Michael Steadman
Miles Drentell
April 15, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Mad Men has received accolades for its portrayal of advertising executives at the dawn of the 1960’s.
Twenty years ago, we enjoyed another ad exec, one of the most compelling characters in network television -- Miles Drentell from thirtysomething, played by David Clennon.
After The Michael & Elliott Company folded, Miles Drentell brought the two yuppie ad men to his company, DAA.
Michael, the wordsmith,
Elliott, the artist.
With not too many options after their failed foray into entrepreneurship, Michael and Elliott take the job offered to them by the mercurial, talented, and sometimes devious Drentell, the D in DAA.
While enigmatic, Miles Drentell revealed some details now and then. He described his youthful self as someone who could see around corners where his business partners could not even see the corners.
When a friend’s son wanted to learn about advertising, Miles revealed a military stint when he told Michael and Elliott that he worked with the boy’s father and they shared a desk as well as a rather jaundiced view of the military. Michael later tells his wife Hope that he believes Miles was involved in the propaganda machine in Vietnam, helping to gain the hearts and minds of the enemy.
While seemingly devoid of emotion, Miles reveals his inner self to another mercurial character, Michael’s cousin Melissa.
Where Miles’ business decisions always seemed to have a logical basis, even if they were borderline unethical, Melissa’s life and love decisions had no basis.
Yearning for years in an on-off relationship with Michael’s commitment-phobe friend from college -- Gary.
Getting romantically involved with a 23-year-old man.
Miles asks for Melissa’s expert photographic opinion about some photos. She gives him a brutal critique, sensing the photographer’s emotional makeup through how the photos are taken.
She soon realizes that Miles is the photographer.
He is intrigued by her on-target assessment, perhaps even appreciative. Certainly curious that she could penetrate a wall seemingly invincible to others.
True opposites attract.
Not really. When Miles gets physically semi-aggressive, the scene ends before it goes too far, but the shock remains. Later, Miles reveals to Melissa that he’s been sad of late but she has made him less so.
Miles provided a perfect foil for Michael Steadman, the by-the-book nice guy who started to emulate Miles’ manipulative ways. In one story arc, Michael and Elliott attempted to engineer a takeover for Minnesota Brands, a Midwest conglomerate that wants to transform from being a DAA client to being a DAA owner.
Michael and Elliot’s strategy is to go to Miles’ two silent partners – the two A’s in DAA. After all, 2 out of 3 makes a majority.
Jack Ashley had no sense of reality – he wanted Michael and Elliot to take the roof off the building. Initially, they thought he meant figuratively removing the roof and letting the creative folks explore limitless boundaries.
He actually meant removing the roof.
The second partner was Carol Arthur, the widow of Miles’ second partner. Miles had Mrs. Arthur on his side because, as he later revealed, Mrs. Arthur spent her whole life trying to run away from her Midwestern Iowa roots. There was no way she was going to sell to Minnesota Brands.
Miles keeps Michael and Elliott on board at DAA. With a tip of the hat to Michael’s passion, Miles says that Michael’s already thinking about how he would run things differently, and who’s to say he won’t succeed the next time.
Clennon also appeared as Miles Drentell on Once and Again. No great mystery here…Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick created thirtysomething and Once and Again.
Miles Drentell died during the run of Once and Again.
Miles Drentell. The original Mad Man.
david@davidkrell.com
Mad Men has received accolades for its portrayal of advertising executives at the dawn of the 1960’s.
Twenty years ago, we enjoyed another ad exec, one of the most compelling characters in network television -- Miles Drentell from thirtysomething, played by David Clennon.
After The Michael & Elliott Company folded, Miles Drentell brought the two yuppie ad men to his company, DAA.
Michael, the wordsmith,
Elliott, the artist.
With not too many options after their failed foray into entrepreneurship, Michael and Elliott take the job offered to them by the mercurial, talented, and sometimes devious Drentell, the D in DAA.
While enigmatic, Miles Drentell revealed some details now and then. He described his youthful self as someone who could see around corners where his business partners could not even see the corners.
When a friend’s son wanted to learn about advertising, Miles revealed a military stint when he told Michael and Elliott that he worked with the boy’s father and they shared a desk as well as a rather jaundiced view of the military. Michael later tells his wife Hope that he believes Miles was involved in the propaganda machine in Vietnam, helping to gain the hearts and minds of the enemy.
While seemingly devoid of emotion, Miles reveals his inner self to another mercurial character, Michael’s cousin Melissa.
Where Miles’ business decisions always seemed to have a logical basis, even if they were borderline unethical, Melissa’s life and love decisions had no basis.
