mother destroys the offending furniture before they just go back to watching TV.

Lots of intrigue, if not a whole lot of action, in this "Mad Men" seg, "The Gold Violin."

For all the plot seeds that appear to have been planted in this hour, the one image that really stuck with me in this seg -- penned by the quartet of Jane Anderson, Andre Jacquemetton, Maria Jacquemetton and Matthew Weiner and helmed by Andrew Bernstein -- was the shot of the Drapers packing up from their picnic. Litterbugs! Miscreants! Eco-terrorists!

It was one of those moments that  that took advantage of "Mad Men" being a period drama to get us to thinking about how far we've come in our attitudes about how we treat Mother Earth. It was bad enough that Don crumples up his beer can and pitches it as far as he can into the bucolic setting where this increasingly estranged family has stopped for a respite.

But when Betty shakes out their picnic blanket, letting the paper and food trash hit the grass without even giving it a second thought -- I shuddered. Yes, I know, the mind-set was very different back then -- interesting to note that Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" was published in 1962, same year as we're in on "Mad Men."

Still, I gotta believe plenty of people back then would've naturally been inclined to tidy up after themselves, if only because it's the right thing to do. I think trashing the countryside is a sign of Betty's growing detachment from reality. Certainly, she's becoming the ice queen as far as her children are concerned -- she seems to treat them more like a nuisance. It's quite a 180 from the picture-perfect mom she was striving to be in season one.

But let's back up a bit. I think the overarching theme of this seg is about materialism and the moral decay that conspicuous consumption represents.

Don buys his Cadillac and seems to worship it like a lover because he thinks it signals he's arrived. Bertram Cooper shells out $10,000 for a Rothko painting, not because he likes the red "smudgy squares," as new-girl Jane puts, but because he thinks it'll double its value in just a few years.

Ken Cosgrove, in his "Far From Heaven"-esque visit to Salvatore and Kitty's home for dinner, spells it out during their discussion the inspiration for his latest short story, and the title of this episode. "It was perfect in every way, except it couldn't make music," Ken tells them of the gilded fiddle he saw on display as an objet d'arte the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

(STUART LEVINE ADDS HIS THOUGHTS ON THE EPISODE LATER ON IN THE POST)

Now I'm convinced -- Don Draper is losing his grip. I will never understand what our handsome anti-hero of "Mad Men" sees in the sleazy Bobbie Barrett.

After watching their further adventures in episode five, "The New Girl," I stand by what I said last week -- the woman is bad, bad news. But kudos are in order for thesp Melinda McGraw (pictured above) for playing her so, so well, or bad, in this case.

Although it feels like the twisted Don-Bobbie storyline dominates this seg, it's action-packed and includes the (brief) return of fan-fave Rachel Menken; a very emotional turn of events for Pete and Trudy; the introduction of what looks to be an important new character, Don's latest secretary; Don revealing himself to be an Antonioni fan; Joan delivering big news to Roger; and most significantly, at the 27-minute mark, we finally get a bit more info on what in the world happened to Peggy in the days immediately after she gave birth, at the end of season one.

It's a credit to Matthew Weiner and his team that the show's characters and stories are so strong that they've been able to wait this long to give us anything on this key plot point without fans howling. Peggy's flashback caught me completely off guard, as I was thoroughly engrossed on the Don and Bobbie storyline when it arrived. And the flashback is deftly woven in to shed light on another big turning point in Peggy and Don's relationship that comes in this seg.

Penned by Robin Veith and helmed by Jennifer Getzinger, the episode is titled "The New Girl," and it does introduce us to a young and very pretty new secretary for Don, Jane Siegel (sp?), but she doesn't get much screen time overall.

After giving it some thought, I think the title refers in part to the dynamic of Don's life, and in part to the changes that Peggy is undergoing. I think Don is a pathological Lothario in one sense, and hopelessly insecure (duh) in another. I don't think it's the power of the conquest that he's after, or even the sex per se, but just the insatiable desire to be liked, to be wanted, to be idolized. That's probably a lot of what he's responding to in Bobbie -- she's relentless.

I also think this episode is very focused on spotlighting the sharp contrasts between men and women in this era, which can't help but prod us to think about how much has, and has not, changed in contempo times.

Holy heck, this was a great episode of "Mad Men," packed with equal amounts of arresting visuals and razor-sharp lines of dialogue that will rattle around in our heads all week.

