One of the best scenes. Showed that Roger wasn't just a spoiled inheritance kid. He knew the business well, and was probably a stellar account man in his day.
No, he was a 'spoiled inheritance kid.' Roger gave a 4 minute sales spiel to Lane Pryce and that means he knows the business well? I would wager that anybody - and I mean anybody, smart, dumb, other - who's been in any kind of business for 20 years, should pick up something, should learn something about the business.
Absolutely superb acting from Slattery. He changes his whole "Roger" persona. His voice gets softer, his body language changes, he's not smug. He legitimately sells the audience that he's helping Lane. I'm impressed.
"conspiracy" in this context just means a shared secret between two people who think other people don't have the exact same secret. to be understood by another person when you feel misunderstood by all the rest.
Actually we did saw him in action a couple of times such as with North American Aviation, Chevy and the Jew wine. He also took the Jaguar guy to a “party” and he was convinced that is the agency he wanted his business.
@@rogelioarmentasolorzano3848 he also made that brilliant move of selling SC&P to Mckann, ensuring Gleeson wouldn't be able to take control after Cooper's death. Indeed, he lost his position as President later, but he made a ton of money still.
I adored him, too. Even when he was annoying, it was okay because: it was Rodger. I remember when he had the prostitute, and then he took her out to dinner. He was so likeable.
This show and Better Call Saul share the quality of being ridiculously compelling to watch while not feeding the audience constant excitement. And both shows rely on one major aspect to accomplish that feat: good dialogue.
I remember when I first watched the series, I loved Roger, but I was also a bit like..."What the hell does this guy actually DO? Besides give witty one-liners?" I mean, his name is on the company originally after all. Then after this scene I got it. He used to be the agency's powerhouse accounts man.
Tendividedbysix he never was, it was passed down to him. He didn’t earn it, Roger was just fortunate enough to be his fathers son. He was very good with people though.
Nope. He was the man that the company founder made, impregnating Roget Sterling's mom. That's the only job he had to do in his life. Get born. Quite a feat.
@LordMacKarl And if he started with the same competence and industry while being broke, he would've still been broke, or dead in 30 years. "He would have been canned or at least put in a corner if he couldn't handle his job." Only in fiction.
He was witty, smooth, and had a talent for friendship with those he wanted to be friends with. Bert Cooper never respected him: "You were never a leader", he said to Roger at one point.
@@NikolaAvramov That's all true, but there's a reason he's not just one of several other partners that hide in the shadows. He's good at what he does, even if he only got the chance to prove that because of his privilege.
I worked with so many guys like this in the mutual funds business back in the 90’s. They were rich, always loose, and above all they were crack salesmen. It looked like they were playing around, but they were using expert technique to close big deals.
I did too, but you left out the part where they had to maintain the high income to accommodate their lifestyle which usually involved mistresses and alimony LOL. Not knocking the game mind you but there's always a PRICE
Lane clearly didn't do his job in finding out everything he could about the guy. He didn't know that he was a wild boy he liked parties and hookers. Lane just assumed because they were both English that he knew everything there was to know about him.
Lane only thought about it in terms of officially available information. and he was a foreigner, plus there was no social media back then, so getting to learn such stuff wasn't easy. especially since the guy was discreet, knowing it's a small world and protecting his business reputation. note how he didn't want to go to a night club later on, they ended up at some "private party".
When I was working as an artist in an agency I always thought that the creatives were the reason that the clients kept coming back. Now that I run a small agency, I see that the accounts were the real reason.
It's no sopranos or the wire, but it was a damn well crafted show that was unfortunately overshadowed at the awards by a more popular, lesser show (imo)
rating it against Breaking Bad or The Wire (I've never understood the love for The Sopranos, as solid as it is. but that's a matter of taste) feels like comparing apples and oranges. they're all totally different stories which rely on very different writing skillsets in my opinion. of course Breaking Bad is better at suspense, but it's not as psychologically layered as Mad Men. it's a cat-and-mouse meets Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde narrative. if i was a teenager again, I'm sure I'd be much more likely to appreciate Breaking Bad than Mad Men (had they existed back then). these shows are as different as rock, jazz and pop.
Perhaps the best and most educational scene in the history of television, IF you are willingly to learn. Volumes of information on how to conduct yourself in two minutes.
Edward Ballantine: "I do not own this video." Roger Sterling: "I do own this video. This conversation. The clients I talk to. The agency. Pretty much everything."
Clips like this. continue to show why this show...was one of THEE best ever written. the dialogue is superb, and the actors...well...sell you, that it's all real. Perfectly cast actors. Top shelf....
John Slattery really wanted to play the role of Don Draper. Walter Matthau really wanted to play the role of Felix Unger. This is one of Roger Sterling's best scenes and Slattery wears it like a glove.
Layne's widow was right, being angry at Don and the firm: "you gave him hope". This scene with Roger (and others) showed that Layne was beginning to feel like he could be as "cool" as Don and Roger.
