2008 Summer Arts Preview

Airs sometime in July on AMC

When we last left this show, it was late 1960, John F. Kennedy had just been elected President, and Madison Avenue adman Don Draper had been outed as the former Dick Whitman, a Depression orphan and Korean War deserter who took advantage of a freak mishap in combat to change his identity. Meanwhile, his former assistant Peggy — who had just risen to become one of the few female copywriters in advertising — had given birth to a surprise baby, possibly jeopardizing her career. Not much word on where the series is going — or when (there had been scuttlebutt the series would jump a year or two ahead in time), but I'll be there. Season 1 was the out-of-nowhere standout of the 2007 season, a literate, funny, moving and continually surprising story about the American Dream and the people who sold it, one can of shaving cream and slide projector at a time. For now, whatever they're pitching, We're buying.