Mad Men: The Rules

The promotional machine for the fourth season of Mad Men has got in to full gear and AMC have released this video discussing the rules of Mad Men. It is a compilation of clips of the last three seasons with talking heads from Matthew Weiner and a lot of the cast, who are all in full costume. The clips are great, especially the series of one liners from Roger Sterling who really does get the best lines, however it is the costumes that have provoked my interest, especially from the women. Peggy is rocking her new hair style which looks much better in these clips than it did in the promo photo and Joan is wearing some rather over the top jewellery, a gift perhaps?

Mad Men season 4 pictures

AMC have released four images from the new season of Mad Men (airing 25th July), the first is one that was first seen in Entertainment Weekly and none of them reveal all too much about anything really, but this doesn't matter, I'm just glad to see some new pictures. Also Peggy is rocking a more voluminous hair do and Don looks super as usual, here they are:

The main assumption that I can draw from these is that they will be taking a lot of meetings over dinner in restaurants which makes a lot of sense after where the season ended with the new company running from a hotel room. I'm very excited for this season and I'm looking forward to more promotional material in the coming month. I am currently rewatching season 3 on blu-ray (which it looks amazing on) whilst listening to the many and extensive commentaries that are available to get me in the mood for season 4 and it is definitely working.

Mad Men season 4 poster

The season 4 poster for Mad Men was released exclusively to Ausiello yesterday and it look pretty great:

The image is striking in it's simplicity and sets up everything that you need to know about the tone and direction that this season will be going in, that it is about starting over. This is both for Don in business and in his private life. Much like Lost when an image is released for Mad Men they are poured over and analysed and I am not disappointed with how this campaign has kicked off. Executive producer Matthew Weiner told Entertainment Weekly recently that this season will have the characters asking "Who am I" and that "It's about stripping away the things that define them. Once they're taken away, they just have to look at who they really are."

This alone makes me glad that July 25th is just over a month a way.

World Cup 2010

For the next few weeks World Cup football will dominate my television which I'm thoroughly looking forward to. I'm not sure how well England will do in the whole thing but I know that this is a time for hanging out with friends and enjoying football talent from around the world. So here's to a successful tournament and to some good TV watching as it seems that everyone has taken this opportunity to get a spanky new flat screen.
Other TV highlights of the next few weeks are of course True Blood and I have also just got the first season of Breaking Bad through the letterbox to dive in to finally.

True Blood promo poster 12

The final poster in the series of 12 for True Blood has just been released and as this blog and many others can testify this third season is hotly anticipated, only a few more days to go:

Photo courtesy of HBO

Rubicon

There is one other show that I am looking forward to this summer other than True Blood and Mad Men, Rubicon which will be on AMC officially on August 1st. However AMC will be showing the first episode this Sunday after the Breaking Bad finale at 11pm which looks like it will hopefully be another hit for this network. The show stars James Badge Dale, most recently seen in The Pacific as Robert Leckie which he was terrific in and I've been a fan since he was in 24 so I have high hopes for him here, Miranda Richardson is also one of the top billed actors here and my appreciation for her stretches way back to Blackadder, this is obviously a very different role.
Here is the trailer so you can check it out for yourself:

 

Poster image courtesy of the Ausiello Files

True Blood season 3 red carpet

I am a big fan of when TV shows get a red carpet premiere and it is something that the cable channels are pretty good at, the True Blood cast were treated to this on Tuesday night where both familiar faces and new ones were out in full force. This event has wet my appetite all the more for this Sunday and everyone looked dandy all dressed up, it also once again reinforced the fact that Alex Skarsgard is a giant in comparison to everyone else:

Anna Paquin looked stunning and proved again that she can rock a mini dress this time in Proenza Schouler (with True Blood co-star and real life fiance Stephen Moyer):

Kristen Bauer who plays the vampire Pam looked as flawless as her character:

I was glad to see Carrie Preston (Arlene) turning up with real life husband Michael Emerson (Ben from Lost) and it looks like her red hair will be all hers this season (like in The Good Wife) rather than a wig like normal:

Deborah Ann Woll who last season of Jessica had one of my favourite story lines looked amazing in a simple navy dress with an equally stunning Rutina Wesley who I was hoping would be given a less bleak story this year as Tara, don't think that is going to happen. Anna Paquin completes the trio of these awesome Bon Temps women.

Season 3 new comer Joe Manganiello (Alcide) looked pretty sharp in his three piece suit and I'm looking forward to his inclusion this year:

Old favourite Ryan Kwaten (Jason) did not disappoint either, looking casual in his open collar and the word is that Jason will be returning to his womanising ways this season, I for one see nothing wrong with this:

The one person that you would not want to see in a boring suit is Nelsan Ellis who plays Lafayette, he did not disappoint, this is not a look that can be pulled off by anyone but he looked fabulous (not sure about the hat but I'll give it a pass):

They certainly are a well dressed cast and you can see why this show is highly anticipated, I'm so glad that we have this and Mad Men this summer otherwise it would be a pretty lean time for TV. Though there is the World Cup also starting this weekend which will also be eating in to my (potential) sunshine time.

Photos courtesy of MTV Hollywood Crush and Celebrity-Gossip.net