HBO Max 4k mistake breaks down the fake Mad Men walls + How Gen X fuelled adult cartoons
Any TV show would be lucky to have a scene like the iconic Mad Men scene in season one, episode seven ‘Red in The Face.’ In the episode, Don and Roger have one of those long lunches that seem to have disappeared from the world around the time where we had to stop smoking on planes, and were discouraged from calling the office receptionist ‘toots.’
The two have too many oysters, which leads to Roger doing this…
It’s a feat of storytelling and special effects work.
Now, the vomit doesn’t quite look real in the scene and is exaggerated for comic effect. What we don’t see in the scene is the effects guys just off camera making the vomit happen.
Until now. Viewers started (re)watching Mad Men this week with the show now streaming in 4K on HBO Max in the US. And there was something different about the scene:
Apparently, viewers watching the show in 2k won’t have seen the error. The files supplied by distributor Lionsgate to HBO Max were fine. But the 4k files Lionsgate provided were the wrong ones, revealing the crew members. Lionsgate are in the process of supplying the correct files to HBO now (lower case n).
There’s something really jarring about seeing the crew member in this photo. It’s a similar dissonance to seeing the coffee cups under the chairs of the Game of Thrones characters mid-meeting. It’s one thing to see behind the scenes video or stills - but when the real world intrudes into a show like this while you have experienced the mental transference into the world of the show, it can feel oddly upsetting.
This is especially true for a show like Mad Men where the production style of the show already feels a little bit fake and constructed. The show is made to look and feel a bit like every movie we watched from the 1960s, with sets that never quite looked realistic. Despite the fakery, as viewers we buy into that constructed reality. Because our brains have done the work to buy into it, the betrayal of real-world intrusion feels greater.
How Gen X kickstarted mainstream adult animation
The New York Times has a series of articles talking about the impact of Gen X and how it might be the greatest generation. It really speaks to, generationally, who is leading the newsroom right now.
While much of it is nonsense, I was interested in reading James Poniewozik talking about the revival of animation and how it was embraced by adult Gen Xers. It ignores that there were a lot of boomers at the time watching and, uh, making these shows (*cough* James L Brooks). Regardless, it’s a good read:
Above all, it was a cartoon. The adult animated sitcom had faded as a genre since “The Flintstones” (1960-66) in prime time and “Wait Till Your Father Gets Home” (1972-74) in syndication. But Gen X-ers were ready to embrace it. When we were children, cartoons had entertained us, parented us and, thanks to “Schoolhouse Rock!,” taught us multiplication. They were the perfect medium for a generation entering young adulthood in the shadow of the boomers, when it felt like the world already had all the grown-ups it needed. “The Simpsons” wasn’t serious TV for serious adults; it was better. It had heart but disdained moral lessons, like a photo negative “Brady Bunch.” It was a mainstream hit with an anti-mainstream sensibility, much like our other iconic TV shows, “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” (1986-90) and “Twin Peaks” (1990-91).
Animation was the essential, incorrigible art form of Gen X, and it was embraced by our true cable home, MTV. The music network gave us “Liquid Television” — a showcase for avant-garde creators, including Charles Burns and Peter Chung, that ran from 1991 to 1994 — and the sublime expression of idiocy, Mike Judge’s “Beavis and Butt-Head,” a homemade short that was acquired by MTV for “Liquid Television” and expanded into a stand-alone series in 1993.
Like “The Simpsons,” “Beavis and Butt-Head” (which returned with new episodes starting in 2022) was TV made out of TV. In its signature segments, the delinquent title characters made fun of music videos. Like punk rock, it was designed to be unpalatable to responsible grown-ups. The two friends played baseball using a live frog; Beavis’s lust for starting fires was blamed for inspiring real-life incidents. Hard as it may be to appreciate now, the duo’s favorite descriptor — “this sucks” — was once considered outré.
News Desk
Netflix has removed the functionality to cast shows and movies from a phone to Chromecast with Google TV, Google TV Streamer, and “most TVs and TV-streaming devices. Read: Android Authority
NBC News is launching a paid digital subscription service. It’ll serve up existing NBC News digital content ad-free, along with exclusive vertical videos from NBC News talent like Steve Kornacki and Kristen Welker. Read: Axios
Stranger Things season 5 has so many real-world product tie-ins. THR has listed a lot of them, including an elaborate LEGO set, breakfast cereals, and… an actual car.
Regé-Jean Page will star in and executive produce a new erotic thriller series for Netflix, Hancock Park. In the show he will star as a member of Los Angeles high society whose family is struggling to hold onto their status. Read: thefutoncritic
The 8-episode fifth and final season of Babylon Berlin has wrapped filming. Read: THR
The BBC has unveiled its Christmas and NYE schedule. Read: Radio Times
ITV has unveiled its Christmas and NYE schedule. Read: Radio Times
Disney+ has greenlit Mosquito, a new UK show from Tony McNamara starring Nicholas Hoult and Daisy Edgar-Jones. Read: C21
CNN has picked up Aussie mushroom murder doco Death Cap: The Mushroom Murders. Read: Deadline
Full House’s Dave Coulier has revealed he has been diagnosed with tongue cancer. Read: Variety
Matthew Macfadyen, Charlie Hunnam, and Daniel Brühl will star in Legacy of Spie, a new John le Carré series for the BBC and MGM+. It adapts The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, and with additional material from A Legacy of Spies. Read: THR
Trailer Park
New Australian TV show Sunny Nights stars American actor Will Forte opposite American actor D’Arcy Carden. #ContentQuotas #MakeItAustralian
My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman returns for season 6 with MrBeast, Jason Bateman, and Michael B Jordan.
Taylor Swift/ The Eras Tour/ The Final Show debuts on Disney+ Dec. 12.
100 Meters debuts on Netflix Dec 31
A gifted runner trains a determined but unskilled classmate, unaware he’s creating a rival who will challenge him on the track for years to come.
People We Meet on Vacation will debut on Netflix Jan 9.
Free-spirited Poppy and routine-loving Alex have been unlikely best friends for a decade, living in different cities but spending every summer vacation together. The careful balance of their friendship is put to the test when they begin to question what has been obvious to everyone else — could they actually be the perfect romantic match?
That’s the newsletter for today.
Consider becoming a paid supporter of Always Be Watching.
Connect with Dan on Bluesky. Connect with Dan on Letterboxd. Connect with Dan on Linkedin. Email Dan @ alwaysbewatching.com or just reply to this email.
I haven’t watched the new season of Stranger Things. I’ve bounced off the dissonance of the age of the cast. Couldn’t they have included a five-ten year interim to explain the obvious age gap?