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different eras. now there aren't only 3 options, or 5 options, or 12 options, or 30 options, or 300 options...there's also internet and streaming.

Numbers will never look the same again. Hell, it would take an era-defining network drama to surpass the LOST finale, IMO. Something that is just earth-shatteringly good, that crosses multiple genres.

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I assume you're not counting comedy, right? BBT will probably hit 35m+ for its finale.

Edit: in response to aglaw02. I guess. But in this instance I think yall are trying to pull way too much out of that than is really there. The meditating imo isn't what broke Don through finally. It was the rock bottom moment at the therapy session. Once he went back outside and just cleared his mind, it came to him. Much like his brilliant ideas have throughout the series.

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different eras. now there aren't only 3 options, or 5 options, or 12 options, or 30 options, or 300 options...there's also internet and streaming.

Numbers will never look the same again. Hell, it would take an era-defining network drama to surpass the LOST finale, IMO. Something that is just earth-shatteringly good, that crosses multiple genres.

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I assume you're not counting comedy, right? BBT will probably to 35m+ for it's finale.

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Yes of course not. I'm talking major generational critically acclaimed dramas. Not the big Mac from the McDonald's of television in CBS

Even then, I think Walking Dead will surpass it, and GoT may have a chance. TWD's series high is already higher than LOST's finale, and Breaking Bad came somewhat close, after being under 3 million viewers for most of its run.

The Walking Dead is trash television. I mean, it's really addicting, but the writing and acting is garbage for the most part.

I wouldn't consider that show in the realm of critically acclaimed dramas, imo. If it is, then it's a very flawed one.

Only saw the first episode. Got bored and never bothered with it again.

Shark did your Breaking Bad google alert bring you here?

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The low ratings of Mad Men has never surprised me. For most of the general population, Mad Men is boring. There's almost no action. It's almost entirely dialogue. The writers don't hold your hand, and they force you to pay attention and figure out on your own what just happened. Characters don't say out loud everything they're thinking.

Nearly everything that happened in this series that really mattered was subtle...or it slowly & quietly happened over the course of several episodes. I've read a blog or two online that think the Peggy & Stan relationship happened out of nowhere and is basically a jump-the-shark moment. But the reality is that relationship has been brewing for years...the writers just didn't beat us over the head with it like Ross & Rachel from Friends.

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Good post.

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It also started "Coke. It's the real thing." One of the most successful ad lines in history.,

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Not only all the stuff that cecil and others mentioned about that point in history and the timing of the ad just being perfect for that era, but its remarkable that the spirit of the Hilltop ad is still at the core of Coke's current underlying brand promise: sharing happiness. Almost 45 years after that ad aired, Coke is still getting mileage out of it in my opinion.

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Shark did your Breaking Bad google alert bring you here?

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No, I think you just view it in the sense of it being one of the most iconic advertisements in history, among an extremely short list of advertisements that a major part of the adult population could recall immediately if you ask them if they remember that ad. And that's it. No hidden counter-culture, free spirit, fight-the-power meanings as it pertains to the show.

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I disagree, and I think you missed a big part of what the writers were going for. No biggie. Shoot, I'm admittedly not smart enough to pick up on most of what the writers are doing, but I got this one.

Hippie culture was a big theme throughout the show. Don didn't like it and didn't understand it. Don liked traditional power structures, although he lied and cheated to take advantage of them. By developing the Coke ad, Don finally figured out how to completely coopt the counter-culture, free-spirit hippie ideals to sell product. It's cynical. It's the ultimate Draper move.

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exactly...i was pissed when i thought Don was maybe actually buying into that...it's not DON and he did not fit in there.....the commericial saved it for me because that men it saved Don, he was back and was just using the concept to sell product.

Yep. Don's cynicism was evident from the first episode when he says, "what you call 'love' was invented by guys like me to sell nylons." Ad men took human concepts like love and cynically used them to sell product.

Here, he borrowed from the hippie movement (love, unity, togetherness) to sell Coke. Don doesn't believe in or respect hippie culture. That doesn't matter. It works as an ad.

To the one guy saying people are reading too much into it, I don't know what else to tell you...

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To the one guy saying people are reading too much into it, I don't know what else to tell you...

