Where are They Now?: Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce

Mad Men was a show that presented an era to us that many of us never got to live through. The 60’s were a time when America was holding it down as the top dog of the world, trying to find it’s way with race and politics and growing as a capitalistic society where every family had equal opportunity to get their piece of the American Dream. We followed the employees of Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency on 5th Avenue in New York for seven seasons spanning nine years.

We fell in love with Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss and Christina Hendricks every time we saw their characters’ lives unfold during the decade that was. When the show ended this past May I felt like I was saying goodbye to my high school classmates all over again. So I thought, "Why don’t I create my own timeline of how my favorite characters lived out their lives once 1970 rolled in?" So Here we go!

1. Don Draper - It was confirmed that Don returned to work presenting the Pepsi ad seen at the end of the final episode. He continues to work at McCann Erickson as a Partner until his retirement in the late 90’s. He remarries in the 1980’s and is survived by his young wife and children when he dies in the mid 2000’s.

2. Roger Sterling - After marrying Megan’s mother, Marie, Roger retired. He travels the world with Marie before returning stateside. Joan allowed Roger to be involved in Kevin’s life and he does so until his death in the late 90’s.

3. Peggy and Stan Rizzo - Peggy finally found her a man in Stan! Peggy goes into Business Journalism while study for her degree. She becomes a published journalist and marketing\advertising consultant while Stan works for an art journal and has his work featured around the world. They also raise a beautiful family in the New Jersey suburbs. Both are still living.

4. Pete Campbell - Pete becomes a venture capitalist increasing his personal fortune to over $150 million by 1985. He and Trudy have another girl in the 70’s. Pete and Trudy now live in California enjoying their lives as grandparents.



5. Joan Harris - Joan becomes a consultant for women’s product lines and starts her own cosmetics line. She raises Kevin jointly with Roger later sending him to College where he studies business and law. Joan dies in 2012.

6. Ken Cosgrove - Ken Raises his family and later becomes partner at Dow Chemical. He sells his stake in the company after leaving in the 90’s and retiring with his wife to a ranch in upstate New York where he currently resides.

7. Harry Crane - Harry leaves New York scorned and upset. He becomes a Hollywood Producer in the mid 70’s and later starts his own film company in the 80’s. His wife divorces him somewhere during this due to his inflated ego and infidelity. He is currently retired and living in Southern California

8. Sally Draper - Sally takes her mother’s death fairly well as they get closer during Betty’s last days. She lives with Don and her brothers after Don buys a new home in the suburbs. Sally goes to college to study law and focusing in Environmental law. She becomes partner of her law firm in the mid 90’s.

9. Bobby and Gene Draper - Bobby goes into politics after watching his country evolve in the 60’s and 70’s. He becomes a senator in the 2000’s. Gene follows his older brother and goes to college to study business and politics.

Brendan Whitt's 15 best Rapper-Actors

What separates a regular rapper from all other rappers? Film and television credits. As we get wrapped up in the personas of these rappers (e.g. Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Diddy etc.) we have to remember that these guys and girls are entertainers. Look at the legends like Sammy Davis Jr. Dude sang, acted on screen and stage and he could dance. Now that’s an entertainer.

As Hip-Hop broke out onto the national scene as a new cultural movement, rappers began to be approached to star in films a television specials centered around this “new” culture. Some of the best actors of our generation started off as singers or rappers. Here is a list of my favorite rappers turned actors.

First here are my criteria for the list: 1. Must have a rapping credit befor an acting credit, 2. My personal opinion on cultural relevancy, 3. Only T.V., Film, Theater and Video Game credits count, 4. Individual success and critical acclaim.

WARNING: THE PICTURE QUALITY ISN'T THE BEST!

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Some of you may be thinking “What about Tupac?” While he was an exceptional talent Tupac had a theater credit at the age of 12 in a rendition of A Raisin In the Sun as Travis Younger. Having an acting credit before a music credit disqualifies you from the list. Childish Gambino (Donald Glover) and Drake would have also made the list but they both had acting credits before their first musical releases.

Blought # 18: Is Traditional Radio Living on Borrowed Time?

The radio. What a marvel of human ingenuity. Officially created at the turn of the last century the little box made of wood and electrical wires completely changed how we humans receive information. Radios helped us transmit news stories to over a million homes, improve military and law enforcement communication and gave us a new source of entertainment. After the television became a commodity for most American families in 1960’s the radio took a slight dip in popularity.

Instead of listening to Eisenhower or FDR give an address over the radio you could watch Nixon on television since NBC, ABC and CBS could transmit broadcasts into the American home. By the 70’s and 80’s 8-track and cassette tapes made it easier to listen to the music you wanted, when you wanted and by the 90’s CD’s were revolutionizing music consumption all together.

Today the radio to me is pretty much useless. We can get news faster before our favorite radio host can tell us about it. Either it’s trending on social media or a Breaking News banner has already caught our attention online or on television. Television, which arguably took the radio out of the American home is on it’s way out due to internet television and streaming.

I love to listen to DL Hughley’s evening show on the way home. But with radio shows like the Breakfast Club and Sway’s Universe it’s easy for us ADD Millennials to be more attracted to the latter which utilizes the internet to supplement their on air interviews with online videos of the interview. And with the booming popularity of podcasts talk radio’s days are numbered. I can see a day when I’m in my 50’s and radio tuners no longer exist.

The internet will be so accessible in the near future that we’ll be able to stream anywhere anytime with minimal data restrictions. Services like Spotify, Pandora and Tidal already gives us the freedom to listen to whatever we please. Throw in Bluetooth capabilities and auxiliary ports in most cars, I predict traditional radio will be completely obsolete by 2030.