Seg "Three Sundays," superbly penned by Andre and Maria Jacquemetton and directed by Tim Hunter, is framed by three trips on successive Sundays to the parish church with Peggy's family. By the end of this episode, we're all fidgety little boys squirming in the pew and tugging at our starchy collars.There is enough repressed anger and nervous tension in this episode (actually in the Draper household, the anger is boiling over) to light up Broadway, if there were electrical sockets built in to the backsides of Don Draper, Betty Draper, Father Gill (in a fantastic guest shot by Colin Hanks), Peggy Olson and her mother, Katherine, and sister, Anita.

Was it my imagination or in the opening scene in Peggy's church was there an extra volume put on the Monsignor's admonition for his flock to "live worthily" and "bear the cross." These themes seemed to be significant in the episode.

(More after the jump.)

STUART LEVINE WEIGHS IN

If Matt Weiner and his team were concerned about a sophomore slump, they needn't worry any more.
Sunday's fourth episode of the season, "Three Sundays," was fabulous.

For me, the episode was all about children, and how parents treat a child affects those all around on the periphery. Let's start with Bobby. This adorable rascal keeps getting into trouble: breaking the record player, jumping on and breaking the bed, spilling his drink while playing with his robot. He looks to be about 6 or 7, and he's testing boundaries. A kid being a kid.

That's a concept Betty's completely oblivious to, and her reaction is to have Don smack Bobby around, thinking that will teach him right from wrong.

Don won't do it, however, still reeling from when his father beat him, and telling Betty that he wanted to murder his father when he grew older. It might not be a shocking revelation, as it was hinted about in a few prior episodes, but it does reinforce that Betty has no idea about the relationship between Don and his father, or much of anything about Don's past.

Posted by Kathy Lyford

Cynthia's comments after the jump.

The distance between Don and Betty may be growing but at least they have one thing in common - they both spend the better part of the episode fending off unwanted advances, one more successfully than the other.

After Don Rickles-like comedian Jimmy Barrett (not a real person) manages to insult the folks from Utz potato chips (a real product), Don goes into overdrive to fix things. Poor Lois gets caught in the crossfire and gets fired - setting up something I've been wishing for since the show began: Joan is now Don's secretary, at least until a suitable replacement can be found. Oh, the mind reels at the storylines that could emerge from that pairing.

Unfortunately, while trying to convince the comedian's wife/manager to apologize to the clients, Don falls back into his old ways and before getting down to business with Mrs. Barrett, he gets busy with her. In his defense, she did throw herself at him. But, for the first time we see genuine guilt from Don. Credit Jon Hamm, once again proving himself worthy of an Emmy, for wordlessly saying so much in the scene at the Draper's kitchen table.

Don finally wrangles an apology out of the Jimmy Barrett (pictured left, played by Patrick Fischler), by nearly getting violent with Mrs. Barrett. This makes me wonder what else we may eventually discover about Don's past... and his relationship with Betty. Remember after the incident in season one with a drunken Roger when Betty asked Don if he wanted to bounce her off the walls? Hmm.

Poor lost Betty. Arthur may not know much about riding horses, but he certainly seemed to have Betty pegged when he called her "profoundly sad." 

Oh and let's not forget Harry, who finally found his spine (with the help of his wife). While putting out feelers for a job at CBS, Harry stumbles on a great idea and pitches Belle Jolie lipstick a sponsorship on a controversial episode of "The Defenders." (In a nice touch, "The Defenders" episode in question is titled "The Benefactor," which is also the title of this "Mad Men" episode.) Belle Jolie takes a pass, but Harry lands himself a raise and a promotion. Sterling Cooper is taking on television, folks.

Buckle up -- episode No. 2 of "Mad Men" gets the plot engines revving.

(Kathy Lyford weighs in with some very smart observations after the jump.)

As slow and deliberate as the pace of last week's opener was, "Flight 1" takes right off -- with a plane crash at the outset that represents tragedy and opportunity for our anti-heroes at Sterling Cooper. This seg is packed with great performances from the core ensemble.

First, I was greatly impressed by Elisabeth Moss' self-assuredness as Peggy, both in her professional set and in the tense scene at her mother's home with her mother, sister and the infant son she'd just as soon forget sleeping in the next room.

"I work with them," Peggy corrects her suitor in the opening party scene when he asks if she works "for" the drunken ad men crawling around Paul Kinsey's apartment in out-of-the-way Montclair, N.J. (More on that later).

