Lipp Sister-Weiner-Lipp Sister (Roberta, Matt, Deborah) at 92Y

This is so much more than just “Goodbye”.

On July 19, 2007, AMC premiered its new TV series, Mad Men.

On October 19, 2007, the morning after the Season 1 finale, Basket of Kisses launched.

We were the right vehicle for the right show at exactly the right time. This was before the format of a morning-after recap had become commonplace. This was before Facebook had captured its new, post-college audience. This was before Twitter.

We wrote about the storylines, about the characters, about the writing, the music, or anything else we’d observed. We wrote about the show’s growing popularity, about awards it was nominated for, about the actors’ other projects. Our research team consisted of newsfeeds and the Google. And suddenly Basket of Kisses was known as the go-to site for all things Mad Men.

You all joined in on the conversation, and that was no small part of the phenomenon. The discussion here was high end, like the show itself.

We were very, very lucky.

Matthew Weiner surprised us by showing up at our Season 2 finale party. We had vibrant conversations with Matt that night, and over the years, with many of the actors and directors of Mad Men. We visited the Sterling Cooper offices, the Drapers’ kitchen, and the Campbells’ living room. We were welcomed into a Broadway dressing room to interview Elisabeth Moss. WE HAD LUNCH WITH JON HAMM.

The Basket expanded to include a bevy of talented contributors, and covered a wonderful array of shows, but always first, we were a Mad Men squee-fest.

Rich Sommer flanked by the Lipp Sisters

Nine years later, almost to the day, we are closing the Basket lid, at least for the foreseeable future. While we may come back, right now, there are no plans on the drawing board, and there is no drawing board. For now, we are spent. Our many wonderful writers have moved on to other projects, and, without Mad Men‘s constant, driving presence, our mission is not clear. So it’s time to close up the active part of the blog.

The archives will remain up permanently, and you can always use Lippsisters.com as a resource for research on all things Mad Men.

There are so many people to thank, and we cannot capture them all, but to name a few:
Joe Bua
RoJo
Marly K
B. Cooper
Anne B
seagirl
Karl
Arthur Lipp-Bonewits
Professor Spouse
Glass Darkly
Meowser
White T Jim B
Polly Draper
Therese
Deborah Newell
Polly Draper
Mad Chick
Matt Maul
celina
Tom & Lorenzo
Mo Ryan
Matt Zoller Seitz
(and obvs) Matthew Weiner

But seriously guys, mostly you. Without every Basketcase, passionate, smart, committed, we’d never have hung in for all this. You’re the greatest.

Kisses—
Deborah and Roberta Lipp