Want to break bread with the fabulous cast of AMC’s Mad Men? Get thee to Kate Mantilini, the popular Beverly Hills eatery where, along with meatloaf and mac & cheese and all manner of gourmet comfort food, you can exult in poster-size portraits of the stars of the show: Jon Hamm, Elizabeth Moss, Christina Hendricks, January Jones, Vincent Kartheiser, John Slattery and Bryan Batt. They hang over the booths in the restaurant’s lofty interior, and this is where Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner arranged a surprise unveiling for the cast following Thursday night’s panel discussion (over which I presided) on the closing night of this year's awesome Paley Fest.
Weiner and his talented crew of writers are back at work breaking stories, but Thursday night he wasn’t spilling any significant beans, not even going so far as to confirm when the action will pick up after last season’s Thanksgiving cliffhanger (Don Draper alone in an empty house, begging the old Ladies Home Journal question, “Can This Marriage Be Saved?”). Some time will have passed, Weiner said, but for the Paley crowd, everything from the fate of Peggy’s surprise baby to the current state of Stirling-Cooper office politics was off limits to the spoiler brigade. One piece of good news: With John Slattery on the panel, it’s clear that Roger Stirling, though felled by two heart attacks and his office for now supplanted by new-partner Draper, will be back in season 2. Weiner admitted he couldn’t imagine doing the show without him.
Among the lead cast, only January Jones (in Shanghai) and Bryan Batt were MIA. Earlier in the week, there was a scare that leading man Jon Hamm might not be able to show, as he was called back to Vancouver for work on his upcoming movie, a remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still with Keanu Reeves. Thankfully, he made it back early on Thursday, though he’s returning again for a few final days of shooting. Hamm, who says he used to attend Paley Fest gatherings as a TV fan before he struck gold with Mad Men, was glad it worked out (he's not the only one), and said this was much more in his comfort zone than his appearance last week as a celebrity panelist on Real Time With Bill Maher.
Also on the panel: Broadway legend Robert Morse, who plays the eccentric boss Bert Cooper, regaling the crowd with a snippet (“A Secretary Is Not a Toy”) from his early ’60s triumph in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (a clear precursor to Mad Men). How cool if a field trip to the musical could be built into the plot next season—although it has already been determined that Don Draper is hardly a Broadway fan, having suffered through a performance of another Pulitzer-winning musical, Fiorello!, with his wife last season. Rounding out the panel: Rich Sommer and Aaron Staton, who play two of the young turks in Draper’s orbit.
Production of Mad Men's second season starts in April, and while no air date has been confirmed yet, expect season 2 sometime this summer. And look for an update soon from Lionsgate regarding the street date for the season 1 DVD of this excellent series (my #1 pick of 2007), which rewards repeated viewings. It’s a timeless instant classic, and a must-have boxed set, and not just because I’m among those interviewed for the extra features.
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