This week, Mad Men’s Jon Hamm did Grantland’s B.S. Report podcast with Bill Simmons, mostly to talk about his forthcoming film, Million Dollar Arm, which looks like a sappy, Disney baseball film, which means I’ll probably end up loving it because I’m a sentimental sucker for both baseball movies and Jon Hamm. During the last ten minutes of the podcast, however, Hamm turned to Mad Men and the rest of Sunday night television, of which he also expressed affection for Game of Thrones and Veep.
The first part of the conversation (at the 40:00 mark) was about how Mad Men is kind of the anti-Breaking Bad when it comes to the ratings: Breaking Bad’s got bigger nearer the end, while on Mad Men, it’s trimming down to hardcore fans (ratings have been slightly down this season, though they usually nearly match last year’s once DVR viewing is accounted for). Hamm understands it, and understands that Mad Men is just never going to be the kind of show that attracts a huge Walking Dead-like audience.
At the 42:45 mark, he also said that he watches Mad Men live along with everyone else, although because his partner Jennifer Westfeldt is in New York this season, he’s been watching it by himself, which suits him fine. He doesn’t particularly enjoy watching himself make out with other women with his girlfriend, which makes sense because — it should always be remembered — Jon Hamm is one of the most decent guys in Hollywood, has impeccable midwestern values, and avoids the Hollywood party life (it says something about Hamm that his two best friends in Los Angeles seem to be John Slattery and Amy Poehler).
After Bill Simmons talks about the head-to-head battle that Mad Men has been having with Game of Thrones this season (Simmons gives Thrones a 2-1 episode nod so far), they get into the HBO show (at the 45:00 mark). After Hamm concedes that he has difficulty keeping up with who is who on the show, he and Simmons geek out about Khaleesi for a couple of minutes. It’s pure joy to watch Don Draper discuss how awesome the Mother of Dragons is.
At the 47:00 mark, Hamm talks about the final season of Mad Men, says he’s bummed about it coming to an end (they’re filming the third episode of the last seven right now) because he’ll miss those friends and doesn’t really have anything lined up afterwards yet (he’ll be fine). He completely rules out a Mad Men movie, and then they talk about what a great kid Kiernan Shipka is (Hamm attributes some of that to the fact that she has “good parents.”)
If you have the time to spare, the whole podcast is great, but if you’re not interested in Million Dollar Arm, I can’t recommend enough the last ten minutes of the podcast if you’re a fan of Hamm, Mad Men, or Game of Thrones.
