Notes on Pop Culture: 'Mad Men's' Roger Sterling, 'Grey's Anatomy' & 'The Event'

Image credit: AMC

John Slattery on Roger Sterling: ‘I don’t think he has any interest in killing himself'

Mad Men’s Roger Sterling has had a bad time of things this season. His marriage to his super-young former secretary, which upended his entire life, hasn’t quite turned out the way he hoped as his eye has wandered back to the woman with whom he shares an intense emotional connection, the married Joan Holloway Harris. When Roger and Joan were out on the town, they were mugged. Joan lost her wedding ring and the duo had sex in a dingy alley . . . which led to an unplanned pregnancy followed quickly by an illegal abortion, after Roger plainly told Joan that if she went through with the pregnancy he'd disavow paternity.

On top of all that, Roger’s one big client, American Tobacco -- which represented a huge hunk of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce’s revenues -- left Roger high and dry after decades of working together, putting the entire future of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce in jeopardy. Then Roger lied about losing the account, pathetically faking a phone call and a trip.

Some have speculated online as to whether Roger, played by John Slattery, is suicidal. (He was darkly joking about suicide after Ida Blankenship died, saying he, a man who survived two heart attacks, didn't want to die at his desk.) Slattery chatted with New York Magazine about this issue, as well as Roger’s very bad season.

Grey’s Off to Good Start

Grey’s Anatomy’s writers have certainly not taken the easy road as the drama’s seventh season has begun and, as a result, the show's off to a fine start. There've been no neat and tidy resolutions following the mass shooting in the season six finale. Seattle Grace staffers who survived intimate contact and threats from the homocidal shooter has left them with emotional damage, some more so than others. The characters' reactions have been varied, though I must say that Lexie Grey is getting on my nerves.

I was particularly fond of the interplay between McDreamy and Cristina in last week's episode, particularly the scene in which Derek said they would’ve never chosen each other as friends but now they’re family and he was worried about her withdrawal from her work. And because she saved his life, operating as the barrel of a loaded gun was next to her head, he feels as though he owes her. I reviewed the latest episode here.

Any Grey’s fans think the season has been going well so far?

The Event: Is It Worth Sticking with It?

Still feeling burned by Lost’s series finale and unhappy with the way FlashForward ended while leaving a million loose ends dangling (thanks ABC), I’m leery about latching onto another show that's a dense serial drama where answers won’t immediately arrive, that is, if they ever do.

Which brings me to The Event. It’s got all these layers and conspiracies. Scenes flash around from time period to time period. People are dead and then they’re not. A jet liner disappears just before crashing into the president. Amidst all that, you know what was flashing in front in my eyes? Red flags. Giant ones.

Is this all going to make sense? Is it irrational, in light of Lost's final "hey they're all dead" season, to expect that answers will be forthcoming? That the network will encourage viewers to get all involved and then pull the rug out from under them, a la FlashForward? I’m very skeptical. You?

Image credit: Michael Yarish/AMC.

Six Degrees of Lorelai Gilmore

Seeing that I’ve been writing about Parenthood for CliqueClack TV, coupled with the fact that my daughter has been watching repeats of the Gilmore Girls on ABC Family, I frequently think about Lorelai Gilmore, the well loved character played by Lauren Graham.

However last night I didn’t happen to be thinking about Lorelai/Lauren Graham at all when she suddenly came to mind because characters who’d appeared on Gilmore Girls with her kept appearing. There on The Event was Lorelai’s former fiancé Luke Danes (Scott Patterson), only he wasn't wearing his backwards baseball cap. (The Event also features the English teacher Lauren Graham’s new Parenthood character briefly dated.) While flipping through the stations, I spotted Lorelai’s other former fiancé, Max Medina (Scott Cohen) on Hawaii Five-O.

Could Lorelai Gilmore/Lauren Graham be a female Kevin Bacon?

As names of shows started popping into my head, I tested my fledgling theory:

Mad Men – There was Peyton Sanders, otherwise known as Don Draper on Mad Men (played by the awesome Jon Hamm), who Lorelai found to be such a dreadfully boring man that she refused to go on a second date with him, even though their second date was supposed to be attending a David Bowie concert.

Grey’s Anatomy – Lorelai’s father, Richard Gilmore (Edward Herrmann) did a three-episode stint where he played significantly older-than-usual surgical intern, Norman Shales.

The Good Wife – Lorelai’s daughter Rory dated Logan Huntzberger (Matt Czuchry) when they attended Yale. Now Logan’s making life difficult for one of Lorelai's peers, Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) in Chicago on The Good Wife.

