Kiernan Shipka agrees that Mad Men is a great show — and it’s not just because she starred on it.
During a Thursday, Nov. 21, appearance on Watch What Happens Live!, she shared that during the 2020 pandemic, she took the time to watch all seven seasons of the critically acclaimed drama series.
“I did [watch the show] in the pandemic, much like everyone,” Shipka, 25, said to host Andy Cohen.
Shipka appeared on the series as Don Draper’s oldest daughter, Sally Draper, for all seven seasons. Though she was understandably too young to watch the show she was a part of as a child, she said that she greatly enjoyed her binge of the series during the pandemic.
“It was cool!” she said. “I was always surprised when I popped up on the screen, because I was just so into the show generally. Like this is great, whoa, and then little me with a lisp walks on and like ‘What is she doing here?’ ”
In a recent interview with Jesse Tyler Ferguson on his podcast Dinner’s On Me, she recounted that despite being a young actress on a set dealing with many difficult subjects, she felt the show’s creator and crew were “protective” of her.
Michael Yarish/AMC
“They were so protective over me and my kind of innocence and not exposing me to stuff that, you know, was sensitive or more adult,” she said to Ferguson.
Shipka explained that many of the more inappropriate moments her character was present for were censored for Shipka’s sake. For certain scenes where this wasn’t possible, like Sally walking in on Jon Hamm’s character making love to a neighbor, she “definitely had context.”
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“I always knew what I was reacting to. Like, I always knew what I was walking in on,” she said. “I just didn’t have to see it over and over again.”
As she wasn’t allowed to see much of the show as she was growing up, given its mature nature, Shipka has reflected on Sally more as she’s grown, admitting it’s allowed her to “psychoanalyze” the character.
“And at the time, I think I understood her as much as she understood herself. And as I get older, I kind of understand her the way that I hope she, you know, would understand herself one day with therapy,” she continued on the podcast. “And there’s something really wild about seeing that because it was like, it wasn’t that I didn’t know what was going on, but I didn’t know what was going on the way that we don’t know what’s going on with us until later too.”
“She’s a part of me and it was great,” Shipka said to Cohen of Sally’s character. “I want to do it again though, another rewatch. I think it’s a good show.”