Then Vincent Kartheiser renders Pete Campbell in 3-D as he reacts, numbly, to the news of his father's death in the American Airlines crash. Campbell, as we know from season 1, is a craven, self-centered, conniving creep, and it is a credit to Kartheiser and the "Man Men" scribes that us viewers have any feeling for him at all. In Pete's scenes in this seg, we're shown (not told) why he is incapable of genuine emotion, or of having any selfless feeling for anyone else.

The scene with Campbell's shellshocked but ever-proper mother and brother and Trudy in the family living room was  wonderfully unnerving -- so many stifled emotions I felt the urge to loosen my own collar more than once.

And then wham! Here comes Jon Hamm's Don Draper, a guy you can never psych-out no matter how much you try.

We're as breathless as Jackie Kennedy was all those years ago about AMC's decision to offer web streaming of the entire Jackie-hosted tour of the White House that aired on CBS and NBC way back on Feb. 14, 1962.

The program is woven in to the "Mad Men" season opener in a way that could only be conceived by a great writer like Matt Weiner. I saw this historical gem years ago, on C-Span as I recall, and am tickled pink (Chanel pink, with a matching pillbox hat) to get the chance to see it again.

This just in from AMC: The premiere telecast of "Mad Men's" season two opener drew about 1.9 million viewers. That's up from last summer's preem, which drew 1.65 million viewers, and a big spike from the show's first-season average of about 915,000 viewers per seg.

It's not exactly gynormous growth, but the needle is moving in the right direction. And by AMC's standard, these are triple-digit spikes. Variety's ratings guru Rick Kissell has all the details right here.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE (Cynthia and Jon Weisman weigh in after the jump)

You can watch Don Draper for hours on end and still not figure out his relationship with women and determine what makes him tick.

Much of this first episode of season two offers small but vital hints as to how Draper relates to women, and it all goes back to his mother, of course. Then again, don’t all psychological dilemmas start with Mom?

In Don’s office, Peggy and Salvatore are discussing an ad campaign for Mohawk Airlines. When Peggy and Don offer up some revelatory ideas about addressing the campaign to businessmen, he looks at her like a proud father.

He admires Peggy very much, maybe because the way she earned her promotion as a junior copywriter after starting at Sterling Cooper as his secretary.

She’s garnered Don’s respect, and that’s not an easy thing to do — as any of the guys there could tell you.

In many ways, Don enjoys being around her more so than his wife, Betty, who he sees more as an accessory than an equal.

Betty is often a last consideration if Don needs to work late or wants to pal around after office hours, and certainly he didn’t give her much thought when he was having affairs with both Rachel Menken and Midge Daniels.

And while Don is quick to get into bed with others, when he and Betty have a romantic Valentine’s Day evening together at the Savoy Hotel, Don’s mind is elsewhere, and he’s unable to perform. Since he had a reserved the room in advance, it was obvious to him they’d end up having sex, but maybe the chance meeting at the hotel bar between Betty and her former roommate, Juanita, who is now a call girl, threw Don off his game.

Remember, his mom was a prostitute and seeing a friend of Betty’s in hooker mode might’ve brought up some serious childhood issues.

“Mad Men” creator Matt Weiner promises a seasonful of Draper revelations, so keep your eyes peeled.

Other thoughts while wondering how much it would cost today to fix a fan belt in the middle of the night on a rural road:

This time last year, we were all pleasantly surprised and comparing notes around the office. "Have you seen 'Mad Men'? It's really good. Jon Hamm is amazing."

"Mad Men" commanded our attention last summer as soon as the first screeners were sent out. Like most showbiz journos, Variety's resident TV fanatics approached the show with some skepticism because of what it was: the first foray into original drama series by AMC, and a period piece. We wondered how you could do a credible job on re-creating early 1960s Manhattan a la "The Apartment" on a basic cable budget.

We stopped worrying about halfway through Joan's tour of Sterling Cooper office with the new girl, Peggy, in the pilot seg, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes."

"Mad Men" got better and better as its first 13-segs unfolded, as evidenced by the 16 Emmy noms the Lionsgate TV production raked in earlier this month. In a sign of its high-quality construction, "Mad Men" episodes hold up incredibly well in repeat binge viewing, as some of us are doing in preparation for season two and for what feels like inevitable Emmy night sidebars.

To make the most of season two, Variety's Stuart Levine, Cynthia Littleton and Kathy Lyford will be opining here on the show on Sunday nights (or by midday Monday) about each of its 13 episodes, starting this week with the opener, "For Those Who Think Young." (Please consider this fair warning for those who watch on their own timetables and want to avoid learning plot points.)

