Talkin' "Mad Men" Season Four, Episode 10: "Hands and Knees"

By PAUL RUSSELL and DANIEL P. FINNEY
TV Talkin’ Blog Staff Writers

Paul the accountant and Dan the newsman discuss the 10th episode of the fourth season of “Mad Men,” “Hands and Knees.”

PAUL: One thing "Mad Men" does is there will be a long stretch of episodes where not much happens, but there are tensions to distract us. Peggy is unhappy or Don is drinking and Betty gets a bug up her butt. So this episode, there was a tension related to the Beatles concert. You’re like, ‘Oh, I wonder how the Beatles thing goes.’ Do the tickets fall through and the Don’s daughter flips out. But that went fine and everything else that could go wrong did so.

DAN: This was the best episode of the season thus far. The last three episodes have been grand slams. Everybody is swept up in their secrets and lies. Don’s lie could crush his family and collapse the new firm. Roger’s and Joan’s lie results in an abortion. Roger’s other lie puts the firm on the brink. Pete’s lie saves Don but possibly wrecks the agency. And what a dramatic moment to have Don reveal the truth of his life to Faye.

PAUL: Also, don’t forget Lane Pryce’s storyline: he has a black girlfriend and his father hits him like a pimp would. That was a great scene. You wonder what will come out of it. Will Don address his past? Will Betty forgive Don? Will Betty grow up some? Will Joan look at her life differently? Will Pryce stand up for himself? Lee Garner Jr. saying to Roger that he inherited the account and Don telling Pete he can run the agency without him.

DAN: The Lee Garner Jr. moment is powerful. It’s basically saying Roger has never accomplished anything and rode his father’s coattails to riches.

PAUL: The great thing about the Garner deal is you always picture Lee Garner Jr. being immature and that immaturity or secret gay lifestyle will end up wrecking the relationship. But no, the company moved from a family business to a corporation and a 30-year relationship means nothing.

DAN: Sure, in the end, it’s Roger whimpering.

PAUL: What did you think of Roger talking to Joan about the baby?

DAN: Roger is a character I don't like. I should say, he's the kind of person I don't like. He's a character who behaves in ways I hate. But he's a perfectly created character. He rests on laurels earned by others. He’s a crap father, husband and business man. So, here, he's trying desperately to be a good guy. He probably loves Joan. But he's gotten her pregnant. Both are married to other people. He actually suggests, "Well, maybe your husband will get killed in Vietnam." The amazing thing is she doesn't flip out. Instead she says, "That's not a solution."

PAUL: He has that great line. He says something like “I think I just might love you.” Wow. How romantic.

DAN: I guess this is an upgrade from him saying “You’re the best piece of ass I’ve ever had.”

PAUL: Yeah, it felt like a downgrade.

DAN: Roger has been maudlin this season. Everything that gives him his identity is evaporating. Lucky Strike. His health. His World War II hero status. Nobody gives a flip about his advertising war stories book. Roger is in danger of extinction. Earlier in the series, he complained that no one respected the work he did. It turns out for good reason. He didn’t do any work. He’s a crummy person. Lucky Strike bolts. He calls old contacts. He learns they’re dead and he hasn’t bothered to keep in touch with them anyway. He’s accomplished nothing. His whole life is as much a lie as Don’s. At least Don has Faye. Roger wants Joan, but she is noncommittal. Nothing good has ever come out of Joan and Roger.

PAUL: A parrot. A fur coat.

PAUL: So the episode ends with Don looking at the new secretary, Megan.

DAN: Yes, this is ominous, I think.

PAUL: Well, this could mean many things. Don could be leering. He could admire her because she is an innocent unlike everyone else in the episode where they tested Pond’s Cold Cream with Faye. the secretary stood out there helpful, honest and earnest. She likes Don’s daughter. She is seen putting on her make up. No cares. She is leaving the office behined her. No secrets to keep her and no secrets to harm her. I feel like something is being built towards. Maybe Don hooks up with the secretary to punish himself for being happy with Faye.

DAN: I hope not. But then “Mad Men” excels at not giving the viewer what he wants. I hope it’s a ruse, like Beatles tickets.

PAUL: The secretary is a good enough actress to merit a bigger storyline. Don makes for a balanced character. You often have a show   with a charismatic bad guy who is revealed to have a good side to make him more appealing to the audience. Don could easily be a charismatic villain.

DAN: This is one of the running themes of this year’s season. There is a lot of long-term bad behavior finally reaching a comeuppance point. Don has lied for decades and it threatens everything. Joan and Roger rekindle previous bad behavior and it leads to an abortion and stirs up troubling feelings. There is also transitions and a meditation on modern aging, a changing of the guard sort of like Bob Dylan’s “The Times Are A Changin’.”

PAUL: So we are down to the final three episodes of the season.

