Middle Age Hollywood

Give us two minutes, and we’ll tell you something really private about Joanie.

Maybe that’s what AMC was thinking when the powers-that-be released this two-minute preview clip for this Sunday’s new episode of ‘Mad Men‘ (10 p.m./9c). In the clip, Sterling Cooper office manager Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks) is seen just finishing up a check-up at her gynecologist’s office.


She tells the doctor – who’s smoking, natch – that she recently discontinued the Pill and seeks his counsel on when or if she can begin trying to have a baby. She acknowledges that her doctor husband is currently stationed in the army in San Antonio, Texas. If you’re detail-oriented, this probably means he was drafted at a relatively late age, after enjoying a lengthy deferment so he could attend medical school. He’s probably at Fort Sam Houston, where army medics are trained today (and probably in 1964 too). Is he headed eventually to Vietnam? There’s no evidence of this – we’re just asking!

But she also discloses that she’s had “a couple of procedures” over the years and asks the doc if he thinks she’ll have any pregnancy problems. Though the word “abortion” is never uttered, it’s pretty clear she’s had two of them, only one of which was known to her ob/gyn. Could one of them have resulted from an unwanted pregnancy stemming from her dalliance with Roger Sterling (John Slattery)? Again – just asking.

This Sunday’s ‘Mad Men’ episode – the third of the series’ new fourth season – is titled “Good News,” and it might refer to the doctor’s response to Joanie when he tells her she should have nothing to worry about. Let’s revisit this after the episode airs, OK?