Yearning for years in an on-off relationship with Michael’s commitment-phobe friend from college -- Gary.
Getting romantically involved with a 23-year-old man.
Miles asks for Melissa’s expert photographic opinion about some photos. She gives him a brutal critique, sensing the photographer’s emotional makeup through how the photos are taken.
She soon realizes that Miles is the photographer.
He is intrigued by her on-target assessment, perhaps even appreciative. Certainly curious that she could penetrate a wall seemingly invincible to others.
True opposites attract.
Not really. When Miles gets physically semi-aggressive, the scene ends before it goes too far, but the shock remains. Later, Miles reveals to Melissa that he’s been sad of late but she has made him less so.
Miles provided a perfect foil for Michael Steadman, the by-the-book nice guy who started to emulate Miles’ manipulative ways. In one story arc, Michael and Elliott attempted to engineer a takeover for Minnesota Brands, a Midwest conglomerate that wants to transform from being a DAA client to being a DAA owner.
Michael and Elliot’s strategy is to go to Miles’ two silent partners – the two A’s in DAA. After all, 2 out of 3 makes a majority.
Jack Ashley had no sense of reality – he wanted Michael and Elliot to take the roof off the building. Initially, they thought he meant figuratively removing the roof and letting the creative folks explore limitless boundaries.
He actually meant removing the roof.
The second partner was Carol Arthur, the widow of Miles’ second partner. Miles had Mrs. Arthur on his side because, as he later revealed, Mrs. Arthur spent her whole life trying to run away from her Midwestern Iowa roots. There was no way she was going to sell to Minnesota Brands.
Miles keeps Michael and Elliott on board at DAA. With a tip of the hat to Michael’s passion, Miles says that Michael’s already thinking about how he would run things differently, and who’s to say he won’t succeed the next time.
Clennon also appeared as Miles Drentell on Once and Again. No great mystery here…Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick created thirtysomething and Once and Again.
Miles Drentell died during the run of Once and Again.
Miles Drentell. The original Mad Man.
thirtysomething
April 09, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
ABC turned decidedly yuppie when it debuted thirtysomething in 1987.
Sure, we saw young, upwardly mobile professionals before we had a media-friendly phrase for them.
Dr. Hartley on The Bob Newhart Show.
Rob Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show.
And Darrin Stephens on Bewitched are just some examples of this class-conscious, status-seeking, and career-climbing group.
In fact, the previous owner of the Tuesday 10:00 pm time slot on the Alphabet Network was a show called Jack and Mike about a yuppie couple, played by Tom Mason and Shelley Hack.
But thirtysomething was unique.
thirtysomething did not merely acknowledge yuppiedom, it embraced it.
thirtysomething did not merely speak to the people it represented, it reflected them.
thirtysomething did not merely show problems with neatly wrapped solutions, it showed the character’s journeys in dealing with these problems.
More often than not, thirtysomething dealt with failure.
A failed business. The Michael and Elliot Company folded soon after it began.
A failed marriage. Elliot and Nancy broke up, though the winds of change had been in the air for quite some time.
A failed quest for romance. Melissa constantly sought a man who could appreciate her unique fashion sense, wry humor, and simple passion.
But thirtysomething also showed triumphs and the prices associated with them.
Michael and Elliott got high-level jobs at DAA, an advertising agency headed by advertising legend Miles Drentell.
They had to deal with Miles’s ego that was roughly the size of Saturn.
Elliott and Nancy reconciled, but not before some painful realizations about marriage, love, and the hard work needed to sustain them.
And Melissa seemed to find the start of something big when she went to Hollywood to photograph a television star for a magazine article.
She lost all preconceptions, insecurities, and worries about herself when she was 3000 miles away from home. She realized she could be liked for simply being herself.
It paid off when the article’s writer said, I don’t know you, but I’d like to.
The thirties are a person’s settling down years. Marriage stabilizes the personality, children expand the responsibility, and career compounds the pressure.
Parents passing away. New babies. Search for religious identity.
In its four-year run, thirtysomething tackled the everyday issues of life and showed us there are no easy answers.
Michael’s constant struggle with his Jewish identity posed a terrific problem in the first season episode, I’ll Be Home For Christmas.
When his non-Jewish wife wants Christmas decorations and a tree, Michael is immediately uneasy. After fighting with his cousin Melissa about a business matter and venting to Elliot, Michael buys a tree, his form of an olive branch and trying to make peace during the holiday season.
The tearjerking payoff comes when Michael opens the door and sees Hope holding their baby and lighting a menorah. When he asks where she got it, Melissa enters the room. The expressions on their faces say it all. Michael and Melissa make up, and Michael and Hope find a middle ground on the holidays.
