Here are some new photos of Jon Hamm in character as Don Draper, filming the seventh and final season of Mad Men in LA yesterday. AMC has decided to split up Season 7 into two chunks. The first chunk will premiere April 13th (a Sunday), which is one week (exactly) after the premiere date for Game of Thrones Season 4. So, if you are a Mad Men-aholic and a GoT-er, you will have to tape one of them I guess. You’re screwed if you also watch The Good Wife and Masterpiece Theater on Sundays too.
Anyway, I find these photos fascinating. Per Mad Men’s usual arrangement, I’m assuming the story will skip ahead six to 12 months, which means Season 7 will probably take place in 1969. Mad Men is such a 1960s show… Matthew Weiner wouldn’t put Don in the 1970s, would he? No, I can’t think Don will even live to see the 1970s. But think about 1969… a man landed on the moon. Richard Nixon came into office that January. Nixon had inherited the mess in Vietnam and thousands of young men had been killed or injured. Bobby Kennedy was dead, assassinated the year before, same as Martin Luther King. The Dream was deferred again and again…
… And here’s Don Draper in a proper hat, looking like he still belongs in the Eisenhower era. In some ways, Don Draper is an incredibly modern character, but in his era, Draper would have been an old guy bitching about the way things used to be, when women stayed home and men wore hats. But, when you think about it, that was kind of “in vogue” in the Nixon era. Draper’s giving me HR Haldeman vibes. I bet Haldeman wore a hat too.
I have to admit, I’m not even looking forward to Season 7. Seasons 5 & 6 – “The Megan Draper Era” – took their toll and I find it difficult to watch Don Draper succumb to his rampant alcoholism. I’ve been watching it the past two seasons for Peggy, Joanie and Roger (and Pete too, although he’s more of a hate-watch), but I’m not sure how I’m going to feel about this last season. One thing’s for sure – I’m ready to say goodbye to Don. And I’ll shove Megan in front of a train myself. Just let Peggy and Joan survive and thrive, then I’ll be happy.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.
Totally agree on the Megan point and yeah me too ready to say good bye to Don Draper. The last two seasons he hasn’t been doing it for me.
I loved Mad Men when it first come out. By the end of season 3 though, it was struggling to hold my attention. I’m sure some of these series are written for a 3 season run, then due to popularity the writers decide to push it to another season and another season and the plots just get too thin and watery. I hope they can end Mad Men with a bang. I’m sure if Jon Hamm gets to have a say, he would want Don to self implode in some “holy crap” way! Love Joan and Peggy so looking forward to seeing them topping the gents in some delicious way in the finale!
I agree on the Peggy and Joan points. Their stuff, small as it was, was my favourite parts of the last 2 seasons in particular
I call B.S. on the splitting season 7 crap! Just call the 2nd half of season 7 what it really is…. Season 8! Who’s with me?
The call it a half season so they don’t have to renegotiate with the actors, keeping them under an existing contract. Did the same thing with the Sopranos and Breaking Bad.
But I agree, it’s stupid.
JKL is right. It is just a way to pay actors (and sometimes writing staff, etc) less.
Agree, and I want to see a good Sally story.
Argh! I’m so in the minority! I have loved the show in it’s entirety, including the Megan years. I have enjoyed watching Don try to change his stripes but failing miserably. It’s interesting to watch Don falling to his rock bottom. People hated him and his last affair with Linda Cardelini’s character but we were supposed to hate it. We were supposed to be disgusted and repelled by Don. I look forward to seeing the last season but hate that they’re splitting it in two.
i totally agree with the Linda Cardelini’s character affair …..its the reason i hated the first part of season 6…..but the end of season cover up for the rest of the season…. i enjoyed whatching Don thrown off the company and beening catched on act by Sally.
I’m with you, I’ve enjoyed it every step of the way, too, including Megan.
Were both in the minority then. While I agree that the show is not as good now as in the first three seasons, I still love those characters and want to see how it ends for everyone.
I’m in the minority with you then because I’ve loved the show consistently. I dont particularly like or care about Megan but I don’t mind her. I still find Don an incredibly fascinating and compelling character even when he behaves like a total asshole and keeps repeating the same mistakes. But that’s Mad Men is all about: completely reinventing yourself is impossible. People are what they are and can’t change that. My favourite relationship is the one between Don and Peggy and I look forward to season 7 to see where all the characters are going to end up.
I have loved the show consistently, too. Don has never been anything other than a despicable character, really. I find it amazing that people haven’t felt that way about him since season 1, episode 1, when he went home to tuck in his kids and get into bed with his wife having spent the day with his mistress. With the exception of some redeeming qualities (his love for his kids and Anna, his support and encouragement of Peggy) he’s never been a good man. But he is compelling, and I want to watch him. Megan doesn’t bother me as much as she does others, but I do agree that other, stronger characters’ storylines were perhaps side-lined to give her more time. Greatly looking forward to seeing how the show ends.
I agree! I thought last season was one of the best! It can be difficult to watch but that is the trademark of good tv
I agree. I think the show works through a lot of issues that are very human. Who you are, who you want to be, how you can change, and how some people never change. I have LOVED their use of imagery and foreshadowing (hello empty elevator shaft). I am so curious as to what the end game is.
