• The Wrap writes of the challenges facing AMC in following up on the success of its two original shows, Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Since the pair of critical darlings launched, the network's development team has changed and this weekend's debut of The Prisoner marks the first try-out for the new execs, with two new series coming up behind it. While the kiniptions Mad Men provokes in the media have always been hugely disproportionate to its raw audience size, which is generally in the one to two million range, Men's success is due to a little fluke of its audience demographics. The Wrap notes that more than half of its viewers earn six figure incomes, making it pretty much the official show of American rich people. But while Men and Breaking are bringing in cash for the network, the piece notes that between them they can only produce 26 episodes a year, a long, long way from the sort of programming pipeline needed to take the network to the next level, revenue-wise. And what with the economic downturn, America's rich have a lot more time to dedicate to their Tivo's and their needs must be fed. [The Wrap]

• Fox has re-signed Emma Watts to serve as its President of Production for the next three years, a move which Variety says, "keeps Fox as a bastion of stability at a time when studios are rife with executive shakeups." [Variety]

• Charlie's Angels may be coming home to the little screen. ABC is reportedly on the brink of a deal to bring the story of three little girls who went to the police academy back full circle to where it all began for them. Josh Friedman, who wrote Fox's Terminator:The Sarah Connor Chronicles is on board to executive produce the show. And now they work for him. [Variety]

• American box offices are bracing this weekend for a medium to large-sized tsunami of cash unleashed by the release of 2012. The disaster epic is expected to take in between $50 - $55 million this weekend with no other major film entering wide release against it. The film enters the marketplace with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 38 which The Wrap points out is an improvement over the 9 percent positive rating of director Roland Emmerich's previous film 10,000 B.C. [The Wrap]

• The Vice-Chairman of Lions Gate said that his company would be interested in buying MGM but "It's all about price," that is, if they can get the James Bond franchise for very little money, sure they'd be happy to do that. While trumpeting the news the LA Times makes the "imagine that/you don't say" point that, every company in Hollywood would be willing to absorb MGM and Bond if they can get them for nothing or next to it. [LA Times]

• The Who have been booked to entertain tens of millions of drunken, nacho-engorged football fans when they play the halftime show of this season's Superbowl. [Hollywood Reporter]

• Despite SAG's rejection of proposed terms, AFTRA's membership ratified a new contract with video game makers, taking a 2.5 percent pay raise for its actors. [Hollywood Reporter]

While Mad Men is a critical darling and its ratings are growing, it has never been a ratings bonanza for AMC and the pay is notoriously low. And after three seasons of being on "TV's best show," the siren song of more lucrative TV and movie roles may be irresistible. Plus, the way that series creator Matthew Weiner left things — Sterling Cooper as we knew it is dissolved, newly formed Sterling Cooper Draper Price may make it out of the Pierre Hotel, and Don's marriage is effectively over — almost any any character could be easily written out. So it would not be surprising if some of the regular characters disappear entirely from the show by next summer with nothing but a line of dialogue — "Oh, Peggy couldn't stand working next to Pete and Duck hired her after three weeks" — and a guest appearance or two.

Here your betting guide for who's coming back as a regular for Mad Men's fourth series, from most likely to call-your-agent.

Don Draper
Played By: Jon Hamm
Last We Saw Him: Lording over his new kingdom in a hotel room.
Why Stay: There wouldn't be a show without him.
Why Leave: After a great guest spot on 30 Rock, Hamm is getting more attention than anyone in the cast, for drama as well as comedy. He's also involved in several upcoming movies like Howl, The Town, and Sucker Punch.
Odds of Returning: 1: 1,000,000 (come on, there's no Mad Men without Don Draper)

Peggy Olsen
Played By: Elizabeth Moss
Last We Saw Her: Working for Don at the new firm.
Why Stay: She's a fan favorite with a great role and her character is on solid ground at the new firm.
Why Leave: To be a movie star! She's come a long way since her days on The West Wing. Between this an a well-regarded turn on Broadway opposite sushi-poisoned Jeremy Piven in Speed The Plow, now may be her time.
Odds of Returning: 1: 500

Roger Sterling
Played By: John Slattery
Last We Saw Him: Don's new best friend and business partner.
Why Stay: Roger gets all the ladies, funny lines, and best bits. Who doesn't want to play the scene stealer. Plus, Slattery and Hamm are besties.
Why Leave: There will be plenty of work for a veteran character actor like Slattery—work that probably pays a lot better.
Odds of Returning: 1:200

Pete Campbell
Played By: Vincent Kartheiser
Last We Saw Him: Don's new protege at the new firm.
Why Stay: He has a nice juicy, high-profile role that's far better than anything else he'll land.
Why Leave: He doesn't have a good reason.
Odds of Returning: 1: 100

Joan Holloway
Played By: Christina Hendricks
Last We Saw Her: The new office queen of Sterling Cooper Draper Price.
Why Stay: Because if she doesn't, we will slit our wrists.
Why Leave: Holloway is a sexy lady who has been on the fringes of TV for awhile. She may see this as her break. She's in next winter movie Life as We Know It, and she has proven to have the looks and the talent to anchor a TV show of her own.
Odds of Returning: 1: 75

Trudy Campbell
Played By: Alison Brie
Last We Saw Him: Delivering a cake in a wonderful red bucket hat.
Why Stay: Who else is going to nudge Pete in the right direction. And we need someone to show off retro fashions.
Why Leave: This isn't the biggest role, unless she and Pete get an upgrade.
Odds of Returning: 1:50

