Mad Men 4x8: Betty is still a Child but Don is Growing Up, Awww

Here's how Time Warner Cable described Sunday's episode of Mad Men: "Peggy and Joan are forced to deal with some rambunctious office shenanigans."

Can you hear the laugh track and sound effects? Wah, wah. I feel for those summary writers, though, because that's part of what I do at my job and it's not always easy to logline something complex. I just used a noun as a verb. It is early in the day.

Still, "shenanigans" implies something harmless and adorable, which is inaccurate; the ladies suffered a lot of crap and verbal abuse. Peggy can never win; especially not with Joan.

Don was looking wrecked at the pool (and did people in the '60s really not notice the correlation between smoking and uncontrollable coughing? He lights up right after his workout) but I loved his (Vampire)diary voice overs and the fact that he's decided to take better control of his life. I like him with the marketing woman, too.

Favorite line: "That was my ex-wife, her husband, and some slob who's about to have the worst dinner of his life."

Least favorite moment: the Nausea Cam.

Although they're not being chased around office furniture anymore, Peggy and Joan do have a rough time at work, probably every day, which I have to acknowledge by giving the episode 3 out of 5 razor blades on the Depressing Scale. On the huge plus side, though, Don is finally getting to a better place and even looked genuinely joyful at his 2-year-old's birthday party.

Farewell, Freelancer Joey's smirk. (Sorry that he got the boot, Amy, but you should be proud: he had a good run.)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Wait, wasn't that last month? Actually, it's the best and worst time for me at work. I read TV and film scripts for a living, and create character descriptions for the roles being cast so that agents, managers and actors know what to expect during auditions.

January through April is pilot season, the busiest time of the year. This is when all the networks buy pilots for new series, with an eye toward debuting them in the fall or next January. Actors from New York fly out to L.A. to maximize their chances and there's a general sense of excitement and momentum going into the "upfronts," the big demonstrations from networks to advertisers in which they trot out their new programming slates.

The Good:
I love getting the inside scoop on the most buzzed-about new shows.

The Bad:
I can't tell anyone about them!

The Good:
We're insanely busy.

The Bad:
We're insanely busy. It's not like everything else stops for pilot season, it's just added to it, so we're still reading regular episodes of established shows, as well as film scripts.

The Good:
I can play "Who Should They Cast?" in my head and see if I'm right.

The Bad:
Sometimes the pilot scripts that I love the most don't make it to air, and if it ends on a cliffhanger, I NEVER GET TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS. I still remember a pilot I read in 2006 that didn't get a series pick-up, and I STILL think it would've been a great show, and I STILL wonder where they were gonna go with it.

GOOOAAAALLLLL(s)

Hope everyone's enjoying the holiday season. I finished reading my 100th book of the year on Monday night, realized I'd counted wrong and it was only the 99th, screamed, and grabbed another one for Tuesday. Figured it was time to post my "year in numbers" before 2009 ran out.

So!

Books Read = 100 (I swear this time)

Specifically, 13 non-fiction, 4 graphic novels, and 73 fiction. I also read several friends' manuscripts, which are excellent novels-to-be, so you can add a few more to my fiction count if you're feeling generous :)

Scripts Read = 317

Freelance Articles Written = 9

Hats Knitted = 3

This year I also celebrated 5 years of marriage, signed with a lit agent, revised a novel, adapted an old screenplay into a novel (failed experiment), and wrote the rough draft of a brand-new novel. Whew!

Goals for 2010 include fixing up the new novel, writing a NEW new novel, moving to Santa Clarita, and getting a bicycle and using it as my main method of transportation (keep in mind I live in L.A. so this goal is actually insane... but I think it's good to have at least one insane goal per year).

Happy champagne clinks, and see you next year.

On Editing

I used to be obsessed with Holly Lisle's One-Pass Manuscript Revision (which is... probably a sentence you don't see every day) and I still think her advice is extremely helpful, but I've come to realize that her process is an ideal for me, not a reality. I'll always aspire to revise a manuscript in one-pass, and I'll never be able to do it. But that's okay, because sometimes what I need most is time to walk away and come back with fresh eyes.

In Stephen King's memoir/advice book On Writing, he recommends allowing yourself a fast and furious first draft without worrying about being perfect (which might scare you into stopping). He also recommends putting the story away for at least eight weeks when you're done. This gives you more objectivity when you pick up the manuscript again, and helps lessen your attachment to things that don't really belong.

After the time off (preferably working on something brand new), you won't feel the pain of editing things down, you'll only see the better shape of what it can become. I've nixed "clever" lines, superfluous scenes and other fillers for the sake of narrative clarity and streamlining. It's taken longer than one pass, but I'm really happy with the results.

Random Squee: Lots of episodics at work today, which is fun. Most shows are well into filming the new season.

My Love/Love Relationship With "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?"

When you read scripts for a living, it's very difficult to be surprised by plot twists. Even when you haven't read the episode in question, the formulas across the board tend to become obvious. So my love for "reality" show / musical audition program "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?" has tripled in recent weeks.

This show is CRAZY. They make the losers participate in sudden-death sing-offs in front of Andrew Lloyd Webber, and then the person voted off is forced to sing "So Long, Farewell" from Sound of Music as they tearfully exit stage left. How will I survive when it ends next week?!

Let's discuss the panel of judges. First we have absurdly good-looking actor guy John Barrowman, who is exactly like Tom Cruise, if Tom Cruise were less Tom Cruise-y. I guess he's on a popular Dr. Who spin-off that I've never seen. Nor do I happen to watch Dr. Who. But he's famous and attractive and gets to make remarks like, "You can be my leading lady anytime, baby."

Next up is the semi-evil vocal coach, Zoe. She is tough to please, and usually gets the audience all riled up and angry when she critiques the vocal stylings of the contestants. Still, I think she's fair, and willing to work with people and give them second chances.

Lastly is the white-haired, slightly older-looking theater producer man whose name escapes me... The problem is, I can't Google this stuff yet because I don't want to inadvertently spoil the identity of the winner. The show airs on BBC America, and has presumably crowned its Maria in Britain already, so if I look up the show I risk ruining my life. But anyway, Producer Man was gushingly in love with Sioban at first, but now he seems to have realized that she might not actually have the acting chops to be Maria.

I am putting all my hopes, dreams and money on Connie for the win!!

Reading TV

I've got one of those jobs that could only be a job in Los Angeles (sort of like the woman who hangs out in the fish tank in the lobby of The Standard on Sunset Blvd). Basically, I read television and film scripts and write character descriptions of the roles being cast.

When I first started my job, this was a typical scene at the office:

ME: OH MY GOD! Did anyone see [insert TV show] last night?!?

Awkward pause.

CO-WORKERS: We don't watch TV.

ME: Really?? Because I think it would be so cool to see who they cast and how it all looked!

CO-WORKERS: ...Yeah. You'll get over that.

It's true that I watch less TV now than I used to, but I still definitely geek out over certain shows. Although my favorite program this summer is a reality show on BBC America, How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?. It perfectly merges two of my obsessions, Top Model and Sound of Music. What more could I ask for?