If you’re a regular reader of Baristanet, you’ve undoubtedly heard of Soprano Sue, Clifton-based chronicler of all things “Sopranos.” Now meet Roberta Lipp of Little Falls, the Soprano Sue of AMC’s “Mad Men,” who along with her sister Deborah Lipp runs “Basket of Kisses,” the biggest independent “Mad Men” fansite on the web.
Roberta Lipp (shown left, with Mad Men creator Matt Weiner and her sister Deborah) won’t give up any information about her website’s traffic, though she does say “we have credible numbers.” They also have the ear of Matt Weiner, who dropped by the site’s season finale party in New York last year. “We’ve gotten the most attention from the media, from Matt Weiner, and from the actors on the show,” says Roberta. “They have a lot of love for us. It’s crazy.”
Although it was the look and feel of the show that initially hooked the Lipp sisters, their interest soon went much further. “It’s so full of surprises and the surprises are so subtle,” says Roberta. “There’s not a happy ending. There’s not a big hug.”
At 44, the same age as Weiner, Roberta Lipp points out, she wasn’t even around during the time period the show takes place — although some aspects are “a little familiarish.”
The blog didn’t get its start until after the first season finale, but the lack of fresh material didn’t slow the sisters down. “We went nine months talking about 13 episodes,” she says. “There was nothing on the air.”
In addition to following the careers of the actors, awards, schedules, etc., the blog features thoughtful posts on everything from Don Draper’s business ethics to recurring symbols.
Even the blog’s name is clever:
In Babylon (episode 6 of the first season), the ‘girls’–secretaries and switchboard operators–are asked to participate in brainstorming (which was really a focus group) for Belle Joile lipsticks. When it was over, Freddy Rumsen asks Peggy to bring over the wastebasket, which was filled with the discarded tissues that the women had blotted with, because this would help tally up. Peggy handed it to him and said, Here’s your basket of kisses. This caught his attention; at first he assumed she’d heard it somewhere, because it was so clever and she was only a girl. It led to her first writing assignment; this was the moment that made her a writer.
Deborah thought of it. We’re women, we’re writers. It’s about lipstick, we’re Lipps. It works.
They’ve never actually watched an episode being filmed, but the Lipp girls plan to do so this year. Shooting for season 3 has just gotten started. But leave it to expert Roberta Lipp to burst my own little “Mad Men” bubble. The show is filmed not in New York, where the it is set, but out in LA.
Roberta says season 3 is expected to start in August. Until then, the Lipps will continue to feed the beast they created: ‘We’re kind of in charge of answering all the Mad Men questions in the world.”
This is crazy.
All this coverage for these terrible shows.
And no one covers my blog the “Real Housewives”?
Crazy, indeed. I couldn’t agree more. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother with my blog.
puss,
You look AMAZING in green!!!
Duuuh, what’s a blog?
I’ll take, “People with too much time on their hands and no idea how to use it” for $400, Alex.
jaysus. talk about swine flu.