Remember a time when all you had to do to get a job was be a white male Ivy League graduate and show up? Not since 2004 have such impressive qualifications given you a shot at even the presidency, let alone any other job. In today's tough climate for the white male it's up to the AMC show Mad Men to remind us of how good things used to be. And man, do caucasians love this show.

The third season of the award-winning show premiered last Sunday, and every week for the next three months we will be transported back to the 1960s. It was a time when everyone smoked, "diversity" meant hiring Italians, getting drunk at 10 a.m. was a good day, and cheating on your wife and mistress with a prostitute was the rule. In honor of the third season of this ode to status and excess, we've put together a list to help readers put a face to an alma mater. Hopefully, it'll reinforce some stereotypes as well. Go to red spoiler alert! Read the rest of this entry »

Many of us, starved as we are for even more unscripted television, have become fans of this writer-strike season’s breakout show, American Gladiators. Hulk Hogan, weird bodybuilders, nostalgia for the early 90’s - what else could a young man ask for? 

Still, we’ve all wondered: why can't I do that? how did the gladiators develop their superhuman strength?  Well, Ivy Leaguers, there's hope yet! The gladiatrix Fury – née Jamie Reed – is actually Cornell ‘01. Before she settled into a career of jousting contestants off ledges, Reed was a record-setting pole-vaulter for the Big Red. She even used to be a structural engineer!

There’s now at least one Ivy League alumuna/alumnus somewhere in the space-time continuum who is not an effete wimp.

Reed is 5’8”, 150 – more than enough to take me down any day of the week. She was voted “Most Likely to Be On American Gladiators” in high school, so this is like a dream come true for her. My bet is that if there’s ever an Office/American Gladiators crossover episode, she’ll beat the crap out of Andy Bernard.

As far as guilty pleasures, there's nothing we're looking forward to more than The Gates, a new soap opera about life at Columbia. (Harvard has been enjoying the nation's first college soap, "Ivory Tower," off and on since 1984.) Armchair philosophy? Check. Frat brawls? Check. Lesbian love scenes? Check. The show debuts this Thursday night at 9 p.m. on CTV. We're doing our best to get a YouTube-able version to watch here, but in the meantime, we've got a few screenshots after the jump to tease your parched palette.

(All photos by Davide Barillari)

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