The three of us have had the pleasure of seeing the first two segs of the new season. We have a firm no spoilers policy in this space, but suffice it to say that we're in for a hell of a ride. (Here's Brian Lowry's review.)

"Mad Men" creator/exec producer Matthew Weiner was walking on air last week at the series' season two preem party at Musso and Frank, which followed a screening of "For Those Who Think Young" at the Egyptian Theater across the street. The Emmy nom glory and the continued critical hosannas are like an inch-thick coating of butter cream icing atop the three-layer chocolate mousse cake that he and his cast and crew get to feast on in doing the show of Weiner's (period) dreams.

As moody and complex, naughty and macho and wonderfully unshaven as Hamm's master manipulator Don Draper was last season --  we ain't seen nuthin' yet, Weiner promises.

A swinging early '60s good time was had by all who attended season two preem party for AMC's Emmy darling "Mad Men" at Musso and Frank on Monday night, following a screening of the season opener at the Egyptian Theater across the street.

The most telling sign that "Mad Men" is the "it" show of the moment as far as the creative community is concerned? Mussos was crawling with top TV agents last night, even those who don't have anything to do with the show.

(Pictured left, "Mad Men" stars Vincent Kartheiser and Jon Hamm)

Matthew Weiner was probably as prepared as any writer-producer could be for surviving the pop culture tsunami that "Mad Men" has stirred up the past few months.

It's a storm that will now gather more strength thanks to the AMC period drama's haul of 16 Emmy noms, the most of any drama series this year and a first (shared with FX's "Damages") for the once-humble realm of basic cable original skeins.

Weiner (pictured second from left with "Mad Men" thesps and Josh Sapan of AMC parent Rainbow Media on far left) is, after all, an alumnus of "The Sopranos" alum, so he knows about the extra pressure that comes with the fond embrace of the cognizati. (See last month's New York Times Magazine cover story on "Mad Men" for further explanation.) His way of keeping his feet planted on the ground is to focus squarely on the show, his baby that he nurtured for years from a spec script that no network wanted to a sensation that is transforming its cabler into a player in original series programming. 

"The content of the show seems to be resonating with the culture. That's the thing I'm most proud of," Weiner said Thursday during a break from lensing on season two of the Lionsgate TV production at downtown's L.A. Center Studios. He was ebullient about the news that broke before dawn about "Mad Men's" Emmy showing, but he had other priorities even on such a momentous morning.

Before going to work on his own show, he took his kids to attend a table reading of "The Simpsons," something they'd all wanted to do for a long time. "That was a great experience," he said, sounding like a fan and like a dad.

By late morning, however, Weiner was back in 1962. "Mad Men's" second season begins July 27. Can it live up to the lofty expectations that only became grew as dawn broke Thursday.

"Awards are a strange thing," Weiner opined. "If you are ignored by them they become inconsequential. If you're recognized, then it's an incredible experience.

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

It was probably the earliest ayem panel the folks at "Mad Men" have ever participated in, but the crusty eyes and uncombed hair didn't stop any of the actors or creator Matt Weiner from offering some insight into AMC's buzz skein.

Season two, which starts up on July 27, won't be an immediate follow-up to last season's finale. Time will have lapsed, and Peggy's baby isn't even addressed in the first episode. That will come as the season progresses.

"Trust me," said Weiner, who is adamant about making sure plot points aren't revealed before an episode airs. "I’ll give you the information you need in the most entertaining  fashion possible."

Despite all the well-earned glory Weiner has received, including a big New York Times Magazine piece, he's still concerned about keeping the quality at the same high level as seen in season one.

"The truth is, the success still hasn’t sunk in,” confessed Weiner. “I’m an artist who can only hear bad things. I’m tightly wound and want to please myself. This is where I feel the pressure. I don’t want these people to get a script and say, ‘Oh, it’s a dud.’”

So far, no one has been disappointed. In fact, the cast, which has given flesh and blood to Weiner’s scripts, can’t really relate to their leader’s pessimism.

Said John Slattery, who’s been seen in a bunch of shows lately, including “Desperate Housewives”: “With TV, you sign on in the beginning and hope for the best. At the table readings, everyone is ooing, aahhing and laughing. It’s a surprise every week. The characters go places you didn’t expect them to go.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen and are afraid to ask. It could be your own death. Especially for me.”

Added Jon Hamm: “You think it’s going one way but the material takes you in another direction.”

Hamm offered some interesting analysis of his character’s relationship with his co-workers, especially Peggy, his former secretary who got promoted and is now slugging it out with the big boys.

