NEW YORK – On the "Mad Men" premiere last summer, a boozy Pete Campbell hauled himself from his bachelor party to the door of Peggy Olson's modest Brooklyn apartment.

"I wanted to see you tonight," implored Pete, an overzealous ad account executive who, at that late hour, was gripped by panic at his looming marriage.

Peggy, the winsome new hire in the Sterling Cooper secretarial pool, surprised herself by letting him in.

Airing on AMC Sundays at 10 p.m. EDT, the Peabody Award-winning "Mad Men" now is in its second season. And it has kept Pete and Peggy entangled in multiple ways, none of them romantic and most of them hush-hush (including the child that Pete still doesn't know about).

Fortunately, things are much lighter between Vincent Kartheiser and Elisabeth Moss, who play that pair on the splendid '60s-era drama. In a joint interview, they tease each other, laugh a lot, and seem like pals.

Turns out Kartheiser (at 29, a former regular on "Angel," the spinoff of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and Moss (who is 26 and played presidential daughter Zoey on "The West Wing") had met before they got "Mad Men." A few years back, both took part in a filmmaking workshop.

"You had a prima donna actor," says Kartheiser in self-appraisal, then nods toward Moss magisterially, "and Miss Perfect."

"Two sides of the coin," chuckles Moss.

Kartheiser recalls a scene: "I had a disease called congenital analgesia, which means I couldn't feel anything. My character was always burning himself with cigarettes and saying, 'Whatever.'"

"And I was supposed to be in love with you," says Moss with a grin.

On "Mad Men," they enjoy far more, um, dramatic leeway.

"At the beginning Peggy was definitely naive," muses Moss, appraising the distance she's come, "and I wouldn't say she's toughened up, but, instead, the problems hitting her now have become bigger. At first, it was learning to use a typewriter, and now it's a baby — with the father of the baby someone she works with."

But she's moving up in the agency. A quick learner, she's now helping create ad campaigns. And she's gingerly overcoming anti-female bias in the workplace — even from Pete Campbell.

Meanwhile, Campbell continues trying to win approval from Don Draper, the magnetic though tormented agency exec at the show's core. But Draper (played by Jon Hamm) hates him. Campbell, for all his skill in the advertising game, lacks people skills. He's sort of a jerk — isn't he?

"Well, it's unfortunate that you see it that way," Kartheiser tells the interviewer with mock indignation. "Some people just AREN'T as likable as others, no matter what they do. Pete Campbell does the same (stuff) as Don Draper, but Draper's way more likable, and gets away with things."

Of course, no sweeping term such as "likability" does justice to the series' world of characters, who, even as they all share screen time, emerge as complex individuals.

"Jon is the lead, and he always has something going on," says Moss. "But I don't think the rest of us feel left out, or that we don't get our moments."

"We trust Matt," says Kartheiser, meaning "Mad Men" mastermind Matthew Weiner. "I don't think anyone in our cast has any doubt that he always has the best story line in mind, and that's what we're there to serve."

"Yesterday he said to me, `The next episode we're shooting is about objects,' and I said, `OK,'" Moss marvels. "He always has this grand idea, and we're just lucky to be part of it."

Moss even feels lucky to have "carried" Peggy's "child." It was a shrewdly gradual plumping-up process that went unrecognized as anything other than weight gain, even by the unwitting mother-to-be — until, much to Peggy's shock on the season finale, she went into labor.

"Over seven episodes, I had four stages of padding and three stages of makeup," says Moss. Friends she hadn't seen in years watched the show and — shades of Kirstie Alley! — worried that she had an eating disorder. "But they didn't want to ask."

"Like: `Did you quit smoking?'" chortles Kartheiser.

But that was last season (and 1960). Now "Mad Men" has progressed to spring 1962.

For Moss, who (like Kartheiser and most of the cast) wasn't born yet, it's a history lesson she is moving through.

"But I've learned more about the similarities than the differences between then and now," she says. "Usually, you look back on another era in terms of the milestones. But at the same time, people were just living their lives."

She might have added: That's where the unexpected drama unfolds, where "Mad Men" lives its life.

Source

I'm glad ADT is back, although I don't want to read the entire recap for fear of being spoiled. Yap, I haven't seen any season 2 episodes yet. =0

For Those Who Think Young
Flight 1


If you missed the Season 1 recaps, you can check them out here.

In this exclusive interview with AMCtv.com, Vincent Kartheiser discusses his character Pete Campbell, not to mention the actors portraying him in the "You Could Be on Mad Men Contest."

Q: Episode 2 has Pete coping with the death of his father -- and you coping with the death of Christopher Allport, the late actor who played him.  What was that like?

