I ran across this anti-cigarette commercial from 1967. Maybe it’s what the writers had in mind when Don pitched ACS at the start of Tomorrowland (S4 Ep 13). Conceptually, the pitch and the commercial are parallel.

https://youtu.be/l8vZKLUmM0I?si=FWhbjhLMOA_QZfsI

Did bert cooper already know that hobart‘s gonna persuade don to work for mccann erickson and leave SC when he gave don that bonus?

I was just looking at pictures of her with Glen, her behavior was atrocious but lord she was pretty.

I’m curious about this. Sally was rebellious because Betty was such a strict, emotionally abusive mother. Sally was somewhat tomboyish. What kind of parent do you think Sally ended up being, if she had a daughter? Do you think her daughter ended up more like Sally herself, like Betty, or like neither?

From the looks of it Betty is the only one who has household help in the form of Carla and Don behaving badly at Sally’s birthday party is expected and put up with.

This leads me to speculate that Don was the richest guy in that group. Any takers for this idea?

Bert forced Don to sign a contract back in season 3 by bringing up the fact he knew Don's secret. He used this as an absolute last-ditch effort after everything else failed. In season 7 he is very reluctant to having Don back in the office, but relents when Roger brings up that 1. firing him means they have to buy out his shares, and 2. buying him out means his contract, and its non-compete clause, is void, meaning Don will be working against them at a rival firm while they try to recover from the enormous financial loss they'll endure.

It seems to me like Bert could've used this trump card again to force Don to leave the advertising business for good if he wanted to. The only thing seemingly keeping Bert from doing this would be his own kinship towards Don, but we've seen throughout the show that he values financial gain and success in the industry above all else, and Don is a liability for the business regardless if he leaves or stays. Maybe he thought it'd be more trouble than it's worth? What do you guys think?

I keep all parts of MAD, especially since I work as an illustrator in one of the advertising agencies here in Cairo, Egypt. After watching the series more than once, I found that the character of the account manager in each part is the strong motivation for every influential event that the agency went through in all parts... I also noticed this in the agency I work for... The series is consistent with many facts in the world of advertising.

Shirley’s sassiness is funny

Ouch! Trying to catch Don out?

And Don’s look in return: Betray nothing, act affronted.

Season 4 episode 12 when Faye was toting the bankers box saying her goodbyes.

Was their relationship over with then, but Dr. Miller didn’t want to admit it?

Did Faye Miller know—or suspect—about Don’s dalliance with Megan? If so how? And if so, why didn’t she talk with him about taking Megan to Hawaii to ‘look after the kids.’ Was she just hanging on

More, did Faye Miller love Don? She is all over him kind of in a sexual infatuation way whenever they are in private, but seems concerned about him too, like she’s trying to fix him.

Really interested in the female perspective here…

I'd like to think so. His origins aren't all that different from other famous authors. Bill Waterson and Kurt Vonnegut both worked in advertising. And we see very little of his work in the series but from what I can tell it's all pretty solid.

I'd like to think he eventually gives up the hustle and moves into writing full time. Cynthia is right, he'd look great on a book jacket with that eyepatch. Maybe sometime in the 80s he gets a movie produced from one of his books and ends up on Carson. It's a nice thought.

I'm in my 6th or 7th rewatch and whenever I get to this point I always struggle to understand how Joan, a Jr Partner can speak to Don, who is a Sr Partner like she is a rule maker. The agency always seemed to have a proper hierarchy with the partners in earlier seasons but from S6 onwards its like the wild west!

Like, imagine Don in S2 as a new Jr Partner, and Cooper having a meeting about Roger and then dismissing him for a few months and then another meeting to bring him back but Don sits and reads out rules and stipulations for Roger to come back and than Roger saying ok! It just wouldn't happen! So why does it happen with Joan in S7?

Also, Joan got treated like a friend by Don for 6+ seasons and he was always a gentleman to her, but she never checks on him while he is out and when he walks in she acts cold and shocked. Also why does she speak like he betrayed her and "her" precious company? I know the Jaguar thing was a sore spot for her when he ended things with them but good god she made out like a bandit from it and in the end she wouldn't have to see Herb anymore so what's the problem?