Don was cool, but still he felt like a impostor. Roger on the other hand was cool, but in reality had his best days long ago. And poor Layne in the end hangs himself for faking Don’s signature. A signature that Don also fakes ( his real name is Dick Whitman). The show points out that the « fake it til you make it attitude» can get you to the topp, but it can’t give you real self confidence. It’s just like painting fresh paint on a rusty car, it don’t change the fact that the car is rusty.
Roger, Don, and Lane all had special and specific talents that made them valuable to the company. Roger was great at forming decades long relationships with clients who loved him and saw him as a fun and charasmatic guy they could always talk to and drink with, Don was the mystery special weapon of their creative department who had great ideas and could find a way to dress up and sell anything to the masses, and Lane was in charge of all things financial. It was only when they vered outside their comfort zones that they screwed up. Don tried to handle Conrad Hilton on his own, and fell completely flat because Hilton was a big baby who just wanted the company to kiss his ass over a stupid idea (which Roger would've done beautifully), and Lane tried to handle an account too and also got shot down because the client found him boring and thought he was gay LOL. Roger was the only one who knew where his talents were. The Lucky Strike thing wasn't even really his fault because Lee Garner Jr. royally screwed him over BECAUSE they were so close. Bert said Lee never took him seriously because he never took himself seriously but Roger actually did take the account seriously, however he made a mistake trusting Lee so much.
Maybe. This episode was great as it also featured the party where the Campbells were trying to please Don because he is cool which contrasts Lane who needs lessons from Roger.
Actually, I'm going to tell you a little secret - the biggest mistake is taking Roger off of the sales floor. Only someone interested in hierarchy and status would care to hop up one rung higher. Roger, as the scripts are written, is a natural in the art of relationships. That translates to exponential sales over time. The BEST thing to do is put him on the floor to grab/handle the key accounts that are typically unattainable. He doesn't do any heavy lifting...he meets every key client. Pay him well, give him prominent status....but never, ever, ever take him off of the sales floor. It's akin to pulling a dolphin onto the beach and saying - "You've swam long enough, time to enjoy the sun."
Well he's a partner and inheritor for years by this point, there is no one to "keep him on the sales floor." And he is still an accounts man, he just does very high level introductions from his social circle and then lets the actual accounts people at the firm continue the process.
"I find it's best to smile and sit there like you've got no place to go" I think about this line every time I meet someone new or go out on a date, it really puts you at ease and you accept that this time is set aside for the two of you and nothing else
Even more important now in the age of cellphones. It's always a cool rage when someone looks down at their phone halfway through your sentence. It's harder than ever to build the foundation of mutual trust.
I had a "mentor" I looked up to who taught me in this manner. I was the young gun on the scene, trying to learn from the captains of the scene. The king of the scene knew i was competition but was obliged to deal with my internship help. When I'd set something up in a ham-fisted expected manner, he'd correct it but speak his corrections aloud. he didn't insult my basic bitch placement, he just corrected and voiced the correction. It was up to me to understand a lesson was happening. Lessons learned, sir.
Roger shows that although he is in the business because his father founded the company, he is as he said "professor emeritus". The man was probably an amazing at it in his younger days
R: "Find everything you can about him before you get there." L: "That I've done." R: "And you still like him?" L: "I do." R: "Then let it show." You just got your MBA in Sales in those 10 seconds of perfect dialogue.
Roger Sterling is such a great character. My one gripe with him was the fact that physically he looked sprightly and fit. Someone his age who drank and smoked so much shouldn't have looked like they went to the gym and moisturized. But I still think John Slattery was superb in this role.
the tobacco would definitely keep him slender. but that and the booze would wreck havoc on his skin, so he probably did use some tonic availible back then.
When an ad banner appears over a YT video and you click the little x in the upper right corner to get rid of it and instead it takes you to the ad page. 🤨🤨🤨
This reminds of all the time Joan gives advice to Peggy, and Peggy takes all of it very literally. Like for the roommate ad, it was a perfect ad for Joan, but it's nothing like Peggy and it doesn't work quite as well in the end lol. Just like Lane is taking this advice quite literally, but he's not Roger and it doesn't go as smoothly haha.
If it weren’t for Joan’s advice, Peggy would never have wound up pregnant. I don’t remember what happened with the roommate, I just remember the ad Joan dictated was not true of Peggy.
Dude, that is literally what happened to me! My boss showed the entire staff a bunch of videos, including this one, on a start-up meeting. Other classics shown was the "Put that coffee down"-scene and multiple scenes of Michael Scott from "The Office".
Roger was not just some spoiled brat, he was in the Navy and he fought in World War II and took the reigns of his dad's company once his dad passed away. Bert guided him and tried to make him into a good businessman and in the end, Bert was proud of him.
He HAH! All great tactics that I have used many times during my 25 years in sales. It's truly amazing how easily "customers" can be made to believe you're their "friend" rather than someone looking to squeeze the life out of them, their family, and their Company. Taking advantage of the human need to find like thinking "companions" is the essence of sales.
This is what they should be showing at sales seminars, not Glengarry Glen Ross. This is exactly how you build a relationship with a client while also building business.
