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Arts and Entertainment

TV Junkie: Tonight's 'Mad Men' Season Finale

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Sally-Draper-Kiernan-Shipka-the-gypsy.jpg
Remember when Sally Draper, played by Kiernan Shipka, went out for Halloween as a gypsy? No telling what she will do tonight but we think this "Mad Men" finale will hinge on her


Remember when Sally Draper, played by Kiernan Shipka, went out for Halloween as a gypsy? No telling what she will do tonight but we think this "Mad Men" finale will hinge on her
At 10pm tonight another season of AMC's groundbreaking series, "Mad Men", reaches its conclusion. The now-divorced Don Draper continues his thick-waisted conquest of as many women as possible and as many bottles as possible - although halfway through the season he cut back a bit on the booze in order to write a diary which meant we were subjected to a lot of unnecessary Don Draper narrations. Has Don Draper lost his touch? Give us your opinion.

However, arguably the best moments this season were in the "Don & Peggy" all-nighter episode.

January Jones has perfected Betty Draper this season - is there a more evil mother on television? The focus of Betty's negativity, the Draper's daughter Sally, leads us to believe that tonight Sally will be at the center of some key events to close out the season. What do you think will happen? She's already run away from home and openly defied her mother; she's fooling around with a "forbidden" boy; and she masturbated at a sleepover.

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"Mad Men" continues to intrigue and has so far been irreproducible except in the form of the ads that run during its broadcast.

We wonder if the viewing audience can stomach another season of the agency staggering from one crisis to another - the teaser clips at the end of each episode could have worked for any of the episodes, they had become so predictable. Is "Mad Men" still worth watching? Yes, until "Boardwalk Empire" debuted this fall, there wasn't a more beautiful TV series running - and if the agency gets back on track, perhaps Don won't have time to scribble in his meandering and depressing diary. We have high hopes for 2011, while knowing that we're inevitably heading for episodes set up around real-world historical events. Which ones am I missing: Vietnam, space race/Apollo, Frisbees, hippies, the Beach Boys, LSD (Don on LSD!), Kennedy & Martin Luther King assassinations.

For even more insight, check out KCRW's podcast of Thursday's interview with "Mad Men" series creator Matt Weiner, as hosted by the incredibly urbane and professional Elvis Mitchell (whom we interviewed last year).

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Here's a couple videos of the cast whom we spoke with at the 2010 Primetime Emmys (note, neither really were in the 2010 season but they have some good perspectives):

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