'Jack & Bobby' Reunion on 'Mad Men'

As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for...for it may just happen. On Sunday night's episode of 'Mad Men' there was a reunion of sorts as some of the cast of 'Jack & Bobby' appeared on the episode entitled 'The Rejected'. From previous posts, you know that I'm a huge fan of both these shows. Unfortunately, 'Jack & Bobby' was cancelled after just one season, much to my dismay. So it was a pleasant suprise to see Matt Long join the supporting cast of 'Mad Men' for season 4 as Joey Baird who had a memorable introduction into the show as he and Peggy bantered back & forth calling each other John and Marsha, an homage to the comedy of Stan Freberg.

Another alumni of 'Jack & Bobby', Jessica Pare is now appearing as 'Megan' one of the secretaries. Sunday night's episode 'The Rejected' was special as it was directed by John Slattery, who plays Roger Sterling and who also appeared in 'Jack & Bobby' with Matt and Jessica. He played Jessica's dad in 'Jack & Bobby'.

Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Christine Lahti will appear on 'Mad Men', she played Grace McCallister on 'Jack & Bobby'.

Logan Lerman who played Bobby, is more than welcome to join in the fun as well although he may just be a little busy with his burgeoning movie career. Last fall he appeared in 'Percy Jackson & the Olympians' and has been tapped to star as D'Artagnan in the remake of 'The Three Musketeers'.

It has been five years since 'Jack & Bobby' went off the air, time to see it again.

The Power of Bargaining

In these challenging economic times, the power of bargaining or haggling...a type of negotiation in which the buyer and seller of a good or service dispute the price which will be paid and the exact nature of the transaction that will take place, and eventually come to an agreement [Source: Wikipedia] is a great skillset to have in today's workplace and personal life.

Employers and employees alike have been asked to be budget-conscious more so these days than perhaps in recent past years. As a manager, it is my mantra to run the office like I would my own finances - mindful of every penny/dollar that is spent and trying to get as much bang for our buck as possible. Since I have been manager, the office budget has come in at 5%-7% under budget, which is quite significant when budgets can be multiple millions.

This year our national office has asked that regardless of how fiscally responsible we have been, we have to constrain our spending by an additional 5%. Some companies would terminate an employee as the amount requested to be slashed equalled a salary. Instead, a lot of time has been spent on reviewing each budget item and reducing it where able. This required a lot of bargaining/negotiating with staff and stakeholders.

Other departments have also been asked to cut-back, for some this is not as easy - they have been used to dealing with this money not as their own and may not have been as careful about how it was spent. For example, a budgeted amount has been set aside for food & beverage (non-alcoholic) at an upcoming conference in the fall. Last year, the same organizers insisted that the hotel we had selected for the conference would not negotiate/bargain a lower price...I knew that was not quite accurate so this year, I took it upon myself to contact the hotel directly and bargain a more reasonable price that came under budget by $20,000. The hotel was very accommodating and told me that "they value our business and are in it for the long-run, not a short-term cash grab". This was a rather refreshing exchange between a salesperson and myself and opened up my eyes as to the power of bargaining.

Recently, I have applied bargaining in my personal life and managed to get two weeks free cable for some service issues that I experienced with the cable company. For some bargaining is not a new concept, however it bears reminding that being able to bargain effectively can be lucrative and that companies are willing to bargain if it translates into retaining you as a customer.

Mad for Mad Men

Sundays at 7pm Pacific on AMC

'Mad Men', I recall the first time (spring 2007) I heard that title and thought "what the heck is that all about?" bringing to mind the notion of a show about anger management. The 'Mad' in 'Mad Men' is a term coined by those who ran the Madison Avenue advertising agencies in 1960s New York. The show was created by Matthew Weiner who also was Executive Producer and writer on 'The Sopranos' another favourite of mine.

'Mad Men' is my favourite drama on television. It is simply excellent. I read an article when the show first started that all the items on the set are historically accurate to the month and year of where the story is set -ie-telephones, typewriters, clothing, newspaper articles, music...and all the smoking in the workplace, home and everywhere (for the record,I am vehemently anti-smoking). Apparently, detailed sketches and artifacts are kept in a vault. The show began in 1960 and is now set in 1965. Each season roughly covers one year in the story development with 1961 being passed over (season 2 started in 1962). It follows the lives of those working at ad agency Sterling Cooper now known as Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.

'Mad Men' consists of one of the most talented casts on television today. The 4th season started on July 25 and I'm already dreading the end - a season consists of 13 episodes. Thirteen well-crafted episodes. When the show first started I would explain to people what 'Mad Men' was and told them to tune in and see if they would like it.  Since 2007, 'Mad Men' has won the Outstanding Drama Emmy twice (2008 & 2009) and won Outstanding Writing for the same years plus additional Emmys for cinematography and art direction. I'm certainly hoping that come August 29, there will be a three-peat plus some acting awards being handed to Jon Hamm (Don Draper), John Slattery (Roger Sterling), January Jones (Betty Draper), Christina Hendricks (Joan Harris) and Elisabeth Moss (Peggy Olson) - maybe Christina & Elisabeth will tie for Best Supporting Actress.

If you have not yet seen 'Mad Men' first visit the new online video featurettes to catch up on the goings-ons at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce and see if you don't go 'Mad over Mad Men' too.