The Partners of Cutler Gleason Chaough (later SC&P in Seasons 6 and 7) in Mad Men. Beware of spoilers.
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Ted Chaough
Played By: Kevin Rahm
"Teddy Chaough! Thanks for sticking my name in there with the big boys. A full-page ad in The Times. What did that run you?"
Partner and Creative Director at Cutler, Gleason, and Chaough, one of SCDP's competitors.
- '70s Hair: His hair goes from a slightly Mod short style and the Dry Look to swooped bangs, longer sideburns, and a mustache at the end of the series.
- The Ace: A very talented creative who even pilots planes.
- The Alcoholic: Not him, but his father. He reveals this part of his childhood to Don when he notices that the latter has gone cold turkey. While Ted does not go into further detail about it, the simple mention of it is enough to visibly and greatly upset him, implying a deep seeded trauma within. Notably, this shared moment between him and Don is a pivotal factor in the disastrous Hershey pitch.
- Arch-Enemy: Sees himself as one for Don, the latter of whom doesn't take him very seriously until they start working together.
- Benevolent Boss: He treats Peggy with far more respect than Don ever did. When one of his partners reveals that he has cancer, Chaough is genuinely concerned and is irritated that the ill partner thought that Chaough would be more concerned with the loss of revenue for the agency than for his health. He also apologizes to Peggy when he kisses her after she cheers him up.
- Berserk Button: Hates it when people compare him unfavorably with Don. One employee who credits Don as being "a genius" gets a vicious tongue lashing for his troubles.
- Can't Hold His Liquor: Compared to Don — although to be fair, not many can match that guy drink for drink.
- Celebrity Impersonator: Does a passable impression of Robert F. Kennedy, and uses it to Prank Call Don after that anti-tobacco ad.
- The Chains of Commanding: By the end of the series, he is sick of being a boss and just wants to do creative work.
- Death Seeker: He's so miserable in California that he starts to contemplate suicide.
- Demoted to Extra: After serving as a primary counterpart to Don and potential Love Interest to Peggy throughout Season 6, Ted's role is greatly reduced in Season 7. He doesn't even appear in the last two episodes of the series.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Ted and Don spend most of the show locked in a bitter rivalry with each other. Their later collaborations allow their initial animosity to develop into mutual respect.
- Foil: To Don. They are opposites in virtually every trait save their dedication to and love for their work.
- Enemy Mine: He and Don agree to merge their agencies to get the GM account in "For Immediate Release".
- Hidden Depths. In his early appearances, Ted is characterized almost exclusively by his rivalry with Don. As the show progresses, Ted's character expands to show that beneath his competitive streak, he's a passionate, creative man who genuinely loves the work that he does.
- May–December Romance: He's in his late 30s to early 40s and dated the much younger Peggy in Season 6 (who was then 29).
- Married to the Job: His domestic life suffers from it.
- Nice Guy: Probably second only to Ken Cosgrove in this trait among the cast. Despite being a workaholic adulterer who is sometimes easily annoyed, Ted genuinely tries to be as nice and fair with people as possible and tries his best to mend bridges with people when they butt heads.
- Promotion to Opening Titles: Ted has been appearing on a recurring basis since season 4; Peggy's move to CGC and later the merger in season 6 brought him into the main cast.
- The Rival: To Don. Less so in the final season.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: During season 6 and 7A, Ted was presented as being one of the legitimately nicest guys in either agency. His romance with Peggy broke him emotionally as he felt immense guilt cheating on his wife, and it took a pep talk from Don to shake him out of his complacency. Come season 7B, Ted has grown a 70's porn stache, has ditched his wedding ring, and is shown leering at the models during casting sessions and talking about looking forward to rising hem lines. By the end, he's essentially become a younger version of Roger.
Jim Cutler
Played by: Harry Hamlin
"Unless this works, I'm against it."
Another partner and Head of Accounts at CGC; he has a hard-edged, media-focused and (avant le lettre) data-driven approach to advertising.
- Big Bad: He more or less evolves into this over the course of Season 7's first half, albeit with his fair share of Jerkass Has a Point moments concerning Don's bad behavior. Roger's proposal to McCann seemed to spell Cutler's end, but as of the mid-season finale, it appears he's decided to cooperate with the regime change.
- Dirty Old Man: He watches Stan and Wendy (the daughter of the recently deceased Frank Gleason) getting it on on the couch.
- Disk-One Final Boss: Acts as the main antagonistic force during the first half of the final season. After accepting the buyout, he is replaced by Jim Hobart and the others at McCann Erickson.
- Everyone Has Standards: He's very ruthless at business, but even he's taken aback by Harry Crane lying outright to a client about SCDP's media department having a state of the art computer."You have stiff competition, but I believe you to be the most dishonest man I've ever worked with."
- Foil: To Roger Sterling. He's CGC's equivalent, and unlike the constantly-distracted, increasingly out-of-the-loop Roger, Jim has a single-minded dedication to gaining power that gives him an upper hand on Roger after the agencies merge.
- Hanging Separately: He still views SC&P as being divided into "our guys" and "their guys". He's been doing everything in his power to undermine "their guys", even though this is harming the agency.
- Hypocrite: Listening to the Democratic National Convention when you are supposed to be working is bad. Getting the entire office high thus preventing anyone from getting anything done is good.
- It's Personal: It's pretty obvious that his crusade to oust Don from the agency is more than just a business matter for him. It's implied that he blames Don for Ted's depression.
- Know When to Fold 'Em/Every Man Has His Price: Forgoes his vendetta against Don in order to comply with the buyout by McCann.Roger: Really?Jim: It's a lot of money.
- May–December Romance: It's implied that he is carrying on an affair with Ted's secretary Moira, to the point that they were seen coming out of an elevator together during the afternoon.Is that Shalimar?
- Meet the New Boss: Shares a lot of Duck Phillips' philosophies about the ad business, in particular that good creative isn't nearly as important as strong media presence. He's a lot more cunning (and less of an alcoholic) than Duck, though.
- Put on a Bus: He leaves the agency after selling it to McCann.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Lays out a particularly brutal one on Don in the mid-season finale:You know, Ted and I, whenever we would hear that your agency was involved, we'd always be so intimidated. What was that man up to? Such a cloud of mystery! Now that I've been backstage, I'm deeply unimpressed Don. You're just a bully and a drunk; a football player in a suit. The most eloquent I've ever heard you was when you were blubbering like a little girl about your impoverished childhood. Oh, you want to take a swing at me? It would save us all a lot of trouble!
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: "Extremist" might be too harsh of a term, but Cutler was genuine in wanting to help everyone meet Chevy's deadline over the weekend. Unfortunately his doctor's "energy serum" caused everyone to go on a weekend long bender, barely getting any work done and the stuff that was finished was complete gibberish.
Frank Gleason
Played by: Craig Anton
The third partner and Art Director at CGC. He and Ted are old friends and part of one of those copywriter/artist pairs that occur occasionally in advertising. He dies from cancer shortly after being introduced.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He only appeared in two episodes and died an episode after his second appearance.
- Your Days Are Numbered: He has terminal cancer.
