Lifting Fog

There was a brief moment in Sunday’s Mad Men (really under-the-radar show, no one watches it) where junior ad man Paul Kinsey reached into his pocket and I, along with everyone I was watching with, thought he was going to pull out a cell phone. To call someone. In 1963! This would have been a glaring historical inaccuracy, obviously — and anyway would never have made it past creator Matthew Weiner’s (whose obsessive attention to detail borders on psychopathic) gaze — but it got me thinking… How much funnier an hour-long comedy would Mad Men be with some well-placed “spot the anachronism” Easter eggs for superfans and other easily flustered viewers? So much funnier, right? Consider the following proposal for a very special April Fool’s Day episode:

– Eager to celebrate after signing Apple Computers as a client, the boys head back to Don’s office for a round of Jägerbombs. Harry Crane is such a f*cking lightweight! The Rog joins them minutes later, but laments the cocktail not blending with milk. A long staring contest ensues between Roger and Don before the former grabs the bottle of Jäger and downs it no problem. FTW!

– The Draper kids are being looked after by a neighbor and Betty goes to the bookstore, hoping to find something that will expand her closed-off suburban perspective. Looking left and right to make sure no one’s watching her, she heads for the “adult fiction” section and begins leafing through a book with a black cover. She is visibly shaken, uncomfortably moved by what she has selected. The camera pulls back — she’s reading Twilight.

– Pete Campbell does the Soulja Boy dance after being promoted to head of accounts.

– Hearing the opening riff of “Boom Boom Pow” sends Don into a ten-minute long flashback, showing us his days as a coat-checker at a hot Manhattan night club. He would sometimes pee in people’s coatpockets, because he was the son of a prostitute and all.

– Sterling Cooper pitches to Nintendo Wii. Peggy is asked to try out Wii Fit because “women like that kind of stuff” and winds up having an orgasm. Embarrassed, she hides the balance board under her bed.

– Don realizes that women are complex and amazing creatures capable of doing the same work as any man while still being mothers, sexual beings, and most importantly equal partners in a healthy relationship. They should be cherished and respected. …Hahahahaha!

Tags: Anachronisms, Mad Men, Soulja Boy, The Draper Method

This entry was posted on September 4, 2009 at 1:37 am and is filed under TV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.