I sure hope the Letterman finale is better than the ‘Mad Men’ finale. Actually, there’s nothing Dave could do to make it worst than the ‘Mad Men’ finale. The final season was chopped up into to years for that?!
I may be required to turn in my man card after not watching the Avengers sequel on opening day but watching Pitch Perfect 2 on its opening day. But I don’t care, my wife enjoyed it and I did as well.
WifeGeeding spotted a turtle in the middle of a four lane street and made me stop so she could rescue the little fella. The kids thought she was a hero.
There’s a large street block around my neighborhood that I’ve always wanted to jog around, even though I abhor jogging, but after months of pushing myself hard on the elliptical I decided to give it a try on Saturday. According to RunningMap.com, the total distance is approximately 1.12 miles, and I finished it in 11 minutes and 53 seconds, the most punishing 11 minutes and 53 seconds of this decade thus far for me.
I’m beginning to think the only way will see David Letterman and Jay Leno together is if they share the stage with Oprah hosting the two.
On Friday, I mentioned that George Clooney handcuffed himself to David Letterman for the duration of the show, joking that it was his attempt to keep the talk show host from leaving. Well, for the Friday show, which is actually the second of two shows filmed on Thursdays, Clooney was still handcuffed to Dave as he was introduced during the opening credits. I have to hand it to Clooney for sticking around long enough for the taping of the second show for a good laugh. Dave and George were finally free right before the start of the monolog when Paul Shaffer used the bolt cutters.
Norm MacDonald’s first television appearance was on Dave’s old NBC show. He was one of Dave’s guests on Friday and actually choked up and cried when telling Dave that he loved him. Immediately, you saw Dave turn into “dad mode” and just wrapped the teary-eyed man in a hug. Back in Norm’s SNL days, he used to impersonate Dave, but Dave didn’t seem to mind.
Dave gave Jane Pauley and ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ a poignant interview, which I think is the last interview overall, and the only one on video before it’s all said and done on Wednesday. In it he mentions how he goes around different parts of the theater and try to memorize how everything looks, scale and all, and how he won’t be emotionally strong enough to return to the building. That reminded me of when I moved Mom out of my childhood home about a decade ago, and before boxing everything, how I just walked around taking things in, scents and all. Eventually I took a camera around and started to snap pics, and for about eight years I couldn’t find the strength in me to even drive back to my hometown because I would have to drive down my street and force myself to see other people living in “our” house we lived in for over 30 years. Eventually, I did find the strength and it brought closure, though if I were to have done that earlier after the move it wouldn’t have meant the same.
One thing I love about Dave’s Top Ten List is that the funniest one is usually number two and the last one is kinda lame.
I’ll often sit with one foot underneath my knee when I’m in my office chair.
Crazy footage of passengers exiting a bus right before it gets hit by a train.
I thought ‘Game of Thrones’ was a bit of a let down last night.
‘The Amazing Race’ finale thoughts since it was filmed in Dallas
The first place they had to travel to was AT&T Stadium and dress up in Dallas Cowboys away jerseys that didn’t have any identifiable logos on them. They had to use some type of automated zip line to the top of the Jerrytron to get further instructions, which lead to some football type challenges.
The second place they had to travel was P2 Ranch. The cabbies didn’t have a clue where it was and WifeGeeding and I were clueless as well as we never heard of it Usually, a show would just use the stereotypical Southfork Ranch, but perhaps it was too far away as they kept most of the finale challenges somewhat close to downtown.
I’m surprised they actually used cabs instead of giving them a sponsored car as they’ve done in other locations. You kind of felt for those cabbies as English wasn’t their first language and they had a contestants barking commands at them saying they needed to travel faster so they could win a million bucks.
The third location was Reunion Tower where they had to repel down while looking around the landscape to find a clue to send them to their next challenge, Man, what’s up with that finale and heights? I would have crapped my pants, or at least tinkled them.
The next challenge was a nearby field, close to the Trinity River, for a monster truck challenge and a problem-solving event to find out where the finish line was located.
The finish line was right next to new fancy looking Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. Well, actually, the finish line was on the Continental Avenue Bridge, which isn’t used for cars. It’s basically a large park and walkway. I mention that because one of the cab drivers was driving to the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge while a contestant was telling him he was going to the wrong bridge, but you actually have to travel over Large Marge to get to the Continental Avenue Bridge which basically puts them in the Trinity Groves parking area.
