Fresh Loaf

One of the quirkiest traditions of this time of year is watching “The Simpsons” annual new “Treehouse of Horror” episode — after Halloween. Because Fox currently owns the broadcast rights to the World Series, and November is a ratings “sweeps” month, “The Simpsons” Halloween episode almost always airs after All Hallow’s Eve, when it’s horror-themed slapstick proves a little out of date. The show doesn’t even make self-deprecating jokes about it any more, it’s been this way for so long. This year the 19th installment airs on Sun., Nov. 2 at 8 p.m. and, as usual, features three segments: “How to Get Ahead in Dead-vertising,” “Untitled Robot Parody” and “It’s the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse,” which satirize, respectively, AMC’s “Mad Men,” Transformers and “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and other Peanuts specials. The amusing titles for the “Mad Men” spoof are already on-line:

“Treehouse of Horror XIX” seems unusually, uh, leaky this year. The episode’s election-themed prologue, involving a faulty voting machine, has been on-line for several weeks already. (In a sign of just how long “The Simpsons” has aired Halloween specials, one of its most amusing political-themed chapters dates to 1996. “Citizen Kang” featured slobbery aliens Kang and Kodus impersonating Bill Clinton and Bob Dole.) Anyway, here’s the new prologue, which at least airs ahead of Tuesday’s Election Day.

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Today’s Air Loaf features CL’s Chanté LaGon and Curt Holman discussing AMC’s hit drama “Mad Men,”a show that recieved 16 Emmy nominations, the most of any drama this year.

Air Loaf is broadcast weekdays on 1690 WMLB-AM at approximately 8:10 a.m., 12:20 p.m. and 6:20 p.m.

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This week I review “Mad Men,” the latest “Show You Should Watch” according to The Vulture blog. American Movie Classics’ multi-Emmy nominee looks back, with 20/20 hindsight, at the lives of hedonistic ad men and their put-upon women in early 1960s Manhattan.

In my review I wasn’t able to dwell on one of my favorite aspects of “Mad Men:” its treatment of parenting from nearly 50 years ago. Occasionally “Mad Men” will offer a glimpse of child-raising styles before our present-day safety consciousness. Arguably we’re overly protective today, but scenes like the one below (my favorite moment in any of “Mad Men” episode) show that it’s possible to be too cavalier with your kids; the smoking is the least of it. The children make their appearance about 40 seconds into the short clip:

“Mad Men’s” second season airs on Sundays at 10 p.m. on AMC. I’ve been trying to find out if the new episodes will get rebroadcast on-line, but haven’t learned anything yet.

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“A Raisin in the Sun,” the TV movie directed by Atlanta’s Kenny Leon, artistic director of True Colors Theatre, earned three Emmy Award nominations yesterday. Based on Leon’s 2004 Broadway staging of the Lorraine Hansberry stage play, “A Raisin in the Sun” won nominations for Best Made for Television Movie, Best Actress for Phylicia Rashad and Best Supporting Actress for the particularly worthy Sanaa Lathan.

Coincidentally, I happened to be interviewing one of the Best Supporting Actor nominees while the Emmys were being announced. Rainn Wilson, who plays the sublimely jerky assistant manager/beet farmer Dwight Schrute on “The Office,” was in town promoting his comedy The Rocker, which opens nationwide on August 20. Cool as a the proverbial cucumber (or less proverbial beet), Wilson chatted with me about his work during our interview at the W Hotel, completely ignoring the Emmy announcements being televised in a room away. At some point after chatting with me, Wilson stopped by the CNN newsroom for an impromptu weather report:

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