Mad Men Character Death Pool Odds
Last night I concluded a 6-week odyssey to watch all seasons and thorougly catch up with the acclaimed AMC series. This show is near and dear to my heart. I have a brother who is 13 years older than I who went to work as a paper boy and newsstand clerk at Ahmann’s newstand back in the early 1960’s. For whatever reason, he began collecting MAD magazines, and I believe he had every issue from mid-1960 through 1968 or ’69 or so. He also had a healthy collection of the paperback book reprints of MAD’s greatest hits. When he moved on to college, marriage, career, etc, he left all of that behind in our house, and our mother decided to pitch it all.
My 12-year-old self rescued that collection, and became enamored with the juvenile humor of MAD during those classic years. What connects that to Mad Men the TV series is that the 1960’s were MAD Magazine at its high point, where the source of parody was 70% aimed at consumer culture and advertising. MAD’s offices were indeed on Madison Avenue in New York City then, and thus they took great glee in skewering the Ad Man Culture they were awash in.
I should also point out that I grew up at the tail end of the era we see in Mad Men. I well remember parties where as a kid I was either sent away to a babysitter or confined to my bedroom or the finished basement. I well remember dinner parties and kids playing outside after dark (how the heck else do you play hide and seek?) Mad Men brings me instant nostalgia, either for those experiences, or the virtual experiences I inherited by reading a decade’s worth of old MAD Magazines. I do love the show so much.
And so, without further ado, I give you the Popnarcotic Mad Men Character Death Pool Odds, to be updated with the passage of time. These odds are strictly for reference. Please kids, no wagering.
(Assumes death by the end of Season 6, sometime in 2013/14, show currently expected to go at least 7 seasons, with broad hints that 7 may be the final one.)
(To be dead, the death needn’t happen on camera, but only needs to be referenced in the show itself by characters.)
Midge: 1-3
Bert Cooper: Even
Herman “Duck” Phillips: 5-2
Dr. Greg Harris: 4-1
Carla: 6-1
Grandma Pauline: 7-1
Dawn Chambers: 8-1
Freddie Rumsen: 9-1
Glen Bishop: 10-1
Thomas Vogel (Pete’s Father-in-law): 12-1
Bobby Draper: 15-1
Rebecca Pryce: 18-1
Roger Sterling: 20-1
The Field (Any character with 5 or more separate episode appearances in the show’s run whose death is acknowledged by characters on the show): 25-1
Michael Ginsberg: 30-1
Henry Francis: 30-1
Trudy Campbell: 30-1
Betty Draper: 35-1
Stan Rizzo: 35-1
Pete Campbell: 40-1
Harry Crane: 40-1
Megan Draper: 40-1
Lane Pryce: 50-1
Joan Harris: 50-1
Sally Draper: 50-1
Don Draper: 200-1
Peggy Olson: 500-1
3 Comments
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Popnarcotic 
Dan said,
May 2, 2012 at 11:35 pm
I’m 47. The great part about this show is how it takes you back. Seems like a thousand years ago in so many ways. Adults were so ambivalent to their kids. Figure it out on your own. Very true.
I’d load up on Pete at 40-1 if I could. He’s a ticking time bomb.
Chris said,
May 3, 2012 at 12:05 am
Pete, that rifle, and discussions of Charles Whitman and Richard Speck are sure are making me uneasy. You may well be right.
jondanger said,
June 10, 2012 at 11:57 pm
50-1 odds. Would have made a killing