That lady always bothered me 🤣

What is up with this woman-child!? I completely forgot about this scene until my current rewatch. Oh Lord.

The way she pats the couch before he sits is sending me to the moon - which is fitting, considering the episode.

What a creation.

This was the case for me. My grandparents were decent grandparents, and terrible parents.

My view of it is that after Betty dies, he actually makes a tremendous effort to get closer to them - as much as his own internal issues allow - and be there more….a few months after Betty dies. His initial reaction to the tragedy of the situation is flight and detachment, but he reconnects with them in the fall of 1971.

He gets married again in around 1972/1973 to a woman who becomes a May Pang-like figure in his life, who helps deepen the bond with his kids and they remember the early 70s as their closest point with him.

He stays very close - on say a weekly basis - with them until around 1974, 1975, 1976, as old demons begin to catch up with him, and he falls back into old patterns of self destruction.

The last major family event they recall is being together for the Bicentennial in July 1976.

By 1977, his fourth marriage is ending.

By 1978, he and the kids are barely present in each other’s lives. They see each other once in a while. But it’s not often.

By 1979 he is married for a fifth time, to a younger woman who clearly isn’t very into him, but is there to get what she can - a superficial girl of the Disco scene, mid 20s.

He gets into cocaine recreationally via this connection and also continues drinking - perhaps moreso than in previous years.

He still is an ad man, but as the 1970s progress, his consistency quality is ever shakier.

He retires around 1980.

Sometime in 1981, he dies at home or in a hotel room, possibly of a massive cardiovascular event (due to his blood pressure / coke disease), but also while suffering from early to mid stages of liver disease.

We leave Don’s world in November 1970.

I forget how long Betty was given to live approximately, but considering she declined treatment, and continued smoking, I can’t see her living past the summer of 1971.

Lung cancer is from what I understand typically more aggressive and more rapidly fatal than other forms.

After she dies, Don will be the sole parent they have left - even if they are not living with him.

He also knows what it is like to lose parents young, having personally experienced that himself.

Do you think after whatever his epiphany was at Esalen, he will make more of an effort to be present in their lives than before, after Betty has passed?

Or do you think he continues in his pattern of being only partially present?

Peggy is the most socially awkward, I feel, of the “main” female cast. I’ve always felt like she was bullied in her youth and that this had something to do with it, in addition to insecurities in regards to her appearance. Betty also doesn’t have great social skills - I feel like with both Betty and Peggy, they likely had negative experiences with others growing up and this left a longlasting impact. We know that Betty was fat as a girl.

I just finished this series and i’m left in awe! It was brilliant!

Sometimes it feels like this sub is for “fans of any character except Don Draper.”

Or, its purpose is to see him as some irredeemable monster, on par with the worst of humanity.

It’s very weird because back when the show was airing, he wasn’t nearly as despised as he is now.

But now, he seems one of the most despised characters on TV ever.

Roger actually finds inner peace at the end. Don finds an imitation of it and commercialises it. The Coke ad is just the Carousel ad again but on a much larger and more famous scale.

Roger’s biggest conflicts were with his actual value versus what he inherited, and also with aging.

When Lucky Strike dumped him, and he started bringing in clients on his own rather than hanging onto one he inherited, he surpassed that insecurity

When Roger got with Marie at the end instead of a young 20 something, he at least was at peace with and accepting of getting old.

His whole marriage with Jane, even the earlier parts of his relationship with Joan, were escapes from the very real reality that mortality was fast approaching, especially after the heart attack.

Don, like many in the 70s found a hollow, and probably not long lasting sort of imitation of inner peace at Esalen, evidenced by Weiner saying he’ll die of “hard living” by 1981.

Not counting Henry as that wasn’t fully I mean one of his wife goes the whole hog 😂 and gets with someone else ?

Figuring out that Pete was cheating, her wonderful communication skills (she really was the best communicator of the characters on the show,) etc.