Pleasure and pain. Punishment and danger. Episode 4.05 of Masters of Sex, The Pleasure Protocol, digs into some previously unexplored territory. It’s excellent material, and suitable not just to the show but to these characters, at this point in their lives. The juxtapositions all work, and this is something the series has sometimes struggled with. […]
Oct 062016
Oct 052016
Photo: Warren Feldman/SHOWTIME
The latest Masters of Sex episode, Coats or Keys, is the best single episode this show has given us in ages, probably since season 1’s knock-it-out-of-the-park stunner Catherine., or season 2’s Fight. Coats or Keys may also be the first truly great Masters of Sex episode that is as funny as it is dramatically rich.
Nothing radical’s ever been catered.
“Key parties” have certainly been fodder for fiction before. I’m especially reminded of the film The Ice Storm. Ang Lee’s film and his all-star cast (Sigourney Weaver, Elijah Wood, Kevin Kline, Joan Allen, Christina Ricci, Tobey Maguire) mined many of the same veins: Hypocrisy, fear, using swinging to prop up an unhappy marriage. In some ways, though, Coats or Keys is better than the rather sloggy movie. For one, it’s funny. For another, it steps back and comments from the outside, by showing us “homos” and caterers and people who have no idea why they’re there.
I’m looking for a little moral support from the only other homo at this party.
Oct 042016
What happened to Pete and Trudy Campbell?
Do Pete and Trudy find happiness in Wichita with each other or did they eventually return to Manhattan or somewhere on the east coast?
If they stay in Wichita, how often does Trudy take one of the Lear Jets to Manhattan to see her parents?
Do Pete and his father-in-law, Tom Vogel, reconcile now that he and Trudy are back together?
How does Trudy spend her time in Wichita?
How do you think Tammy turns out? Is she more like Trudy or Pete?
Do Pete and Trudy become the Wichita Charleston Champs?
Ok Basketcases…..discuss among yourselves!
Sep 302016
Rolling Stone has listed the 100 greatest tv shows of all time: Mad Men and Breaking Bad are right there in the illustration! I count four additional Basket shows in the mix. The Hartford Courant criticizes the list, in part for leaving off Better Call Saul.
Mad Men cast included in “really big Emmy snubs”.
Matthew Weiner, as well as The Walking Dead producer Glen Mazzara, have been elected to the WGA board.
Jon Hamm will guest star on Billy on the Street.
From Basketcase Susan F: Jon Hamm had a cameo on Last Man on Earth (which stars January Jones). Behind the scenes photos of that!
Apparently, Hamm has made enough cameos that they’re now called “Hammeos”: Here’s a hilarious compilation. But that’s not enough for him! Continue reading »
Sep 292016
 Mad Men Haiku!Sep 22, 2016 Surprise proposal He thought she was a virgin Break up birthday meal |
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 Masters of Sex: InventorySep 21, 2016 Masters of Sex S4 E2, Inventory, raises the question of how much tolerance we can have for a female anti-hero. Television loves its male anti-heroes, from Don Draper to Walter White, and Bill Masters—cold, adulterous, a shitty father and a worse husband—fits right in. But television is also virulently unforgiving of its female anti-heroes: Betty […] |
 Mad Men: What Happened? Don Draper’s Lovers (part 2)Sep 20, 2016 What happened to Joy (season 2, episode 11)? Don meets Joy in Los Angeles when he decides to take Paul Kinsey’s place on a business trip with Pete Campbell after Betty has kicked him out of the house because of his affair with Bobbie Barrett. Joy is a member of the “Jet Set” who Don […] |
Basket of News, September 16, 2016Sep 16, 2016 Multiple Basketcases let me know that Matthew Weiner is writing a novel to be released fall 2017. Magnolia Pictures will distribute the Elisabeth Moss film The Square. In another new film, The Free World, Moss may or may not be a killer. While at the US Open Jon Hamm shows he is master of the […] |
 Mad Men Haiku!Sep 15, 2016 Close to home lover Captive in a hotel room Don gets room service |
 Masters of Sex: Freefall (Season 4 Premiere)Sep 12, 2016 Masters of Sex is going for the symbolic title in its season 4 premiere. Both Virginia Johnson and Bill Masters have lives in Freefall, and the extended metaphor is used twice. Once with meaningful music. If I sound like I didn’t like the episode, that’s not at all true. It wasn’t great. It was disjointed. […] |
 Mad Men Haiku!Sep 8, 2016 Farmer and a drunk Kicked in the face by a horse Soft. You grow bullshit. |