A: Christopher Allport was really great. We only had one scene with him last year, but it was a great scene. And I think the way Matthew [Weiner] handled it in the show is amazing because he doesn't play to that obvious reaction. The death of someone so pivotal in your life really creates a self-analysis...I think the bigger question about the episode is "How are we supposed to respond in certain situations? What am I supposed to be doing now that this thing has hit?" This is a very small and bad analogy, but I just had a flood at my house, and I looked at my house full of mud and I was like, "What am I supposed to do?" I knew there was something I should be doing in this situation, and I think emotionally that's what Pete's going through. I'm just thankful that my parents will live forever, because that's just how it's going to happen, okay?

Q: Do you think this development makes Pete more sympathetic?

A: I think people should be able to empathize with him on a certain level. It's hard for me to think too much about whether the viewing audience is going to sympathize or not with Pete, because this is a character that I've now been with for three years. I think there's a certain amount of people who still won't like him. And I think there are people in the world that when I hear bad things have happened to them, I won't sympathize or empathize. Some people have it coming.

Q: What's the hardest part about playing Pete?

A: The most difficult part sometimes is that people are constantly shunning him and locking him out of conversations. He gets humbled several times in the first season, and I think it's a strong character trait of his that he can take that and continue to bully his way into the next thing. But it's such a blessing to have a character like this. The words just jump off the page and the characters fall in line and very rarely or ever do you see someone going, "What am I doing this for?"

Q: Have you been paying attention to the videos of fans saying your monologue for AMCtv.com's contest to win a role on Mad Men?

A: Yeah I have. I feel anger towards all of them that they're trying to one-up me. [Laughs] I don't get it. Why don't you guys just go do Jon Hamm. Come on! Who wants to be Pete Campbell anyways? I mean, I do. But I didn't think there was any other freak out there who wanted to be Pete.

Source: AMC

The younger generation (who would now be in their 70s) is represented by Sterling Cooper newcomer Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser), a newlywed uncertain of his place in the male pecking order.

Kartheiser says there is humor laced through the darkness, especially when looking back at some of the little things about the 1960s. In one episode, for example, his character has to return a wedding gift, a newfangled "chip and dip" party dish that his co-workers find ridiculous.

TBO

The rest of the cast is equally accomplished, with Moss and Kartheiser the standouts.

Kartheiser, meanwhile, has one of the show's toughest roles. His Pete is ambitious, shallow, and occasionally cruel, but he's also a poor little rich boy whose family looks down on him. Perhaps that's why he constantly seeks approval from the perennially disapproving Don.

Pete's role is somewhat small in the premiere but, in the season's second episode, he takes center stage, and Kartheiser is astonishing. He makes Pete sympathetic without making him soft.

Conn Post

Decked out in jeans and a well-worn T-shirt, Kartheiser’s youthful appearance belies the sycophantic account executive he plays.

“To say that because these characters come from a different era, that they are this whole different breed of human, it just isn’t going to work,” he said. “I think you hear now, ‘Oh, kids are growing up so fast.’ But we’ve always had weird ideas about how fast people grow up. I personally think people are always the same. People are growing up the same now as they were then.”

As the 13 episodes of the second season unfold, Kartheiser said, “You are not going to see Matt (Weiner) shy away from any of the plot lines. He’s not going to rush. The pacing of the season is beautiful and Matt is looking long-term. This is chapter two in a 25-chapter book. This is just a piece of the puzzle.”

Boston Herald

LOS ANGELES -- Advertising hotshot Pete Campbell leaned back in his chair, planted his feet on the desk and offered his guest a midafternoon shot of Jameson whiskey. One swig later, the sobering truth was revealed: The booze is really salt water.

"It helps a lot," said Minnesota-raised actor Vincent Kartheiser, who plays Campbell and was playing tour guide on a recent day off. "It's not just the attention to detail. It's the idea behind the detail. It's not just to be there. It all serves a deeper purpose."

Star Tribune

There are rules and laws protecting against sexist comments and conduct. But that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. “It’s just gone undercover. Men are still pigs. And women are too,” insists Vincent Kartheiser, who plays Pete Campbell. “I grew up with four sisters. You can’t fool me! When it comes to a group of guys and girls, we’re all pigs!”

Tango Mag

Campbell emerges as a degraded carbon copy of Draper, handing his wife a box of Valentine's chocolates he bought on the way home from work. Draper treated Betty to a night in a swanky Manhattan hotel the same night, and Campbell eventually ate all the candies himself.