DAN: That’s depressing. TV should be this good in six or seven slots on the schedule, not one. I mentioned before I have several new shows gathering dust on my DVR already. I was one-and-done for "Chase" and "Nikita." I want more shows that seem like they have a plan. I want more shows that don't do things to pander to the ratings. I want more shows that are good, that value character, story and acting. I want to enjoy more television.

Talkin' NBC's "Chase"

Kelli Giddish does her "Run, Lola, Run" impression in the terrifically terrible, cliche-ridden new NBC-TV drama about U.S. Marshals kung-fu fighting with super criminals while running in tight pants.

By DANIEL P. FINNEY
TV Talkin' Blog Staff Writer

Wow. This show is bad. This is eye-rolling bad.

"Chase" follows hard-faced U.S. Marshal Annie Frost (Kelli Giddish) as she and her appropriately diverse team (young guy fresh out of the academy, black woman, veteran guy who is happy to play second to the woman and a Latino guy) in chasing fugitives.

What it really is, though, is a dull collection of cop show cliches with choreographed fight scenes. 

Cliche 1: The lead character is a female fugitive hunter U.S. Marshal. Her motivation? Apparently her daddy was a fugitive and used her as a shield. Here's why people really become cops: 1. They had a cop in the family. 2. They were in the military. 3. They thought it was a cool job with decent pay. 4. They have a strong sense of justice and civic spirit. 5. They like to ride around in cars with lights and carry guns. Most of the cops I know fit in the first four slots. A few fit into the last spot. None of the cops I've ever met were the children of super criminals driven to right the wrongs of their family's past. Maybe that happened. Once.

Cliche 2: It takes cops forever to trace a phone call. It doesn't. Think about it. The GPS on your smart phone tells applications like Foursquare and various navigation programs where you are with in a few hundred feet. Do we really believe in 2010 that you have to keep a guy on the line for 5 minutes to trace their location? Use a land line, cops know where you are the moment you connect with dispatch. Use a cell phone, they know where you are with in a few feet of the local mobile phone tower.

Cliche 3: The bad guy kills seven or eight people in a span of a few days and isn't caught. Mass murderers are very rare. They don't happen that often. Except, apparently, every episode of a bad cop shows.

Cliche 4: Bad guys and cops fight like ninjas from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." This isn't how fights go. You fight a cop, maybe you get a swing in. Then they beat the crap out of you with a nightstick or ASP baton. There may be hair pulling. The groin could take a boot or two. I guarantee you no cop is slipping off their belt while doing a roundhouse kick and strangling a guy unconscious.

Cliche 5: Cops will jump 50 feet into the river to pursue a suspect when they could have just shot the guy -- a suspected murderer of at least three people when he was standing on the street right in front of them. Look, cops don't want to shoot people. They don't. But they will, especially a dangerous suspect who has already killed people. I'm not even going to get into how stupid it is to dive 50 feet or more off of a bridge into water. The fact that both the suspect and the cop in the episode didn't have multiple broken bones is beyond me.

Here's the real problem with this show: In an hour, they managed to do nothing that I haven't seen before nor did they create a single interesting character. Most of the time, I'll forgive unrealistic nonsense if the story is good. But this story is just boring. And bad.

"America's Most Wanted" gives a better picture of fugitive hunts than this. Watch back-to-back episodes of "Cops" on Fox. If you want real excitement, go for a ride-along with your local police. (Anybody can do it. Really.) Just don't watch "Chase." The only race this show is in is to see if it's the first of fall's offerings to end up canceled by Halloween.

Grade: F

Talkin' Fall TV Shows We're Gonna Try

By DANIEL P. FINNEY and PAUL RUSSELL
TV Talkin' Blog Staff Writers


What shows will make it in 2010? Dan the newsman and Paul the accountant discuss what they're going to sample, what's going to be a hit and what will crash and burn.

Paul: I’ve pulled up the 2010-2011 United States Network Television Schedule. Let’s start with Sunday.

Paul: Sunday has one new show, “Bob’s Burgers,” a cartoon about a small business that sells burgers.

Dan: I will give “Bob’s Burgers” a shot. I watch  most of the animation block anyway, so it’s not that big of a deal to give that eyes. Besides, for the first half of the season, it will be football stuff until 7 p.m.

Paul: I am already set for Sunday anyway. I’ve got “Mad Men” and I’ve been watching “Rubicon” recently. Plus, I’ve got soccer on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Dan: The amazing thing about Sunday is that there is not one other show on Sunday, besides football, that I would even consider watching. Saturday and Sunday, it's set aside for football.

Paul: On Monday, there’s this “Lone Star” show. I’m skeptical. It’s about a guy juggling two families. I feel like “Big Love has this beat.

Dan: Yeah, I don’t know. I’ll throw it on the DVR and see how long it stays around.

Paul: Also Monday, “Hawaii Five-0.” I might watch the pilot.


Dan: Did people actually care about that show the first time? Can’t we just buy the DVDs or rent it from Netflix? I tell you, though, I’m going to watch it because Grace Park is hot. This is a bad move on my part.

