If Homer Simpson Was Don Draper...

With Mad Men's seventh and kind-of final season premiering this weekend, we are entering another period of very heavy saturation of tortured middle-aged ad men and the relatively well-adjusted (except for Sally and Betty) women in their lives. Cue this Simpsons parody of Mad Men 's frustratingly vague "Next Week On..."s. It simultaneously nails the opacity and underplays it.

Most Mad Men fans came to terms long ago with the fact they they'd never be able to glean a god damned thing from the post-episode promos for the show; they seem to mostly consist of things like Don tapping the ash off the end of his cigarette, people saying hello, phrases like "what does that mean?" and "what about dinner?" standing in for any actual possible plot information that could maybe be absorbed.

The Simpsons' parody follows that pretty well — but where most parodies tend to heighten the elements they're commenting on to make them more obvious, this one actually manages to reveal more about a plot than Mad Men ever would. That ominous shot of the principal being put under by the dentist? Waaaay more than Matthew Weiner would ever let on. Put a shot of Roger asking where his tie is in there and it'd be much more accurate.

Here's an example of Mad Men's infuriating promos (as this video's about section comments, "it's like watching Season 5, only not at all"):

And of The Simpsons' take:

Image: Fox