Elisabeth Moss

The "Mad Men" season six premiere happened Wednesday night at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles, and we're going to try to take the high road and write about it without discussing the Jon Hamm rumor that's been circulating this week. Yep, we're going to talk about who was in the room - the likes of Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Elisabeth Moss and Jessica Pare - and definitely not about the, er, elephant in the room. The night was full of delicious tidbits: Vincent Kartheiser, who plays Pete Campbell on the show, revealing to People that he'd practiced his proposal for Alexis Bledel on his costars Moss and Pare, and Kartheiser's on-screen wife, Alison Brie, pondering what she might get the newly engaged couple for their wedding.

After the anguish of last week's “Mad Men,” Sunday's episode, “For Immediate Release,” was, at least superficially, a breath of fresh air --  a jampacked and unusually funny installment featuring fast-paced business dealings, flight attendants dressed like “Austin Powers” extras, and Roger Sterling at his very finest.   But in spite of the general air of levity permeating “For Immediate Release,” it would be a mistake to conclude that happy days are here again because, well, this is “Mad Men,” and it's also May 1968, and any episode that concludes with Peggy clacking away at a typewriter at Don Draper's behest should fill us with mortal dread -- not for fate of the show, necessarily, but for our beloved heroine.

It's easy to read a lot into "Mad Men" ( see accompanying piece ). The languid pace, the mouth-watering attention to detail, the archetypal characters and well-crafted dialogue conspire to create the air of a television classic begging to be deconstructed. Is it a personal journey in which our hero, Don Draper ( Jon Hamm), scours the cityscapes and deserts in search of meaning? Or is he the lens through which creator Matthew Weiner offers his interpretation of the socio-political shifts of the 1960s?

Glenn Close won last year's lead actress in a drama trophy, but that doesn't mean she's a lock to take it home again this year. She faces some stiff competition: Sally Field Field won in this category for her role in ABC's "Brothers & Sisters" in 2007, making it her third Emmy win. She's also now got nine Emmy nods and is a two-time Oscar winner. That's gotta carry some weight in this race, doesn't it?

Sachs editing // Shaking off Sunday night's Emmy hangover, it should come as no surprise that showbiz types want a little sunshine — specifically, the well-heeled gals of film and television. Sometimes women's intuition says that the best partying to be done is over a good ol' fashioned girls' lunch: two forks, one salad, lots of white wine. Here's a rundown of some civilized schmoozing happening at high noon. Michael Kors supports the Saban Clinic: American design label Michael Kors welcomed ladies and their checkbooks to the Rodeo Drive flagship for a Tuesday luncheon to benefit the Saban Free Clinic of Los Angeles.

January Jones is, perhaps for the first time in her career, contemplating sensible shoes. The actress, best known as "Mad Men's" coolly chic Betty Draper, needed to keep her feet firmly planted for "Unknown," a psychological thriller opening Feb. 18 that sees her racing across Berlin in a series of car chases, explosions and fistfights. "It was my first venture in the action genre," says Jones. "We made sure my shoes were comfortable, because I'm running around a lot. They gave me a padded high heel with a grip on the bottom so I wasn't slipping, sliding and hurting myself, and all these beautiful high boots.