"Mad Men" Triumphant! Ed Martin Live from TCA

As expected, the press conference on Wednesday for AMC's scintillating period drama Mad Men proved to be the most exciting presentation so far at the Summer 2008 Television Critics Association tour. It's going to be a hard act to follow in the days ahead.

Every critic in the packed room was focused with laser-like intensity on Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner and seven actors from his sterling cast – Jon Hamm, January Jones, Elisabeth Moss, John Slattery, Vincent Kartheiser, Christina Hendricks and Robert Morse – evoking memories of press conferences for HBO's The Sopranos during its six season run. (Note: I am not referring to The Sopranos here because Weiner was a writer for that show. I am comparing Mad Men to The Sopranos because with the exception of Lost there hasn't been a dramatic series on television since The Sopranos that has so thoroughly wowed the press.)

The first time we saw the Sopranos cast at a TCA tour they were a group of unknown actors talking about their really terrific new show. The second time we saw them they were giant television stars. The same is true of the Mad Men cast. Last year they were just a group of hard-working actors promoting a promising new series. This year they were flush with the glow and the glam of success. As with the transformation of the Sopranos cast, you could see the difference.

Psychologically and emotionally the pull on the press was even stronger. Critics are heavily invested in this show; with most of them in agreement that it is currently the best series on television. But there is a huge difference in the relationship between TCA members and the cast of Mad Men and the dynamic they had with Sopranos creator David Chase and his actors. Whereas Chase gave brief, generally empty answers to questions from reporters, the very well liked Weiner is endlessly quotable and totally open to journalists. It is almost as if they are his surrogate therapists. Weiner knows how to give reporters several paragraphs of good copy without compromising his show or revealing any spoilers. The same is true of the Mad Men cast. They actually respond when asked questions and their answers are often quite informative, and sometimes disarming.

James Gandolfini used to mumble through answers at press conferences. Edie Falco never had very much to say. But Jon Hamm effortlessly charmed the crowd (on stage and in the hallway afterwards) and gave reporters plenty to write about, and even quiet January Jones was fun to listen to once she got rolling.

When asked to talk about a tragic event that one character suffers in the second episode of Season 2, Weiner politely replied, "I don't really like to talk about story lines." Then he added something far more tantalizing than a direct answer. "The second episode to me is, for all the characters, about how you should react to anything [versus] what you were told you should do," he said. "To me, we're always torn between the way we are supposed to be feeling and what we actually feel."

Then he really opened up. "I can say, being a father four times, that when you take that first baby home from the hospital – at least for me, maybe I'm a monster, I don't know – the experience of looking at a newborn for a dad can often be very strange. It's not like you're breast-feeding. You should feel something and yet you don't always [do so]. It takes time. At least it did for me. That is sort of what the tension is for me in [the second episode]."

Asked what he would say to viewers who will watch the premiere and not learn what happened to Peggy and the baby after last season's shocking finale, Weiner teased, "I'd say trust me. I will give you information as you need it in the most entertaining fashion."

When Weiner was asked, probably for the 100th time in the last twelve months, how he first came up with the idea for the show and why he set it in the early Sixties, he replied, "I've been asked that question and I don't have a good answer for it. I don't even know." Weiner went on to suggest that it might have something to do with his grandfather, who lived with his family when Weiner was a child and was "very important to him."

"His clothing was from this period," Weiner offered. "And I always was attuned to Frank Sinatra and things like that." The Sixties era, he added, "was a golden age for the United States. In terms of business our influence is still felt throughout the world and it's all from this period. There really was this magnanimous spirit about the world, a cultural openness. I know it is seen as a repressed period, but it was really culturally a very open period." He noted that environmentalism, Bohemianism and attitudes towards materialism all began to take shape during that decade.

Responding to a question about feeling any added pressure in Season 2 now that the series is a critical favorite, Weiner said, "I don't know if I should say this out loud, but the truth is, it still hasn't sunk in. I'm one of those artists that can only hear bad things. I'm very tightly wound and I want to please myself." Pointing to his cast, he continued, "This is where I feel the pressure. I don't want these people to get a script and look at me and be like, 'Oh, well, here it is. Thanks for the dud.' That's the pressure I feel."

Be sure to check out Ed Martin's Live from the TCA Blog during the day for updates.
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