Harry Crane
Played By: Rich Sommer
Last We Saw Her: Eating one of Trudy's sandwiches at Sterling Cooper Draper Price.
Why Stay: He was saved by this plot twist, which means the writers have something in store for him.
Why Leave: Harry never gets to do much of anything, not even supporting character zany. He may want to stretch his legs.
Odds of Returning: 1: 10

Betty Draper
Played By: January Jones
Last We Saw Her: On the plane to Reno to get a divorce from Don with her future ex-husband Henry.
Why Stay: Because it would be great fun to watch Betty get tortured some more.
Why Leave: She has every reason to leave. Betty's storyline is at an obvious stopping point, at least as featured character. January Jones has been making the PR push, putting her boobs on GQ, hosting Saturday Night Live, and attaching herself to a number of projects. She also has a part in the upcoming Pirate Radio, so it certainly looks like she's planning a busy schedule away from Mad Men
Odds of Returning: 1:5

Sally, Bobby, and Gene Draper
Played By: Kiernan Shipka, Jared Gilmore, some baby
Last We Saw Them: On the couch with Carla being dazed by the TV.
Why Stay: They're kids. What, would they rather go to like real school? Also, they're Don's kids. You can't just erase them.
Why Leave: Or can you? If Betty leaves for good (maybe she and Henry settle in Reno and open a casino?) the kids go with her. And Bachelor Don is going to have plenty of babes to play with.
Odds of Returning: 3:1

Ken Cosgrove
Played By: Aaron Staton
Last We Saw Him: Left at the former Sterling Cooper, but as head of accounts.
Why Stay: A steady job—albeit a small part and, hey, maybe the writers need a way to a character to demonstrate life inside soulless McCann-Erickson.
Why Leave: Staton would be bummed to be cut, but it'd be really easy for him to go off and finally become a novelist.
Odds of Returning: 5:1

Bert Cooper
Played By: Robert Morse
Last We Saw Him: Keeping the sofa warm at his newest ad agency.
Why Stay: As an older gentleman, just like Cooper, if Morse leaves, there isn't going to be much work for him elsewhere. At least not with this high a profile.
Why Leave: He may not have a choice. Cooper doesn't do all that much, and when they need a big shock, it will be easy to give him a stroke/heart attack/Japanese armor accident at any time.
Odds of Returning: 10:1

Paul Kinsey
Played By: Michael Gladis
Last We Saw Him: Wishing Don had taken him instead of Peggy.
Why Stay: There's not much else for him on the horizon.
Why Leave: We have a feeling he doesn't want to, but if we're looking to streamline the cast, his peripheral character is an easy cut.
Odds of Returning: 75: 1

Sal Romano
Played By: Brian Batt
Last We Saw Him: Calling his wife from a pay phone before cruising the after he was fired from Sterling Cooper.
Why Stay: Well, he is effectively gone, but the way his storyline ended, he always seemed like he'd be back for more. Plus his "gay in the closet" storyline has tons of ways it could play out and lots of modern day implications.
Why Leave: He is already gone. Don could rehire him, but their main client is American Tobacco, the company that had him fired in the first place, so that seems about as likely as a Judy Garland Resurrection Tour.
Odds of Returning: 100 : 1 (but we really want him back!)

Everything last night was about the disparity between how one character looks at something and how their opponents view the same object or situation differently. Whether it was Betty and Don both peering into the abyss of his box of secrets, Don and Missy looking at their love, or Peggy and Paul staring down an idea for the Western Union account. Sure, the secrets and lies are what is going to bite these people in the ass but it's that split vision that gets them there. As Don says, "Some people see things differently, and they don't want to." Poor, tortured Don.

Betty and the Box: Finally, Betty gets into that locked door in Don's dresser, thanks to a set of loose keys in the dryer. It says something that all Betty wants to do is see past Don's hard shell to the truth that is lying underneath, and as soon as he slips up even once and leaves the keys to the drawer in his bathrobe, Betty knows exactly what the incriminating keys are for. But can she handle the look into Don's heart of darkness? Probably not.

Earlier in the night, when the phone rings and there is no one on the other line, Sally gets all upset. "My goodness, Sally Draper, try not to take everything so personally," Betty snaps at her. Well, Betty is the last person who should be trying to teach people this lesson. Not only does she take it personally and think that the call is her spurned would-be lover Henry, but she also takes it personally when she opens the box. She's not shocked by the pictures of Don as a boy but named Dick, the deed to a house in California, or his purloined dog tags, she is shocked that he was married before. The one thing that Betty really cares about is the one thing that effects her. So like Betty.

Of course, Betty sees this as a huge betrayal—and really, keeping all those things away from her truly is—but Don sees it as a way to survive. His new identity catapulted him up from his hillbilly roots to the WASPy station that Betty so much enjoys. And of course, she sees her Don as having gotten a divorce and never telling her, when it was the old, dead Don who was married to Anna, and not the man who is currently cheating on her with some psycho teacher.

And as Betty waits up for her man to come home so that she can spring the trap on him, he doesn't take the bait, because he's sniffing around at some prey of his own above a garage across town. When Don doesn't return home, Betty puts the box back into the drawer, locks it and returns the keys. She tries to lay into Don the next day, but her sadness gets the best of her, and she sinks further into her hole of unhappiness. She is hiding everything away both literally and figuratively. It's fitting then that Betty has looked the best she ever has—an ice blue gown for an ice princess—for the Sterling Cooper anniversary party that night, because it seems clear Don is only interested in her as a facade, something to show off for his advertising buddies. Who cares what lies below the surface when the surface is so beautiful.