It would have been great if they had to find a clue or for the finish line to be at the grassy knoll.
‘Mad Men’ finale thoughts:
When I first started to watch this show, AMC wasn’t even available in HD on DirecTV. And I dedicated to it, finale season made in two, for that ending?!?! As WifeGeeding put it, “I don’t know what I wanted, but I didn’t want that.”
Maybe the opening credits of Don falling from the top of a building happens because it’s what he does after finding out how the show ends.
A writer for Vox came up with a really close guess for the ending last week. Someone from Uproxx earlier than that. Actually, I think many writers saw this coming.
That opening scene was a surprise, and I think that was that the first we saw Don in jeans?
So I was wrong that was the last we’d see of Joan and Pete. I wasn’t happy about the cocaine route. Personally, don’t think it’s wise to talk marriage after the first use of cocaine.
Man, that was a tough phone call between Betty and Don. Her “I know” was very Han Solo of her. I’m gonna say that call was tougher than the one he had with Peggy, but with the Peggy call, he started to accept everything and it became real.
Joan was adjusting the vertical hold on her television. I haven’t thought of doing that in years. There was actually a lot of television on in the background in this episode.
My first thought of Don going to a retreat was, I don’t want this whole thing to end with Don going to a hippy retreat.
I like how Don used that line of “you can get past this you have to put it behind you” on his California female friend, Stephanie. And I like how it didn’t work, yet it was great how effective it was on Peggy from way, way back when.
Stan may be the wisest of them all, “There’s more to life than work.”
It’s been interesting watching Elizabeth Moss grow up in both ‘The West Wing’ and ‘Mad Men’. I think that means I’ll be loyal to her in her next television series.
What did Don mean when he said he “scandalized his child”?
It was have been nice to see Peggy and Joan start that company together, but I guess that would have been too good.
So I guess we’re to assume:
Don went back to McCann and pitched that Coke commercial idea.
Don doesn’t get possession of his kids.
Peggy’s dreams come true.
Roger dies in Canada, married.
Jon Hamm once said in an interview he predicted that Don Draper would end up in politics working the Reagan campaign. I would have preferred that ending.
Don Draper’s last line of dialog, “Om…..” And that left a lot of fans saying, “Ummmmmm?”.
The only thing that helps me have some solace with the ending is that Don always chased Coke like it was the white whale or Everest. It was only when he finally reached a point of acceptance of himself that he could harpoon that whale or climb that mountain and make perhaps the most iconic ad of all time. So you think he found inner peace, but he ends up stroking his ego with materialism again. But then again, I one is left to wonder when he cracked that last smile, did he find inner peace or did the idea for that Coke ad hit him?
@ditzkoff – “What a refreshing and satisfying way to end a show.” – Coca Cola executives
Actually, the more I think and write about it, and knowing that McCann Erickson is a real ad firm that did indeed create that Coke ad in 1971, I think I’m OK with it. The actual creator of the commercial was a man that also had an alliterative name like Don Draper, Bill Backer, and the idea came to him flying into London through thick fog but rerouted to Ireland. You can see in that link that he’s no Don Draper in the looks department. I wonder how his family feels about this? But he does seem happily retired raising thoroughbred horses and “blooded” Angus cattle.
Mad Men – I had been preparing myself not to like the finale, and was pleasantly surprised. I didn't expect it to end things neatly and provide "closure," but in many cases it did, all while staying true to itself. To me, Mad Men was never about being a TV show, it was about showing life – specifically the life of some enormously messed-up people. And, like life, things didn't end up "fair" or even necessarily the way we wanted them to. Roger got a better ending than he probably deserved. Betty (and, by extension, Sally) certainly got worse than she deserved. Pete got a better ending, but what are the chances that it lasts? Peggy got a good ending, even if it was a little schmaltzy.
And Don? Well, he did what Don has always done: he imploded in on himself and emerged like a phoenix. How many times have we seen this cycle? And how many times has Don refused/failed to learn from it? We have no reason to expect that this would change and, apparently, it doesn't. But, in the end, Don remained true to the character we've come to know – tortured, remote, self-loathing, and a genius with words. Having Don become some newly enlightened man would have made us feel better – like he finally learned – but I don't think it would have been true to the marvelously crafted character that Matt Weiner created. In retrospect, having Don ultimately return to advertising was one of only two real options (the other being suicide). It's all he knows.