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Maybe so, and I'm not dismissing the setting and area at the commune and seeing those people that helped the light bulb go off on the idea of Coke, but I just don't think it's this massive message of evil corporatism finally figuring out how to capitalize off the counter-culture movement and get all those suckers to buy Coke.

I think Don truly broke down to full rock bottom acceptance when the other guy was speaking in therapy. At that moment, he had no one. All 3 women in his life were over a thousand miles away and he was losing all of them. He was so alone. He was afraid his life had meant nothing, and he finally was able to not only fully break down, but also come to acceptance.

Then as he's outside, it's his first clear-headed moment as his new self, and then, boom. It came to him.

So yes, in a sense, his surroundings do definitely contribute to the idea for the ad....I'm just not buying the cynicism this time. I think he truly did come out of it a changed man, and that's what led to the idea, not that he just cracked the code to sell coke to all the hippies.

Weiner has said that he wanted to end the series with a lot of the characters just a little bit better than they were when they started. For Don, I think that fits that the series started with his views on advertising is that they create these emotional pieces only as a means to sell product. But I think the difference here is that he truly is buying into the notion that people can come together and be peaceful while drinking a Coke.

I think the ending, and how we interpret it, can go 50/50 both ways, and I'm totally fine with that. Unless Weiner comes out and definitively says one way or the other, I think it's a bit disingenuous to just think for sure that he was one way or the other at the end, especially given the last few weeks of his journey to the bottom.

Here is an article I found discussing the very thing. And this one happens to agree with my point of view. I'm sure there are tons out there that represent the other side.

Tim Goodman on embracing the Positive, Not Cynical, End of Don Draper's Journey

Agree. Don wasn't making a value judgment against the peace/love/hippies thing. At least no moreso than anything else he ever used to sell product.

The peace involved is the peace Don made with himself as to who he is and the life he's living. And in my mind that made him not just an even better Ad genius (e.g. the Coke ad) but probably a bit better of a person as well.

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Biggest thing for me is he finally allowed himself to cry and be sad for someone other than himself.

Yes he was inspired by his moment of hippie clarity to write the ad and go back and dominate.

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Exactly. Every time in the past, he wouldn't fully admit AND accept. He couldn't ever bring himself to say the words to Betty that he cheated. The most he could do was write a heartfelt letter that acknowledges mistakes. Here and there, he would drop the "what have I done?" or other things, but he never truly sat there and fully submitted to shedding his past. Even when he was in his prime as an Ad man, he fought the demons of his past. The representation of the journey across the country, breaking down so bad that he could barely talk when he got to Stephanie's front door, then the initial urge to try and "old Don" his way out of the commune, before finally talking to Peggy, losing all control, and then embracing the stranger. That all led to Don, for the first time, actually changing, and not just saying he is while continuing to run from his past.

At least, that's what I choose to believe.

While I liked Don's hug and acknowledgement, I would've much preferred that he had said those things and not some extra.

I will say that I do take back my awful comment about the show from right after, I was kinda irked. I still wish they'd done a bit more with Don and done the things the did faster so there was more time in the show or had it be two hours, but I don't hate it as much as I did initially. I"m still not totally pleased, but feel a bit better about it now.

Gonna miss this show.

I think there's more power in having the extra do it because it shows Don that he's not the only one who has these feelings. In Don's case he's constantly living the life of luxury with attention, but has a pit of emptiness inside of him. In the case of the extra, he has a loving family, but is virtually unnoticed and has the same demons Don does. I think that's what helps Don realize that he isn't the saddest sack in the world, there are others like him.

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I think there's more power in having the extra do it because it shows Don that he's not the only one who has these feelings. In Don's case he's constantly living the life of luxury with attention, but has a pit of emptiness inside of him. In the case of the extra, he has a loving family, but is virtually unnoticed and has the same demons Don does. I think that's what helps Don realize that he isn't the saddest sack in the world, there are others like him.

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yeah, I know. But I'd rather have heard it from Don, but at least he acknowledged it.

OK, it's Wednesday morning.

Raise your hand if "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" is still running in your head.

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OK, it's Wednesday morning.

Raise your hand if "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" is still running in your head.

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somewhat, but I heard the Logo movie song again yesterday and it's taken precedence.

EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!