"He's a young man who wants what he thinks he deserves," said Vincent Kartheiser, who plays Campbell as a twisted rich kid, disowned by his family for choosing advertising instead of continuing the family business as a stockbroker. "And he's willing to throw a lot of people under the bus to get what he deserves. That's a scary thing."

Tampa Bay

Kartheiser said there's "a lot of trust among this cast" in Weiner and the writing staff because of how great it's been so far."

Desert News

Next week's ep, co-written by Weiner, is a more linear tale, centered around a newsworthy tragedy of the day, which offers Sterling Cooper a chance to capitalize - at a cost. It focuses on Peggy and on the young, ambitious, troubled account exec Pete Cooper, played by Vincent Kartheiser. When I talked to Kartheiser a couple of weeks ago, I told him that Pete reminded me of a young Nixon; he was surprised, saying he'd always thought of Peter as more of a JFK type, with his fine background and sense of entitlement. And in truth he's both, a sign of the way Weiner embraces ambiguity, as these character search for themselves in a time of looming change.

MeeVee

There are plenty of reasons to look forward to the second season of AMC's acclaimed drama series "Mad Men" (premieres 10 p.m. EDT Sunday). But while relishing scenes between Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and his wife, Betty (January Jones), or Draper and his cad of a boss, Roger Sterling (John Slattery), this season I find myself most drawn to scenes that feature Draper's ambitious underling Peter Campbell. Vincent Kartheiser does a great job with Campbell's sometimes awkward, sometimes smooth, sometimes downright pathetic antics, revealing his dark urges, vulnerable turns and outright confusion with stunning authenticity. Kartheiser's flexibility as an actor is on particularly fine display in the second episode of the season, when Campbell's desperate search for some guidance during a crisis is utterly heartbreaking. -- Heather Havrilesky

Salon Critics' Picks

Some VK interviews during the said visit:

Vincent Kartheiser, who plays up-and-coming adman Pete Campbell discussed the generation gap on the show. "Pete is more of a modern man," he said, "and Don and the others are dinosaurs." According to IMDB, Kartheiser was a history major at UCLA, so this job is right up his alley. He spoke of "Kennedy men" vs. "Nixon men." In his mind, these two men represented grand American archetypes of the era, something that would be fun to further discuss with him over beers. Or perhaps highballs.

Source

A theme from the first year that will continue involves the relationship between Don Draper -- the very model of a self-made man -- and his young, upper-class subordinate, Pete Campbell. Draper plainly can't stand Pete, for reasons that both elude and infuriate the younger man. All through last year I was more or less convinced that this was because Draper, who literally created his own identity, could never abide a blue-blooded legacy like Pete. They could never get along, I reasoned, because they were so clearly the opposite of one another. It made perfect narrative sense.

But Vincent Kartheiser, the actor who plays Pete, gently pointed out the error in my thinking. Pete's family were in finance, his father had expected, nay, insisted, his son follow in his footsteps. Pete's decision to pursue a career in advertising had infuriated the old man so much he could barely stand the sight of him. "Pete's a self-made man too, in that respect," Kartheiser said. "He's more like Draper than Draper knows."

I stand corrected.

Source

We also tour the set of the Draper home, their kitchen, living room and aforementioned bedroom, and then stop by the costume department.

Cast members Vincent Kartheiser, who plays scheming snake Pete Campbell, and Elisabeth Moss, who portrays Peggy Olson—and had Campbell’s illicit baby in the shocking finale of the first season—are busy defending their characters.

“He’s a very human and normal character, and I think he’s all of us,” Kartheiser tells a scrum of reporters. “We’re all a little bit of Pete Campbell. We all have that whiny little brat in us.”

Source

Michael Gladis's sister, Chion Wolf, added 8 VK pics on her photostream including that of Vinnie when he "just finished watering the streets of L.A." (Mary's words). LOL. (Thanks aldo_77 for pointing that one out and your own caption and to shelly of BOK for discovering the Flickr pictures and merlinmaus for the heads-up!)

edited for copyright violations *spanks self*

And more new-old mini Vinnie pics courtesy of Wireimage:

These pictures, however small they are, deserve a post of their own.



That's all folks! I'll just update again next week should I find more pics... Ciao!

Lots of VK and Mad Men stuffs in the web lately, but I'm lazy to update on a daily basis. If you wanna read a more updated LJ, you may wanna befriend aldo_77. She frequently updates her LJ with VK goodies including Mad Men (with or without VK). But if you're a real MM fanatic (with or without VK), then proceed to Basket of Kisses. I swear they never ran out of good Mad Men posts.

But I just really had to quit procrastinating and post this as it comes with the most recent Vinnie pics (July 9). (But if you want 60s throwback pics, then go to AMC for some Pete Campbell wallpapers.)