But something is brewing with Betty. She continues to reach out to Henry, keeping the lines of communication open, even if it's to tell him not to call. And she's reading The Group, a satire of upper-class life by Mary McCarthy (yes, published in 1963), that features a heroine who gets a divorce. Hmm...

But the final scene of her clapping half-heartedly while Don receives his award is surely a sign that more is coming. Knowing Betty she is going to let the information about Don stew inside for a bit before acting out childishly and without thinking and doing something disastrous. Let's hope it involves setting her ugly fainting couch of desire aflame.

Don and Missy: The most air time was spent on Don and his relationship with Miss Farrell (the AMC blog says her first name is Suzanne, but I don't know that we've ever heard it on the show, so we're just going to keep calling her Missy around these parts, OK?). The biggest difference between the way these two see their relationship is that Don sees passion, innocence, and good-will in her when really what he should be seeing is that she is a complete and utter psycho. He sees her as something extra and she sees him as her everything.

How is Don missing this? When he doesn't call, she doesn't wait by the phone, she shows up on the train unannounced and demands an explanation. Crazy! And then listen to what she says: "I don't care about your marriage or your work or any of that, as long as I know you're with me." Hear that, Don. That means the minute you try to end it, she is going to crazy on you like a Heart song. She will fuck up your marriage and your work and all of that. She said it herself. How does he respond? By holding her hand and showing her that he's with her. Retreat, Don! Be like the turtle you are and pull back into your shell, because Missy is coming with sharpened claws and she is not afraid to slit your throat.

But for some reason, Don thinks that she is the one. Maybe it's because he shows up and she has gold stars stuck to her face and tells cute stories about eight year olds. She is the opposite of Betty—all openness and emotion. Finally, after he drops off her brother, he comes back and she's so upset that she can't even have sex and Don stays anyway. So this isn't just about getting a piece of strange, this is about finding an alternative home. When he arrives at her house for the first time this episode, she's playing house and jokes that his secretary called. He plays along. Right now he is lost in her delusion, but he will wake up to realize that she is crazy, and it may be way too late to save himself.

Don and Mister Missy: That Don wants to drive Missy's no-good, epileptic brother Danny to his new job in Massachusetts show's just how whipped he is by this women. "I swore to myself I would try to do this right once," he says, showing that he wants to have a relationship with Missy that is free of lies and deception and instead based on him being a stand up guy. Sorry, but Don is incapable of that.

It's because Don feels some sort of affinity for this kid and his "affliction." If he had never stolen Don Draper's identity, he would be saddled with the affliction of his own upbringing and would have been trapped into a life of pushing a broom in a VA hospital. At least that's what he believes. He tries to set Danny free, but, like he had to do for himself, he is doing it with a bunch of lies. Don sees freedom as the most important thing of all (remember his contract negotiations) and is willing to trade this kid's freedom for the confines of another lie.

Missy will see his behavior as a betrayal—and since the kid has the card, we know that the truth is going to come out eventually, probably when they find it on his dead body—but Don sees it as an act of kindness. It's really just two shades of the same color.

Mr. and Mrs. Pryce: Well, there is a Pryce for everything, and Lane is paying for his happiness in New York with his wife's sorrow (and you are paying for reading the Official Gawker Mad Men Recap by having to endure bad puns). He sees it as a place of freedom from the British class system and his controlling overlords and she sees it as a seething hellhole of noise and humanity. Oh, they are both so right. This is a pretty obvious disagreement on perspective, and doesn't really play itself out in the plot until we find out that Sterling Cooper is for sale.

When talking with the home office, Lane finds out that, due to his diligence cutting the staff and getting profits up, the agency is now on the block so that the Brits can turn a tidy profit. They see this as a big win, but Lane sees this as a disaster. He'll have to leave his beloved new home and move back to London—or even worse, to India! Is it enough for Lane to sabotage the whole deal so that he can stay with the firm? Or will he try to transition over to Sterling Cooper and leave his old firm behind so that he can be the head honcho? It wouldn't be shock of this upright Brit had some deviousness in him to save his hide.

Peggy Vs. Paul: Here is the practical applications of two people looking at the same problem and coming up with two very different solutions. They both have to pitch some ideas for the Western Union campaign, and they both come up with nothing. Well, Peggy comes up with nothing and Paul comes up with something, but gets so drunk in his office that he forgets it. His tale sets Peggy thinking and she sets this perfect trap in Don's office.

The only reason she would tell Don that Paul had a great idea he forgot was so that she could then go into an explanation of a telegram being forever while a phone call—like Paul's brilliant idea—evaporates. She has stolen Paul's non idea and used it to please the boss. This isn't the first time this happened either. Earlier, when presenting an Aquanet commercial to Don, Paul's idea gets shot down. Peggy tweaks it a bit, and Don is thrilled. She does the same thing here a second time. The prolonged scowl that Paul shoots Peggy's way is enough to let us know how he feels.

They also view their relationships with Don in a different way. Paul seems Peggy as being the favorite who always discounts him in front of Don. Peggy thinks that Don hates her and that Paul is the one with all the good ideas. This whole ordeal made us realize that Peggy is more of an astute innovator than a great creator. Like those old commercials, she doesn't make the things Don loves, she makes the things that Don loves better.

Oh, and speaking of differences of opinion, Peggy must have really liked that brown dress with all the bows up the front. We strongly disagree. When is Joan coming back with some fashion advice?

Finke offers one explanation from a source in the show...

"One of the great things about Mad Men is the tradition that Matt has established of offering higher-level opportunities to staff, writers and artists in all of the various departments. From the beginning, Matt has fought to get people approved by the studio which almost always lobbied for him to hire more experienced people instead."

