Don Draper vs. Principal Skinner

Friend and occasional TDYLF contributor Josh Katz recently pointed out an interesting fact about AMC’s smash hit, Mad Men. Specifically, Don Draper’s backstory is eerily similar to the story that The Simpsons writers created to flesh out Seymour Skinner’s backstory in “The Principal and the Pauper” episode. Just how similar are they? Find out after the jump.

The Greatest American Anti-Hero: Seven Great TV Anti-Heroes

Back in the late 60’s when Hollywood wanted to shake things up a bit, they turned theaters over to a bunch of young bucks named Coppola and Scorsese and the like. One of the things this group did was to canonize the anti-hero– characters like Michael Corleone and Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker helped shake off the shackles of the Hayes Code era. Television, however, didn’t really follow suit. There may have been the occasional anti-hero on TV, but it wasn’t until the last decade or two that the anti-hero really started to take root on television. And now, it’s as popular as ever. Seemingly every new series features someone who is doing something they shouldn’t be doing. And we sympathize with them. We love them, despite (and sometimes because of) their evil deeds. Here are my seven favorite TV anti-heroes:

The Six Best Moments on Mad Men

We’re a few episodes away from wrapping up yet another season of Mad Men and this season has provided no shortage of fantastic moments. Not unlike the show’s AMC brethren Breaking Bad, Mad Men has a panache for jaw-dropping dark humor moments. Here are my six favorite, ranked in no particular order (after #1, which was definitely my favorite):

Tale of the Tape: Breaking Bad v. Mad Men

Some comparisons are inevitable. Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin will always be held up against one another. People will always compare LeBron James to Michael Jordan. Gary Busey and Nick Nolte’s shared insanity and similar looks make them an obvious comparison. AMC has a pair of shows that invite just such a situation- Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Let’s size them up with a quick rundown of strengths and weaknesses, shall we? And at the end, I’ll declare a winner.