Paul: Why is that?

Dan: Because I watched “Tru Calling” and “Dollhouse” because Eliza Dushku was hot. That was a failure that still stains my soul.

Paul: Ready for Tuesday?

Dan: Well, hold on a second. What about "The Event?" This has been relentlessly promoted all summer in Entertainment Weekly. I feel like I will give it a shot.

Paul: It feels like to much like “Flash Forward” or “Heroes” or “The 4400.” Will there be another “Lost?”

Dan: It’s got that vibe, but what the hell? I’ll give it a shot.

Paul: It says “alien invasion” to me.

Dan: Finally on Monday, there is "The Chase." It's a hot chick running a U.S. Marshall's unit in south Texas.

Paul: “Walker, Texas Ranger” crossed with “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman?” I don’t know. She just looks like another Starbucks.

Dan: It could be. I'm going to try the two shows.

Paul: You are right. Better to watch too much than too little.

Dan: OK, Tuesday.

Paul: Sure. “No Ordinary Family.” The family has superpowers from going to the Amazon like that Disney movie, “The Incredibles.”

Paul: Michael Chiklis, the Thing from “The Fantastic Four.” The mom (Julie Bentz) is from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel.”

Dan: I don’t know. They’re basically ripping off “The Fantastic Four,” which was a comic book from 1961.

Paul: “Detriot 1-8-7” is a James Michael Imperioli (of “Sopranos” and “Goodfellas” fame) project. His other cop show (“Life on Mars”) failed. I’m out, I think, unless it has Tony and Carmela, I’m uninterested.

Dan: I will try "Detroit 1-8-7" because I like gritty cop shows and it's set in one of America's most doomed cities. Maybe it will have a “The Wire” vibe.

Paul: Dan, “Detroit 1-8-7” is on ABC. Do you really think it will compare to “The Wire,” which was on HBO? Think.

Dan: A man can hope.

Paul: OK, done with Tuesday?

Dan: I gave a scant glance at “Running Wilde” with Keri Russell. But she wasn't even hot enough for me to watch "Felicity" when she was in her 20s. I cant' imagine she'd float my boat now.

Paul: Well, “Running Wilde” has “Arrested Development” alums and has that feel. So I assumed you we be out.

Dan: It’s true. I’m the only man ever who hated “Arrested Development.”

Paul: Wednesday. “Hellcats” is a cheerleader show. Did you like “Election?” Did you like “Bring It On?”

Dan: I did on both counts.

Paul: Based on that, I think it’s worth a shot.

Dan: Fine, but that’s it for me on Wednesday.

Paul: “Raising Hope” is like “Mr. Mom.”

Dan: It’s like I always say: “I’m not a father and shall always try to do right and be good so God will not make me one.” I don’t care about children raising parents and all those issues. Not for entertainment.  Yawn.

Paul: Thursday has 2 promising shows: “Nikita” and “Outsourced.” I always enjoyed the USA “Nikita.”

Dan: Sigh. The only alternatives to cop shows, medical dramas and lawyer shows are shows with girls who kick ass or have vampires.

Paul: There is also “Shit My Dad Says” on CBS. That is a show for people who like their families. Next.

Dan: Oh, I’m all about “Shit My Dad” says. Why? William Shatner. That guy is awesome.

Paul: Dan, this show is like those daytime commericials where the dad is clueless and the mom comes in smiling to save the day. Not only are young people programmed to be idiots by “Survivor” and “Big Brother,” it’s now OK for dad to be a nitwit, too.

Dan: Not every dad can be Red from “That '70s Show.”

Paul: So, we’re not even going to talk about “My Generation”?

Dan: I’m not going to watch a show about a bunch of Gen-Nexters who graduated in 2000 whine about their life in 2010? I don’t want to hear about “quarter-life crisis” and this other nonsense. Life isn’t what mommy and daddy said it was going to be like when they were driving me in the SUV to soccer and dance practice. Wah. Move on

Paul: So we’re on Friday. “School Pride.” There’s no description for the show. I feel like that’s a bad sign.

Dan: Yeah, forget it.

Paul: There’s “Body of Proof.”

Dan: It’s got Dana Delany and Jeri Ryan. I’ll watch in hopes they make out, even though the show hasn’t even officially been scheduled, a major bad sign.

Paul: So, here we are. The end of the network schedule. I predict about 85 to 90 percent of the shows we've discussed won't last the season. None of them bowl me over.

Dan: And most of them sound like rehashed stuff that I've watched most of my life in one form or another. However, there is this show: “The Walking Dead,” which hits Oct. 31 on AMC.

Paul: “The Walking Dead” got high marks in screenings at ComicCon. Alan Sepinwall commented about it. It looks stylish. The other non-network show that looks interesting is “Terriers.”

Dan: Is that about angry dogs?

Paul: It is about the Westminster dog show. It can’t miss. Two paws up.