"We think [Kater's] done a great job, particularly for someone whose career has progressed so quickly. Now, however, Matt has reluctantly decided that their relationship has reached its full potential. She'll be missed, but the series has consistently benefited from the influx of new writer talent, and there's absolutely no doubt that Kater will continue to have unprecedented success in her career as she spreads her wings. She leaves Mad Men with our love and respect and a well-deserved Emmy."

...that's clearly in Weiner's camp. Maybe this is the truth! Or maybe she might as well have placed an email from the show's flack in exchange for a better scoop later on. But the truth can't be this simple. Finke—who exercises a Machiavellian hand over the comments in her posts—left it to her commenters to speculate. And by speculate, we mean, speak for her. And I imagine someone at AMC is asking Finke why she's not deleting comments like she normally does on issues she wants to control.

Let's look at some of the more interesting theories:

• Matthew Weiner had a strictly unprofessional relationship with her, or as the commenter put it:

  *cough*LETTERMAN*cough*

  Well, Gordon did have a very quick rise through the rankings of Mad Men. Again: started as Weiner's assistant. Became a writers' assistant. Weiner then let her co-write the last season finale with him, and now, she's a staff writer for the third season. Or was, until she got fired. Staff writing jobs are not easy to come by, obviously. Sure, it's topical. And maybe it's worth noting that this is the first show Weiner's ever been a showrunner on. I somehow doubt this theory. If something inappropriate took place, why would he fire her? Probability: unlikely.
  
  

• Jealousy Issues. Another commenter writes:

  There was a really weird moment during the acceptance where Matt kind of 'snatched' the Emmy from her...The photo gets at it but I remember it being uncomfortable to watch. I always [sic] trhought they worked with these relatively inexperienced people on this show primarily for financial reasons. Allows them to put as much money as possible up on the screen.

  I'm not sure I buy the "inexperienced writers" line so much as the one above: that Mad Men hires writers with low quotes because they can afford to do so by reputation, and allocate the money elsewhere on the show. Weiner's a notorious control freak, as evidenced by the show, obviously. Hollywood loves a young, hot writer, and Gordon's cute and staffed on a hit show. Maybe this made Weiner uncomfortable. Or maybe Gordon's ego from the win outgrew Weiner's ability to micromanage, which could've been marginally. Even so, another commenter draws a comparison to Peggy and Don Draper's relationship, noting that this could give a certain scene from earlier in the season more significance...

  One just goes balls to the wall:

  Anyone who believes this horseshit is completely naïve. Matt Weiner is the lowest of the low in our business. He is a egomaniac and the likelihood is that he was incensed that he had to share credit and let alone an Emmy with her. A lowly former writer's assistant. As far as he is concerned, he is solely responsible for the success of this show and no other writer, producer, director, actor, key grip have done anything to contribute to the show's success. For Pete's sake, he didn't even let Kater Gordon say a word when they got up on stage. It was her moment as well but Weiner made it ALL about him.

  Though egomaniacs are kind of par for the course, no?
  
  

• And another one just thinks Matt was unloading unnecessary cargo:

  The only episode she wrote by herself was "The Fog" and it was terrible. Looks like Matt got too excited and promoted her too quickly…

Update: Finke posted from a writer who supposedly knows by Weiner and Gordon, who insists there was no "Letterman" play involved. "She totally got the show and deserved the break she got. There was NOTHING illicit in her relationship with Matt." 'Figured. But Finke has yet to posit any theories...

[Photo via Mark J. Terrill/AP]

The scoop we're hearing is that the suave, slick-talking Brit was a stand in for AMC president and general manager Charles "Charlie" Collier. Weiner had some notoriously tumultuous contract renegotiations after season two and even threatened to leave the show if they wouldn't pay him the kind of money he felt he deserved.

After securing him for the third season of the channel's most visible creative and ratings success, Collier told Weiner and the show's other producers that the hour would have an additional commercial break. Of course the writers were none too pleased that they'd lose two minutes of air time each episode and have to work in another awkward pause to their weekly festivities—especially because this never came up during the contract brouhaha. How does a creative type strike back? With fictional bloody violence of course.

So, what does Collier have in common with his Mad Men alter ego, Guy MacKendrick? Well, both have British parents, both were salesmen (Collier at Court TV before joining AMC), both wear suits, and both know Matt Weiner. Oh, and they sort of look alike. So far Weiner's voodoo doll has not caused Collier to lose his job like it did to poor Guy MacKendrick. Considering Collier has ad revenue up 10% we have a feeling that even with only 5 toes, he'll still be standing on top of AMC.

All of the story lines were running parallel last night, with the actions (and outfits!) of each set of characters reflecting back on the others. Whether they were at the same party, or getting fucked up in totally different setting, drugs, race, singing, and fabulous accessories were on everyone's minds, and their meanings were reverberating through a retro echo chamber. Let's just hope that "My name is Peggy Olsen and I want to smoke marijuana" isn't the precursor to "My name is Peggy Olson, and I'm a drug addict."

Getting Wasted: When Paul and Smitty decide to get stoned for some inspiration for their Bacardi campaign, as usual Peggy was not initially invited. To the protestation of her creepy new secretary, she forces her way into the boys' room to get in on the fun. Isn't that the story of her life? Of course, she gets totally wasted (for a girl who doesn't seem to know how to inhale) and for the first time sees clearly, not only about the ad they're working on, but also about her place in the firm—at least among the women. She gives a rousing speech to creepy secretary about how she is not afraid to be a trailblazer in a man's world, and finally sees that all her old chums in the secretarial pool are just nervous for her. Putting her insecurities about being in charge behind her (for good?), she orders the secretary to fix the Dictaphone and get her a glass of water. Cottonmouth is a bitch.