“Don has a lot of respect for Peggy," Hamm revealed. “His relationship with women are complicated. The women he’s attracted to are women who are independent, and Peggy has an essence that’s appealing to Don. He’s not sexually attracted to her but respects her. He sees in Peggy a co-worker to be trusted. That’s very high praise from him.”

While Weiner is waiting for the other shoe to drop and can have a hard time envisioning a rosy future, he’s happy to talk up the scripted-programming future of AMC, the home of “Mad Men,” in glowing terms.

“It can take five to 10 years for some channels to get to where AMC is now,” Weiner touted. “I don’t hear A&E anymore. I hear AMC.”

Nothing says TCA like stars in awkward situations. (See pic at left of "House" star Hugh Laurie in a bumper car at Fox's TCA party on the Santa Monica pier last summer.)

Yep, the Television Critics Assn. summer press tour is upon us, starting Tuesday at the Beverly Hilton hotel. The January TCA gathering was scuttled by the writers strike, so undoubtedly there will be pent-up excitement (agitation? irritation? ultra-obnoxious lines of questioning?) than usual among the scribes, execs and stars who make TCA go 'round.

As we did last year, On the Air will offer team coverage of this fortnight of frothing about shows to come and the strike-interrupted season that just was, and any other issues that crop up between Tuesday and July 22. Variety's Stuart Levine plans to park himself at the BevHilton for the duration, while our TV leader, Michael Schneider, reporter Daniel Frankel and myself will also be availing ourselves of the hotel's free Wi-Fi to cover the events...and drink. I'm guessing it's a safe bet that the tradition of TCA bingo (in which attendees track the over-use of buzz words by panelists) will include the phrase "writers strike" this year.

It all starts Tuesday with a heavy rotation of cable presentations, including Hallmark Channel, HD Net, BBC America and E! nets.

Wednesday's lineup includes: AMC and WE; MTV Networks; A&E Networks

Thursday: Discovery Networks; ESPN; Sundance Channel; HBO

Friday: Turner Broadcasting; Fox Reality Channel; Starz; Lifetime

Saturday-Sunday: PBS -- whose talent roster includes none other than Sir George Martin, plugging his series "On Record: The Soundtrack of Our Lives."

Hot off the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences nomination vote-tallying machine, here are the top 10 finalists for Emmy noms in the comedy and drama series heats. The final noms will be announced on Thursday, July 17.

(My 2 cents on the list follows after the jump)

COMEDY

Curb Your Enthusiasm
Entourage
Family Guy
Flight of the Conchords
The Office
Pushing Daisies
30 Rock
Two and a Half Men
Ugly Betty
Weeds

DRAMA

Boston Legal
Damages
Dexter
Friday Night Lights
Grey’s Anatomy
House
Lost
Mad Men
The Tudors
The Wire

Congrats to the all the winners of this year's DGA honors. On the small screen side, winners were all first-time DGA honorees with the exception of Larry Carpenter, victor in the daytime serial category for his work on ABC's "One Life to Live," who now has a matching set of the DGA's shiny round medallions.

Barry Sonnenfeld won the TV series comedy heat for his work on the "Pie-lette" of ABC's "Pushing Daisies." Alan Taylor prevailed on the drama side for the pilot of AMC's oh-so-stylish "Mad Men." Yves Simoneau took the longform honor for HBO's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."

Bertram van Munster added to his trophy collection for his work on CBS' "The Amazing Race" in the reality competish. Glenn P. Weiss' navigation of CBS' 60th annual Tony-cast brought him the musical/variety nod. And Paul Hoen looked sharp in the children's programming field for his helming of the hit Disney Channel telepic "Jump In."

(Pictured top left, Barry Sonnenfeld and Debra Messing; top right, Alan Taylor; below, Yves Simoneau. Pics by Steve Granitz/WireImage.com)

Yes, the season finale of this underrated dramatic gem is Tuesday night. The bigger question now is will this episode in which all answers are revealed also mark the series finale?

It's tough to say. Ratings have been disappointing, no question. Yet, that's no fault of the writers, cast or FX, which marketed the show extremely well before the July 24 launch, splattering L.A. with numerous billboards of star Glenn Close. And there were also plenty of print ads in everything from a full page in the L.A. Times to consumer-friendly Entertainment Weekly.

The numbers have gotten better in recent weeks. Series got its highest 18-49 demo last week in over a month and it's currently beating "The Shield" and "Dirt" in total household viewers. The 18-49 numbers over the full season, however — the ones that really count — is not what the network had hoped for.