Fair enough, Bunk. I withdraw my criticism. You made a solid post.

Which ironically enough leads to an even better Genius Advertising! Don went from floor polish to dominating the biggest stage in the ad world. The baggage was holding him down from the true excellence in advertising he could achieve.

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To the one guy saying people are reading too much into it, I don't know what else to tell you...

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Maybe so, and I'm not dismissing the setting and area at the commune and seeing those people that helped the light bulb go off on the idea of Coke, but I just don't think it's this massive message of evil corporatism finally figuring out how to capitalize off the counter-culture movement and get all those suckers to buy Coke.

I think Don truly broke down to full rock bottom acceptance when the other guy was speaking in therapy. At that moment, he had no one. All 3 women in his life were over a thousand miles away and he was losing all of them. He was so alone. He was afraid his life had meant nothing, and he finally was able to not only fully break down, but also come to acceptance.

Then as he's outside, it's his first clear-headed moment as his new self, and then, boom. It came to him.

So yes, in a sense, his surroundings do definitely contribute to the idea for the ad....I'm just not buying the cynicism this time. I think he truly did come out of it a changed man, and that's what led to the idea, not that he just cracked the code to sell coke to all the hippies.

Weiner has said that he wanted to end the series with a lot of the characters just a little bit better than they were when they started. For Don, I think that fits that the series started with his views on advertising is that they create these emotional pieces only as a means to sell product. But I think the difference here is that he truly is buying into the notion that people can come together and be peaceful while drinking a Coke.

I think the ending, and how we interpret it, can go 50/50 both ways, and I'm totally fine with that. Unless Weiner comes out and definitively says one way or the other, I think it's a bit disingenuous to just think for sure that he was one way or the other at the end, especially given the last few weeks of his journey to the bottom.

Here is an article I found discussing the very thing. And this one happens to agree with my point of view. I'm sure there are tons out there that represent the other side.

Tim Goodman on embracing the Positive, Not Cynical, End of Don Draper's Journey

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i can buy the idea of Don truly changing but how does that fit with him returning to work for McCann? Mccann hasn't changed - it IS the evil conglomerate that finally figured out how to sell the counter-culture to the masses and dives into the crazy 70s with this commercial campaign IMO.

So maybe Don and Peggy do eventually escape McCann - I don't buy that Don's enlightenment allowed him to happily become a cog in the McCann machine. I would enjoy a season 8 with Don and Peggy escaping McCann while also pushing through the Coke campaign.

Don doesnt change. He has a fall and ends back on the couch where he was before.

Its the entire show and ending it aint gonna change it.

The cynical view would be that McCann-Erickson is big winner of the war. An alternative view of the series is one giant agency's pursuit of obtaining Don Draper over the course of 10 years, and they finally lock him down in the end and he produces this iconic ad for them.

"It's over. You won"

Weiner speaks!

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/mad-men-finale-matthew-weiner-119490567755.html

Confirms Don enlightenment theory

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So did Don create that ad? Weiner confirmed he did, saying that "the idea that some enlightened state, and not just co-option, might have created something that is very pure" appealed to him. Weiner also rejected the notion that the 1971 ad is "corny": "The people who think that ad is corny probably see a lot of life like that. Five years before that, black people and white people couldn't be in an ad together To me, it's the best ad ever made."

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It's the Carousel: you come back to where you began.

He also mentioned that he came up with using the ad as the ending after his season 5 negotiations.

Sepiwnall's third (great) Mad Men article in as many days, this one on the Weiner Q&A...

http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/matthew-weiner-explains-the-mad-men-ending-or-not

I get what you mean about wanting Don to say it, because he would have phrased it perfectly, and delivered with with huge emotional impact...but if you think throughout the course of the series, Don was never much for physical displays of friendship or emotion in public. So to have him break down, cry, and full on huge a man he doesn't know, says a lot about his state of mind.

That scene, and where it cuts back to him catatonic by the phone...I felt uneasy just watching him there.

so true...

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One of the more interesting observations Weiner made tonight was something that only occurred to him at the end of the show: "Don likes strangers. Don likes winning strangers over. He likes seducing strangers. And that is what advertising is: 'We're gonna walk down the side of the road, and now we know each other.' And once you get to know him, he doesn't like you."

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