Things don't go as well for former secretary Jane, who had one too many mint juleps at the Kentucky Derby party she hosts with Roger. While under the influence, she has a run-in with Don, grabbing at his belt and asking why he doesn't like her. Roger comes into the scene and is ready for the confrontation with Don that has been brewing all season.

Invitations: Everyone was having parties last night. Aside from Roger and Jane's country club shindig, goddess of domesticity Joan opened her home for Rapist Doctor's surgical chums, and Paul and Smitty threw an impromptu party in the Sterling-Cooper office, but all of them had their unwanted guests.

When Don finally confronts Roger and tells him that everyone thinks he's sad for marrying his secretary bride, Roger says of his country club, "That's the great thing about coming here. You can be happy, and choose your guests." If only that were true, my man. If anything, Mad Men shows us that the idyllic lifestyle is merely a mirage, and intruders and interlopers lurk behind every highball. It's only those blinded by fantasy and their own ego don't see them.

Luckily both Don and Betty had their eyes open while wondering away from the other guests. Even in a controlled environment, their happiness is tested in unexpected ways. Don runs into a well-off gentleman from a humble past, and connects with him well enough to share a story about peeing in the trunks of cars when he was a valet at a fancy club. He makes Don remember who he truly is in these posh surroundings. Also having a reminder of faith is Betty, who flirts with a man while waiting for the restroom. When he lays his hand on her pregnant belly, it's the most intimacy we've seen her have with a man all season, before Don finds her in the garden and kisses her at the end of the episode. They may not be welcomed guests anymore (wait for Don's statements to Roger to have repercussions at work) but they have at least reconnected.

Performance: Joan deals with her own uncomfortable moments at her party, when it seems like Doctor Rapist is much better at the latter than he is at the former. But they both cover up the awkwardness the best way Joan can, with charm, guile, and talent. She busts out the accordion and gives everyone a chuckle with her French song. For Joan, the whole evening was a performance, setting the house up, cooking the dinner, entertaining the ladies, and doing her bit to make Doctor Rapist successful so that she can hang up her gold pen necklace for good. However, she's starting to see her new life is going to come with complications, like Doctor Rapist being a total asshole.

Paul also has to put on a show to prove his singing talent to his Ivy League drug dealer and his colleagues. After his pedigree has been challenged and his New Jersey roots revealed, he defends his role in Princeton's Tiger Tones by busting out a little ditty (not well, mind you). It's enough to satisfy his (stoned) coworkers, so Paul's posh artiface remains intact.

And speaking of performance, Roger really sang in blackface.

Racism: While Joan and Paul's performances were about saving face, Roger's was all about putting on another one. It's good to see that Don was squirming at the sight as much as most viewers at home, though many of the guests laughed, either cause they're casual racists, or because they're trying to keep the boss happy by playing along with his shtick. Either way, this performance solidifies Roger as a major asshole, if we needed that made any more plainly.

Racism was more subtly referenced when Grandpa Gene lost five dollars (which Sally stole from him to go get her lisp fixed). Carla, the Draper's maid, looks everywhere for it, knowing that she'll be blamed if the cash doesn't show up, even though the man who lost it (another guest who is wearing out his welcome) is slowly losing it. She even stands up for herself against the old meanie, who is either a casual racist or just doesn't know better. In the end, Sally creates a ruse to give the money back, and all is forgotten, for now.

Hats!: Our favorite Mad Men accessory was on full display last night. First, Jane shows up at Sterling-Cooper and runs into her old secretarial pals, including mother-hen Joan, and shows her dominance with a gorgeous black and white beehive number and matching outfit. The other ladies, heads bared, can do nothing but smile and follow her orders.

The real millinery jackpot though is at the Kentucky Derby party. Jane wears a peach and straw number that is again coordinated with her dress (like she doesn't have enough taste to buy anything but the set), while Pete's wife Trudy scores for the second time this season with a floral bowler. Harry's wife Jennifer misses the mark with a floppy yellow bucket that looks like it washed up alongside the Montauk Monster.

All of these head-toppers are just another layer of artifice, the women trying to show their status one of the few ways they can: with fashion. When Jane is finally drunk enough to go after Don, her hat is mysteriously missing, her artificiality and new-found extravagance stripped away by her loutish behavior. Also, none of the show's heroines—Peggy, Joan, and most conspicuously Betty—go bare throughout the episode. As if to say that they are incapable or unwilling to hide their true selves behind a ridiculous dome.

Don't worry, we won't ruin anything about tonight's episode, but we will wonder, aloud, why last week's episode came complete with a "mature audiences" warning, while tonight's did not. Could it be that last week's episode featured some man-on-man action?

Yes, the aforementioned action was a bit racy — hand down boxers! — but c'mon! AMC has been quite cutting edge in its original programming and we commend Mad Men's delicacy in dealing with a closeted character living in the Sixties, but this has us shaking our virtual heads a bit. There are so many other things that could have been warned against, like the rape, racism, possibly even the pot smoking.

Even if we were to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that AMC put the warning up after receiving hell for the show's first two scandalous seasons, why didn't they warn against some of the "adult" topics in tonight's episode, including some slightly naughty language, an advertisement that read "Rape on 34th St." and little Peggy Olson getting randy with things "other" than sex?

Thus, we're a bit astonished - dare we say "mad?" - about the singular notification.