VK mentions @ the tour:

* According to Weiner, episode two, in which Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) experiences a major tragedy, "The second episode is about the experience that people have—for all the people in the characters in that episode—about how you're supposed to react, how you should react. The word should is 100 times in that script."

* Vincent Kartheiser on the occasional weirdness of Pete: “I think the interesting thing about doing television is you get the opportunity to show a lot of parts of a character that probably that person wouldn’t even show to the whole world, you know, the scene where he sits at home is with the .22 rifle while his wife yells at him something that probably a lot of
people at the office don’t know a lot about. So I think we’re all kind of Pete, and I don’t think it’s a great stretch…at least not for me. Maybe no one’s like Pete. Maybe it’s just me. But it’s not a great stretch for me to imagine him doing most of those things, and I think it’s in all of us.”



Source: E!, Premium Hollywood, Getty Images, AMC, Courant

Something to look forward to come July 27:


If you're thinking hot sex, well, me, too. But we can't really tell for sure. That's the only Pete scene in episode 1 that was mentioned here: http://www.insidesocal.com/tv/2008/07/mad-men-the-madness-begins.html Beware! Kinda spoilerish Mad Men Season 2 stuffs on there. But nothing major was given, really. The writer called them "insights". You can read the article and still won't be able to tell what's gonna happen with the Mad Men characters. I swear!


Special shout-out to aldo_77 (you gotta un-friends-only your LJ, hun; you have good Mad Men/VK bits there) who gave us some bad news and good news:

The Bad - VK isn't among the Emmy semi-finalists.
The Good - There's a new  Starfury: The Chosen video on youtube by Sean Harry:

I've been too preoccupied with basketball lately that I had a temporary amnesia and totally forgot about the chat with VK. Yeah, I wasn't there!!! So, so terrible. It could have been my one and only chance to cyber-speak with VK. *sob* Who chatted with him? What were the questions asked? To think that I have been preparing the questions I'm supposed to ask as soon as I found out about the chat. Boo!

Anyway, to those interested, "the June 23 issue of Advertising Age has a 16-page black & white "retro" supplement featuring MAD MEN."  One of the stories included is PETE CAMPBELL: THE LIFE OF AN ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE.

Thanks to Julie Farin of Mad Men Yahoo! Group for the info.

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/magazine/22madmen-t.html?ref=magazine
Pictures: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/06/22/magazine/0622-MADMEN_index.html

There are more best of MM videos here where you can see VK.

Mark your calendars!

# 1

Series Creator Weiner, Star Hamm, Cast Members Look Back At First Season On AMC Special

Gearing up for the second season of its award-winning retro advertising series, AMC will present The Best of Mad Men Season One this Sunday.

The 30-minute special, bowing at 11:30 a.m. (ET/PT) on June 15, will feature series creator Matthew Weiner and the cast revealing on-set antics and behind-the-scenes footage from what happened at the fictional Sterling Cooper agency.

Jon Hamm portrays creative genius Don Draper on AMC's Mad MenIn addition to Weiner, cast members Jon Hamm (Don Draper), Elisabeth Moss (Peggy Olson), Vincent Kartheiser (Pete Campbell), January Jones (Betty Draper),Christina Hendricks (Joan Holloway) and John Slattery (Roger Sterling) will reminisce about their favorite moments on set and what they really think about the sex, lies and storyline surprises from the original series’ first season.

The special will also be available online at www.AMCtv.com, starting June 16.

The second season debuts July 27 at 10 p.m.

Source: Multichannel

# 2 - This is not really confirmed yet, so don't hate me if it's not gonna happen. =)

Live Chat Session with GLENN CLOSE on June 23

Yep, we FINALLY sorted out the problems with our chat sessions here at TheEnvelope.com (don't ask). First one to sked:

Glenn Close - "Damages" - Monday, June 23 -- 3:30 PST -- 6:30p.m. EST

I'm PRETTY SURE we also have OKs from these folks, but I'm just waiting on specific times:

Marcia Cross ("Desperate Housewives")
Kevin Connolly ("Entourage")
Laura Dern ("Recount")

Vincent Kartheiser ("Mad Men")

Plus we have lots more in the works -- Stay tuned.

Source: Gold Derby

THANKS SO MUCH TO aldo_77 FOR THIS INFO!!! *mwah*


Lastly, I don't normally post Mad Men stuffs here unless it has very good VK mentions *cough*not a fan of the show*cough*, but I love fashion and good advertisements so I'm posting these:

Pictures:





Video:

It's right here: http://theenvelope.latimes.com/ Just check out the video player beside 'more news'. Or you may just go here: http://theenvelope.latimes.com/galleries/video/