I think Don scandalized his child when Sally walked in on him and Sylvia Rosen.
That last phone call between Don and Betty eviscerated me. Man, that was incredibly well acted on both of their parts. Similarly, the last phone call between Don and Peggy was emotional, in large part because it seemed at that point that Don was going to end it all (I was guessing by jumping off the cliffs of Big Sur). In retrospect, knowing now how things end up (because you know Peggy and Stan almost certainly worked on that Coke ad with him), the phone call allows us one last look into the relationship that formed between Don and Peggy, and how she's really the one woman in his life that he seems to truly respect/love. Note that she's the only one he said "goodbye" to. Again, I think at that point he was intending to kill himself, until the sad-sack office man's speech in the group shook him out of that.
I didn't like the cocaine thing, either, but it was true to the times. And I was glad when that guy walked out on Joan. She'll find her happiness elsewhere.
Ultimately, I liked the finale. It felt true to these people, and to life, which is full of awful things and occasional good things. I saved the episode, and will probably watch it another time or two to try to further process it. I spent quite a bit of time rewatching episodes from the series while AMC was running its marathon last week. I DVR'd some of my favorites, and rewatched some random bits and pieces, too. I still think that the finale of season 5 ("The Phantom") would have provided a really strong series finale. But I'm glad we got an extra two seasons to live with these characters, even if the last two seasons weren't consistently the same quality. Regardless, I'm really going to miss those characters.
The Joan love interest storyline was also a bit quick and forced. I guess Matthew Weiner wanted to make sure that Joan is complete as her own person, and unlike other women at the time that want to be a homemaker, she had a professional ambitional itch that needed scratched. I don't mind the Coke ad in retrospect, but it's how he got there that bugs me, that whole hippy retreat thing wasn't to my liking.
Good point about forcing that quick love interest to allow us to see Joan make the decision for herself as to how she wanted her future to go. That's a more satisfying conclusion for her, I think, than to just leave us wondering if she'd ever be happy until she found a man.
If your unhappiness with the hippy retreat is because you don't think Don would ever buy into that, here's a thought I just had: he didn't buy into the hippy philosophy. He's searching for something (as he has been since day 1), but in the middle of that search he gets the Coke idea, and runs back to NYC before he ever really "finds" anything, which is characteristic of what he's always done. So it's not like Don went full-on hippy, he just floated around the perimeter of it until he found something he could take from it for his own personal gain.
I was also disappointed in the finale. Completely agree with “I don’t know what I wanted, but I didn’t want that.”
Glad my prediction of Pete, Trudy and Tammy's demise was wrong, but man all the signs were there including Buddy Holly closing the previous episode. Too bad things didn't work out romantically for Joan, but she finally had to be taken seriously as a businesswoman. Her production company was named Holloway – Harris. Was it both her last names or her last name and her son? We'll never know, but if there was ever a spinoff vehicle, that's it. If Peggy had taken the offer it would have been Holloway – Olsen. HO Productions.
Joan's maiden name is Holloway, and Harris is her married name. I had to look it up after the finale to be sure, and it goes with her thought that two names makes it sound more legit. And I have to give you a virtual high-five for pointing out HO Productions.
This must be one of your longest single posts in quite a while…and don't discount a good opportunity to spend quality time with your wife – any movie that has Pentatonix in it (it is a local TEXAS group, after all) should allow you to safely pocket that card because TEXAS. Right?
I had never heard of the "P2 Ranch" and it's pretty unlikely many people around Dallas and Fort Worth have either. It is near Burleson in Johnson County, so the teams did some serious road-tripping that day. You would never know it by the clever editing on the show. A story about the ranching part of the production: http://www.cleburnetimesreview.com/news/an-amazin…
Mad Men – I had been preparing myself not to like the finale, and was pleasantly surprised. I didn't expect it to end things neatly and provide "closure," but in many cases it did, all while staying true to itself. To me, Mad Men was never about being a TV show, it was about showing life – specifically the life of some enormously messed-up people. And, like life, things didn't end up "fair" or even necessarily the way we wanted them to. Roger got a better ending than he probably deserved. Betty (and, by extension, Sally) certainly got worse than she deserved. Pete got a better ending, but what are the chances that it lasts? Peggy got a good ending, even if it was a little schmaltzy.
