As I posted recently, Mad Men is certainly going through a fairly large change with its fourth season, which has been described as the beginning of a "new era" for the show. As creator Matthew Weiner told Entertainment Weekly, "It's about stripping away the things these people think define them. Once they're taken away, they just may have to look at who they really are."
And, as with all eras of change, there are losses. It seems that Mad Men will be suffering some of those losses with its fourth season, though not all the losses you'd expect, according to the cast photo below.
After season three's ending which saw the formation of a new company that left some people behind, it seemed obvious that we'd have a marginally different cast going into season four. And that's certainly true, though more has changed than stayed the same. We've still got Sterling and Cooper, Betty and Don, Pete and Peggy, Harry and Ken, as well as the unforgettable Joan. We've even got one face new to the main cast -- Jared Harris as Lane Pryce, who recurred but didn't star last year. His role will obviously be expanded now that he's in a partnership with Draper, Cooper, and Sterling.
One face I'm surprised to see is Ken's who was apparently left behind at the end of last season. Sure, he didn't express much anger as Paul Kinsey (whose face isn't on here), but he seemed a little disappointed. Seems to me as though he might have joined the crew at Sterling-Cooper-Draper-Pryce, though how that happened and what effect that will have on his competitive relationship with Pete is still up in the air. And does the exclusion of the bearded Kinsey mean that we'll not see him again, much like we'll probably never see Sal again? I certainly hope not -- Kinsey was the one really progressive male at Sterling-Cooper for the first few years, so if he's not in the main cast, ma
ybe we'll at least get to see him in a limited role this year.
Betty's also still on the cast, which means that we'll perhaps have our first storyline that isn't directly connected to the ad agency. Before, Betty was only included because of her relationship with Don -- now it seems as though her storyline might be a bit tacked-on. I certainly hope this isn't the case, and it probably won't be -- the show seems to know what it's doing.
Mad Men's fourth season premieres tonight at 10/9c with the episode "Public Relations."
this 4th season will be very interesting…