FX topper John Landgraf said Monday morning he was "modestly hopeful" for a renewal. Not a ringing endorsement by any means, but there's little doubt that, if he can align the stars and make it financially viable for both his network and producer Sony, Landgraf wants to make it happen.

With reviews for the most part being fairly strong, it's difficult to pinpoint why this one hasn't been a breakout hit. And it's not just "Damages" that has failed to excite the masses. AMC's masterful "Mad Men," which just ended last week, was far from a ratings smash. The basic cabler announced a few weeks back that the series will return. Despite the small viewer turnout, a cancellation would've been wrong on so many levels it's not even worth discussing.

One reason "Damages" has made for compelling TV has been the work of Ted Danson, who seems a million miles away from his days as Beantown barkeep Sam Malone. Danson got to sink his teeth into being a baddie — one of the few times his characters have been on the wrong side of the law.

"I have to say it's been liberating to play this part because it's so well written," Danson said. "He's so human, so complicated. He loves his family but is so narcissistic. He did something wrong and has been scrambling ever since, hoping not to get devoured by Glenn Close.

"He's fully human, just making the wrong choices. He's totally understandable to me."

While there was reason to believe Danson's Arthur Frobisher was being unfairly bullied by Close and her firm early on in the series, Frobisher showed his true colors as the series progressed. While he hasn't directly put the hit out on antagonists, his complicity in allowing heinous crimes to be committed is a solid indicator of his moral compass.

The New York ambience is also integral. Close, who lives on the East Coast, signed on with the contigency that the show be shot in Gotham, and it's tough to say if the series would've worked as well being set anywhere else.

Danson believes the New York backdrop makes a difference not only for the storytelling but the actors as well.

"There's an emotional rush of being back in New York. I studied and lived there for six or seven years. I'm not knocking L.A., but when your show is supposed to be set in N.Y. and you're not, you know it. It's a great city to shoot in. It's not Toronto and it's not downtown L.A.," he said.

Credit must also be paid to brothers Todd and Glenn Kessler, and Daniel Zelman, who co-created the series and oversaw production all the way through. Todd worked under the tutelage of David Chase on "The Sopranos" in 2000-01 and certainly the trio will attach itself to another project in the near future if "Damages" is done.

All the praise is not to say the show is perfect. There were times when the story seemed to drag a bit and while a more than professional Rose Byrne filled the bill as lawyer Ellen Parsons, I never felt all that sympathetic to her ordeal,  sometimes not caring all that much if her career and marriage were falling apart.

On the other hand, Zeljko Ivanek — dating back to his days on "Homicide" — might be one of the most underrated actors working today and Close was everything advertised, though even she seemed a bit too stifled at times. It would've been nice to see her leave the office a bit more.

That being said, it would be a shame to bid adieu, a goodbye that would seem premature. FX has already given renewals to "Dirt," which doesn't have a fraction of the smarts of "Damages" and "The Riches" is a fine show but one that doesn't feel as relevant.

And with ratings hit "Nip/Tuck" about to come back for season five, one in which the network will certainly again make a nice profit, one would hope an arrangement could be made to make sure "Damages" could find a place in next season's FX lineup.

Sure, money and ratings matters most, but it can't always be the deciding factor — especially for a network known for taking risks.

— Stuart Levine

"Mad Men" ended its first season with a tour de force episode offering numerous highlights, but the pinnacle might have been the consecutive scenes in which Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and his wife Betty (January Jones) each confronted truths that they had been denying. What follows is a transcript of their two monologues — no doubt the two best-written speeches (or scenes, for that matter) that we'll see on TV for the rest of the year.

It was a pleasure to see the cast of "Mad Men" out of their workday outfits last night. They were featured at the Paley Center for Media's Beverly Hills locale to talk about about the stellar AMC series.

Christina Hendricks, who plays Joan, and Elizabeth Moss (Peggy) weren't attired in those long and restraining dresses they wear on the show, but rather in much more comfortable duds. At one point, Hendricks was commenting on the clothes she needs to wear all day long and said that after 17 hours in costume, all she wants to do is go home and put her flip-flops on and veg on the couch.

The guys, too, always fashionably attired on the show in classic Brooks Brothers suits came in sweaters and loosely fitting shirts. Jon Hamm, always the most dapper, came in a sports jacket, natch.

But enough about what's on the exterior for these actors and more about what makes them tick on the inside and how "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner birthed this show as, basically, a second job.