Blought #11: The Evolution of Cartoon Network

Boy were the 90’s a time to behold. Just like the forty something to be generation did with their nostalgia of the 80’s, us millenials are doing the same with the 90’s. He-Man, GI Joe and Jelly bracelets are now artifacts worthy enough of enshrinement in the Smithsonian.

For me the 90’s was WWF, action figures and occasionally a little elementary school thrown in there somewhere. One of my favorite past times as a child was watching cartoons. A hobby of mine I am still active in today. Back when Adelphia was the go to cable provider for the Cleveland area their channel selection was somewhat limited. They did however carry the kiddie essentials of the time which were Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel (I've never regularly watched the latter).

During the summer of 1997 I spent eight weeks in Dayton, Ohio with my grandparents. I don’t remember their cable provider at the time but what I do remember is the first time I saw Cartoon Network. For those of you who don’t remember Cartoon Network’s programming in the early and mid 90’s was pretty much Boomerang’s programming in the 2000’s. I would spend hours watching shows like Swat Kats, 2 Stupid Dogs and old Hanna Barbera reruns.

The stars of Cartoon Cartoon Fridays

It was also around that time that Cartoon Network would launch probably the best cartoon block in American television history, Cartoon Cartoon Fridays. Friday was the day you sat down in front of the TV and watched premieres of shows like Power Puff Girls, Johnny Bravo, Dexter’s Lab and Ed, Edd n Eddy. It was a great time for Cartoon Network.

Cartoon Network flourished during this time, Dexter’s Lab garnered three Primetime Emmy nominations three straight years from ‘96-‘98 and The Powerpuff Girls earned five nominations from ‘99-’01 and again in 2005 winning twice for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation in 2000 and 2005.
Several shows including Dexter’s Lab and Power Puff Girls were nominated for and won Annie Awards, the highest award in the field of animation. The shows were imaginative and fun to watch as a child. I can watch Dexter and PPG to this day.

Of course the good times didn’t last. As the 2000’s (which in my opinion is the worst decade ever) rolled in and so did the trash that hampered and hurt Cartoon Network. ‘Sheep In the Big City’ was a show that never really found it’s legs. The humor was too advanced for child viewers like myself at the time and the jokes just weren’t that funny. You can barely find it online these days. ‘Time Squad’ had a great concept but failed to deliver and ‘What Ever Happened to Robot Jones’ was, well I don’t want to talk about that train wreck.

By the time I got to high school Cartoon Network’s programming was dead. Chowder and Ben 10 were the only new cartoons I could enjoy and the live action programming was pretty terrible. Today Cartoon Network has revamped it’s look and approach. Cartoon Cartoon Fridays sadly ended in 2007.


One thing that upsets me is my peers who call the new lineup trash or say it just isn’t very good. Well here’s my take. It takes a special
kind of adult to thoroughly enjoy cartoons. You have to have an imaginative and a have a pretty diverse sense of humor (only enjoying Jon Stewart and the Onion is not a diverse sense of humor). Most adults lose their imagination in their 20’s when life gives us that first backhand of reality.

Cartoon Network's current logo

For me a grown ass 24 year old kid, I LOVE cartoons more than most live action shows. The new cartoon line up features Emmy winner ‘The Regular Show’, Annie winner ‘The Amazing World of Gumball’, Emmy and Annie nominee ‘Steven Universe’ as well as the beloved and Creative Arts Emmy nominee (and one of my personal favorites) ‘Clarence’.

All of the above mentioned are smarter than the shows I watched as a youth with the exception at of ‘Dexter’s Lab’. The humor is adult but still childish enough that a parent should feel safe allowing their children to watch. If you really want to be progressive watch the ‘Clarence’ episode ‘Jeff Wins’ where it is reveled that the character Jeff has lesbian mothers.

Today’s Cartoon Network lineup is progressive, beautifully animated and critcally acclaimed. From humble beginnings in 1992 to the esteemed past and current lineups, Cartoon Network to me is the golden standard of children’s animated programming for past, present and future generations.

Blought #3 'Netflix Done Saved my Life'

Don’t you just hate those long miserable nights when there’s absolutely nothing to watch? You’re on the couch and you've just passed the 1000’s for the third time. Then you start to wonder, “how in the hell do I pay over $100 a month for all these channels and I still cant find anything to watch”. Well I’m here to tell you that I haven’t had that problem in over four months, thanks to Netflix. I think one night before Al Gore went to sleep he looked to the sky and prayed to the internet gods for a solution to television boredom. When he awoke, he had a Netflix subscription. Wikipedia should cite me for that.

When I look at my life before the almighty Netflix, I see TV with no color or sound. Now I have the greatest invention since internet porn streaming right into my XBOX. I haven’t had HBO or Starz in about six or seven years but ever since Netflix those channels mean nothing to me. Sometimes when you channel surf you have a mood set for what you want to watch. Netflix will meet those needs. Bored? Watch an action movie. Babysitting? Search all of the children’s categories. Want to relive your childhood? Watch Rocky and Bullwinkle, GI Joe (the cool 80’s version), or watch old Nickelodeon shows from the 90’s. You can even watch it on your tablet or phone for those long car rides and family get-togethers you don’t remember agreeing to go to.

You know the selection of shows and movies is absurdly huge when the suggested categories include “Suspenseful Spy Thrillers“, “Asian Action Movies“, and “Family-friendly Talking-animal Animation“. You might as well pay the $7.99 a month for stream when you already pay an extra $10 bucks on a package for one specific channel but that package includes 15 channels you don’t watch. So to Netflix and Al Gore’s prayers one nigh full of boredom, I thank thee.