Mad Men, Fat Betty, and Christmas in May: While We’re Waiting…

Happy Thursday Blawg Pound, and it’s not a lousy day to be alive. The Indians had a classic 18-K pitching performance from Corey Kluber on Wednesday, the Browns have stocked the pantry with fresh talent, and the Cavs — well, we’ll get to the Cavs. But while we’re waiting… .

If you’re a follower of Mad Men (or merely someone pretending to be a pop culture sophisticate), then you know the much celebrated AMC drama is concluding this Sunday. I know it’s annoying to feel excluded or made to feel inferior if you’re not watching the show that’s supposedly the [insert complimentary adjective]-est of its generation, but it’s nearly over; and maybe you can appreciate the things that I’ve found indelible about the show over the years even if you’ve never watched it or rejected it in the past.

First, like sports, the joy of following Mad Men scarcely begins with watching episodes — as the ensuing discussion allows the fun to linger well beyond the initial consumption. Talented people all over the web have spent the last several years discovering hidden meaning and hidden humor in Don Draper’s exploits or in the mundane workings of the advertisement workplace, then sharing their ruminations with the rest of us. Molly Lambert has done a great job at Grantland, and to call Alan Sepinwall’s recitations on HitFix “recaps” wouldn’t do them justice. There are many others. But my personal favorite post-Mad Men experience is Mark Lisanti’s ‘Mad Men’ Power Rankings on Grantland, a frenetic and mildly deranged countdown of the most valuable characters from each week’s episode. Even if you don’t watch the show, you may enjoy Lisanti’s immensely funny and surreal weekly countdowns. I’d provide a snippet, but Lisanti’s Power Rankings are generally inappropriate and nonsensical both in and out of context. So here’s a few links, instead.

Sure, sometimes the over-analysis verges on pretentious wind-baggery, but that’s a downside to following sports as well; such as when we try to infer absolute truths on Johnny Manziel’s personality based on an Instagram picture, or LeBron James’ temperament on a free throw, or the NFL’s stance on crime and punishment based on how they suspend someone for squeezing the air out of balls. But it’s the little things, the delightful details, that have allowed Mad Men to sustain such a pleasant viewing experience, and create a rich environment rife with weirdly memorable incidents and quirky inside jokes such as the impermanence of Bobby Draper’s appearance, Fat Betty and her Bugles snacks, Creepy Glen the neighbor boy, Freddy Rumsen’s incontinence, Lou Avery’s monkey cartoon Scout’s Honor, Ken Cosgrove’s eye patch, Pete Campbell’s blue suit, and Bert Cooper’s spontaneous and uninvited intrusions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvLiZGblio0

Most of all, I realized I like the show just because I enjoy spending time with the characters for a few moments every week. I want to see what happens to Joan and Betty and Peggy and Sally and Roger and Don. (And I definitely want to know where Peggy hangs her NSFW octopus painting from Roger.) Pete Campbell is such an insufferable jerk, but I like seeing him for five minutes a week and extracting a chuckle or two from his unapologetic arrogance. Don’t ever change, Pete. Again, this is not unlike sports. For as much as I like to watch this Cavaliers team play basketball, I also like watching LeBron tell Kyrie Irving to “get your limping ass over” and perform an elaborate handshake, or watch Iman Shumpert and Tristan Thompson embrace each other after a hard-earned offensive rebound.

Mad Men captured imaginations then set them loose on the American Dream. It’s been a thoughtful, inquisitive show that’s allowed viewers to explore what happens to its characters as commentary on change, personal transformation, and the passage of time. Even if I don’t always grasp the symbolism, Matthew Weiner has provided me with dozens of hours of television that’s at least made me think — if only for a few minutes before things like Twitter and ESPN put an end to that. Anyway, I’ll be sad to see the show go.

And If you haven’t already, go read Andrew Clayman’s extremely well-researched piece chronicling the parallel timelines of the 1960s Cleveland Indians and the characters on Mad Men, and enjoy the end of an era for a show about the end of an era.

It’s been a stressful and exhilarating week to be Cavaliers fan. After the Bulls ripped fans’ hearts out with a banked three-pointer in Game 3, LeBron James summoned his late game magic to sink a Game 4 winner that saved the team’s season; be it for a week or a month. Even if the Cavs are unable to deliver the death blow to the Bulls and fail to make it to the next round, they’ve shown a verve and solidarity that lacked on the 2003-2010 teams. I don’t know how Game 6 will unfold, but I refuse to be disappointed in this Cavaliers team as long as they show the enthusiasm and effort they have throughout the Bulls series. UpRoxx’s Martin Rickman captured the spirit of Game 5.

The Cavs built a 17 point lead at one point, and yet, the Bulls came back, and they had a chance to tie and the ball in their best player and former MVP’s hands. This game as they now played it and had played it, they will have to play once more and innumerable times more. Rose drove for a chance to tie it at 101. And LeBron blocked it out of bounds with 48.8 seconds to play. There would be no buzzer beater in Game 5. LeBron knocked fate off its proposed trajectory.

There’s still a chance the Cavs may still lose this series. Never put that past Cleveland. But the cycle, at least for a day, was broken. That has to count for something.

Following the game, in a bar on Prospect Ave., two male fans decked out in Cavaliers gear put Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” on the TouchTunes jukebox and danced in their own circle, clapping and singing every word. If it can be Christmas in May for a day, maybe it won’t be Groundhog Day in Northeast Ohio, after all.

I’m just enjoying the final twists and turns from this roller coaster Cavs season. Read Rickman’s piece, then read any of the fine things you may have missed this week on WFNY at this defining juncture in Cleveland sports: Scott went inside the mind of Kyrie Irving, Will learned a little about LeBron and Good Will Hunting, Kirk called for more JR in case of emergency, and I speculated that James has the same physical makeup as Wolverine.

And now your random 90s song of the day. Fiona Apple appropriated the bad attitudes and indiscriminate anger of grunge for more traditional pop music. What a catchy song. It seems appropriate for Thursday as the Cavs try to channel their inner criminal by stealing the series clinching Game 6 on the road in Chicago. What I need is a good de-fense, ’cause I’m feeling like a criminal … .