Don't you just love it when life sort of imitates art?

Jon Hamm, who plays the chain smoking Don Draper on TV's 'Mad Men,' has been hired by Mercedes Benz as a pitchman for their car commercials, which will premiere during the Academy Awards.

This means, of course, that Mr. Hamm will replace actor Richard Thomas who has done the voiceover for Mercedes' car commercials for the last four years. Good night Jon-Boy.

The company's marketing VP Stephen Cannon called Hamm "a hot actor." That must have been one awkward audition.

When shows go off the air in between seasons, the actors use this long break to do some profound beard growing. The actresses might do the same thing, but I've never seen a picture of them in the papers to prove it.

The entire male cast of 'Mad Men' did the same thing and cast member MIchael Gladis gave his review of all of his co-workers' "break beards".

[via Pop Candy]

Despite the mainstream audience acceptance of such openly gay performers as Neil Patrick Harris, Ian McKellen, and Ellen DeGeneres, some Hollywood power brokers still feel that TV and movie audiences won't accept gay performers in straight roles.

That was made clear on Wednesday when 'Mad Men' creator Matthew Weiner, speaking on a Hollywood panel, said, "Let's not pretend" that gay actors who come out of the closet aren't risking a future of gay typecasting, according to Greg in Hollywood blogger Greg Hernandez.

Usually, the Golden Globes are a little more cutting-edge than the Emmys, a little quicker to recognize new talent on TV. When this year's nominations are announced on Dec. 15, however, you can expect a battle of Globe warhorses, as veterans will largely elbow newcomers out of the way in the struggle for each of the five slots in the Best Actor categories, drama and comedy.

BEST DRAMA ACTORS
Front Runners: 'Mad Men''s Jon Hamm (pictured, above right) and 'House''s Hugh Laurie have to be considered locks.

As if we even needed to say "on 'Mad Men'," because the words 'the lawnmower scene' would be enough to ensure that any tuned-in TV watcher knows what we're talking about.

But for those who are oblivious to all things 'Mad Men' - or those who, on Sept. 20, the night the episode in question aired, were watching the show's cast and crew nab its second consecutive Outstanding Drama Emmy Award - The Lawnmower Scene (the capitalization is on purpose) is a particularly memorable, surprising, shocking, gruesome, awesome clip from 'Mad Men,' season three, episode six.

As Barbara Walters prepares to show viewers her annual list of the 10 Most Fascinating People of the Year (pictured, featuring Lady Gaga and Walters) in a special airing tonight, we realized that TV gives far too much airtime to people at the other end of the spectrum. With that thought, here are the year's 10 least fascinating people on TV. Let's all try to make it a New Year's resolution that we won't be talking about these people's overexposure again a year from now.

I'm not going to lie to you: Pretty much my whole life right now is leading up to the Mad Men season 3 premiere on August 16. I'm so excited, I'm practically vibrating. You can judge me if you want, but I'm perfectly fine with my priorities.

Anyway, like the rest of the internet, I have been salivating for any Mad Men morsel that AMC deigns to share with the unwashed masses. So, yes. I was super-psyched about the water-logged Don Draper promo poster that came out a few weeks ago, and yes, I totally Mad Men'd myself.

So obviously, I was ridiculously excited to see that Zap2It had a whole crop of new Mad Men promo photos. Jon Hamm! January Jones! Christina Hendricks! John Slattery! There may be a chance that there's a more conventionally good-looking cast out there, but I defy you to find a sexier cast on television. Seriously. If you have any suggestions, I welcome them, because I cannot imagine anything you would actually come up with that would beat the power, glory, and pure sexiness of Mad Men.

%Gallery-68994%

Last week I showed you the new print ad for the third season of Mad Men, and we were all wondering exactly what all the water means. Well, AMC has put together a video that shows how they shot the video and what the water symbolizes. The stand-in looks a lot like Jon Hamm.

Season 3 of Mad Men is set to premiere August 16th, so of course the cast and crew are busy shooting it right now. While we don't have any new footage yet, AMC has released a series of new promos for the upcoming season.The ads focus on the different aspects of the series: Drama, Romance, Comedy and Action.

The idea behind them is that there's a little something for everyone, and let me tell you: they're right. Don't believe me? Not only do you have the requisite Mad Men drinking, smoking and sleeping with inappropriate people, but you have Don Draper making a googly face and saying "Pat M'Groin." How can that be beat? IT CAN'T.

I don't mean the filming of the show moving to Los Angeles. It is already filmed there. I'm talking about the setting of the show moving from New York City to Los Angeles.

Matthew Weiner hints at such a move, in that secretive way that he does because he hates giving away spoilers. But he does say in this new Rolling Stone interview that the 60s were all about Los Angeles overtaking New York as "the future," and we've already seen a few episodes set there (last season, when Don got involved with Anna). Weiner doesn't say they will move there, but he does say "I always want the audience to be worried that I'm going to pick up and move the show somewhere. Because, you know, I might."

OK, I'll just link to this picture from the set of Mad Men, since it's kinda (though not really) spoilery. It gives a clue as to what year the show is going to be set in and what happens to two of the major characters. Probably not a huge surprise considering how season two ended, but it's interesting to have a confirmation when it comes to what year the show will be set in.