What I Love Right Now

"MAD MEN"


Unless you've been hiding under a rock, I'm sure you've heard some of the buzz surrounding this show. It got the most Emmy nominations for a drama this year, and coming from a show that isn't on basic cable or HBO, that's quite an accomplishment. I resisted the hype for most of the first season (it's about an advertising firm in the '60's, and I so do not care about advertising although the '60's are cool), but eventually caved and watched a few repeats and I was intrigued.

It follows the personal and professional exploits of Don Draper (Jon Hamm, really excellent, complex and smoldering), head of creative for the Sterling/Cooper ad agency in New York. He's a total philanderer (although it being the '60's, most professional men on this show are stepping out on their wives and thinking very little about it), but he also harbors a secret about his past (hint: he's not really Don Draper, a dark, twisty secret that the first season takes great pleasure in teasing). Life at Sterling/Cooper also follows secretary turned copy writer Peggy (Elizabeth Moss) who is drawn into an affair with married co-worker (and slimeball) Pete (Vincent Kartheiser, deliciously sleazy, yet funny, and it's so bizarre that I seriously love his character and acting on this show, where's he playing someone so despicable, and yet I actively loathed him on "Angel" where his character was far more sympathetic, if not a little whiny). The advertising firm also has room for fascinating characters like unambiguously gay Sal, shy, married Harry, co-partner Roger Sterling (John Slattery, an infamous "Hey, it's that guy!" I have actually mentioned here before, fabulous in this role), office manager Joan (curvacious redhead Christina Hendricks, whom "Firefly" fans will remember as the conniving temptress Saffron), and even Don's naive wife, Betty (played by January Jones, one of those ingenue actresses I didn't suspect could really act, but is just terrific in this role). Suffice to say, there's plenty of salacious drama with this crew, and a lot of it actually has to do with office politics and ad campaigns. A show that can realistically incorporate business with drama; what a novel approach.


The show gets mad props for it's amazing attention to period detail and facts; this show isn't just drama, but full of pitch perfect period politics (tongue twister) and is almost more fun to look at because of the sets, costumes, blocking and intricate detail than because of the plot. (Almost.) Rather than pay surface homage to the period it depicts, this show is immersed in the attitudes of the '60's; the first season revolves around the Nixon/Kennedy presidential election, and season 2 (which jumped ahead to 1962) makes pointed references to the Jackie/Marilyn debate (and all it's obvious Madonna/Whore connotations), a 1962 American Airlines crash, and the rising power of women in the workplace and at home. The show can be sexist, racist, and classicist, but these topics are skillfully and subtly approached and honestly reflect the less enlightened views inherent in the early 1960's. One of my favorite elements of the show are the lengthy scenes. People talk like real people, where what is really said is often not what is actually said, and where mood and subtext play key roles, often over long 3-5 minute scenes practically unseen in modern television. (Don't get me wrong, I love the wacky, melodramatic flightiness of "Gossip Girl" and it's rapid editing, but these long scenes in "Mad Men" that are allowed to build and sit and marinate are just as good and more welcome amongst today's ADD inspired editing).

So if any of this sounds the least bit enticing, run out and rent Season One, now on DVD. :)


"GREEK"

I'm not all about the serious drama though. Which is why I've also fallen in love with this frothy little gem. It's on ABC Family Channel, and it's about sororities and fraternities, a system I have always loathed and believed every negative stereotype about, so I didn't watch this show during it's first season either. But you know how ABC Family Channel is - they play repeats of "What I Like About You" and "Full House", and of course "Gilmore Girls", which is my own personal crack, and before you know it, you've been sucked into "Kyle XY" and eventually, "Greek."

It's full of antiquated ideas about "brotherhood" and "sisterhood" and ridiculous pledge rituals and house alliances that occasionally drive me nuts. However it's nice to get an inside look at the way the Greek system actually works (as I've never bothered to read the fine print before myself) and getting to know some characters that actually enjoy the real benefits of being part of a sorority and aren't raging bitches like I'd always assumed was a pleasant surprise as well. Hidden beneath all this hoo-ha about houses and loyalty, there are some really good plots and characters. For example, the very first episode features the boyfriend of the main character cheating on her, and they don't break up! Some of the reasons for this are ridiculous, but some of them aren't, and I enjoy a story that doesn't feature infidelity as a laboriously built-up plot device, and doesn't necessarily mean the end of a relationship. Some of you may disagree with me, but I find a couple who try to fix their relationship after infidelity occurs, and maybe try to figure out why it happened infinitely more interesting than the predictable blow-out, end-of-relationship scene. Call me crazy.


Casey Cartwright (Spencer Grammar) is the cheated-on party, starting her third year in good standing at the ZBZ sorority. Her geeky freshman brother Rusty (Jacob Zachar) shows up at her college, looking to bond, and decides to rush a fraternity as well. This brings him into contact with her current (cheating) boyfriend Evan Chambers (Jake McDorman), head of the respectable, preppy frat, Omega Chi, and Casey's ex, Cappie (Scott Michael Foster), head of raucous, party frat, Kappa Tau. Of course these three (Casey, Cappie, and Evan) are involved in an angsty, complicated love-triangle, but we join it in medias rey, and many of the details of their past history have yet to be revealed, which I really enjoy. Rusty makes friends with fellow pledger Calvin, who is secretly gay, and his new roommate, fellow honors engineering major, all around geek, and straight up conservative Christian, Dale (Clark Duke), one of the funniest and best-drawn characters on the show. He could have been an antagonistic stereotype, but the interactions between Dale, Rusty and Calvin are some of the best scenes on the show. (Personally, my favorite is kind, laid-back, quippy Cappie. He is so the Pacey of this show, which is much better than "Dawson's Creek", by the way!)

Perfect for shallow, fun, addictive, sometimes wonderfully heartbreaking television!