On a business trip in the episode Sifting the Ashes, Elliot explores his Catholic roots when he went to Baltimore, his hometown. While there, he encounters a priest with whom his mother is friendly. The day after a tense conversation about Catholicism with his mother and the priest, Elliot goes to the school where the priest worked. He admits, I want God in my life. It’s religion that keeps getting in the way.
Hope’s friend Ellyn had an affair with a married man.
Michael’s long-time friend Gary died in an accident.
And Nancy battled cancer, thankfully with success.
thirtysomething never preached about the consequences of actions.
It never drew a bright line to separate good from bad.
And it never talked down to us.
It simply showed us as we are. Imperfect people in a truly demanding world.
thirtysomething aired from 1987 to 1991.
Sure the styles of clothes may have changed.
The pop culture and historical references may be off-target for today’s audiences.
And the CD player has been replaced by the Ipod.
But the issues are timeless for thirtysomethings of any decade.
And that’s what classic television is all about.
david@davidkrell.com
ABC turned decidedly yuppie when it debuted thirtysomething in 1987.
Sure, we saw young, upwardly mobile professionals before we had a media-friendly phrase for them.
Dr. Hartley on The Bob Newhart Show.
Rob Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show.
And Darrin Stephens on Bewitched are just some examples of this class-conscious, status-seeking, and career-climbing group.
In fact, the previous owner of the Tuesday 10:00 pm time slot on the Alphabet Network was a show called Jack and Mike about a yuppie couple, played by Tom Mason and Shelley Hack.
But thirtysomething was unique.
thirtysomething did not merely acknowledge yuppiedom, it embraced it.
thirtysomething did not merely speak to the people it represented, it reflected them.
thirtysomething did not merely show problems with neatly wrapped solutions, it showed the character’s journeys in dealing with these problems.
More often than not, thirtysomething dealt with failure.
A failed business. The Michael and Elliot Company folded soon after it began.
A failed marriage. Elliot and Nancy broke up, though the winds of change had been in the air for quite some time.
A failed quest for romance. Melissa constantly sought a man who could appreciate her unique fashion sense, wry humor, and simple passion.
But thirtysomething also showed triumphs and the prices associated with them.
Michael and Elliott got high-level jobs at DAA, an advertising agency headed by advertising legend Miles Drentell.
They had to deal with Miles’s ego that was roughly the size of Saturn.
Elliott and Nancy reconciled, but not before some painful realizations about marriage, love, and the hard work needed to sustain them.
And Melissa seemed to find the start of something big when she went to Hollywood to photograph a television star for a magazine article.
She lost all preconceptions, insecurities, and worries about herself when she was 3000 miles away from home. She realized she could be liked for simply being herself.
It paid off when the article’s writer said, I don’t know you, but I’d like to.
The thirties are a person’s settling down years. Marriage stabilizes the personality, children expand the responsibility, and career compounds the pressure.
Parents passing away. New babies. Search for religious identity.
In its four-year run, thirtysomething tackled the everyday issues of life and showed us there are no easy answers.
Michael’s constant struggle with his Jewish identity posed a terrific problem in the first season episode, I’ll Be Home For Christmas.
When his non-Jewish wife wants Christmas decorations and a tree, Michael is immediately uneasy. After fighting with his cousin Melissa about a business matter and venting to Elliot, Michael buys a tree, his form of an olive branch and trying to make peace during the holiday season.
The tearjerking payoff comes when Michael opens the door and sees Hope holding their baby and lighting a menorah. When he asks where she got it, Melissa enters the room. The expressions on their faces say it all. Michael and Melissa make up, and Michael and Hope find a middle ground on the holidays.
On a business trip in the episode Sifting the Ashes, Elliot explores his Catholic roots when he went to Baltimore, his hometown. While there, he encounters a priest with whom his mother is friendly. The day after a tense conversation about Catholicism with his mother and the priest, Elliot goes to the school where the priest worked. He admits, I want God in my life. It’s religion that keeps getting in the way.
Hope’s friend Ellyn had an affair with a married man.
Michael’s long-time friend Gary died in an accident.
And Nancy battled cancer, thankfully with success.
thirtysomething never preached about the consequences of actions.
It never drew a bright line to separate good from bad.
And it never talked down to us.
It simply showed us as we are. Imperfect people in a truly demanding world.
thirtysomething aired from 1987 to 1991.
Sure the styles of clothes may have changed.
The pop culture and historical references may be off-target for today’s audiences.
And the CD player has been replaced by the Ipod.
But the issues are timeless for thirtysomethings of any decade.
And that’s what classic television is all about.