[Image via]

For season two, the critical hype and savvy marketing tactics doubled the audience from the season one average. However, the ratings dropped nearly 40% in the second week, which means they lost almost all the curious people who got confused because Mad Men is a little deeper than your average Charlie Sheen sitcom. We'll let you know next Monday if the nation has smartened up a little bit in the past 12 months and grew an attention span to match the program.

1. Pete and Ken are both named head of accounts: This is the biggest (and most obvious) setup of the evening. When they fire the old head of accounts, the new Brits in town divide his job between Pete and Ken, dropping the hint that they expect one of them to out perform the other. Narcissist Pete is pissed, of course, and whines to his wife (who wears a killer hat to the office). Ken is cooler about it and thinks that it's a good opportunity for competition.
What's coming: It's war. And Ken is toast. Also, more hats!

2. Sal gets caught with a dude: Well, it was bound to happen eventually, because he's not a very convincing heterosexual. When he and Don go to Baltimore to save their London Fog account, Ken calls the front to get his air conditioning fixed, and the bellhop who shows up to fix it is only interested in using one tool, and it's Sal's. Before they can go all the way, the fire alarm goes off, and Don sees the two men together. Sal is relieved that Don don't mention it.
What's coming: Something like this is bound to come out (har har) eventually. Either Sal is going to get outed or he'll confide in Don, but maybe the closet door is cracking open a bit.

3. Peggy can't get her secretary to do any work: We didn't get to see much of the firm's only female copywriter and this episode she only interacted with the show's other females—both secretaries who weren't having any of Peggy's nonsense. First, her secretary has a hard time getting any work done because she's flirting with one of the Brits who is now employed at taken-over Sterling Cooper. Then Joan gives her the brush off at the elevator, asserting her authority as the babe with the biggest balls.
What's coming: How is Peggy going to overcome the chauvinism of the office when not even the ladies have her back? It's going to be another lonely year.

4. Don says he'll "always come home": We find out that Don wasn't raised by his prostitute mother, who died in child birth. His working-girl mom told Don's dad "If you knock me up, I'll cut your dick off." After she dies, the midwife names the baby Dick. Ha! Later, DonDick tells his upset daughter that "he'll always come home," but then has a hard time staying focused when telling her about the night she was born.
What's coming: More sadness and ennui for the Drapers, of course. However, his "I'll always come home," can either be a promise that he's going to break or a threat that he's going to keep. But these two won't break up. Who else is going to torture them?

5. Joan and Moneypenny have it out: Joan is one fierce bitch, and that is why she totally hands a new British "secretary" his ass without ever raising her voice. When he starts to think that he's better than the girls in the pool, she assigns him a vacant office. She knows how to please a man—always appeal to his ego—but it's obvious she's setting a trap. Of course, his move illicits a dressing down from his boss. Good work, Joanie. There's a reason you're our favorite.
What's coming: We have a feeling Moneypenny won't take this lying down. But he should. If he pushes her too hard, Joan will take that gold pen necklace of hers and stab him in the eye.

When season three kicks off on Sunday night, it won't be without a whole lot of fanfare. "Look at Mad Men, it has fancy clothes and great style and retro doo-dads. It is written by women and they can make ads too. So, which ad exec matches which Mad Men character? Or, let's play that game with the media instead. Wait, what Mad Men character are you? You're so special you need to create your own."

The show is notoriously secret about what's going to happen except that it's set in 1963 (Spoiler Alert: The president is assassinated!) and the media, which is obviously in the show's whiskey-soaked thrall, is playing along with it. Well, the first reviews are starting to creep out and, guess what. People seem to like it. We hadn't heard!

AMC got all classy with critical and Emmy favorites Mad Men and Breaking Bad and then they went and ruined it all bypaying a whole lot of cash for a show about undead stumbling brain eaters. They acquired the rights to Robert Kirkman's comic book The Walking Dead which follows the lives of the survivors of a zombie apocalypse. Sounds to us like 28 Days or every other zombie movie. But, since it's on AMC, it's going to be a smart zombie show. [THRfeed]

Natalie Portman designs vegan shoes and went to Harvard. She's so hip and so smart. Fox thinks so to, and now she's producing a comedy called Booksmart about two smart girls who can't find boyfriends. Oh, they never can. [Variety]

Danish toymaker Lego has finally allowed someone to make a movie about their plastic boxes and barely bending men. Warner Bros. is developing a hush-hush, live action/animation flick from writers Dan and Kevin Hageman. Well, the performances from the plastic playthings can't be any worse than a heavily-botoxed actress. Variety]

MTV orders up two Jackass ripoffs, a Hills rip off (set in New York, watch out!), a variety show, and Hard Times their first single-camera comedy. It's about a kid who is trying to survive being 15. Hey, maybe he can go out with one of Natalie Portman's girls. [THR]

Ed Helms is on a hot streak. He just inked his second deal since The Hangover made all that money. His next pic (after Cedar Rapids) is a comedy called Central Intelligence where he plays an accountant who becomes a spy after finding an old friend on Facebook. Damn, all we ever find are the annoying girls who sat next to us in French class. [Variety]

The top shows last night were America's Got Talent, Hell's Kitchen, and Big Brother. Wait. You mean Americans like reality shows? [Variety]

The Emmys give up on the idea of presenting the writing and editing categories early so that they can speed up their telecast. Your local news is pissed. [THR]

Zachary Effwinkle, a magical creature someone found in a moonbeam one starry night, will soon be starring in his first grownup thriller! Very exciting. While we'd hope for a backstage murder mystery in the vein of Christopher Pike's seminal Last Act, it'll probably just be Eagle Eye with fewer explosions and swears. Witch Mountain Revisted, maybe? [Variety]

