You Will Be Shocked By How Much It Didn't Happen.

WITH ONE WORD, "Don..." Mad Men takes the interesting-but-character building take it's had over the last couple weeks, drops the clutch and stretches the hell out for a muscular cruise down the drama highway. And how cool was it that last night's ep was credited to Robin Veith, the staff writer who pops up engagingly in the Season One interviews on the Box set -- a clear protege to Matthew Weiner.

See, folks, once upon a time in the TeeVee business, that's what you did. You encouraged and trained people.

But that's neither here nor there. I don't know whether it's a quick look at the calendar, and the sickening and cruel realization that Labor Day is as early as it can be this year -- September 1; or the pomp and whizzing lo-jockeys from the Beijing Closing Ceremonies I caught in five minute bursts of trying to show my parents how to work their new tv...but I think the implication is pretty clear: it's time to stick a fork in the summer.

And looking ahead, what do we have? A disturbing, almost gut-wrenching lack of buzz ahead.

Oh sure, there's new stuff. I've seen the first two eps of True Blood, and will have some stuff to say about that closer to the airdate.

But as for the other stuff?

Hmm. We'll see.

On the other hand, I did think The Dark Knight was surprisingly meaty for a comic book movie. Right around the time I started thinking "this is getting to be too long, " it pulled me back in and got way more interesting. Yup. That's me. Trailing edge all the way.

This week my drama shifts to the Democratic National Convention. Oh, yes, I know, the cooler than school kids may giggle and gufffaw and say, "politics nerd," but the reality is that if you're a TV writer, scripted or no - the drama on the floor in Denver is the place to be this week. Watch closely and you could learn a thing or two about performance, and the supple nature of the language.

There's so few places to see rhetoric today. Deft turns of phrase and cadence and echo that you can only see in a great bit of public speaking. And nobody does rhetoric like the Americans. Well, the British. But they don't do it nearly as much anymore either.

Canadians will carp from the sidelines as they usually do. No matter. I'll be listening to the cadence of voice and music of words.

It'll be like going to the symphony.

And as for the Olympics? Psshaw. You'll be shocked by how much it didn't happen.