And Don? Well, he did what Don has always done: he imploded in on himself and emerged like a phoenix. How many times have we seen this cycle? And how many times has Don refused/failed to learn from it? We have no reason to expect that this would change and, apparently, it doesn't. But, in the end, Don remained true to the character we've come to know – tortured, remote, self-loathing, and a genius with words. Having Don become some newly enlightened man would have made us feel better – like he finally learned – but I don't think it would have been true to the marvelously crafted character that Matt Weiner created. In retrospect, having Don ultimately return to advertising was one of only two real options (the other being suicide). It's all he knows.
I think Don scandalized his child when Sally walked in on him and Sylvia Rosen.
That last phone call between Don and Betty eviscerated me. Man, that was incredibly well acted on both of their parts. Similarly, the last phone call between Don and Peggy was emotional, in large part because it seemed at that point that Don was going to end it all (I was guessing by jumping off the cliffs of Big Sur). In retrospect, knowing now how things end up (because you know Peggy and Stan almost certainly worked on that Coke ad with him), the phone call allows us one last look into the relationship that formed between Don and Peggy, and how she's really the one woman in his life that he seems to truly respect/love. Note that she's the only one he said "goodbye" to. Again, I think at that point he was intending to kill himself, until the sad-sack office man's speech in the group shook him out of that.
I didn't like the cocaine thing, either, but it was true to the times. And I was glad when that guy walked out on Joan. She'll find her happiness elsewhere.
Ultimately, I liked the finale. It felt true to these people, and to life, which is full of awful things and occasional good things. I saved the episode, and will probably watch it another time or two to try to further process it. I spent quite a bit of time rewatching episodes from the series while AMC was running its marathon last week. I DVR'd some of my favorites, and rewatched some random bits and pieces, too. I still think that the finale of season 5 ("The Phantom") would have provided a really strong series finale. But I'm glad we got an extra two seasons to live with these characters, even if the last two seasons weren't consistently the same quality. Regardless, I'm really going to miss those characters.
The Joan love interest storyline was also a bit quick and forced. I guess Matthew Weiner wanted to make sure that Joan is complete as her own person, and unlike other women at the time that want to be a homemaker, she had a professional ambitional itch that needed scratched. I don't mind the Coke ad in retrospect, but it's how he got there that bugs me, that whole hippy retreat thing wasn't to my liking.
Good point about forcing that quick love interest to allow us to see Joan make the decision for herself as to how she wanted her future to go. That's a more satisfying conclusion for her, I think, than to just leave us wondering if she'd ever be happy until she found a man.
If your unhappiness with the hippy retreat is because you don't think Don would ever buy into that, here's a thought I just had: he didn't buy into the hippy philosophy. He's searching for something (as he has been since day 1), but in the middle of that search he gets the Coke idea, and runs back to NYC before he ever really "finds" anything, which is characteristic of what he's always done. So it's not like Don went full-on hippy, he just floated around the perimeter of it until he found something he could take from it for his own personal gain.
I was also disappointed in the finale. Completely agree with “I don’t know what I wanted, but I didn’t want that.”
Glad my prediction of Pete, Trudy and Tammy's demise was wrong, but man all the signs were there including Buddy Holly closing the previous episode. Too bad things didn't work out romantically for Joan, but she finally had to be taken seriously as a businesswoman. Her production company was named Holloway – Harris. Was it both her last names or her last name and her son? We'll never know, but if there was ever a spinoff vehicle, that's it. If Peggy had taken the offer it would have been Holloway – Olsen. HO Productions.
Totally missed HO Productions. Well done, sir.
Joan's maiden name is Holloway, and Harris is her married name. I had to look it up after the finale to be sure, and it goes with her thought that two names makes it sound more legit. And I have to give you a virtual high-five for pointing out HO Productions.
SO, the whole series ended up as a Coke commercial? You all have been had–and worse than I was when LOST didn't explain that damn black smoke.
This must be one of your longest single posts in quite a while…and don't discount a good opportunity to spend quality time with your wife – any movie that has Pentatonix in it (it is a local TEXAS group, after all) should allow you to safely pocket that card because TEXAS. Right?
I had never heard of the "P2 Ranch" and it's pretty unlikely many people around Dallas and Fort Worth have either. It is near Burleson in Johnson County, so the teams did some serious road-tripping that day. You would never know it by the clever editing on the show. A story about the ranching part of the production:
http://www.cleburnetimesreview.com/news/an-amazin…