Lost (it came to mind because I was thinking of The Event): This route is more circuitous, but still gets you to Lorelai in six links or less: Matthew Fox was on Party of Five with Scott Wolf, who was on The Nine with Kim Raver, who’s now on Grey’s Anatomy which had Edward Herrmann.

24 – Chloe O’Brian, Jack Bauer’s most trusted ally, appeared twice in the Gilmore Girls, once in Kirk’s odd black and white film (the whole thing is on the DVD set) and once as a troubadour who flouted Taylor Doose’s crackdown on troubadours who were crowding the Stars Hollow streets.

Modern Family -- Julie Bowen, who plays Claire Dunphy, played Matthew Fox’s wife on Lost. See the aforementioned Lost connection.

You can also link Desperate Housewives and Boston Legal to Lorelai through Duck Phillips/Paul Young, Mark Moses’ roles on Mad Men and Desperate Housewives respectively. Chilton's Headmaster Charleston (Dakin Matthews) also appeared on Desperate Housewives as Bree's pastor, providing a more direct link between Wisteria Lane and Stars Hollow.

It’s a fun game to play once you start . . .

Image credit: WB.

Thoughts on TV's Fall Premiere Week

Image credit: Fox

*Warning -- Spoilers ahead from a whole bunch of season premieres.*

Lots of TV shows premiered this week, several more (The Good Wife, Desperate Housewives, Brothers & Sisters) will be premiering in the next few days. Here’s a wrap-up of the good, the disappointing and the jury’s-still-out premieres:

House – The episode marked the official beginning of “Huddy.” As I watched House and Huddy spend a lot of time in bed and get emotionally intimate with one another, I was plagued by this question: How in the hell is a House-Cuddy romantic relationship going to work given that he’s a nut case and she’s, well, she’s Cuddy AND his boss AND has a small child at home?

That’s what the rest of the season will tell us apparently. I'm hoping this won't turn out disastrously, like so many of the pairings of leads who’ve been kept apart then become an official couple turn out to be. (FYI – LOVE Wilson.)

Image credit: NBC

The Event – I’m still licking my wounds from that Lost series finale which left me feeling duped and stupid for having invested so much time and energy trying to parse scenes, statements and motivations when none of it even mattered. And I still harbor disappointment about how last season’s FlashForward failed to capitalize on a fascinating premise. So when I watched the pilot episode of the complicated, flashback/flashforward/present time show I was leery of getting burned again. I’m not giving this show much time to hook me, I’ll tell ya that much.

Raising Hope – This quirky, politically incorrect half-hour comedy about a guy suddenly getting custody of a child he conceived on a one-night-stand -- with a woman he didn’t know was a serial killer -- surprised me. The hapless dad, who still lives with his parents (who had him when they were teens) and his loopy grandma, has a Malcolm in the Middle-like appeal. I’m intrigued.

Parenthood – I thought the first two episodes of the sophomore season of this show were well done – read my CliqueClack TV review of the latest episode here -- but I was surprised that the writers made Peter Krause’s character Adam Braverman look like an obnoxious control freak in the second installment. Still can’t stop seeing Lorelai Gilmore in Lauren Graham’s Sarah Braverman.

The Middle – This season two premiere resonated a bit too well and loudly in my household where three kids recently went back to school. It was set on the first day of school and featured Patricia Heaton’s Frankie Heck vowing that -- after day one of school went badly -- the family was going to start the new year off fresh and “get in front” of all the possible problems. Frankie's noble campaign, of course, backfired.

Image credit: ABC

 Modern Family – After so much pre-game hype, this premiere fell short of my insanely high expectations of it being laugh-out-loud funny from beginning to end, although Cameron ducking Mitchell’s crazy nailgun wielding was hilarious. As was "Buckety."

30 Rock – Okay, I know I’ll be inviting haters for saying this, but, even with Matt Damon on board, I was kind of bored with this premiere.

Grey’s Anatomy – Pitch. Perfect. This was a perfect follow-up to the tense, shocking season finale where 18 people at Seattle Grace were shot, 11 killed. The characters all responded differently to their emotional trauma, but I think Meredith Grey will, as usual, take longer to heal than the rest. Read my CliqueClack TV review of the premiere here.

Private Practice – After a rather unusual mashup of love scenes between Pete and Violet, and Cooper and Charlotte (the scenes reminded me of something out of a movie) this premiere disappointed me because, following the emotional punch of its season finale in May where a main character unexpectedly died, a volatile couple reunited while a kept-apart one got back together, I wanted more depth, more . . . something.

Your thoughts on the big fall TV premiere week?

Image credits: Fox, NBC and ABC.