AMC has ordered twelve episodes of political thriller series Rubicon, about a secret string-pulling shadow organization. It's directed by Sopranos vet Allen Coulter and costars the wonderful Miranda Richardson. Interesting. [THR]

Katharine Heigl, once so likable but now so tarnished, will star in Life As We Know It for Warner Bros. The movie is another one of those Oh, hey everyone died except you so here's a baby kind of movies. So selfish people learn to not be selfish and not be grossed out by poop diapers and somewhere up in Vermont Diane Keaton makes another vat of baby food while Elizabeth is home visiting from Colgate and Keats thinks to herself "I did that first." Kate Hudson sips a latte elsewhere and thinks "Hey, I did that too!" [Variety]

Good gravy on a biscuit, why does Heather Graham keep getting cast in movies? Sure, she'll play a lesbian who sleeps with her roommates creepy sad dad (Kevin Spacey) in Father of Invention, so it's like a sexy role again, but still. She'll join a bizarre cast that includes Craig Robinson, Camilla Belle, and Johnny Knoxville. Some casting agents were playing a drunken came of Truth Or Dare over the weekend, and one lady kept choosing Dare! [THR]

Hey, here's a sentence that you can read on the internet today: "MTV is also pondering a reinvention of '80s film Teen Wolf in series format, with a greater emphasis on romance, horror and werewolf mythology." Oh, terrific. Meanwhile we're busy on our series remake of Earth Girls Are Easy, which will be a political piece about aliens that probes deeply into ideas of terrorism, detention of prisoners, and the clash of religion and secularism. [Variety]

10.6 million people tuned in to watch Jon & Kate Gosselin announce that they are dibborcing on Monday night. To put that number in perspective, that's two Minnesotas' or one Michigan's worth. Ten Rhode Islands! Every single person in Portugal watched Jon & Kate on Monday night. [THR]

Ram-faced actor Daniel Craig just might star in Jim Sheridan's next pic, a "psychological thriller" (as opposed to a pharmacological thriller or a scatological thriller) about a man who moves to a new house with his family and surprise there was murder and, surprise, everyone's ghosts. Though, Sheridan and Craig do seem like a good fit, what with Craig's pugilist's face and Sheridan's penchant for pugilists. [THR]

Martin Lawrence will be here forever. [THR]

Image via Bauer-Griffin

Steve Carell will star in another sadsack man comedy. This one is called Dumped and is about a man who is... dumped. [Variety] Kevin Spacey will star in and produce a new indie comedy called Father of Invention, about a crazy inventor's fall from grace and subsequent comeback. A man whose biggest credit is directing a Larry the Cable Guy movie will helm. [Variety]

O.C. and Gossip Girl blunderkind Josh Schwartz will be making his directorial film debut with an adaptation of Jay McInerney's landmark 1984 novel Bright Lights, Big City. There was a Michael J. Fox movie based on the book made about twenty years ago, but... oh well. Schwartz's Lt. Riker, Stephanie Savage, will co-produce. [Variety] Pineapple Express buddies James Franco and Danny McBride will team up again for a new comedy, also to be directed by art-house auteur turned sly comedian, David Gordon Green. It's set in medieval times. Its title? Your Highness. Sigh. [Variety]

AMC, flush with successes Mad Men and Breaking Bad, is now turning itself into a regular old TV network. By developing reality programming! They've got a show called True West in the works. No, it's not about a production of the Sam Shepard play. It's about modern-day cowboys navigating the terrain as their industry fades. Sounds like a riot. [Variety] Fox, meanwhile, has rehired Wanda Sykes to host a Saturday night talk show. It'll sort of be a panel series, like the Bill Maher show. Hmm. [Variety]

SAG and AFTRA signed off on a three year commercials contract early this morning. The agreement includes a $36 million increase in wage rates and a $21 increase in contributions toward both guilds' health plans. [THR]

Kevin Rahm, who you'd recognize from a bunch of stuff, Rob Huebel, who you'd recognize from Human Giant, and Alison Brie, who you'd recognize as Pete's wife on Mad Men, have all landed TV pilots. Sadly, none of them sound good. [THR] Veteran CNN producer Kathy O'Hearn will be teaming up with veteran correspondent Christiane Amanpour for a new half-hour news program for the network. [THR]

And The Simpsons will be immortalized in postage stamp form, the Postal Service (the government thing, not the band) announced today. They'll be unveiled next week, timed well with the series' 20th anniversary. Sheesh. [THR]

"I don't know anything about next season—I don't even know if it's happening," he told us ominously at the InStyle Golden Globes afterparty, adding that the show's fate right now is "unknowable." [...]

"You know me, I'm very forthcoming," Weiner said when asked why negotiations have taken so long. "And I don't even know what to tell you. I don't know what to say…I've done everything I can. That's all I can tell you."

So when might it be sorted out? "I have no idea. I'm surprised we don't know already."

Fortunately, Weiner has a secret, fleshy weapon: Christina Hendricks, who tells E! that there's no show without him. Melissa George, this is your chance! Pad your bra and call your agent!

• Mad Men Boss Says Show's Fate Is "Unknowable" [E!]

Yup, you guessed it: Lionsgate has yet to strike a deal with Mad Men mastermind Matthew Weiner to come back (despite over four months of negotiating). Still, that didn't stop AMC president Charles Collier from letting the press at TCA know today that new episodes of the series would premiere this summer. Is the network playing hardball with Weiner by announcing a start date, figuring it will spur him toward a deal? Or does Collier have inside information on the negotiations, which will reward Weiner with a four-season contract, an outdoor campaign that isn't totally vague and listless, and a clause that allows him to take home Joan Holloway's clingy costumes (about that, the less said the better)?