I’m with you. Although season 6 was definitely the weakest, I still love the show and am really looking forward to season 7. I just re-watched season 5 with my husband (he hadn’t seen it yet) and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was-better than I remembered. I’m really excited to see what happens to Peggy next season! I wish that they would just show the season in it’s entirety rather than splitting it up.
I still really enjoy watching, but I too am ready for it to end.
It has been interesting to watch Don go from this sort of in control alpha male, and then have the whole world change around him while he basically stayed the same.
I wanna see Don in 70s polyester! Lol! I hate that they split the season I’ve already forgotten season 6. Damn you AMC! 😉
No wedding ring = No Megan?
Good eyes! How about Don’s too-short pants? Must mean he’s in an ill-fitting suit because…
Don never wore a wedding ring in either marriage, so unfortunately that’s not really a hint of things to come!
I just noticed black shoes with a brown suit. Don is pudgy and pasty, too because…(I need spoilers!)
I love this show but I’m still annoyed about the last season being split in two. But yes, less Megan and more Peggy/Joan!
I don’t care how it ends, just that it ends. A once awesome show that went terribly down hill 2 seasons ago.
I hope they try to make the last season a good one even if they are splitting it up into mini seasons.
I admired the way Don came clean with his kids at the end of last season, showing them the former whorehouse he grew up in. Suddenly, his character became interesting to me. Until then, Peggy’s arc was all that kept me watching. Her character’s evolution is consistently well-written and beautifully acted. I will tune in for that until the bitter end, regardless of how much Mad Men jumps the shark with Don’s dopey girlfriends.
I loved the scene between Betty and Don last season — so worth it. Jon and January have amazing chemistry.
I have to respectfully disagree that Don is a modern character. Unless by that you mean something along the lines of “everything old is new again.”
I think he’s about as old school as it gets, which is a big factor in why he’s fallen so far. He managed to transform himself from Dick Whitman to Don Draper, basically forcing himself into the ad business, but it seems that beyond that he is pretty incapable of changing with the times.
For w long time I had been thinking the series can only end with his death. Now I’m not so sure. Maybe another “rebirth” is possible for him? Although that would be an uncharacteristically upbeat direction for Mad Men.
He’s so hot.
Yeah this too. For real.
I’m ready for it to end mostly because it seems like YEARS in between every damn season (or half season). Way too long in between.
I know, feel the same way. I read somewhere they also do it to accommodate some of the leads’ film production schedules, but that may have just been for one show. At least we get a twice/year dosing, I remember when the Sopranos would take like 18+ months off between seasons, it was impossible to keep up with the storylines.
Right? I have a hard enough time when there are months in between, nevermind years!
God, I loved it so much the first few seasons!
I think anyone who says the show has gone downhill just hasn’t watched twice. This show and its attention to detail calls for doing just that.
I hated the show’s first season and could barely make it through the second, but then I gave it another a chance on DVD, starting right back at the beginning and loved it. And how can anyone say season 5 was bad? Maybe there was too much Megan, but it had such memorable moments like Roger taking LSD, Pete getting punched (twice!), Joan doing what she did to become partner and of course what happened to Lane. I haven’t watched Season 6 a second time yet, but will try to before the last season starts, which I look forward to.
I think you are right. I should watch from the beginning again!
The best lines in Mad Men are the ones that remain unsaid. I LOVE that Weiner lets the camera linger to give us those moments. I read an interview once where he said that he likes to leave the camera on one character after a conversation has ended and one party has left the room. There is so much humanity in those moments, when people reflect or let the mask slip just a bit.
I’ve got it all figured out–no need to tape GoT Sunday night, they put the episode on hbogo the day after it airs. Masterpiece theater is also available on the pbs website, although not indefinitely. You can get both of those on Apple tv, which I have to say was the best $80 I’ve spent in a while. It makes watching Netflix, pbs, hbogo, etc very easy, just like flipping to a channel on the tv
I’ve loved Mad Men over the years, but I have to say over the holidays I did a Breaking Bad binge marathon on Netflix, all 5 seasons. The final of BrBa was so well written, acted, and directed that imho it makes other shows pale in comparison. I hope Matthew Weiner is up to the task, and we don’t up with a Dexter-like ending.
Br Ba was such an amazing scary story. Will love it forever. I still miss Gus! ♥
I’ve always thought it would end with Don jumping from a building, just like the animated intro to the show.
I’ll miss this show. Alot. Even Megan’s teeth 🙂
That’s exactly what I always thought! The intro is the ending…
I think he’ll commit suicide. His character is not looking happy or healthy in those pics.
“How will it end?”
With me not watching, show’s gotten boring.
I don’t get the Megan hate but to each their own.
they should also mention Sharon Tate and the rest of the Tate/Labianca deaths because many believe the manson murders were what killed the free love of the sixties
This was a show that should have been no more than five seasons….why do people need to stick with lucky number 7 or 8? Is it the money/emmy factor?
I’m begging whoever writes this blog to stop writing about mad men. you always knock it, if you don’t like it why write about it? you clearly enjoy criticizing it or you wouldn’t.
you really can’t find any other gossip story to fill the page?