Today in TV History: January Jones, Unlikely Shotgun Enthusiast, Was Born

Of all the great things about television, the greatest is that it’s on every single day. TV history is being made, day in and day out, in ways big and small. In an effort to better appreciate this history, we’re taking a look back, every day, at one particular TV milestone. 

IMPORTANT DATE IN TV HISTORY: January 5, 1978

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Considering that the majority of the Mad Men cast were unknowns at the time of that show’s premiere, it’s not surprising that the actors were often conflated with their characters. Jon Hamm has been going out of his way to guest star on every comedy property imaginable for years in order to stave off the Don Draper type-casting. It’s only a natural response for an audience who has no other conception of an actor to let these well-drawn Mad Men characters fill up their impressions of the actors. Which is too bad for January Jones, because few Mad Men characters were more reviled than Betty Francis (née Draper). Between the chilly demeanor, the bad mothering, the casual racism, and the general tone of privileged disaffectedtess, Betty was not built for being a fan favorite. (And of course it didn’t help when creator Matthew Weiner played to fans’ disillusionment with Betty and, for example, stuck her in a fat suit for a few episodes for LOLs).

Give Jones credit, though. She’s been playing with that Betty Draper persona for a while now. Sometimes more successfully than others. While no one was all that impressed by her Betty-ification of Emma Frost in X-Men: First Class, Jones’s performance as a plague survivor on The Last Man on Earth has included multiple easter eggs to Betty. And in particular, Betty’s big shotgun moment from season 1:

Jones’s Last Man character, Melissa, kind of goes off the deep end after a while, and on more than one occasion, she shows up guns blazing. Like the time she accidentally killed an interloper played by none other than Jon Hamm.

It was a nice, winking bit of long-simmering revenge for Betty Draper, the character nobody liked, to finally get the last laugh on Don.

So happy birthday, January Jones. May you continue to play shotgun-toting ice princesses for years to come.

Where to stream 'Mad Men'

Where to stream 'The Last Man on Earth'