"I wrote the script at night while I was a comedy writer," said Weiner, who was working on "Becker" at the time.

"Mad Men" could've been under HBO's umbrella and a great post-"Sopranos" addition but the pay cabler never got back to Weiner after he submitted the script, which he sent off with blessings from friend and "Sopranos" supremo David Chase who told him "don't change a word."

"The plot I shot was exactly the same, word for word, as the way I wrote it," he said.

Weiner, a producer and writer on "Sopranos," says he's heard comparisons between the two shows in that, sometimes, the plots take too long to develop and that it's too dialogue heavy. No car crashes, no dead bodies. He doesn't buy the critique.

"We like to focus on the private moments," he said, "and you don't know what's going to happen. If that's not action, I don't know what is. … Although on 'The Sopranos,' we would throw a murder in there once in a while. I admit it."

For Hamm, whose signature role as Don Draper (or is that Dick Whitman?) has quietly become the talk of TV, said afterward that he's getting lots of calls from folks around town looking to cast him in a slew of projects.

He's certainly more than deserving of praise. It's hard to think of many other actors whose character would be so well liked, despite cheating on his wife with more than one woman, barely spending a moment with his kids and often being a bit unsociable in the office. Hamm has mastered the art of mixing debonair with a bit of diabolical and deviousness.

After reading the script, he figured he could fit the bill, but was far from confident he'd win out other more familiar actors.

"This was the best thing I had ever read and said, Too bad they won't cast me,'" he told the sold-out crowd. "It's the only job where I said out loud that I want it. And I'm glad I got it."

(Pics by Kevin Parry/Paley Center)

— Stuart Levine

That rumble you might've heard earlier this week eminating from the Westside wasn't the screams of youngsters on the Ferris Wheel at the pier but the folks at HBO's Santa Monica headquarters.

With less than 1 million voyeurs tuning in to the premiere episode of "Tell Me You Love Me," the folks at the pay cabler couldn't have been pleased. Shocked may be a better description.

That's a shame, considering "Tell Me" is a smart and introspective look at four couples (including therapist Jane Alexander and her husband) in the midst of relationship turmoil. And, oh yeah, there's lots of sex, too.

There's lots of ways to interpret the numbers. HBO has always said it's more interested in cumulative viewer totals over the week of repeated viewings than what happens on opening night. And the network also previewed "Tell Me" before Sunday, which means some caught a sneak peak.

But even with all that into account, the numbers have to be disheartening. It was a major drop from the "John From Cincinnati" premiere in June, and that one was considered low. The 5.7 million who tuned in for the first-ever "Deadwood," which preemed in March 2004, seems like a "Seinfeld"-like number now.

Maybe some were turned off by all the explicit sex they had read about in reviews. Who knows?

Adding to the cabler's woes was the lowest-ever premiere for "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which obviously got no help from "Tell Me."

So where does HBO go from here? All they or any network can do is continue to make programs that rise above the common denominator and hope that folks give these shows a chance.

But it's undoubtedly been a tough year over there and hard to keep a stiff upper lip, with the sudden departure of Chris Albrecht and the end of "The Sopranos."

Where HBO once ruled the cable universe, those days are long gone now. Showtime has made huge strides with shows such as "Weeds" and "Dexter," while FX has established itself as the gritty basic cable alternative with skeins like "The Shield," "Damages" and "Nip/Tuck." Even networks that didn't have original drama programming just a few years ago, such as AMC and TBS, are now in the game.

This weekend should help, however. "Sopranos" and James Gandolfini could certainly be coming home with Emmys and "Longford" was a stellar piece of work, as was its star, Jim Broadbent.

HBO's closets are filled with Emmys but what it needs now, more than statues, are hits.

— Stuart Levine

For anyone who wants to test-drive the experience of being a television writer, Matt Selman has an easy solution.

Get a group of your most sarcastic friends together in a room, preferably windowless, and try to make each other laugh by outdoing one another with a steady stream of the most offensive, sophomoric and vulgar set of jokes and set-ups that you can possibly imagine -- things that could never air on TV, not even pay cable. Add in lots of takeout food and soft drinks and repeat for a few weeks on end. If your heart soars and body tingles every time you make the room snicker, you just might be cut out to be a television writer.

At least that's the quick-and-easy career counseling that Selman (pictured right), an Emmy-winning scribe for "The Simpsons" and co-writer of "The Simpsons Movie," offered Tuesday night during the "Sublime Primetime" dish sesh with a clutch of Emmy-nommed scribes, hosted by the WGA West and Variety at the Writers Guild Theater in BevHills.

