"Be a Man"

We previously discussed ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson’s thrilling dust-up, dissing NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman as “clueless or stupid” (it’s only either one or the other?), but somehow managed to egregiously neglect the money quote, in which McPherson challenged his peacock counterpart to “Be a man.”

Problem is, McPherson didn’t specify which kind of man he thought Silverman should be. Two new shows provide bookends in defining the male experience: “Mad Men,” AMC’s series on ’60s Madison Avenue advertising executives who define their existence via booze, cigarettes and banging their secretaries (have we mentioned that you should be watching this series just enough times that you get the point but not enough times that we sound like religious nuts? because you should be), and ABC’s “Big Shots,” about four befuddled guys pretty much in full wussy mode as they bemoan their woes and their women (its thesis is neatly summed up when Dylan McDermott, one of the guys, sighs, “Men - we're the new women”).

McPherson, it’s safe to say, probably aligns himself more with the guys in “Mad Men” (even though he’s airing “Big Shots”): He’s the most straight-shooting of the broadcast network executives and earned stud credentials by performing, at ABC’s 2006 upfront, a credible tango with the sultry Edyta Sliwinska, one of the dancers from the network's “Dancing with the Stars.” (Later, he recalled, “Right after that happened, my wife had obviously knew I was rehearsing for that. Never had met the dancer, never seen the dancer, was in the audience and came backstage and said, ‘Honey, you were fantastic. You've never been sexier. You will never dance with her again.’”) (Note: We're not implying that McPherson indulges in the sundry bad behaviors that the characters in "Mad Men" do, just that his XY chromosomes are more old-school than New-Age.)

Silverman, on the other hand, dissembled like a madman (his only tie to “Mad Men”) during his Press Tour session and “brings a small set of chimes along with him to meetings so he can play the three-note N-B-C jingle whenever a happy moment occurs,” so we’ll put him at the other end of the spectrum.

Interestingly, those working on both shows seem to have similar takes on the evolution of the Contemporary Male:

“Mad Men’s” creator Matthew Weiner: I wonder how adrift it is, you know, how adrift this concept of what being a man is. It's so crude right now. It's not like it's so much better then, but I look at that and say, “Okay. I was in my 20's. I remember not knowing who to emulate or anything like that.” I wanted to be like my dad to some degree, but not really, or I wanted to be like some actor or something like that.

“Mad Men” star Vincent Kartheiser: The roles were just more defined back then. I don't know if that's for positive or for negative, but the man kind of -- I don't know if you would say it was less wussy. You just knew – you just kind of knew where you fit more. I think, for both sexes, the line has been crossed a little bit.

“Mad Men” star Jon Hamm: You look now at what it means to be a man in 2007. Matt talked about who are your role models. I mean, it is virtually impossible to say what the definition of being a man in today's society is. … What we had in the era that the show is depicting, some sense of -- formality might be the wrong word, but just a sense of propriety and feeling like -- yes, Matt talked about it a little bit before, but yes, these people were objectifying and taking advantage in a lot of ways. But, then, there were rules. There was a sense of, you can't just be a bore and be this horrible douchebag, for lack of a better word. You have to kind of have a little style. You have to kind of have a little grace about you. You have to have a little bit of formality, or you are going to fail.

“Mad Men” star John Slattery: I heard someone say, "A man is only as faithful as his options," which can be true. And certainly, in 1960, the options for a man in regards to drinking and fidelity and race relations and interoffice politics, I mean, although there were these strictures, the world was a man's oyster, and some took more oysters than others.

“Big Shots” creator Jon Harmon Feldman: I think men have taken on a mantle of sensitivity in my understanding of how the sexes have evolved. I think women have succeeded in the workplace to a great degree. I think the genders have evolved. I think men are far more sensitive than people give us credit for, although we're also the guys who don't want to admit that we are. And I think that's sort of the paradox of being a guy. We have these feelings, but we don't want to let anyone know we have them. And I think that's what the show explores.

“Big Shots” star Christopher Titus: In today's society, there's a constant fighting the old guy. The first James Bond movies, those guys, the real men, the men that took no prisoners guys -- women really liked them. And now in society it's become very politically incorrect to be those guys, and yet every guy really is that guy. And you know, the John Waynes. I think it's kind of hard for men right now to be men because if you try to be a guy and you're too much of a guy, then you're an A-hole. If you try to be too sensitive, then, you know, you're metrosexual.