Mad Men @ the Movies: From Here To Eternity & A Star is Born

In Mad Men at the Movies we explore the cinematic references of television's finest drama. So good to have the SCDP gang back on our small screen dreaming about their big screens. Naturally mild spoilers follow...

6.1 "The Doorway"
Vague Synopsis: The sixth season of Mad Men begins just before New Year's 1968 (?). A client has paid for the Drapers to vacation in Hawaii assuming that the trip will inspire Don to come up with a brilliant ad campaign to sell their hotel. They don't quite get what they were expecting since Don Draper is perpetually gloomy and unknowable even to himself -- 'The Inferno? just a little light reading on the beach!' Later both Peggy & Don run into trouble with their latest individual ad concepts due to uncomfortable associations - Peggy's ad rubs up against the world's worsening Vietnam problems, Don's ad reminds his clients of suicide. Meanwhile, perpetual child Betty Draper Francis obsesses over her daughter's friend (this isn't the first time!) and continues to need more therapy even more frequently than lost playboy Roger Sterling is getting it.

As ever not all of the movie references on Mad Men are spelled out with movie titles. more...

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Smash: "The Bells and Whistles" & "The Parents"

I'm short on time and Smash is trying to burn off its episodes given that two will air this very week. But we've got two to catch up on as well so let's rush through like we're running out of breath on a big note.

Ivy is back to being Marilyn in "Bombshell"

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The Link World

Film.com asks rapper "Riff Raff" to review James Franco's "Alien" in Spring Breakers, allegedly based on him.
My New Plaid Pants "The Golden Trousers" are in full swing. You'd be crazy to miss them. I mean they feature...
"The Great Gratuities" for one thing !
Ultra Culture hosted a Spring Breakers screening with a Britney Spears sing-along

/Film if you'd like to see the Before Midnight trailer. I am personally not going to watch it before the movie. I want every moment to feel fresh and in the now. I don't normally feel this adamant but these movies are special, once in a decade events.
Cinematic Corner appreciates Lee Pace in all his elfen, daisy pushing, soldier girl, still-waiting-for-big-break glory. Someone needs to!
THR Harry Knowles of Aint it Cool fame is attempting a comeback in the web landscape he helped create
In Contention see, even Will Smith knows that Christoph Waltz was the LEAD in Django Unchained (Damn you category fraud, damn you! Tommy Lee Jones shoulda had that Oscar)

Tweet of the Day

@reallyndacarter You're fighting for our Equality Rights in your satin tights! twitter.com/GlenHansonNYC/…

— Glen Hanson (@GlenHansonNYC) March 28, 2013

The great illustrator Glen Hanson came up with my favorite image -- as hundreds flooded facebook profiles this week -- in support of Marriage Equality. Obviously Diana of the Amazons would approve of sapphic unions!

Season 1... remembered vividly.If you're not here to make friends...
It's funny but I just realized now, reading Joe Reid's ranking of the 27 Season of The Real World, which he amusingly calls his "life's work" that one of the reasons I've never been a reality show person is I do actually like to make friends and don't actually relish watching people being assholes or, the great lying rationalization, "keeping it real". Unless some kickass screenwriter is writing the assholery, I find it a bore. ANYWAY... I honestly had no idea this show was still airing. But Joe's huge-ass loving ode to its highlights and foibles was a good read. For the record I only watched Season 1 religiously (even taping and rewatching -- unthinkable now) though I saw the bulk of S2 (instant hatred... the worst fall from grace I've ever experienced on television, turning instantly from interesting social experiment to utterly manufactured cash grab) and S3 (compelling but by then I was deeply suspicious and never watched again). Or did I?. Joe's details bring back very vague memories from Seasons 4-10 that I had convinced myself that I hadn't even seen one episode of. Oh, the shame of it all! 

Two TV Takes: "Southland" & "Bates Motel"

As I wait anxiously for the next great TV series to arrive -- where are you? -- I thought we should talk a little about two very different shows and the axis of Concept and Execution. Mad Men gets "A"s in both but most TV shows have to struggle through by leaning on one or the other. Having a good and/or original concept can win you a lot of leeway if your execution is problematic (see: Smash) but what of the inverse? Enter... Southland now in its 4th season. On the surface and at its core Southland is just another police procedural. You've seen it before and you will see it again.

So why the hell is Southland so damn good?

"How to Be Awesome"
The answer is all in the Execution. more...

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Smash: "Musical Chairs"

"Smash", the confused conflicted self-sabotaging TV Show rife with behind-the-scenes drama is about "Bombshell", a  confused conflicted self-sabotaging Stage Musical rife with behind-the-scenes drama. The TV series has gone so meta lately it's now devouring itself live. Which is turning it into must-see or at least can't-look-away television again.

Backstage at "Liaisons," another show within the show, slumming movie star (Just Jack) has read the online bitching about the show he's starring in and turns to Ivy (Megan Hilty) his supporting actress...

That's "Smash" in a perfectly nutty nutshell. more...

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