"Don't wait for the industry to give you money," Selman instructed. "Take any opportunity to (try writing). The joy of writing is just as fun to do ... if you're on the worst show on television or the best show...Find a group of friends and make each other laugh. Riff off each other. Go on super-offensive runs about degrading subjects."

POSTED BY STUART LEVINE

Everywhere I turn, I keep bumping into John Slattery.

Well, not literally, but turn on the TV and or head to the movies and there he is … again and again.

He's doing a stellar job as Roger Sterling, one of the partners of the Sterling Cooper ad agency in AMC's pitch-perfect original series "Mad Men." He's also appeared in recent episodes of "Desperate Housewives," played a Republican in the WB's short-lived "Jack & Bobby" and just yesterday I saw a screening of the new film "Reservation Road," where he was an attorney in a small, tony Connecticut town.

And he'll be appearing in the upcoming Aaron Sorkin-written/Michael Nichols-directed film "Charlie Wilson's War," starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. So, obviously, they'll be little to no fanfare about that one.

If the man doesn't have a publicist, he needs one. Pronto.

I probably first noticed Slattery in NBC's Tom Cavanagh series "Ed," which he followed up with a role in the HBO George Clooney-produced "K Street." Throw in last year's Clint Eastwood pic "Flags of Our Fathers" and you've got a guy who knows how to get around.

But back to "Mad Men," where all the actors — starting from Jon Hamm as the mysterious Don Draper — bring 1960 to life like few other series ever have.

If there's an actor whose career may skyrocket now that "Mad Men" is receiving raves, it's Hamm, who, with long hair, looks extremely un-Draper-like in the LA Film Fest Audience Award winning indie film "Ira and Abby" that stars his girlfriend, Jennifer Westfeldt.

Elizabeth Moss, finally, gets a chance to show her chops as Don's secretary, Peggy. Moss was most recognizable in recent years as Martin Sheen's daughter on "The West Wing," but the role was never fleshed out, and now she finally has a character which makes us wish she was used more on the Peacock's Emmy-winning series.

I interviewed Rosemarie DeWitt last year, thinking she was an actor to keep an eye, as she was starring in the Fox series "Standoff," with Ron Livingston. The show didn't make it, but not because of her. Nice to see her land a plum role here as Midge Daniels, Draper's mistress. There scenes are on the short side, so it would be great if creator Matthew Weiner could give us a bit more depth on what makes her tick.

And then there's Christina Hendricks, left, who supplies the va-voom to shapely redhead Joan Holloway. Joan knows all about the blatant sexism in the office … and works it beautifully to her advantage. Which brings us back to Slattery's Roger Sterling, the boss with whom she's having an affair.

I'm glad "Mad Men" launched in summer, where it wasn't forced to compete for attention with the onslaught of fall shows, and was allowed to find an audience that demands something more substantial than the reality glut we get every time of the year temperatures rise.

"Mad Men" and FX's "Damages" give us reason to turn the AC on and plant ourselves on the couch, with clicker in hand.

He grew up yearning to write for “Playhouse 90” and “The Twilight Zone.”

Unfortunately for Matthew Weiner, he was born about 35 years too late, and as it happened, his break as a TV writer came in sitcoms, not high-end dramas.But Weiner was nevertheless determined to pursue his vision for a series that would capture all of his fascination with American culture in the finger-snapping era of Camelot and the Cuban Missile Crisis, of skinny ties and steel-tipped bras, of the Rat Pack and Sputnik.

By day, Weiner was working on the CBS sitcom “Becker.” By night, with the added motivation of the approach of 35th birthday, he poured himself into penning the pilot of his period-dreams. That was seven years ago. On Thursday, after many a twist and turn his Weiner’s life and that of his pilot script, his baby is set to make a splashy entrance on the heels of effusive reviews and a big marketing push from AMC. The film-centric basic cabler picked Weiner’s “Mad Men,” from Lionsgate TV, last year as the show to lead  the channel into the scripted series realm.

“No network quite got this show until AMC,” Weiner says, and that’s in keeping with the spirit of the show. “This show is all about misconceptions, and our contemporary culture’s misunderstanding of this period in American history and how it influenced who we are today,” Weiner says.

CONTINUE READING TO WATCH A VIDEO CLIP OF "MAD MEN" CREATOR MATTHEW WEINER DISCUSSING THE PERIOD SETTING OF THE SHOW.