SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, be sure to check out the commercials for the new ’09 models while watching Mad Men.

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, tell your mother you have company, turn the TV up really loud and watch Mad Men.

All right, Not-TV Week’s over; back to the important stuff. Episode five of this season of Mad Men is the first one I didn’t get a screener of in advance, so I’ll have to catch up on it after vacation. But don’t let that stop you. Five installments in, how do you think this season is shaping up?

I’m on vacation even as I write this. The things I do for you people! I got episode 4 of Mad Men before leaving but didn’t have time to write a full-fledged Watch, so think of these as starting points, then fledge them yourselves:

* So after all the discussion of That Scene last week, we have Don shoving Betty in mid-argument. Does …

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, crack open a bag of Utz—may I recommend The Crab Chip—and watch Mad Men.

One of the most important and least-remarked-on transitions in life is the death of a parent. While it doesn’t get noted the way other developmental milestones do—puberty, graduation, parenthood, etc.—losing a parent is recognizing that you are ultimately responsible for yourself, and as much or more as those other landmarks, …

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, finish your Valentine’s Day shopping and watch the season two premiere of Mad Men.

Because Mad Men‘s Matthew Weiner wrote for The Sopranos, the comparisons between the two shows tend to get overdone. But the opening …

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, load up your Kodak Carousel and watch the Mad Men season finale.

SPOILER ALERT: Crack open some creme de menthe and watch Mad Men before you read this post.

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, plug in your TV–and whatever other appliances you need–and watch Mad Men.

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this, slip some Dr. Scholl’s in your shoes and watch Mad Men.

SPOILER ALERT: Watch Mad Men before reading this post. Residents of Illinois, fast-forward through all the laxative ads.

SPOILER ALERT: No reading this post until you’ve done an honest day’s work for it, you bum.

So who knew that Mad Men would also turn out to be Carnivale? I’m impressed that, within this already detailed period piece, there turns out to be another period piece (Don/Dick’s childhood in the Depression) that’s just as engrossing and …