Grid Effect

Some links to end the work week.

More Mad Men news: Reportedly there are life-size images of Don Draper on a train that runs to and from Times Square and Grand Central Station. First off, anyone who would go out of there way to look at artwork of a TV character on a subway cart should probably get a hobby or some other interest before Darwinism gets the better of you.

Secondly, I’m sure the cart will stay in mint condition. Not because it’s on an NYC subway or anything, everyone knows those are havens of model ethical behavior, but because 1.1 million people watch the show every week. We all know what a deep passion high school kids who tag subway carts have for 1960 atmospherics that 1.1 million people watch every week. Naturally they will know exactly what they’re looking at and treat it with the utmost respect.

It’s so authentic they don’t even allow black people on it.

I think at this point it is safe to say that the $25 million marketing campaign was totally worth it. Because while Mad Men is categorized as a current “it” show (translation: something that everyone in inner-circles talks about but no one outside of those circles watches), at least one reporter seems to find everything and everyone involved with the series devoid of personality. I’m all for cynicism. Fuck, this blog thrives off of it. But this reporter seems like the Jay Mariotti of entertainment critics.

Despite previous reports, the Mad Men five season plan is not set in stone. In other words, if AMC or some other larger network throws enough money at me I’ll totally sell out my as of now masterpiece. Obviously I’m kidding. But thanks anyhow Mathew Weiner, for making me look like a dipshit. I like how a report can come about speculating about the future of a series, then a completely contradicting report can come from a different publication but the same source. It looks like whoever was responsible for the the previous report, basically took their interpretation of it an ran wild, instead of asking clarification from a reasonably vague Weiner. Just how drunk are they getting at this press tour?

If you think I’m being too crass, something similar happened with a reported riff between Evan Wright, David Simon and a dispute over writing credits for Generation Kill. It’s a he said-she said betweem Wright and the writer of course, but is there anything valid coming out of this press tour? The whole thing is like a giant hoax. If I was on either side of this tour , the media or the talent, I’d be half expecting an empty room with a nothing but an inflatable clown doll when I showed up to a Q&A.

Also on the HBO front, because nothing ever ends when it should, Ricky Gervais is now saying that Extras might be in line for a return to the airwaves. Not that we would mind, we think the entire series run totaled maybe sixteen episodes as the British are wont to do. Still, this is like Elway returning to the NFL in that it’s the last retired series we would ever expect to see new episodes of. Seinfeld is due for a comeback before Extras.

See you on Monday with a review/recap of the first installment of Generation Kill.