• AMC panel... [THR]

The creator and exec producer of AMC's critical darling is set to make the rounds of the majors in the next few weeks as he shops for a big-bucks overall deal. The timing is hardly accidental, given the approach of Sept. 21's Primetime Emmy Awards, in which "Mad Men" is a top contender with 16 noms.

It's understood that "Mad Men" producer Lionsgate TV and AMC have just begun their discussions on a third-season pickup for the period ensembler. Weiner's continued involvement with the show, a passion project that he nurtured as a spec for years before getting a yes from AMC, is sure to be part of those talks.

What a Mad Men might look like without the notoriously (from what we hear) controlling showrunner would be difficult to imagine, though it's safe to say that minus Weiner's indelible creative imprint, the AMC drama would be in danger of morphing into a different series altogether. We'd hate to see Season 3 begin with the title card "23 Years Later..." only to find our treasured rotation of series regulars replaced by cheaper unknowns, puzzling over how best to market a Rubik's Cube as Sterling Cooper discovers its wackier side in the Me Decade.

• Showrunner shops for 'Mad' money [Variety]

And while at least one AMC critic accused the network of history's "single worst use (misuse?) of social media," other observers seemed baffled that AMC would endanger free advertising. AMC insists that wasn't its plan, and we believe it: If a brief outage could virally promote Mad Men's unofficially official Twitter sites for most of the morning — to the tune of a few hundred new followers in the middle of the series' worst ratings slump — we would have done the same thing ourselves.

Sure it's cynical, but hey — Twitter's founders will tell you themselves they "spend more money than [they] make," and a viral scandal seems a reasonably healthy win-win: AMC takes some geek heat in a slow news week. Twitter gets play for its viral-marketing value and influence. Don, Peggy, Bert Cooper and co. get to take the morning off. Mad Men rebounds after Labor Day — new episodes, Twitter feeds, DVD sets and all. The worst part? AMC can never admit brilliantly framing itself in a week when no one is following any news that's not coming out of Denver.

Anyway, call us contrarians, but we applaud everyone involved. Especially the 25 people who've grabbed Don Draper's feed in the time it's taken to write this item. Someone's got good taste.

• AMC To Twitterers: Please Don't Market 'Mad Men' For Us [Silicon Alley Insider]
• AMC responds to 'Mad Men' Twitter flap [The Live Feed]

But we're not here to cast aspersions, we're just here to handicap. As such, read on for your irregularly occurring guide to the latest in retreads — and their varying chances for winning us over.

THE TITLE: Suspiria
THE ORIGINAL: Dario Argento's 1977 giallo classic planted nubile Jessica Harper in the middle of a ballet academy-cum-witch's coven. Vivid, over-the-top bloodshed ensues.
THE REMAKE: Having long expressed interest in a remake, David Gordon Green is reportedly set to follow Pineapple Express with Suspiria — featuring Natalie Portman as his lead. She would produce as well.
APPEAL: Strong. Face it — for all its inspired demises and influence, Argento's original doesn't age well. It's saturated from eye to ear with genre cheese that could benefit from a modern reimagining with real cinematography (by Green's brilliant regular lenser Tim Orr, we presume) and a less-manufactured sense of peril. Only downside: Can it compete with the horror of Portman's real-life love interest?

THE TITLE: The Conversation
THE ORIGINAL: Between the first two Godfather films, Francis Ford Coppola knocked out this extraordinary drama about a surveillance expert (Gene Hackman) paranoiacally ensnared in a murder plot.
THE REMAKE: Oscar-winning Usual Suspects screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie is on board an AMC TV series with producer Tom Krantz, who has been trying to develop the show for a decade.
APPEAL: Zero. Krantz tells Variety that "[t]he issues of privacy and individuality, and issues of spying and listening, are as relevant now as they've ever been. This is the perfect vehicle to tell those stories." Exactly — which is why you broadcast the timeless original on AMC as opposed to embarrass yourself attempting to keep up. Coppola is behind it, though; there's only so much wine he can sell, evidently, to subsidize his nonsense.

THE TITLE: Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
THE ORIGINAL: Russ Meyer's 1965 saga set the enduring standard for busty-stripper murder rampages.
THE REMAKE: Quentin Tarantino, who already did sex-kitten speed-demonry in Death Proof, wants you to pay for a variation on himself and Meyer. Starring Britney Spears. Sigh.
APPEAL:: Sigh. It's a little easier to swallow once you remember how well the guy's always done without ever conceiving an original idea. But is this really news, or is he just hedging lest Inglorious Bastards' hype proves unsustainable? After all, the Spears/Mendes/Kardashian rumor mill has been churning since January. This whole mess screams, "Just in case." That said, we've heard worse. (See The Conversation)

THE TITLE: "French thriller Tell No One a word-of-mouth hit"
THE ORIGINAL: An Aug. 1 enterprise story by Steven Zeitchik of The Hollywood Reporter, spotlighting what has become the art-house sleeper hit of summer.
THE REMAKE: An Aug. 7 enterprise story by John Horn of the LA Times, spotlighting what has become the art-house sleeper hit of summer.
APPEAL:: Flatlining. Happy as we are to see Tell No One's out-of-the-blue indie traction, Horn's second head-slapper in as many days has us fearing he may need more direct supervision at the Times. At least yesterday's baseless piece "Wednesday is the new Friday in movie releases" was an original. Try harder, John — your paper needs you.